經律異相 24.19

24.19

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)