釋迦譜 5.28

5.28

At that time, the Buddha and Ānanda entered the city of Śrāvastī to beg for alms. They saw a group of young children playing in the road. Each gathered soil from the ground and used it to make houses, granaries, treasures, and the five grains. One child saw the Buddha coming from afar. A reverent mind arose within him, and he leaped for joy. He immediately took soil from a granary that served as grain, reached in with his hand, and wished to offer it to the Buddha. Because his body was small and could not reach, he said to another child, "I will climb upon you to offer this grain." The child rejoiced and replied, "You may do so." Thereupon, stepping upon his shoulders, he offered the soil to the Buddha. The Buddha lowered his bowl and bowed his head to receive the soil. Having received it, he handed it to Ānanda, [saying,] "Take this soil and plaster my chamber with it." After eating, Ānanda plastered the ground of the Buddha's chamber with the soil. It was spread just once when the soil was exhausted. The Buddha told Ānanda, "Because of this child offering this soil, one hundred years after my parinirvāṇa he will become a king named Aśoka (another name for Ayue). The second child will become a great minister. Together they will rule over all the lands of Jambudvīpa, elevate and manifest the Three Jewels, broadly arrange offerings, distribute the relics throughout Jambudvīpa, and erect eighty-four thousand stupas." Ānanda rejoiced and asked the Buddha again, "What merit did the Tathāgata cultivate in the past to obtain this retribution of having so many stupas?" The Buddha said, "In the past there was a king named Paseqi (Prasenajit) who ruled over the eighty-four thousand states of Jambudvīpa. At that time, there was a Buddha in the world named Puṣya. King Paseqi, together with all his ministers and common people, made offerings of the four requisites to that Buddha and the sangha of bhikṣus. At that time, the king thought to himself, 'The remote and small states are all secluded and distant, and their peoples have no means by which to cultivate merit. I should now paint images of the Buddha's form and distribute them among all the states so that all may make offerings.' Having formed this thought, he immediately summoned painters and ordered them to paint [the Buddha]. The painters then came to the Buddha's place. They looked upon the Buddha's major and minor marks, wishing to paint them, but as soon as they painted one part, they forgot the other parts. They looked again and set their hands to it once more, but as they painted one, they forgot another, and they could not bring it to completion. At that time, Paseqi blended the various pigments and with his own hands painted one image to serve as a model. Thereupon, following this image, the painters painted eighty-four thousand images and distributed them among all the states, and the kings of all the small states were all able to make offerings. That King Paseqi was indeed myself in a former body. On account of this cause, I always obtain this extraordinary body with the thirty-two marks, and after my parinirvāṇa, I obtain these eighty-four thousand stupas."