法苑珠林 40.14

40.14

Furthermore, the Aśokāvadāna says: Formerly, King Aśoka wished to take the śarīra that King Ajātaśatru had deposited. King Ajātaśatru had set up a great iron sword-wheel in the Gaṅgā River, making the water turn the wheel where the śarīra were placed; by various expedients he could not obtain them. He asked the monk Utpalavarṇa (Lianhua): “How can they be obtained?” The monk answered: “Tossing several thousand hu of crab apples into the water can stop the wheel.” Following these words, he tossed crab apples into the water. Trying one crab apple by chance, the crab apple fell into the aperture of the mechanism, and the sword-wheel immediately halted and no longer turned. However, a great dragon king was guarding them, so they could not be obtained at all. The king then asked: “By what means can they be obtained?” [The monk said:] “The dragon king's merit is superior, so by no means can they be obtained.” He asked: “How is it known that his merit is superior?” [The monk replied:] “Cast statues of the dragon and of the king in gold, and weigh them on a scale; the one that is heavier has superior merit.” Immediately weighing them, the dragon's statue was twice as heavy. Seeing this, the king diligently cultivated merit. Having cultivated merit, he cast the statues again and weighed them again; the king's statue and the dragon's statue weighed exactly the same. The king cultivated further merit and cast the statues again; looking at the weight, the king's statue had become heavier. Knowing the statue was heavier, the king led his armies to the water's edge. The dragon king came out of his own accord and offered various kinds of jewels. The king said to the dragon: “King Ajātaśatru bequeathed me the śarīra; I now wish to take them.” The dragon king knew of himself that his power was not equal, so he led the king to the place of the śarīra, opened the door, and took the śarīra to give him. The oil lamp that King Ajātaśatru had made was just on the point of running out; once the śarīra were brought out, the lamp was completely extinguished. The king marvelled and asked the monk Utpalavarṇa: “How did King Ajātaśatru measure the oil lamp so that it was only extinguished just as the śarīra were taken?” The venerable one answered: “At that time, there was an expert reckoner who calculated the amount of oil used in a hundred years; using such a calculation, he caused it to last until now.”