菩薩從兜術天降神母胎說廣普經 6.11

6.11

At that time, among the assembled bodhisattvas, devas, nāgas, ghosts and spirits, asuras, gandharvas, garuḍas, mahoragas, kiṃnaras, humans, non-humans, those in training, those beyond training, and the fourfold assembly—bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās—the Tathāgata observed and knew what was in the minds of all sentient beings: "They wish for the Tathāgata to explain the ultimate accomplishment of immeasurable ascetic practices, and with what initial resolution he attained the Buddha path." Knowing their minds, the Buddha immediately expounded his original, diligent ascetic practices. The Buddha told the gathered bodhisattva mahāsattvas: "Listen to the true characteristic of phenomena that I preach. The path is neither attained by means of mundane conventions, nor is it attained apart from mundane conventions; it does not come from the true path, nor is it apart from the true path. Why? The white is wondrous within the dark, the path is wondrous within the mundane, and the sweet surpasses the bitter and pleasant. Why is this? Formerly, when I studied the path, with direct faith and without doubt, I became the King of the Sun and Moon. The sun palace was fifty-one yojanas in length and breadth; the moon palace was forty-nine yojanas in length and breadth. The sun emitted one hundred and ten million rays of light, and the moon emitted one hundred million rays of light. When I was the Sun and Moon Deva King, I thought it was permanent, imperishable, and indestructible; passing through lands as numerous as the sands of billions of Ganges rivers, I acted as the Sun Deva King and acted as the Moon Deva King, yet when my life ended, only then did I realize it was not real, not true. Later, as my lifespan progressively decreased, I became the chief minister of the sun and moon named Vogara, whose palace was twenty-five yojanas in length and breadth. Next, I again became Bṛhaspati, whose palace was twenty yojanas in length and breadth. Next, I again became Aṅgāraka, whose palace was nineteen yojanas in length and breadth. Next, I again became Śukra, whose palace was nineteen yojanas in length and breadth. Next, I again became Śani, whose palace was fifteen yojanas in length and breadth. These five ministers attended the left and right of the sun and moon. For countless hundreds of thousands of kalpas, I was these five planets; when my lifespan ended, I fell, and as this was also not real, my lifespan progressively decreased.