法苑珠林 37.11

37.11

又大阿育王經云。八國共分舍利。阿闍世王分數得八萬四千。又別得佛口髭。還國道中逢難。頭禾龍王從其求舍利分。阿闍世王不與。便語言。我是龍王力能壞汝國土。阿闍世王悑畏。即以佛髭與之。龍還於須彌山下高八萬四千里。於下起水精塔。阿闍世王得還國。以紫金函盛舍利。作千歲燈火於五殑伽河水中置塔埋之。後阿育得其國土。王娶夫人。身長八尺。髮亦同等。眾相具足。王令相師觀之。師言。當為王生金色之子。王即拜為第二夫人。後還有身。足滿十月。王有緣事宜出外行。王太后妬嫉。便作方便共欲除之。募覓猪母即應產者。語第二夫人言。卿是年少甫爾始產不可露面視天。以被覆面。即生金子光照宮中。盜持兒去殺之即以猪子著其邊。便罵言。汝云當為王生金色之子。何故生猪。便取輪頭拍。囚內後園中令服菜茹。王還聞之不悅。久久之後。王出行園見之憶念迎取歸宮。第二夫人漸得親近。具說情狀。王聞驚悑。即殺八萬四千夫人。阿育王後於城外。造立地獄治諸罪人。佛知王殺諸夫人應墮地獄。即遣消散比丘化王。王發信寤問比丘言。殺八萬四千夫人罪可得贖不。道人言。各為人起一塔。塔下著一舍利。當得脫罪耳。王即尋覓阿闍世王舍利。有國相父。年百二十。將五百人取本舍利。王得大喜。即分與鬼神。各還所部。令一日一時同戴八萬四千剎。諸鬼神言。多隔山障不得相知。王言。汝曹但還治槃護剎安鈴。我當使阿修倫以手摸日四天下亦同時震。

Furthermore, the Da Yuwang jing states: Eight countries divided the relics among themselves. King Ajātaśatru's share came to eighty-four thousand, and he separately obtained the Buddha's moustache. On the way returning to his country, he encountered disaster. The nāga king Touhe sought a share of the relics from him. King Ajātaśatru would not give them, so the nāga said to him, 'I am a nāga king, capable of destroying your kingdom.' King Ajātaśatru was terrified and immediately gave him the Buddha's moustache. The nāga returned to the base of Mount Sumeru, eighty-four thousand li high, and erected a crystal stūpa underneath. King Ajātaśatru managed to return to his country. Containing the relics in purple-gold caskets, he made lamps of a thousand years' duration and buried them in stūpas placed within the waters of the five Ganges rivers. Later, Aśoka obtained his kingdom. The king married a consort who was eight feet tall, whose hair was of equal length, and who was endowed with all marks. The king had a physiognomist examine her, and the master said, 'She will bear a golden-coloured son for the king.' The king immediately installed her as his second consort. Later, she became pregnant, and when the ten months were fulfilled, the king had official business requiring him to travel outside. The queen mother was jealous and devised an expedient to eliminate her. She sought a sow that was about to give birth and said to the second consort, 'You are young and this is your first childbirth; you must not expose your face to look upon the sky.' She covered her face with a quilt. She then gave birth to a golden child whose light illuminated the palace. Stealthily taking the child away, they killed it and placed the piglet at her side, scolding her: 'You claimed you would bear a golden-coloured son for the king; why have you given birth to a pig?' They then took a club, beat her, and imprisoned her in the rear garden, forcing her to eat only vegetables. When the king returned and heard of this, he was displeased. A long time later, when the king was strolling in the garden, he saw her, recalled the past, and welcomed her back to the palace. As the second consort gradually regained intimacy, she recounted the full circumstances. The king was shocked and terrified upon hearing this, and immediately executed eighty-four thousand consorts. Later, outside the city, King Aśoka constructed a hell to punish various offenders. Knowing that because the king had killed the consorts he was destined to fall into hell, the Buddha dispatched the monk Xiaosan to convert the king. The king gave rise to faith and awakening, and asked the monk, 'Can the sin of killing eighty-four thousand consorts be redeemed or not?' The man of the Way said, 'If you erect a stūpa for each person, placing a relic beneath each stūpa, you will be able to escape the sin.' The king immediately searched for King Ajātaśatru's relics. There was the father of a state minister, aged one hundred and twenty, who led five hundred men to retrieve the original relics. The king was overjoyed and distributed them to the spirits and gods, sending them back to their respective regions, ordering that at the same hour on the same day they simultaneously raise eighty-four thousand stūpa spires. The spirits said, 'Many are separated by mountains and barriers, so we cannot know one another's timing.' The king said, 'You just return and prepare the umbrella-tiers, secure the bells, and raise the spires; I will have an asura cover the sun with his hand, and the four continents will shake simultaneously.'