經律異相 7.27

7.27

When King Prasenajit had newly succeeded to the royal throne, he immediately thought: “I ought first to take a Śākya maiden [as wife].” He then instructed an official: “Carry my name, go to Kapilavastu, and ask to marry a maiden of theirs.” The five hundred Śākyas assembled in one place, all greatly enraged: “Our family is of noble clan; for what reason should we form a marriage alliance with the son of a slave woman?” Some said they should grant it; some said they should not. At that time Mahānāma said to the Śākyas: “King Prasenajit is violent and wicked by nature; he might destroy our state.” Now, Mahānāma had a slave woman who had borne a daughter with an upright and fair countenance. They bathed and clothed her, and in a feathered, jeweled carriage, [Mahānāma] personally escorted and took her to King Prasenajit. He said to the king: “This is my daughter; she may become your bride.” The king was then delighted and immediately appointed this maiden as his primary queen. In a few days she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, handsome without peer and extraordinary in the world. The king assembled diviners to name the child. The diviners said: “When the queen was sought, the Śākyas deliberated together; some gave to one another lapis lazuli (liúlí). Now let the crown prince be named Virūḍhaka (Liúlí).” When he was approaching eight years of age, the king told him: “You may go to Kapilavastu to learn the archery arts.” Riding a great elephant with many attendants, he went to Mahānāma's residence. [The Śākyas] gathered five hundred young boys to practice together with him. A newly built lecture hall was just like a heavenly palace. [The Śākyas said:] “We ought first to invite the Buddha and the saṅgha to offer them sustenance therein, receiving boundless merit.” They spread out seat cushions, hung up banners and canopies, sprinkled the ground with fragrant water, and burned diverse renowned incenses. Crown Prince Virūḍhaka went to the lecture hall and ascended the lion throne. The Śākyas, seeing this, shouted that he was the son of a slave woman, dragged him outside the gates, and threw him to the ground. Crown Prince Virūḍhaka looked back and spoke to the brahmacārin Suprasādaka: “These Śākyas have deeply humiliated me! When I succeed to the royal throne later, you must report this matter to me.” When the father king died and the crown prince succeeded to the throne, the ascetic reported it to the king. The king ordered his ministers to gather the fourfold army to go and subjugate the Śākyas. Arriving at Kapilavastu, the Bhagavat went out to meet him, sitting cross-legged beneath a withered tree. The crown prince saw him from afar, descended from his chariot, paid homage, and asked: “There are other fine trees; why do you sit beneath this one?” The Buddha said: “The shade of one's kinsmen is superior to that of outsiders.” At that time the king said: “Today the Bhagavat acts for the sake of his kinsmen; I should not campaign against them.” But the brahmacārin insisted on his counsel, and the king again raised an army. Maudgalyāyana said to the Buddha: “King Virūḍhaka (the Ekottarika-āgama, division 19, says King Virūḍhaka; the account is largely the same) is going to attack the Śākyas. I wish to take his fourfold army and cast it all to another land; I also wish to lift them out into empty space; I also wish to move and place them into the ocean; I also wish to move and place them between the Iron Circle mountains; I also wish to move the people and place them in the great lands of another region; and I also wish to cover the city with an iron cage.” The Buddha said: “Though you possess wisdom and virtue, you ultimately cannot preserve the people of the Śākya state. Sentient beings have seven things that cannot be avoided: first, birth; second, old age; third, illness; fourth, death; fifth, guilt; sixth, merit; and seventh, causes and conditions. Even if in mind one wishes to avoid them, one can never escape. How could you cover over their past karma?” Maudgalyāyana's intent still did not rest. He picked up four to five thousand acquaintances, put them all inside his bowl, and raised and placed them into the midst of the constellations in empty space. The Śākyas also gathered their fourfold army and marched out one yojana to meet King Virūḍhaka. From within one yojana, the Śākyas saw King Virūḍhaka from afar; [their arrows] pierced his ear and hair-tuft, and destroyed bowstrings, weapons, banners, and standards completely, without ever harming a person. At that time King Virūḍhaka was gripped with great terror and told his ministers: “Look at where these arrows come from! If they set their minds on harming us, we will surely all die.” He ordered a retreat to Śrāvastī. The brahmacārin Suprasādaka said: “Great King, do not fear! The Śākyas uphold the precepts; they do not even harm an insect, how much less a person? You should advance now.” The king then complied with him. The Śākyas indeed retreated and returned into the city. King Virūḍhaka said: “Open the city gates quickly! If not, all will be slain.” In the city was a young boy only fifteen years of age named Śama. He mounted the city wall and fought alone, wounding and killing many; the rebel army scattered and hid in earthen holes. At that time the Śākyas told the young boy: “You bring shame upon our lineage! Who does not know how to fight? The Śākyas cultivate good; they do not kill insects or ants, how much less human lives? Each one of us is a match for ten thousand, and is fully able to destroy an army. But because of taking human life, upon death one enters hell, and if born among humans, one's lifespan is brief. Leave quickly now; you must not stay.” Śama then left the state on his own. King Virūḍhaka's army came to the gate once again. The evil Māra Pāpīyān took the form of a Śākya and called out to open the gate quickly. The Śākyas opened the gate. King Virūḍhaka said: “Since the Śākyas are numerous, bury them all to the feet and have furious elephants trample them to death. Select five hundred Śākya maidens and bring them to the king's quarters.” At that time Mahānāma begged a boon from the king, and the king granted it. Mahānāma said: “I will now submerge in water; whether I take long or short, allow the Śākyas to flee as they please. When I emerge from the water, you may kill them wherever they are.” The king said: “Very well.” [Mahānāma] then entered the depths of the water, tied his hair to tree roots, and ended his own life. The Śākyas in the city rushed out through the four gates in competition. The king said to his ministers: “Father Mahānāma has not yet emerged.” They immediately entered the water and pulled him out, already dead. Regret arose in the king's heart: “My maternal grandfather has now taken his own life, all out of love for his kinsmen. Had I known earlier, I would never have attacked them.” Virūḍhaka slew 99,900,000 people. Blood flowed, forming a river circling the city of Kapilavastu. After the army had left, Maudgalyāyana said to the Buddha: “Relying on the Buddha's divine power, I have protected four to five thousand people.” The Buddha said: “Go and look at them.” Maudgalyāyana lowered the bowl; the people were all already dead. [Virūḍhaka] went to Nyagrodha Park and said to the five hundred Śākya maidens: “Do not sorrow! I am your husband.” Seizing one Śākya maiden, she said: “Why should I now be intimate with the son of a slave woman?” The king immediately amputated her hands and feet and cast her into a deep pit. All five hundred Śākya maidens reviled the king, saying: “Who would surrender her body to have congress with the son of a slave woman?” The king commanded that the five hundred Śākya maidens be punished according to the former method. He returned to the state of Śrāvastī. Crown Prince Jeta was performing various types of music in the deep palace. Hearing the sound, the king turned his chariot and went to him. Jeta came out of the gate to meet him, saying: “Welcome, Great King; please halt your chariot a while.” King Virūḍhaka said: “Did you not hear that I was fighting the Śākyas? You play with courtesans and did not assist me!” Jeta replied: “I heard of it, but I cannot bear to kill sentient beings.” King Virūḍhaka struck down Jeta with his own hand. The Buddha saw that Jeta was reborn in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. At that time the five hundred Śākya maidens took refuge and cried out the name of the Tathāgata: “Born together in the Śākya clan, you left home and became a Buddha. We suffer this excruciating venom, yet are we not remembered?” The Buddha, together with the monks, went to Kapilavastu. The women, seeing him from afar, all felt ashamed. The Bhagavat looked back and spoke to Śakra Devānām Indra, saying: “These women feel shame.” Śakra immediately covered these women with heavenly garments. The Buddha told Vaiśravaṇa: “These women have been hungry and thirsty for days.” [Vaiśravaṇa] immediately prepared heavenly food, and all were filled to repletion. The Buddha expounded for them the path of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the way. The defilements of the women were all exhausted, and they attained purity of the Dharma eye. Each took their own death in that place, and all were reborn in heaven. The Buddha arrived at the eastern gate and saw that in the city, smoke and fire were blazing fiercely. Looking back, he said to the monks: “Formerly I expounded the Dharma here together with the monks; now it is like an empty wasteland with no people. From now on, I will not come here again.” He returned to the Jetavana grove in the state of Śrāvastī and announced to the monks: “Seven days from now, King Virūḍhaka and his armies will all be utterly destroyed.” Hearing this, the king was terrified. The brahmacārin Suprasādaka said: “Inside and out there is not a speck of dust; Great King, simply amuse yourself.” The king sent someone to count the days; on the morning of the seventh day, the king was overjoyed. Leading his armies and courtesans, he went to the bank of the Aciravatī River to feast together. A great thunderclap suddenly struck, unseasonable clouds arose, and a violent storm of wind and rain injured, submerged, and drowned them, destroying them all at once. The king entered the Avīci Hell while still alive. Furthermore, a heavenly fire burned down the palace city. The monks asked the Buddha: “By what cause did the Śākyas now encounter this suffering?” The Buddha said: “In the past, there was a fishing village in the city of Rājagṛha. At that time there was a famine in the world; people ate grass roots, and traded one dou of gold for one dou of rice. In the village was a great pond exceedingly abundant in fish, which the people caught and ate. There were two kinds of fish: one named Kusvā (the Xīngqǐ xíng jīng says Qū) and the second named Bahujihva. They said to each other: ‘We are creatures of the water and do not dwell on dry land, yet these people all come to eat us.’ In the village was a child, only eight years of age, who although he did not catch fish, felt delighted when seeing it. The people of Rājagṛha village were the present Śākyas; the Kusvā fish was King Virūḍhaka; the Bahujihva fish was the brahmacārin Suprasādaka; and the little child who saw the fish and laughed was I. For the guilt of catching the fish, they suffered the torments of hell for countless kalpas; now there was this remaining retribution. Because I saw them and laughed with delight, I now suffer a headache as if pressed by a stone, or as if carrying Mount Sumeru (the Shijia bijui jing is largely the same with minor differences, but its text is lengthy and not recorded in full).” Many people on their seats, hearing the Buddha preach the teaching of impermanence, attained the fruit of srotaāpanna (from the Shijia bijui jing, and also from the Dīrghāgama and Dharmapada Avadāna Sūtra).