釋迦譜 1.382

1.382

Then King Śuddhodana mobilized the fourfold army, surrounded by his retinue and escorted before and behind by one hundred million members of the Śākya clan, and entered the Lumbinī Grove. He saw that the devas, nāgas, and the rest of the eight classes completely filled that grove. Reaching the queen, he saw that the prince's body had extraordinary physical marks, and he leapt for joy, like great billows upon the rivers and oceans; yet fearing that his life would be short, he was also struck with awe and trembling. Just as Sumeru, the king of mountains, is difficult to shake, and when the great earth shakes, it moves only once—King Śuddhodana was by nature calm and serene, usually without joy or sorrow, but now seeing the prince, he experienced both joy and fear in just the same way. Queen Māyā was mild and gentle by nature; having given birth to the prince and seeing the various wondrous omens, she became doubly soft and pliable. At that time, King Śuddhodana joined his palms and bowed to all the devas and spirits, stepped forward to embrace the prince, and placed him upon a seven-jeweled elephant litter. Together with all the ministers, palace women, and the devas in midair who made heavenly music, he followed in procession into the city. At that time, King Śuddhodana and the Śākyas did not yet know the Three Jewels, so they brought the prince to a shrine of the gods. Once the prince entered, the images of the Brahmā gods all arose from their seats and bowed at the prince's feet, saying to the king: "Great King, you should know that this prince is the most honored among devas and humans; the gods of midair all pay reverence to him. Does the Great King not see this? Why have you now come here to pay homage to us?" When King Śuddhodana, the Śākyas, and the ministers inside and outside heard and saw this, they marveled at this unprecedented event. They immediately led the prince out of the shrine of the gods and returned to the inner palace. At that time, among the Śākya clan, five hundred boys were also born on the same day. The Xiuxing benqi says: In the country, eighty-four thousand elders had sons who were all male; eighty-four thousand mares in the stables gave birth to foals, one of which was extraordinary, its coat pure white and its mane strung with pearls, therefore named Kanthaka; and the slave was named Chandaka. (The Ruiying benqi says: The slave was named Channa, and the horse was named Kaṇṭhaka.) At that time, in the king's stables, elephants gave birth to white calves, horses gave birth to white foals, and cows and sheep also gave birth to five-colored kids and calves; of these kinds, there were five hundred of each. The prince's maidservants also gave birth to five hundred servants. (The Puyao jing says: Five thousand maidservants each gave birth to a strong man.)