འཕགས་པ་གསར་འད་དམ་པ་མད་སྡའ་དབང་པའ་རྒྱལ་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 193

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he will not remain long ruling that land or bringing happiness to many beings through a prestigious reign.

“Bhagavat, I pray that because you are compassionate you will, with a treatise on kingship, teach how to rule over a land. Through hearing such a Dharma, human kings will be able to remain for a long time in sublime sovereignty, protecting the world, and all the people in that land will become completely happy.”

Then the Bhagavat, in the midst of that great assembly, said to the goddess of the earth, “Goddess of the earth, for that reason listen very well. In the past, in a time gone by, there was a king by the name of Balendraketu,⁴⁰⁸ who had a son by the name of Ruciraketu. Not long after Ruciraketu’s royal consecration, Balendraketu said to him, ‘I received from my father, the supreme king Pinnacle of Lords,⁴⁰⁹ the treatise on kingship called The Commitment of the Lord of Devas. I have, up until now, ruled for twenty thousand years in accordance with the treatise on kingship called The Commitment of the Lord of Devas. Up until now, I have not been known to follow any ways that are not the Dharma for even an instant. So, son, what is the treatise on kingship called The Commitment of the Lord of Devas?’

“Then, at that time, in that time, noble goddess, King Balendraketu taught extensively, through these verses, the treatise on kingship, The Commitment of the Lord of Devas, to his son King Ruciraketu:

“ ‘I will teach the treatise on kingship
That benefits all beings,
Cuts through all doubts,
And destroys all wrongdoing.

“ ‘Each and every king,
Have a joyful mind!
And with palms together, listen to
All the commitments of the lord of devas.

“ ‘On this lord of mountains, Vajraprākāra,
The lords of the devas assembled,
And the protectors of the world stood up
In order to question the lord of Brahmās: