眾經撰雜譬喻 2.40

2.40

Once, a hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, there was a king named Aśoka who was exceedingly extravagant. He built a palace ten li square and summoned painters from all the lesser kingdoms. When the painters arrived, each painted various figures according to his fancy. Far to the north of Kashmir, there was a small kingdom furthest of all; it sent a painter who arrived late. He observed that the walls, both inside and outside the buildings, were entirely covered with paintings, except for a space of five feet beside the doorpost that remained unpainted. He looked up again and examined all the subjects, not knowing what else to create. He thought to himself: "When I first came, I passed a small city. Beside the city was a pond, and in the pond were lotuses. I saw a woman there, exquisitely beautiful and possessing the physical signs worthy of becoming the mother of the realm." Having thought this over, he painted the city, pond, lotuses, and the portrait of the woman, completing it. When the king arrived at the hall before entering, he saw this painting and asked: "Who painted this?" They replied: "The painter who arrived late." The king immediately asked: "Did you paint this from an actual likeness, or did you make it up?" He replied: "I painted what I saw; it is not made up." The king asked: "Did you paint her exactly as she looks, or did you embellish her beauty?" He replied: "I did not embellish her; it is just as she looks!" Judging from her signs that this woman was worthy to be the mother of the realm, the king sent an envoy to betroth her as queen. Receiving his orders, the envoy went directly to her country, saw the woman's parents, and said to them: "The king seeks your worthy daughter to be his queen." The woman's father said: "She is already married; what can be done?" He then went to the woman's husband's family and said: "The king has sent me to seek this woman." The journey was far, taking three years to arrive. The father said: "He who would take her is the king, the most exalted of all; you should not begrudge her, but should surrender her to the king at once." This husband was an upāsaka. He thought to himself: "People endanger their lives for wealth and sex; if I do not give her up, he might punish me." He then surrendered his wife to the envoy. They departed, returned, and reported to the king. When the king saw her, he was overjoyed and immediately invested her as queen. Whenever she obtained fine flowers, she would weep sorrowfully. The king asked: "Why do you weep?" The queen said: "Only if the king pardons my offense will I speak!" The king said: "Speak." The queen said: "This scent is exactly like that of my former husband; that is why I weep." The king became enraged and said: "You are the mother of the realm, yet you still long for a base pauper? You are an old hag; you deserve punishment!" He issued a decree sending an envoy to arrest her former husband to see if he was fragrant or not: "If he is not fragrant, she shall indeed be punished." The envoy went and asked his family. The family said: "After this worthy man lost his wife, he informed his parents, became a śramaṇa, and attained the fruit of arhatship." The envoy went into the Buddha's land and said to him: "The king wishes to see and make offerings to the renunciant." The renunciant said: "I have nothing at all; why would he see me again?" The envoy addressed him: "The king wishes to make offerings to the renunciant." The renunciant accompanied the envoy, arrived, and was presented to the king. When the king saw the renunciant, the scent of the renunciant's body surpassed that of a lotus. The king said: "This man has smeared his body with perfume." He had hot water prepared and bathed him, yet the fragrance became even stronger; he then wrapped his body in silk, and his body's scent doubled. The king finally believed, and asked: "Renunciant, by what cause did you obtain such fragrance? I pray that you will reveal and explain it!" The renunciant said to the king: "In a past life, I was a brāhmaṇa. While traveling, I saw someone from afar expounding a sūtra. I joined my palms in joy and praised the bodhisattva with a single mind, and also burned a little incense as an offering. For that reason, I obtained this blessing, which ultimately led to the fruit of the Path."