陀羅尼雜集 3.34

3.34

This great dhāraṇī-mantra was spoken by past buddhas [as numerous as] the sands of eight Ganges Rivers. In the past, I obtained these dhāraṇī phrases from those buddhas. I do not share the occupations of ordinary nāgas; I constantly travel through various realms cultivating bodhisattva conduct, behold the buddhas face to face, solicit and receive their instructions, take pity upon sentient beings, assist the buddhas in transforming the foolish, constantly sustain and protect them with the true Dharma, and pull them out of the ocean of birth and death, causing them to escape. My body is a great ship, my mouth is a Dharma bridge, and my mind is a vast sea, pouring forth the water of loving-kindness and compassion to irrigate the parched fields of merit of sentient beings, causing the sprouts of the roots of bodhi to grow in all of them. The benefit I bring is like this.
If any king wishes to obtain what he seeks, wishes to make his realm prosperous, abundant, peaceful, and joyful, wishes to prevent enemy bandits from other regions, wishes to ensure that his country is free from epidemics, that his adversaries and foes are naturally obliterated, and that the officials follow the Dharma and no longer distress the people, that king should then make the true Dharma blaze forth within his realm. He must lead his ministers with the teaching of the true Dharma, be gentle, good, respectful, and frugal, filial in nourishing his parents, compassionate and sympathetic toward the orphaned and destitute, and personally turn his carriage to make offerings to the Three Jewels. Toward the Three Jewels he must produce neither doubt nor regret, but produce the conception of them as parents, teachers, elders, good friends, and spiritual mentors. Toward his own body, life, and wealth, he should produce the conception that they are unstable, and regard himself and his country as like an illusion, like a phantom, grieving for sentient beings as though looking upon his own infant. If the king can cultivate these virtues, and furthermore can read and recite this dhāraṇī on the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days of the month, he should bathe until pure, put on fresh, clean clothes, and sit facing due east in the main hall or atop a high pavilion. Before sunrise, having scattered flowers of three colours and offered three kinds of famed incenses—sandalwood, agarwood, and frankincense—to make offerings to the buddhas of the ten directions, he should then arrange a Dharma seat facing due south for me, the Nāga King Vāsuki, cover my seat with blue-green fine cotton, and await me with three kinds of flowers, three kinds of syrups—grape, rock sugar, and pomegranate syrup—and burn black agarwood. The king at that time, sitting facing due east, should join his palms and recite this dhāraṇī twenty-one times. Having finished reciting the mantra, the king should immediately come out and sit in silence together with his ministers. I, the Nāga King Vāsuki, together with eighty-four thousand [members] of the eight classes of devas, nāgas, and spirits, will arrive at the king's place and receive the king's offerings in silence within the empty sky. If at that time the king, as if waking in a dream, sees my form in his mind—like a wheel-turning sage king attended by his seven treasures—upon seeing me he will rejoice and become all the more diligent. Because of his diligence, I, along with the devas, nāgas, the eight classes of spirits, and ghosts, will diligently guard his country, grant him whatever he seeks and desires, and never go against his wishes. This is truly and sincerely so.