經律異相 6.36

6.36

After Kāśyapa Buddha's nirvāṇa and cremation, a stūpa of the seven treasures was built with the Buddha's relics, and offerings were reverently made. Passing through several generations, the stūpa decayed and fell into ruins of itself, with no one to repair it. There was a righteous association in the city of ninety-three thousand people, with King Bimbisāra of that time as their leader. He told the assembly: 'Each of you should encourage yourselves to jointly create merit. A Buddha era is hard to encounter; a human body is hard to obtain. Even if one gains a human body, one might fall into border lands or be born in a house of heterodox views. Why should we crave these worldly pleasures? It is better to open our minds and repair the decaying stūpa and monastery.' They jointly repaired it, and jointly made a vow: 'If there is merit, may we not fall into the three wretched destinies or the eight states of adversity, but be born together among humans and devas, meet Śākyamuni, and at his first assembly's expounding of the Dharma, all attain liberation.' With the king as their leader, when the people of that time died, they were born in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven. Passing through several generations, when Śākyamuni appeared in the world, the ninety-three thousand people were born in the kingdom of Magadha, with Bimbisāra becoming king. (Extracted from the Lalitavistara Sūtra, fascicle 9)