經律異相 6.6

6.6

阿育王莊嚴四兵。往開七塔故取舍利唯餘龍塔。龍將王入宮言。此塔我所供養願為留之。王即聽許。還國造作八萬四千寶函分布舍利遍此函中。復作八萬四千寶瓶及諸幡蓋。付諸夜叉於閻浮提一切地乃至大海處處起塔。先諮耶舍羅漢云。欲於一日一念中起八萬四千塔令一時俱成。耶舍羅漢甚相讚美。王後與龍校其功德。並秤二像。而龍重王輕。王廣請眾僧植功不息。後復共秤。輕重衡平。王轉復修習。知功德日多。興兵往討。始造中路。龍王大小莫不奉迎。一塔舍利并以恭献王。後觀佛得道化人之處隨復造塔（出阿育王經第一卷又出雜譬喻經上卷）在王境內有一千二百寺。造織金縷幡亦一千二百。又千葉金華欲手自懸散。始辦而遇重疾。恐乖本心泫然泣下。沙門謂王曰。所修功德不可計數。正當開意何用悲為。但自一心。我當令王得果所願。沙門即以神力使一千二百寺皆現王前。病苦即滅。欲繫諸幡。凡諸剎抄低就王手。成就本願。延壽二十五年（出迦葉經又出雜譬喻經）又興功德二十年中。臨命終時。繼念三寶心心不絕。無所悋惜盡成菩提（出雜阿含經第二十五卷）。

King Aśoka equipped a fourfold army and went to open the seven old stūpas to take their śarīra, leaving only the nāga's stūpa. The nāga brought the king into his palace and said: "I make offerings to this stūpa; please leave it behind." The king consented. Returning to his kingdom, he crafted 84,000 precious caskets and distributed the śarīra evenly within them. He also made 84,000 precious vases, as well as banners and parasols, and entrusted them to yakṣas to erect stūpas throughout all the lands of Jambudvīpa, and even to the great ocean. He first consulted the arhat Yaśas, saying: "I wish to erect 84,000 stūpas in a single day and single thought, having them all completed at the same moment." The arhat Yaśas praised him greatly. Later, the king compared his merit with that of the nāga, weighing their two images together, and the nāga was heavy while the king was light. The king widely invited the saṃgha to plant merit without cease. Later, they weighed them together again, and the scale was balanced. The king practiced even further, knowing his merit grew day by day. He raised an army to go attack, but when he had just set out on the road, all the nāga kings, great and small, came out to welcome him. They respectfully presented the śarīra from their one stūpa to the king. Later, visiting the places where the Buddha had attained the Way and converted people, he built stūpas at each of them. (Drawn from the first fascicle of the *Aśokāvadāna* and the upper fascicle of the *Saṃyuktāvadāna Sūtra*.) Within the king's domain there were one thousand two hundred monasteries. He had one thousand two hundred banners woven with gold thread made. He also wished to hang and scatter one thousand-petaled gold flowers with his own hands. But just after preparing them, he contracted a severe illness. Fearing that his original wish would be thwarted, he shed tears. A śramaṇa said to the king: "The merit you have cultivated is beyond count. You should simply open your mind; what use is sorrow? Merely focus your mind, and I will enable you to achieve what you wished." With his spiritual power, the śramaṇa caused all one thousand two hundred monasteries to appear before the king. His painful illness was instantly eradicated. When he wished to attach the banners, all the stūpa pillars lowered themselves into the king's hands, fulfilling his original vow. His lifespan was extended by twenty-five years. (Drawn from the *Kāśyapa Sūtra* and the *Saṃyuktāvadāna Sūtra*.) Furthermore, over twenty years of promoting meritorious deeds, when approaching the end of his life, his continuous recollection of the Three Jewels was unbroken from thought to thought. Grudging nothing, he dedicated everything toward bodhi. (Drawn from the twenty-fifth fascicle of the *Saṃyuktāgama*.)