經律異相 27.10

27.10

In the distant kalpas of the past, there was a Buddha who appeared in the world in this city of Kuśinagara, named Joy and Increase (Nandivardhana). After dwelling in the world for an immeasurable time and transforming sentient beings, he entered parinirvāṇa between the twin śāla trees. After the Buddha's nirvāṇa, his bequeathed Dharma remained in the world for immeasurable hundreds of millions of years. When forty years remained before the Buddha-Dharma was to be extinguished, there was a precept-holding monk named Jñānaprabha. He had many disciples and retinues surrounding him, was able to roar the lion's roar, and broadly expounded the scriptures. He prohibited the monks from keeping male and female slaves, cattle, sheep, and other improper items. At that time, there were many precept-breaking monks who, hearing this spoken, all gave rise to malicious thoughts. Grasping knives and clubs, they pressed upon this Dharma master. At that time, the king of the kingdom, named Youde, heard of this matter. In order to protect the Dharma, he immediately went to the place of the Dharma speaker and fought fiercely with these wicked, precept-breaking monks, enabling the Dharma speaker to escape harm. At that time, the king was wounded over his entire body. Jñānaprabha immediately praised the king, saying, 'Excellent, excellent! Today, O King, you are truly one who protects the true Dharma. In future ages, this body will be an immeasurable vessel of the Dharma.' The king, having heard the Dharma at that time, rejoiced greatly in his heart, and immediately died. He was born in the Buddha-land of Akṣobhya to become his foremost disciple. The king's officers, attendants, subjects, and kin—those who fought and those who rejoiced along with them—all did not retrogress from the bodhicitta; at the end of their lives, they were all born in the Buddha-land of Akṣobhya. Later, when the monk Jñānaprabha's lifespan ended, he was also reborn in the Buddha-land of Akṣobhya, becoming the second disciple among the assembly of śrāvakas. When the true Dharma is about to be extinguished, one should uphold and protect it in this manner. The king at that time was my own self, and the monk who expounded the Dharma was Kāśyapa Buddha (from the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, fascicle 3).