法苑珠林 72.18

72.18

Furthermore, the Guan Fo sanmei jing says: The Buddha said: In Jambudvīpa and throughout the four continents, there is a garuḍa bird named King Garuḍa, who enjoys supreme mastery among all birds. By his karmic retribution, this bird is destined to eat dragons. In Jambudvīpa, he eats one dragon king and five hundred small dragons each day. On the second day, in Pūrvavideha; on the third day, in Aparagodānīya; on the fourth day, in Uttarakuru, he eats each as before, cycling through and beginning again, for eight thousand years. At that time, this bird's death signs appear; the dragons spew forth poison, and he has no means to obtain food. Hard-pressed by hunger, that bird wanders around frantically seeking food, but can find none at all. He roams among the various mountains and can never find peace. Reaching Mount Vajra, he then pauses briefly. From Mount Vajra he plunges straight down to the boundary of the great waters, and from the boundary of the great waters to the boundary of the wind-disc, and blown by the wind, returns to Mount Vajra. Having gone back and forth like this seven times, his life then ends. After his life ends, due to that poison, fires simultaneously blaze up on the ten jewel-mountains. At that time, the dragon king Nanda, fearing the burning of these mountains, sends down a great downpour of rain, with drops like carriage axles. The bird's flesh is completely dispersed, leaving only its heart. Its heart plunges straight down seven times as before, and then returns to rest upon the summit of Mount Vajra. The dragon king Nanda takes this bird's heart and uses it as a luminous pearl; a cakravartin obtains it as a wish-fulfilling jewel.