法苑珠林 36.20

36.20

Furthermore, the Avadānaśataka states: The Buddha was in the country of Śrāvastī, at the Jetavana, the park of Anāthapiṇḍada. At that time, the wealthy elders of that city gathered together by a spring to play music and sing for their own amusement, holding a flower garland gathering for the vāraṇasi flower. At that time, within that gathering, one person was sent to the forest to gather vāraṇasi flowers to make garlands. When the flower-gatherer was returning to the gathering place, on the road he saw the marks, signs, and radiant light of the World-Honoured One shining universally like hundreds of thousands of suns. Feeling joyful in his heart, he went forward and bowed at the Buddha's feet, scattered the gathered flowers over the Buddha, and left. He went back and climbed a tree again to gather flowers, but a branch broke and he fell to his death. When his life ended, he was born in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, handsome and extraordinary, with a palace made of vāraṇasi flowers. Śakra asked him: 'Where did you cultivate meritorious karma to come and be born here?' He recounted the primary causes and conditions in full to Śakra. At that time, Śakra praised him with a verse: