陀羅尼雜集 3.46

3.46

This great dhāraṇī-mantra was spoken by past buddhas [as numerous as] the sands of seven Gaṅgā rivers. Formerly, when I was a great king in Jambudvīpa, sixteen smaller kingdoms were subject to me. Possessing formidable might and great strategic prowess, I subdued the various countries until thirty-six kingdoms all became subject to me. At that time I fell ill and was on the verge of death. Having meager merit, I had only three sons: the eldest crown prince was dull and of little wisdom, the middle son was frail and weak, and the youngest son was intelligent, brave, and sagacious, widely learned, erudite, strategic, formidable, and valiant. Seeing that I was near the end, they all assembled, as did my ten thousand ministers and ten thousand consorts. As the king was about to expire, he spoke to his ministers, saying: 'Among my three sons, who is fit to be king?' The ministers said: 'We leave it to the Great King’s will.' The king then answered: 'You must not leave it to me. After I am gone, the methods for governing the kingdom and the affairs of hegemonic kingship are for you to know. Why leave it to me?' The ministers all said: 'Excellent, Great King! With loving-kindness and compassion you shelter all, your mind devoid of hatred or favoritism.' The ten thousand ministers proclaimed with one voice: 'The third prince is capable of serving as king.' Having spoken, the ten thousand ministers took their leave. Then the king in the main hall, his body exhausted, said to his sons: 'I wish to lie down now.' The third prince cradled the royal father's head, the middle one held his feet, and the first prince took the royal father's hands. The king lay facing upwards and immediately passed away. Hearing of this, the ministers wept aloud and assembled, and the ten thousand consorts also wept aloud, casting their bodies to the ground. Seeing that his father had passed away, the third prince cried out in anguish, threw himself to the ground, and only revived after a long while. The first prince sat in silence, while the second prince sat weeping at his father's feet. The ministers said: 'The attitudes of the princes are visibly different.' There was a minister who was the king's uncle; during his lifetime the great king had constantly entrusted the affairs of state to this minister. The prime minister reflected: 'When the great king was alive, he constantly entrusted the affairs of state to me. Now these princes have different intentions; I should question them.' He then stepped forward and asked: 'Now that the king has passed away, all the ministers have assembled. The bonds between father and son should not be like this—sitting silently without weeping.' The [eldest] prince answered: 'I have no karmic connection with the royal father at all. Only the third prince is truly his son; we two are merely like guests who have stopped by for a brief visit.' The minister replied: 'It should not be so. The kingdom belongs to you; if not the elder brother, then the younger.' The third prince wailed, rolled on the ground in sorrow, and came forward to embrace his elder brother's feet: 'I am young and childish; I should not be king. May my elder brother deign to succeed to our royal father's throne.' The elder brother then answered: 'When our royal father was on the verge of death, he gave the decree to you. Although I was born first, I was not given the decree; this is the royal father's doing, not your fault. We two shall enter the mountains, and with focused devotion and rigorous discipline seek the way of the divine immortals (ṛṣis).' Having spoken, he left. Through focused devotion, before long they attained the five supernormal knowledges, moving mountains, halting flowing streams, and taking the sun and moon in their hands. Having finished the funeral rites for his father, the third prince succeeded to the royal throne and governed the kingdoms for forty-eight years. Later on, greedy and defiled thoughts gradually arose in him, and the people came to despise him. The kings of the smaller states and the ministers all thought of the divine immortals in the mountains: 'Only by having a nature free of greed could one become an immortal. In the past we were all foolish: we considered the wise and sagacious prince to be foolish, and regarded the greedy and defiled prince as worthy and sagacious.' Having thought this, they all said to one another: 'We should go into the mountains together to invite the divine immortal to become the great king, for he possesses supernatural transformations to awe and subdue the kingdoms.' Having thought this, the ten thousand ministers went into the mountains together to search for him. Happening to encounter him, the ten thousand ministers bowed, paid homage, and inquired after him: 'Venerable Divine Immortal! We were obstinate and foolish, unable to recognize the true and authentic; now we are troubled and disturbed by this greedy king, the people flee and scatter, and the country is about to become desolate. We only pray that the venerable immortal deign to glance upon us, extend his loving-kindness and compassion everywhere, and restore the kingdom.' The immortal replied: 'I have no concern with such matters.' The ministers replied: 'Indeed, this cannot be avoided.' The immortal replied: 'I would rather die here than ever long for a kingdom and return to be a ruler of men.' The ten thousand ministers all said to one another: 'If we return to the kingdom, we will all surely die, killed by the greedy king. It is better to stay here and seek the way of the divine immortals.' Drinking water, eating fruit, dwelling in tranquility and solitude, through focused devotion they all soon attained the five supernormal knowledges, soaring into the clear void, traveling everywhere. At that time the greedy king felt ashamed in his heart; he immediately abandoned the royal throne to leave household life and study the Way, and opened his royal father's treasury wishing to make a great distribution of alms. He saw a golden chest sealed in seven places. Opening the chest with his hand, he obtained a dhāraṇī, which was spoken by past buddhas, identical to the one mentioned previously. Having obtained the dhāraṇī, he opened his royal father's treasury, placed its treasures at the heads of the crossroads, and let the people carry them away at will. Having obtained this dhāraṇī at that time, I immediately entered a quiet room, diligently practicing it for seven days and seven nights; with defilements exhausted and mind liberated, I attained the five supernormal knowledges. At that time, because the king possessed meager merit, neighboring states invaded his borders, wind and rain were unseasonable, and the people suffered from famine. The king then invited a monk to be the royal preceptor and govern along with me. The monk then accepted his invitation, and out of pity for sentient beings acted as the royal preceptor, teaching the king the correct Dharma of governing: taking non-greed as the foundation and loving-kindness and compassion as one's nature, rewarding good and punishing evil, revering virtue, and pitying the people as if looking upon newborn infants. At that time he taught the king the phrases of this dhāraṇī. Because the king was earnest at that time, he practiced vigorously without indolence for seven days and seven nights. Because of his vigor, the buddhas of the ten directions, the great bodhisattvas, Śakra, Brahmā, the Four Heavenly Kings, the great spirits and deities of the twenty-eight divisions, and the great nāga kings protected the state and gathered in his realm. Rain fell in season, grains ripened abundantly, and the people were peaceful and happy. Because they were peaceful and happy, the smaller kingdoms all submitted to him. You should know that all of this was due to the majestic spiritual power of the great dhāraṇī-mantra. If kings at the end of the one-thousand-year [period] of Śākyamuni Buddha wish to attain their desires, they should act like this ancient king, with no difference.