大方便佛報恩經 3.18

3.18

The Buddha told Maitreya Bodhisattva: "Long ago in the past, incalculable asaṃkhyeya kalpas ago, there was a Buddha who appeared in the world named Vipaśyin Tathāgata, Arhat, Samyaksaṃbuddha, Vidyācaraṇasaṃpanna, Sugata, Lokavid, Anuttara, Puruṣadamyasārathi, Śāstā Devamanuṣyāṇām, Buddha, Bhagavat. He appeared in the world and taught immeasurable hundreds of thousands of kotis of asaṃkhyeyas of sentient beings, establishing them all firmly in anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi. After that Buddha's parinirvāṇa, during the semblance Dharma, there was a country named Vārāṇasī. The great king of Vārāṇasī was intelligent, benevolent, and virtuous; he always ruled the country according to the saddharma and did not oppress the people. The king ruled over sixty small kingdoms and eight hundred villages. The king had no son at all. The king himself made offerings and served the mountain spirits, tree spirits, and all deities, for twelve years without slacking or ceasing, seeking to have a son. The principal queen then found herself pregnant, and after the full ten months gave birth to a male child. The son was handsome and possessed of all human marks. After his birth, [the king] summoned all the chief ministers and the kings of the small kingdoms to divine his auspicious and inauspicious signs, and thereupon gave him a name. Because the prince's nature was gentle and free of anger, he was named Kṣānti. When Prince Kṣānti grew up, he took delight in giving, was intelligent, benevolent, and kind, and gave rise to an equal mind of compassion toward all sentient beings. At that time, the great king had six chief ministers whose natures were cruel and evil, deceitful, fawning, and flatterers, tyrannical and lawless, so that the people were weary and distressed by them. The six chief ministers, knowing themselves that their conduct was contrary [to righteousness], constantly harbored jealousy and detested the prince.