經律異相 10.24

10.24

In the past, the bodhisattva was a great king. He governed the people with benevolence, going on inspection tours month after month. For the poor, destitute, widows, widowers, and the sick, he provided medicine and gruel. Whenever he went out on an inspection tour, he ordered the rear carriages to be fully loaded with needed clothing, medicine, and food; the dead were given burial. The ruler's name spread throughout the ten directions. When Śakra saw his virtuous conduct, he feared that he would usurp his throne and thought to destroy him. Transforming himself into an old brahmacārin, he begged the king for a thousand silver coins. The king gave them to him at once. [The brahmacārin] said: 'I live in hardship and distress, and fear someone will steal them; I wish to deposit them with the king.' The king said: 'In my country there are no thieves; since you entrust them to me with great regard, I accept.' [Śakra] then transformed into another brahmacārin and went again to the palace gates. The king immediately received him. The brahmacārin praised him, saying: 'Great King, your name spreads across the eight extremes, and your virtuous conduct is rare indeed. I was born among the common folk, and admiring your exalted glory, I wish to beg for this kingdom.' The king said: 'Very good.' He then departed with his wife and child in a light carriage. The heavenly king transformed again into another brahmacārin and begged the king for the carriage. [The king] gave him the carriage and horses, and proceeded on foot with his wife and child, stopping at a mountain to lodge. There was an adept possessing the five supernormal powers who was friends with the king. Suddenly remembering the king's virtues, he saw that he had lost his kingdom; settling his mind in dhyāna, he saw that Heavenly Śakra, out of greed and jealousy, had seized the kingdom, leaving [the king] exhausted and emaciated. Using supernormal travel, the adept suddenly arrived at the king's place and asked: 'What do you seek that you wear down your resolve like this?' [The king] replied: 'What my resolve rests upon, you, my friend, already know fully.' The adept then transformed himself into a single-shafted carriage to convey the king. The transformed brahmacārin begged for that carriage too. They had not yet reached that foreign country, being still several thousand li away. The deity transformed again into the earlier brahmacārin and came to demand his silver coins. The king said: 'I gave my kingdom away to another, and inadvertently forgot your money.' The king immediately pawned his wife and child to obtain a thousand coins to repay the brahmacārin. The wife originally served in the pawnbroker's house. The daughter took off her pearls and various jewels while bathing; the deity transformed into a hawk and snatched away the clothes and jewels. The daughter claimed: 'The woman stole them,' and arrested her, casting her into prison. Her boy slept together with the pawnbroker's child. At night, the deity killed the pawnbroker's child. The household seized the boy and sent him to prison. Mother and son were detained; emaciated by starvation, they wept and sighed without rescue. Weeping all day long, their guilt was established and they were to be executed in the marketplace. The king earned a thousand silver coins through hired labor and went to redeem his wife and child. Passing through the marketplace, he saw them. He at once recollected the Buddhas and reproached himself, saying: 'Did my past deeds bring about this?' Calming his mind, he entered clear insight and saw that it was the work of the deity. A voice in the air said: 'Why not kill them quickly?' The king said: 'I have heard that Śakra saves all sentient beings, having a sincere and sorrowful heart that nurtures them beyond a loving mother, so that among all living creatures none fails to receive his protection. You obtained the throne of the gods through the absence of evil conditions; yet harboring severe malice, your evil has ripened and your crime is established—you shall fall alive into Mount Tai!' The devas, humans, nāgas, and ghosts all praised this as good. The ruler of the land immediately pardoned the wife and child of their crime. The two kings met and inquired into the origins of the matter; throughout the country, among great and small, none failed to shed tears. The ruler of the land divided his kingdom to govern jointly. The ministers and commoners of the former kingdom searched for the king's whereabouts, and from across the land they welcomed him. The residents of the two kingdoms experienced sorrow and joy respectively. The king at that time was myself; the wife was Yaśodharā; the prince was Rāhula; the heavenly king was Devadatta; the adept in the mountains was Śāriputra; and the king of that foreign country was Maitreya (Extracted from the first fascicle of the Collection of the Six Pāramitās).