法苑珠林 8.83

8.83

When the thousand holy kings heard these words, they all fell silent. The Buddha told Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla, 'You should know that the first brahman who praised dānapāramitā was King Prabhadīpa Buddha of the past. Raudrabhadra was Dīpaṃkara Buddha of the past. The thousand holy kings who left home to study the Way, seeing Dīpaṃkara Buddha perform such austerities, gave rise to regret in their hearts and fell into the great hells for one kalpa. Although they fell into the hells, because the power of their bodhi vows adorned their minds, the fire could not burn them. From then on, they further encountered Bodhisattva Lamp Light King, who preached the Dharma for them and brought them out of the hells, extensively praising for them the thousand Buddhas of the past, from Muktikīrti-alaṃkāra Buddha down to Īśvararāja Buddha. When the thousand holy kings heard the names of the thousand Buddhas, they rejoiced and paid homage. Due to these causes and conditions, they bypassed the offenses of birth and death spanning nine hundred million nayutas of Ganges sands of kalpas. Bhadrapāla, you should now know: how could those thousand holy kings have been other people? They are we, the thousand Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa.'