三寶感應要略錄 2.60

2.60

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.