法苑珠林 43.22

43.22

As the Saṃyuktāgama says: 'At that time, in the morning, the World-Honoured One put on his robes, took his bowl, and entered Rājagṛha with the bhikṣus to beg for food. At that time, the World-Honoured One's marks of light shone everywhere like the radiance of a thousand suns as he walked through the city. At that time, there were two boys, one of high birth and the other of secondary birth, playing together in the sand. One was named Jaya and the other was named Vijaya. Seeing from afar the World-Honoured One approaching, his body adorned with the thirty-two marks of a great man, the boy Jaya thought to himself: "I should take roasted barley meal in my hands and place fine sand into the World-Honoured One's bowl." At that time, Vijaya joined his palms in joyful approval, and made a vow, saying: "Through the wholesome merit of this generous gift, may he become a parasol-bearing king over one realm under heaven, and in this very life make offerings to the Buddha, even until attaining unsurpassed complete enlightenment." For this reason, the World-Honoured One showed a smile. At that time, Ānanda, seeing the World-Honoured One smile, immediately joined his palms toward the Buddha and said: "World-Honoured One, it is not without causes and conditions that you smile." At that time, the World-Honoured One told Ānanda: "There is a cause and condition for my smiling now. Ānanda, you should know that one hundred years after my nirvāṇa, this boy will govern a region in the city of Pāṭaliputra as a wheel-turning king, of the Maurya clan, named Aśoka. He will govern and transform beings with the True Dharma, and will also widely distribute my śarīras, building eighty-four thousand stūpas for the King of the Dharma to bring peace and joy to countless sentient beings." As the gāthā says: