經律異相 6.48

6.48

The four groups were lazy in inquiring about and listening to the Dharma. Śakra Devānām Indra invited the Buddha to ascend to the Thirty-Three Heavens to preach the Dharma to his mother during the three months of the summer retreat. The Tathāgata, wishing to engender longing and admiration in people, did not take an attendant and departed without a word. At that time, King Prasenajit of the country of Śrāvastī and King Udayana of the country of Kauśāmbī went to Ānanda's place and asked where the Buddha was. Ānanda answered, saying: 'I also do not know.' The two kings, longing to see the Tathāgata, thereupon fell physically ill. King Udayana immediately ordered the skilled craftsmen in his country to make an image of the Tathāgata out of ox-head candana, five feet tall. (From the nineteenth fascicle of the Ekottarika Āgama) King Udayana asked the Buddha, saying: 'After the Tathāgata's extinction, if one wishes to make an image of the Buddha and reverently serve it, what merit will one obtain?' The Buddha said: 'If one makes an image of the Buddha, in the places where one is reborn life after life, one's body and appearance will be handsome; after death, one will be reborn in the seventh Brahma heaven, and will furthermore surpass the various gods, being incomparably upright and handsome. One will always be reborn in a noble and wealthy family, with extraordinary strength, loved and respected by all, and with immeasurable wealth. Or one will be reborn in Jambudvīpa into a worthy and good family of emperors, kings, princes, and marquises; or one will be reborn as a wheel-turning king, flying through heaven and earth; or one will be reborn into a family of filial piety and virtue, and at death will not enter the three wretched destinies.' (From the Sūtra on the Causes and Conditions of Making Images)