北山錄 3.2.1

3.2.1

At the beginning of the kalpa, the multitudinous people together fed on grain (the text notes: "'Multitudinous' means the masses. 'Together' means with one another. Once the fertility of the earth was exhausted, natural non-glutinous rice appeared"). When the fragrant rice was exhausted, they divided the land and cultivated it (the text notes: "Cultivation means management. As people encroached upon and seized [grain], they divided the fields and managed them individually"). To safeguard the territorial boundaries, King Mahāsammata was established (the text notes: "Sammata: he was the king of the settlements; fearing that the strong would encroach and plunder, they established one man as king, paid him taxes and tribute, and made him the ruler of the people"). The various classes respectfully submitted to him, and his kindness flowed across all the land. Double brilliance succeeded the dynastic line, and his lineage ruled in Tianzhu for generations (the text notes: "Fathers and sons succeeded one another as rulers of Tianzhu"), down to Śuddhodana, numbering altogether over eighty-four thousand two hundred and sixty kings. (The Āgama Sūtra states: "In the past there was a king named Ikṣvāku. He had four sons by concubines: the first was named Zhaomu, the second Lianmu, the third Tiaofuxiang, and the fourth Nilouchong. All were intelligent, divinely martial, and possessed great prestige and virtue. The principal queen had a son named Sheng, who was foolish, petty, ugly, and despised by everyone. The queen, fearing the four sons would usurp his position, slandered them to the king and urged him to banish them permanently. The king then commanded the four sons to leave the country at once. Thereupon, the mighty men and all the people wished to follow them. They reached the Himalayas and dwelt in an śāka forest. Within a few years, people flocked to their virtue like a marketplace, and it became a powerful kingdom. The father longed to see them, but when summoned, they would not come. The father sighed three times: 'My sons are capable!' For this reason, the clan was named Śākya." The Āgama Sūtra states: "The śāka forest provided the clan name, hence there is the Śākya clan; 'śāka' is the name of a tree.") After King Ikṣvāku, there was a king named Mahā-Kalyāṇa; for seven generations they held the Gautama clan name. (The text notes: "Long ago, there was a king whose parents died early. He yielded the kingdom to his younger brother, renounced the throne, and sought the Path. He met a brāhmaṇa surnamed Gautama and followed him to study the Path. The brāhmaṇa said: 'You should take off your royal garments, dress as I do, and receive the Gautama surname.' He was called the Lesser Gautama Bodhisattva.") After King Ulkāmukha, there was a king named Nilouchong; for five generations they held the Śākya clan name. (The text notes: "King Nilou begot King Ulkāmukha. King Ulkāmukha became the ruler of Kapilavastu and begot King Qutouluo. King Qutouluo begot King Shixiuluo. King Shixiuluo begot four sons: first, King Śuddhodana; second, King Śuklodana; third, King Droṇodana; and fourth, King Amṛtodana. King Śuddhodana was the father of the Buddha.") When the Great Being, having cultivated the primary and secondary marks for a hundred kalpas (the text notes: "A bodhisattva practices for three asaṃkhyeya kalpas up to the vajropama-samādhi; then for a hundred kalpas cultivates the primary and secondary marks, for a thousand kalpas studies the deportments, and for ten thousand kalpas studies conversion and practice"), observed where he should be born, none compared to the kṣatriyas and brāhmaṇas. Yet the position of the kṣatriyas was exalted (the text notes: "In Sanskrit, 'kṣatriya'; here translated as 'lord of the soil and fields', which is the royal caste"), while the virtue of the brāhmaṇas was honored (the text notes: "The correct Sanskrit is 'brāhmaṇa'; here translated as 'purely restrained'. They are the descendants of Brahmā; only the Five Indias have them, while other countries do not. Serving as teachers to kings, their virtue is thus honored"). However, in the turbidity and degeneration of the kalpa, virtue could not outweigh status; thus I was not born among the brāhmaṇas. Although insignificant lands lacked kṣatriyas (the text notes: "'Insignificant' means absent"), the lineage of none was as long-lasting as that of the Śākyas (the text notes: "Because from King Mahāsammata to King Śuddhodana there were over eighty-four thousand two hundred and sixty kings"). The remaining two castes were lowly and base; had he been born there, it would not have stopped people's slander, and therefore the Great Sage was not born among them. (The text notes: "To stop means to cover up. The two castes refer to: first, vaiśya, translated here as 'seated merchants', named thus because ordinary people among them possessed much wealth; second, śūdra, also called shuduo, meaning agriculturalists and servants.") The territory of the Five Indias encompasses over ninety thousand li, bordered on three sides by the great sea and backed in the north by the Himalayas. There are eight great kingdoms, sixteen great cities, and over seventy small kingdoms. At that time, there was no Cakravartin ruling over them, and they followed the mandates of the hegemonic states (the text notes: "Had there been a Cakravartin, the small states would all have submitted to him. Since there was no Cakravartin at that time, only the strong became hegemons"), just as during the Spring and Autumn period in the central lands of the Xia, when the royal way declined and the feudal lords were controlled by Huan and Wen (the text notes: "In the Zhou, after King You was killed, King Ping moved eastward to Luoyi, and the feudal lords were able to conduct military expeditions on their own authority, such as Duke Wen of Jin and Duke Huan of Qi"), and rites, music, and punitive expeditions did not emanate from a single person (the text notes: "In antiquity, the institution of rites, the creation of music, and punitive expeditions had to originate from the Son of Heaven. Thereafter, usurpation became rampant, and they did not proceed from a single man"). Magadha was a great kingdom (the text notes: "Translated here as 'unreached', because the generals of this country were brave and the soldiers resourceful, so the armies of neighboring rivals could not reach it. It has a circumference of five thousand li; few people live in cities, while many registered households dwell in villages. The fertile soil nurtures agriculture. There is fragrant rice with coarse grains and extraordinary flavor, called 'rice offered to great persons' by the locals. The ground is low and damp; cities and states dwell in marketplaces; the customs are pure and simple, and the weather is mild"), situated on the sea's edge. King Bimbisāra was its ruler (the text notes: "That is Bimbisāra; translated here as 'handsome of countenance'; he was the father of King Ajātaśatru"), head of the assembly of lords. Rājagṛha was the site of the sublime assembly for the gathering of the Dharma, representing the convergence of myriad streams toward the court. (The text notes: "Rājagṛha; Sanskrit Kuśāgrapura; translated here as 'City of Superior Kuśa Grass', because it produces the finest kuśa grass. In the center of Magadha, long ago due to a fire, people moved outside to live here and subsequently walled it into dwellings. Later, King Aśoka moved his residence to Pāṭaliputra; here only a thousand households of brāhmaṇas remained.") Vulture Peak was the deep storehouse of the multitude of sages, rising high above the surrounding peaks. (The text notes: "Kusumapura, being a mountain citadel, is close to Rājagṛha. Although there are five mountains, this mountain is uniquely superior, tall and prominent. Thus it symbolizes surpassing the Two Vehicles. Many vultures nest here, hence the name Vulture Peak.") Ajātaśatru, in aspiring to ascend to power (the text notes: "'Grand' means great; 'ascend' means to rise; 'power' means function; to greatly ascend to function means to become ruler"), ruined his reputation by parricide; although he possessed merits, they are not worth extolling (the text notes: "Plotting with Devadatta to commit parricide, he imprisoned and killed King Bimbisāra, and drew a sword to pursue his mother Vaidehī and others"). When it came to King Aśoka, the great enterprise flourished in the middle period; his awe-inspiring power reached the ocean's shores, and his might rivaled that of an Iron-Wheel King, though he did not fully embody it (the text notes: "'Rivalling' means equal to; 'embody' means attain. Though his might equaled that of an Iron-Wheel King, he was not an actual Iron-Wheel King. He was the great-grandson of King Bimbisāra"). In the beginning, he constructed a hell modeled upon the scriptures (the text notes: "'Modeled upon' means to emulate and learn from"), with high walls and deep moats, where molten iron scalded and ran, and people were seized and cast within.