經律異相 6.10

6.10

阿育王崩。諸臣欲立太子以紹王位。有一大臣。名阿菟羅地。曰。阿育大王。誓捨滿十萬億金。作諸功德。尚少四億。太子封藏不與。王捨閻浮提地。以施佛法僧。欲以滿之。今日大地皆屬三寶。云何便使太子為王。諸臣即辦四億金送寺然後共立。知是四世王。名弗沙蜜多羅。問諸臣曰。我當作何等事。令我名業久在。有臣啟曰王。先王阿育。造八萬四千如來之塔。復興種種供養。名德相傳無有斷絕。王曰。先王有大威德。能辦此事。我不能作。更思餘事。有一臣曰。有二種法。名傳不滅。一者作善。二者作惡。先王造塔。今王壞塔。二俱不朽。王乃從之。即興四兵往詣寺舍。先至鷄雀寺中門前。有石師子。即作師子吼。王聞驚怖。還入城中。如是再三。呼諸比丘問言。我壞塔壞房何等為善。比丘答曰。並不應行。必不得已寧壞僧房勿壞塔也。王即殺害比丘。壞諸塔寺。至婆伽羅國。又復唱言。若有得沙門頭者賞之千金。此國有一羅漢。化作多比丘頭。傳與百姓送往請金。王之庫藏金寶竭盡。後知羅漢倍復瞋忿。羅漢入滅盡定。王往殺之終不能得。以滅盡定力不傷其體。如是漸進至塔門邊牙齒塔。神曰。有蟲行神先求我女。我不與之。今為護法即呼女與。共立誓言。卿伏此王勿壞正法。時蟲行神往南方海中排摚大山推迮王上及四兵眾。無不死盡。眾人唱言。快哉快哉。孔雀苗裔於此永盡（出雜阿含經第二十五卷）。

When King Aśoka passed away, the ministers wished to establish the crown prince to succeed to the royal throne. There was a great minister named *Atuladharma (Atuoluodi) who said, "The Great King Aśoka vowed to donate a full hundred thousand kotis of gold to perform various meritorious deeds, but four koti were still lacking. The crown prince sealed the treasury and would not give it. The king then donated the earth of Jambudvīpa to give to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, wishing to fulfill it thereby. Today the great earth all belongs to the Three Jewels; how could we simply make the crown prince king?" The ministers then provided the four koti of gold and sent them to the monastery, and only then did they jointly establish him. Note that this was the fourth-generation king, named Puṣyamitra. He asked the ministers, "What kind of deed should I do to make my name and deeds endure for a long time?" A minister replied, saying, "Your Majesty, the former king, Aśoka, built eighty-four thousand stupas for the Tathāgata and also initiated various kinds of offerings, so that his fame and virtue have been handed down without interruption." The king said, "The former king possessed great awe-inspiring virtue and was able to accomplish this. I cannot do it; think of something else." Another minister said, "There are two ways for a name to be handed down without perishing: the first is doing good, and the second is doing evil. The former king built stupas; now let Your Majesty destroy the stupas. Both will equally endure immortal." The king then followed his counsel. He immediately mobilized the fourfold army and went to the monasteries. First he arrived before the central gate of Kukkuṭārāma Monastery, where there was a stone lion that instantly let out a lion's roar. When the king heard it, he was terrified and returned into the city. Having done so two or three times, he summoned the monks and asked them, "If I destroy the stupas or destroy the dwellings, which is preferable?" The monks replied, saying, "Neither should be done at all. If it is absolutely unavoidable, it would be better to destroy the monks' dwellings rather than destroy the stupas." The king thereupon slaughtered the monks and destroyed the stupas and monasteries. Arriving at the kingdom of Śākala, he furthermore proclaimed, "If anyone obtains the head of a śramaṇa, I shall reward him with a thousand pieces of gold." In this country there was an arhat who transformed himself into many monks' heads and passed them to the common people, who brought them forward to claim the gold. The king's storehouses of gold and treasures were completely exhausted. When he later discovered that this was an arhat, he grew doubly enraged. The arhat entered the concentration of cessation (nirodhasamāpatti). The king went to kill him, but in the end was unable to do so; through the power of the concentration of cessation, his body could not be harmed. Proceeding gradually in this manner, he reached the side of the gate of the Stupa of the Tooth Relic. The deity of the stupa said, "There is a crawling-insect spirit who previously sought my daughter's hand, but I did not grant it to him. Now, to protect the Dharma, I shall call for my daughter and give her to him, making a mutual pledge: 'Subdue this king so that he does not destroy the true Dharma!'" The crawling-insect spirit then went into the southern ocean, shoved and propped up a great mountain, and pushed it down upon the king and his fourfold army, so that none failed to die. The crowd cried out, "Splendid! Splendid! The lineage of the Mauryas has ended forever with this!" (Drawn from the *Saṃyuktāgama*, fascicle 25).