法苑珠林 91.64

91.64

The *Aśokarāja-sūtra* also states: At that time, the monks saw this and asked the Venerable Upagupta, “What was the cause and condition for this?” The Venerable replied, “In the past, Kuṇāla was a hunter in the kingdom of Vārāṇasī. In a mountain cave, he caught five hundred deer. If he killed them all, the meat would rot; so he gouged out their eyes and ate one deer each day. From that time onward, across five hundred lifetimes, his eyes were constantly gouged out. Furthermore, in the past, after Krakucchanda Buddha entered nirvāṇa, there was a king named Duan-yan (Subha), who erected a stone stūpa for him, adorned with the seven treasures. After the king died, there was an evil king named Bu-xin (Aśraddha), who dismantled the stūpa to take the treasures, leaving only the earth and timber. Kuṇāla at that time was the son of an elder; he restored this stūpa using the seven treasures. He also made a great statue equal in size to the Buddha, and made a vow, saying, ‘May I in a future life become like this Buddha and attain supreme liberation!’ Because he originally restored the stūpa, he was born into a noble family; because he previously made the statue, he was always handsome; and because he made that vow, he has now attained the traces of the Path.”