經律異相 46.5

46.5

The great asura king (called asurin in the Chang ahan jing) named Rāhu lives at the bottom of the great ocean to the north of Mount Sumeru. The water hangs suspended above his palace, held up by four winds (the Loutan jing says held up in accordance with the wind). The city walls are eighty thousand yojanas across, inside and outside in seven layers, three thousand yojanas high, with golden walls, silver gates, cool gardens and ponds, and various birds singing in harmony. It is ten thousand yojanas away from Mount Sumeru. His body is twenty-eight thousand li tall (the actual body of other asurins is one yojana tall, their garments two yojanas long and one yojana wide, weighing six zhu). He also eats solid food, and when bathed, his garments become fine, smooth food. On the fifteenth day of the month, he enters the middle of the ocean and transforms his physical form: the water below reaches his navel, while above he peers over Sumeru and covers the sun and moon with his fingers. When the gods of the sun and moon see his ugly form, they are all terrified and lose their radiance. When he travels and observes, natural winds blow open and shut the gates, blow the ground clean, and blow flowers to scatter. He has five ministers: the first is named Grasping; the second, Mighty Strength; the third, Martial Valour; the fourth, Head; the fifth, Subduing. They attend him on his left and right. Suddenly he thought to himself: "I have such authority, virtue, and supernormal power, yet the king of Trāyastriṃśa and the gods of the sun and moon walk above my head! I vow to take the sun and moon and make them my earrings." Gradually he became filled with great wrath and wished to beat them. He immediately thought of the two asurin kings, Śambara and Vemacitrin, along with their ministers, each to prepare weapons and go fight the gods. At that time, the two great nāga kings Nanda and Upananda coiled their bodies around Sumeru seven times; the mountain shook, clouds gathered, and with their tails they struck the water. The great ocean surged with waves, crowning the top of Sumeru. The Trāyastriṃśa gods said: "The asurins wish to fight!" The various nāgas, garuḍas, ghosts holding flowers, and ghosts of constant delight in the ocean, each leading their troops, engaged in combat one after another. If defeated, they all fled. The palaces of the Four Heavenly Kings prepared their chariots to attack, first informing Śakra. Śakra informed the gods above. Then, from the Yāma gods upwards to the Paranirmitavaśavartin gods, countless heavenly hosts, nāgas, and ghosts surrounded him in front and behind. Śakra commanded: "If my army wins, bind Vemacitrin with fivefold fetters and bring him back to the Sudharmā hall; I wish to look upon him." The asurin also said: "If my host wins, bind Śakra with fivefold fetters and bring him back to the Saptaparṇa hall; I wish to look upon him." There was a great battle, weapons clashed, but neither side harmed the other; merely touching their bodies gave rise to pain and distress. Śakra manifested a body with a thousand eyes, holding a vajra pestle, with smoke and flames issuing from his head. When the asurins saw this, their army retreated in defeat. Vemacitrin was captured, bound, and brought back. Seeing Śakra from afar, he hurled abusive words at him. Śakra replied: "I only wish to discuss the meaning of the Way with you." His lifespan was one thousand heavenly years, slightly more or mostly less. Because of an evil mind that loved to fight yet did not break the precepts, and greatly practiced giving, he received this body (from the Chang ahan, fascicle 20; the Loutan jing, Huayan jing, and Dazhidulun are roughly the same).