釋迦譜 5.12

5.12

The Da Ayuwang jing says: Eight countries shared the relics together. King Ajātaśatru's allotted share amounted to eighty-four thousand [portions]. In addition, he separately received two of the Buddha's teeth, returning with them to his kingdom. On the road he encountered the dragon king Nantouhe, who sought a share of the relics from him. King Ajātaśatru would not give them, so [the dragon king] said to him, 'I am a dragon king, with the power to destroy your realm.' King Ajātaśatru was frightened and thereupon gave the Buddha's teeth to him. The dragon king returned to the foot of Mount Sumeru, raised the waters eighty-four thousand li high, and built a crystal stupa beneath them. Ajātaśatru returned to his kingdom, placed the relics in a purplish-gold casket, made a lamp [to burn for] a thousand years, and buried them in a stupa beneath the waters of five Ganges sands. Afterward, King Aśoka obtained his realm. The king took a wife; her body was eight spans tall, and her hair was of equal length, fully endowed with all the signs. The king ordered a physiognomist to examine her. The master said, 'She will bear for the king a golden-hued son.' The king thereupon appointed her second queen. Later she became pregnant, and when ten months were completed, the king had official business and had to travel abroad. The chief queen was jealous and devised an expedient means, wishing together [with others] to eliminate her. She sought out a sow that was about to give birth and said to the second queen, 'You are young and have only just begun to give birth. You must not expose your face to look upon the heavens.' She covered her face with a quilt, and she indeed gave birth to a golden son, whose radiance illuminated the palace. They secretly took the child away and killed him, and immediately placed the piglet beside her. She then reviled her, saying, 'You claimed you would bear for the king a golden-hued son; why have you given birth to a pig?' She then took a round-headed mallet, [beat her,] and threw her into the rear garden to lie among the vegetables. The king returned, and hearing of it, was displeased. After a long time, the king went out walking in the garden, saw her, remembered her, and welcomed her back to the palace. As the second queen gradually grew close to him again, she recounted the full circumstances. The king was astounded upon hearing it, and immediately put eighty-four thousand secondary wives to death. King Aśoka later established a hell outside the city to punish all criminals. The Buddha knew that the king had killed the wives and was bound to fall into hell, so he sent the monk Xiaosan to transform the king. The king gave rise to faith and awakening, and asked the monk, 'I have killed eighty-four thousand wives; can this sin be redeemed or not?' The man of the Way said, 'If you erect one stupa for each person and place one relic beneath each stupa, you will surely obtain release from your sin.' The king immediately searched for the relics of King Ajātaśatru. There was a father of a state minister who was one hundred and twenty years old; leading fifty thousand men, he retrieved the original relics. The king was filled with great joy. He thereupon divided them among the ghosts and spirits, sending each back to their jurisdiction, commanding that on a single day and at a single moment they should simultaneously raise the eighty-four thousand stupa finials. The ghosts and spirits said, 'Many are separated by mountain barriers, so we will not be able to know [the moment] together.' The king said, 'You need only return, set up the base plates, guard the finials, and install the bells. I shall have an asura touch the sun and the moon with his hands, and the four continents will simultaneously strike drums, whereupon you shall raise and install them.' The two sūtras differ, and therefore both are preserved. Furthermore, the Jiaye yu Anan jing says: When the stupas were completed, twelve hundred woven banners and various flowers were made. Before the banners could be hung, the king fell ill. Leaning on his pillow, he lamented, 'If the spiritual powers have any resonance, may they perceive my utmost sincerity!' The various stupas then lined up beside his seat, bowing down before the king. The king tied the banners with his own hands; they departed one after another and returned to their respective places. The king's body was weak and exhausted, and he could not reach to take the banners; there were monks walking about who assisted the king in taking them. Therefore, nowadays when hoisting banners, monks are first made to carry them. Because of this, his illness was cured and his lifespan was increased by twelve [years]; thus it was named the 'Life-Extending Banner.' After the king had erected the eighty-four thousand stupas, he leaped for joy. Leading his ministers, he went to the Kukkuṭārāma monastery and said to the elder Yaśa, 'Are there any other monks who received predictions from the Buddha to perform Buddha-work? I should go to them to make offerings and show reverence.' The elder replied, 'When the Buddha was about to enter parinirvāṇa, he went to the country of Mathurā and said to Ānanda: "A hundred years after my parinirvāṇa, there will be the son of an elder named Upagupta. He will go forth from the household life, study the Way, and be called the 'Buddha without Characteristics'."' The king asked the elder, 'Has Upagupta already appeared in the world or not?' The elder replied, 'He has already appeared in the world, gone forth from the household life, and studied the Way; he is an arhat dwelling on Mount Urumuṇḍa.' Hearing this, the king leaped for joy. He immediately ordered his ministers to quickly prepare his royal carriage, intending to lead countless attendants to go there. The Venerable thought: 'If the king comes, his countless followers will suffer great hardship and crush tiny insects to death.' He answered the messenger, saying, 'I shall go to the king myself.' When the king heard that the Venerable was coming himself, he leaped for joy. From Mathurā to Pāṭaliputra, he opened and secured bridge pontoons between them, hanging various banners and canopies upon the pontoons. Then the Venerable Upagupta, leading an assembly of eighteen thousand arhats, went straight to the king's realm. The king leaped for great joy; he immediately removed his necklace of precious gems, worth tens of millions, and presented it to him. Leading his great ministers and attendants, the king went out to where the Venerable was, served him food, prostrated himself fully to make obeisance before him, knelt with palms joined, and spoke these words: 'Though I now govern this Jambudvīpa and hold the royal throne, I do not take joy in it; but now beholding the Venerable, my joy is boundless! That a disciple of the Tathāgata could be like this is just as if I were beholding the Buddha.' The king then invited the Venerable Upagupta into the city, arranged various seats, and invited the Venerable to be seated, while the Saṅgha was directed to go to the Kukkuṭārāma monastery. He said to the Venerable, 'The Venerable's countenance is upright and handsome, and his body is soft and supple, whereas my form is ugly and coarse, and my skin rough and harsh.' The Venerable then spoke a verse: