法苑珠林 99.43

99.43

如付法藏經云。時有國王名罽膩吒。貪虐無道數出征伐。勞役人民不知厭足。欲王四海戍備邊境。親戚分離。若斯之苦。何時寧息。宜可同心共摒除之。然後我等乃當快樂。因王病虐以被鎮之。人坐其上須臾氣絕。由聽馬鳴比丘說法緣故。生大海中作千頭魚劍輪迴注斬截其首。續復尋生次第更斬。如是展轉乃至無量。須臾之間頭滿大海。時有羅漢為僧維那。王即白言。今此劍輪聞揵稚音。即便停止。於其中間苦痛小息。唯願大德垂哀矜愍。若鳴揵稚延令長久。羅漢愍念為長打之。過七日已受苦便畢。而此寺上。因彼王故。次第相傳。長打揵稚。至於今日。猶故如本。

As the Fu fazang jing says: At that time there was a king named Kaniṣka. He was greedy, tyrannical, and unprincipled, repeatedly launching military campaigns and wearing out the people without knowing satiety. Seeking to rule the four seas, he garrisoned the frontiers, causing relatives to be separated. [His subjects thought,] 'When will such suffering ever cease? We should unite in mind to eliminate him together; only then will we find happiness.' Taking advantage of the king's illness and suffering, they smothered him with a quilt; people sat upon it, and in an instant his breath was cut off. Because he had listened to the monk Aśvaghoṣa preach the Dharma, he was reborn in the great ocean as a thousand-headed fish. A wheel of swords circled and severed his heads, but as soon as they were cut off they grew again and were severed once more in succession; this rotated unceasingly to an immeasurable extent, and within an instant heads filled the great ocean. At that time, an arhat was serving as the monastic karmadāna. The king addressed him, saying, 'Now, whenever this wheel of swords hears the sound of the ghaṇṭā, it immediately halts, and during that interval my pain briefly ceases. I only pray that the Venerable One will take pity and show compassion: if you strike the ghaṇṭā, prolong it for a long time.' Out of pity, the arhat struck it for an extended duration. After seven days had passed, his suffering was ended. At this monastery, because of that king, the practice of striking the ghaṇṭā for a long duration was passed down in succession, and even down to the present day it remains as it was originally."