法苑珠林 96.10

96.10

"At that time the great king / immediately arose from his seat,
sprinkled water on the queen, / and after a long while she revived.
Regaining mindfulness, / in a faint voice she asked the king:
'Are my sons now / dead or alive?'
Then the great king / told his queen:
'I will now send / ministers and envoys
all around, east and west, / to search for our sons.
You should for now / not grieve so greatly.'
After the great king had thus / comforted the queen,
he immediately prepared his carriage / and set forth from his palace.
When the great king / had gone out of the city,
he looked around in the four directions, / searching for his sons;
with an anguished and bewildered mind, / he did not know where they were.
At last, in the distance, he saw / a messenger approaching.
Having arrived before the king, / he spoke these words:
'May the king not sorrow; / your sons still live.
Before long they will arrive, / letting the king see them.'
In a brief moment, / another minister arrived:
'The great king should know / that one son has already died.
Though two sons survive, / they are desolate in grief.
The third prince, / seeing the tigress newly delivered,
starving for seven days, / feared she would eat her cubs.
Seeing this tigress, / he gave rise to deep compassion,
made a great vow: / "I shall deliver sentient beings,
and in future ages / realize bodhi."
He then climbed to a high place / and cast his body to the starving tigress.
Pressed by hunger, / the tigress arose and devoured him;
all flesh and blood / have been completely exhausted,
leaving only bones / scattered on the ground.'
At that time, the great king, / having heard the minister's words,
fainted again, / fell senseless to the ground,
and the raging fire of sorrow / burned within his body.
The ministers and kin / did likewise.
Sprinkling water on the king, / after a long while he revived;
arising again, he raised his hands / and wept, crying out to heaven.
Another minister arrived / and addressed the king, saying:
'Just now in the forest / I saw the two princes,
in bitter grief and sorrow, / crying out in lamentation,
swooning in despair, / casting themselves on the ground.
I then sought water / and sprinkled it on their bodies.'
'This youngest son / was cherished by me;
the great demon of impermanence / has suddenly swallowed him up.
Though the other two sons / are still alive,
they are burned / by the fire of grief;
perhaps for this reason / they may lose their life faculties.
I ought to go quickly / into that forest,
receive and carry my sons, / and return in haste to the palace.'
Their mother, following behind, / pressed by bitter sorrow,
together with her attendants / wished to reach that forest.
Right on the road / she saw her two sons,
crying to heaven and striking the earth, / calling their brother's name.
Then the king stepped forward, / embraced the two sons,
wailing and weeping, / and along the road returned to the palace,
quickly letting the two sons / see their mother.
The Buddha told the tree deity: / 'You should now know
that the prince at that time, / Mahāsattva,
who relinquished his body to feed the tigress, / was myself.
The great king at that time, / Mahāratha,
is now my father the king, / Śuddhodana.
The queen at that time / is now Māyā.
The first prince / is now Maitreya.
The second prince / is now Devadatta.
The tigress at that time / is now Gopā.
The tigress's seven cubs at that time / are now the five bhikṣus,
and Śāriputra / and Maudgalyāyana.'"