經律異相 11.8

11.8

In the past, immeasurable asaṃkhyeya kalpas ago, this world was then called Vimalasumeru. The human lifespan was one hundred years. A Buddha appeared in the world named Gandhahastin [or Sugandhapuṣpa, 'Fragrant Lotus']. During the Semblance Dharma after his parinirvāṇa, I was at that time a great and mighty wheel-turning sage king named Durnirodha ('Hard to Subdue'). Ruling over Jambudvīpa, I was fully endowed with a thousand sons. I admonished and converted them all, causing them to bring forth the mind of anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi, wishing that they would leave the household life and cultivate the Way during the Semblance Dharma to blaze forth and enhance the Buddha's bequeathed teachings. Only six sons refused to leave the household life and bring forth the bodhi-mind. Though I addressed them with wholesome words, in the end they would not leave home. I asked them again, bidding them bring forth the supreme mind of the Way. The six sons answered: 'If you can give us Jambudvīpa, then we shall bring forth the mind of anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi.' When I heard this, my heart gave rise to joy, and I reflected: 'I have now already converted the people of Jambudvīpa. Now I ought to divide this Jambudvīpa into six parts and give them to these six sons so that they may bring forth the supreme mind of the Way, and then I shall leave home and cultivate the Way.' I thereupon divided Jambudvīpa into six parts to bestow upon the six sons, and soon after left the household life. At that time, the six sons turned against one another, plundering, attacking, and warring. Thereupon, throughout the entire realm of Jambudvīpa, crops did not ripen, the people starved, rains were unseasonable, and the trees withered, bearing neither flowers nor fruits. Birds and beasts were all starved, their bodies burning [with hunger]. At that time, I cast off my own physical body, flesh, skin, and blood, to bestow upon sentient beings and satisfy them. At that time, I cast myself down, and through the power of my vow, I instantly became a mountain of meat, one yojana high, and equal in length and breadth. At that time, the people, flying birds, and beasts began to eat the meat and drink the blood. Through my original vow, from its midst my body expanded and grew larger, reaching a height of a thousand yojanas, with its length and breadth also equal at a thousand yojanas. Along its sides human heads spontaneously grew, fully endowed with hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, lips, and tongue. From each of those heads came a voice proclaiming these words: 'Sentient beings, take and use freely as you wish! Drink blood and eat meat; take eyes, ears, nose, tongue, teeth, and so forth, letting all be satisfied. Afterward, let all bring forth the mind of anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi, or bring forth the mind of a śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha, or seek the wealth and joy among gods and men!' Through the power of the original vow, the body suffered no diminish or loss, and for up to ten thousand years, humans, ghosts, spirits, flying birds, and beasts throughout Jambudvīpa were all fully satisfied. You should know now: the immeasurable, boundless asaṃkhyeyas of physical bodies I gave up throughout those ten thousand years in the past, giving my blood and flesh to immeasurable and boundless [beings] to let them all be fully satisfied, never gave rise to a single thought of regret. In this manner, progressively filling Buddha-worlds in the ten directions equal in number to the sands of the Ganges, I gave up the flesh and blood of my bodies to provide for sentient beings and fully satisfy them, for the sake of the perfection of giving (dāna-pāramitā). (Taken from the ninth fascicle of the Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka Sūtra; the Scripture on the World of the Past Fragrant Lotus Buddha is largely the same, but does not speak of the bodhisattva.)