三寶感應要略錄 2.60

2.60

中印度有國。名奔那代彈那。如來滅後八百年中。國芒蕪五穀不登。王臣土民飢餓。疾疫流行。妖死滿路。王問臣曰。何方便將救此苦。智臣白王言。除國妖㜸。不如佛經。王將修行佛教。王曰。何經典。臣曰。昔摩揭陀國。救責難依講金光明最勝帝王典。王將講聽彼典。王即請法師。一夏講經得五返。時夢諸童子。執竹杖追打惡鬼驅出國。即時疾疫頓息。又夢有大力鬼神掘地。甘水涌出滿一切田。即稼苗殷盛。五穀豐稔。未出一年國民富。以為年式矣。

In Central India, there was a kingdom named Puṇḍravardhana. Eight hundred years after the Tathāgata's parinirvāṇa, the kingdom was overgrown and barren, the five grains did not ripen, the king, ministers, and native people suffered starvation, epidemics spread widely, and uncanny deaths filled the roads. The king asked his ministers: "By what expedient can we save [them] from this suffering?" A wise minister addressed the king, saying: "To eradicate disasters and calamities in the kingdom, nothing compares to the Buddha's sūtras. The king should cultivate the Buddha's teachings." The king said: "Which scripture?" The minister said: "Anciently, when Magadha averted disaster, it relied on expounding the Suvarṇaprabhāsottamarāja scripture. The king should lecture on and listen to that scripture." The king immediately invited a Dharma Master, and over the course of one summer retreat, he expounded the sūtra five times. At that time, [the king] dreamed of boys holding bamboo staves chasing and beating evil ghosts, driving them out of the kingdom; immediately the epidemic ceased. He also dreamed that a mighty spirit-deity dug the ground, and sweet water welled forth to fill all the fields; immediately the crops flourished, and the five grains were abundant. Before a year had passed, the people of the kingdom were wealthy, and it was made an annual model.