經律異相 24.19

24.19

昔者有王。名曰摩調。時號遮加越王。主四天下。以正法治不枉人民。常行慈心視民如赤子。人壽八萬歲。王有七寶。又有千子。鞭杖不行。民無辭訟。莫不變化。王欲行四方隨意即至。數千萬人隨後而飛。不持刀兵。人民鬼神皆自歡喜。語侍衛者。頭鬚生白可以告我。侍人言生白。王召太子告言。我頭生白衰老將至。今立汝為王。四天下皆屬於汝。汝後亦應厭於世樂當行求道。王即棄國除髮學道。時諸臣民皆大啼哭。摩調子孫相傳持國。千八十四王髮白學道。摩調王千八十四世後。復出為人還續王位。名喃。復持正法。即勅中宮及諸貴人。使持八戒月修六齋。臣民男女皆亦奉持。沙門道人無有衣食。皆悉給施乃至醫藥。天帝語言。寧欲得見忉利天上諸天王不。喃王即言。欲得見之。帝釋言。我遣一車駕千匹馬來迎王。車名蔡𠶾育多。喃王名聲遠流聞忉利天。為諸天王之所敬重欲得相見。見車驚言。非世所有。我王施善天車迎王。喃王載車。車馬俱飛。即告御車。汝過二道。我欲得見惡人之道。復欲得見善人之道。摩曰。婁即將過視泥犁地獄人所作惡考掠之處。復上忉利觀天上樂。王到釋宮。天帝復言。天上諸王大欲得見。喃王常道說功德。即前牽臂與共並坐。喃王變身如天上體。不復如世間臭也。作倡天樂散華燒香。帝釋語喃王言。莫愁憂也。此間諸伎可共相戲。足可忘憂。喃王不持天上伎樂為樂。喃王即語釋言。如人借物會應當還。以本願故不以天伎為樂。時喃王者今我身也（出摩異調王經）。

In the past, there was a king named Māndhātṛ, then called a cakravartin king, who ruled the four quarters of the world. He governed with the correct Dharma and did not wrong the people. He constantly practiced a mind of compassion, regarding the people as his own infants. The human lifespan was eighty thousand years. The king possessed the seven treasures and also had a thousand sons. Neither whips nor staves were used, and the people had no lawsuits; there was none who was not transformed. When the king wished to travel to the four directions, he arrived as he pleased; tens of millions of people flew behind him. They bore no weapons; the people, ghosts, and spirits were all joyful. He said to his attendants: "When white hairs appear on my head and beard, you may tell me." An attendant said: "White hairs have appeared." The king summoned the crown prince and told him: "White hairs have appeared on my head; decay and old age are about to arrive. Now I establish you as king; the four quarters of the world all belong to you. Hereafter, you too should become weary of worldly pleasures and should practice to seek the path." The king then abandoned the kingdom, shaved his hair, and studied the path. At that time, all the ministers and people wept aloud. Māndhātṛ's descendants inherited and maintained the kingdom, with one thousand and eighty-four kings studying the path when their hair turned white. One thousand and eighty-four generations after King Māndhātṛ, [the bodhisattva] was born again as a human being and succeeded once more to the throne, named Nami. He again upheld the correct Dharma. He ordered the inner palace and the nobility to uphold the eight precepts and cultivate the six purification days each month. The ministers, people, men, and women also observed them. Śramaṇas and practitioners who lacked food and clothing were all provided with gifts, even including medicines. The heavenly lord said to him: "Would you like to see the heavenly kings in Trāyastriṃśa Heaven?" King Nami then said: "I would like to see them." Śakra said: "I will dispatch a chariot drawn by a thousand horses to welcome you, King. The chariot is named Vaijayanta." King Nami's renown had spread far and wide and was heard in Trāyastriṃśa Heaven; he was revered by the heavenly kings, who wished to meet him. Seeing the chariot, [the people] were amazed and said: "This does not belong to the mortal world! Our king's practice of good deeds has caused a heavenly chariot to welcome him." King Nami mounted the chariot, and the chariot and horses flew together. He then said to the charioteer: "Pass through two paths: I wish to see the path of evil people, and I also wish to see the path of good people." Mātali then took him past to view the places where people who committed evil were interrogated and tortured in the Niraya hells, and then went up to Trāyastriṃśa to view the pleasures of heaven. When the king arrived at Śakra's palace, the heavenly lord said again: "The kings in heaven greatly wished to see you. King Nami constantly speaks of meritorious deeds." He then stepped forward, took him by the arm, and sat side by side with him. King Nami's body transformed to become like a heavenly body, no longer having the foulness of the mortal world. Heavenly music was played, and flowers were scattered and incense burned. Śakra said to King Nami: "Do not be sorrowful; the entertainments here may be enjoyed together, sufficient to make you forget sorrow." King Nami did not take heavenly music and entertainment as pleasure. King Nami then said to Śakra: "Just as a person borrows an object and must eventually return it, on account of my original vow I do not take heavenly entertainments as pleasure." The King Nami of that time was my very self today. (Extracted from the Sūtra of King Māndhātṛ)