འཕགས་པ་ཆས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱ་རང་བཞན་མཉམ་པ་ཉད་རྣམ་པར་སྤྲས་པ་ཏང་ང་འཛན་གྱ་རྒྱལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 12.21

12.21

Thereupon the Bhagavān gave a detailed teaching on this episode from the past by chanting the following verses to Brother Ānanda:¹²⁵⁴

“At that past time, when I was practicing bodhisattva conduct,
I was King Śūradatta.
I left my capital city Ratnāvatī
On the way to a place that was a park. {80}

“While riding in the chariot I saw a bhikṣu
Who was perfectly handsome and attractive,
Wearing the armor of the thirty-two signs,
And he illuminated all directions. {81}

“He was renowned as Supuṣpacandra,
And was compassionate, beneficial, and kind.
He was beautiful with his splendor and majesty,
And through his love for beings he had come to town. {82}

“I could not be his equal in appearance,
And a malevolent envy arose within me.
I was attached to desires and clung to my kingdom,
And thought he would deprive me of my kingdom. {83}

“I had sons that numbered a full thousand,
Who were following behind me riding in chariots,
And who wore various kinds of diadems and jewelry,
As if the devas who were lords of Trāyastriṃśa had come. {84}

“I also had there five hundred daughters,
Who were very beautiful and wore bejeweled shoes,
Beautified by ribbons, diadems, and jewelry,
Who pulled my chariot with cords of gold.¹²⁵⁵ {85}

“I had my eighty thousand wives,
Who were all alluring and very beautiful.
From within their chariots they saw the bhikṣu,
Whose body had the shining splendor of Mount Meru. {86}

“When they saw him they conceived of him as like a father,
And they developed the aspiration to attain supreme enlightenment.
Then they adopted the practice of celibacy
And they cast off their delightful jewelry. {87}

“At that time there arose within me envy
And intractable, pitiless malice and anger.
Proud of my power, I said to my sons,
‘Slay that bhikṣu who is before me!’ {88}

“The princes, on hearing my words,
Became distressed and unhappy.