Selected Lectures on the Sutra of the Meeting of Father and Son
Chapter Two The Story of King of Boundlessness (Anantarāja)
Original text: 大王。乃往过去。无量俱胝。那由他劫。有转轮王。名无边称。富贵自在。有大威德。象马车乘。众宝辇舆。最胜轮宝。无能坏者。已曾亲近。无量诸佛。于彼佛所。种多善根。随意所念。皆得成就。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, countless boundless kalpas ago, there was a wheel-turning sage king named King of Boundlessness (Anantarāja). He was extremely wealthy and at ease, and possessed great majestic virtue; he had elephants, horses, chariots, and palanquins adorned with many treasures, was endowed with the seven treasures, and also had the most supreme wheel treasure that no one could destroy. This King of Boundlessness had in the past drawn near and made offerings to immeasurable Buddhas, planting abundant roots of goodness at the places of so many Buddhas. Due to the attraction of those roots of goodness and merit, whatever he thought of in his mind would be accomplished; all his ideas could be realized.
The World-Honored One told this story in order to teach King Śuddhodana not to crave wealth, honor, and pleasures anymore, and to alert King Śuddhodana that those whose minds are never content will surely suffer future calamity. The story speaks of what retributive results come when the human mind craves the world without satisfaction. This story proves that the human mind truly is never satisfied; those who have not eradicated greed do not easily know contentment with regard to the five desires and the six sense objects—even King of Boundlessness, who had planted roots of goodness at the places of immeasurable Buddhas, was no exception.
In the Indian language, "koṭi-nayuta kalpas" means an extremely, extremely long span of time. One complete cycle of the earth's formation, abiding, destruction, and voidness is one great kalpa, equal to 80 times 16.8 million years. That long ago, an immeasurable number of great kalpas past, there was a wheel-turning king named King of Boundlessness. Wheel-turning kings are divided into four kinds: golden wheel kings, silver wheel kings, copper wheel kings, and iron wheel kings. The iron wheel king, of the lowest royal rank, can only govern one great continent—for example, governing solely Jambudvīpa of our earth, or solely Pūrvavideha, ruling just one continent. Copper wheel kings rule two continents, silver wheel kings rule three continents, and golden wheel kings rule four continents.
At the foot of Mount Sumeru there are in all four great continents surrounding it. Around the Mount Sumeru of every small world there are these four great continents. The Sahā world has in total one billion Mount Sumerus; that is to say, the Sahā world of Buddha Śākyamuni—one trichiliocosm—has one billion earths, one billion Jambudvīpas, one billion Pūrvavidehas, one billion Aparagodānīyas, and one billion Uttarakurus, and thus there would be one billion golden wheel kings, while copper wheel kings and iron wheel kings would number even more than one billion. The blessings these wheel-turning sage kings obtained all came from having made offerings to immeasurable thousands of myriads of koṭis of Buddhas; this is blessing within the world of the three realms.
The wheel-turning king was extremely wealthy and at ease, with power and influence and great majestic virtue, and had the seven treasures such as the elephant treasure, horse treasure, chariot treasure, gold, silver and jewels, and palanquins. Standing upon a seven-treasure palanquin, the wheel-turning king could fly in an instant from Jambudvīpa of our earth to the other continents, and could even fly in an instant to Śakra in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. This was brought about by the golden wheel king's blessings: whatever he wanted he could obtain—of course, within the material scope of the desire realm.
The wheel-turning king cultivated this blessing only after having drawn near immeasurable Buddhas. If one has not cultivated blessings and merit, then even a college student or a doctoral student, striving for a whole lifetime in this world, will still not succeed; although their abilities are complete, without blessings they cannot obtain what they need and want. But one who has cultivated blessings, even if illiterate, can be greatly wealthy and noble. Why did many poets of the past complain in their verses that they had talent but met no opportunity? Because talent alone is useless; one must also have blessings. All the merit sentient beings obtain in this life was cultivated in past lives. If one wants great merit for one's own use, one must cultivate blessings unceasingly. No merit ever falls from the sky; it all comes from cultivating blessings that benefit others. If sentient beings want to obtain the greatest merit, they must cultivate much merit within the Mahāyāna Dharma and make many offerings to the Three Jewels.
The golden wheel king made offerings to immeasurable Buddhas and planted so many roots of goodness, and only then did he become a golden wheel king. If Buddhist practitioners do not diligently cultivate precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom, but only recite a single Buddha's name, hoping that at the end of life they can be reborn in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) and there await becoming a Buddha in one lifetime—can they become Buddhas? Many people have made offerings only to Buddha Śākyamuni, and even that not well; arriving in the land of bliss, they encounter only one Buddha, Amitābha, plus a small number of other Buddhas, and the merit they obtain is far from enough to become a Buddha. Even to be a golden wheel king one must make offerings to immeasurable Buddhas—how much more so for such a far more supreme retributive result as accomplishing the Buddha Way. The Buddha said in the sūtras that for sentient beings to become Buddhas, they must all make offerings to immeasurable, boundless numbers of Buddhas, listening to the sūtras and hearing the Dharma beside every single Buddha, making offerings to the Buddhas life after life; only then can their merit become complete, so that they become the World-Honored One, perfectly endowed with both merit and wisdom.
Therefore it cannot be that by reciting a Buddha's name and reaching the land of bliss one becomes a Buddha. Without fully knowing and fully realizing the principle of becoming a Buddha, without sufficient experience in delivering sentient beings, and without immeasurable meditative concentrations (samādhi), it is impossible to become a Buddha easily. If such an effortless thing truly existed—becoming a Buddha by reciting a Buddha's name—then if disciples wanted to listen to the Dharma but one could not even expound the Hīnayāna teachings, let alone the Mahāyāna teachings, how could one deliver sentient beings? Besides, where would these disciple-sentient beings come from? Having never delivered disciples and never formed affinities with sentient beings, how could one possibly have disciples? Without having delivered sentient beings there are no disciples; without the assistance of disciples one cannot establish a Buddha-land, much less become a Buddha.
For example, to be a king: without ministers and without subjects, one cannot be a king. Having only been to the land of bliss, never having delivered sentient beings, with blessings incomplete and unable to expound the sūtras and speak the Dharma, with wisdom incomplete—how could one become a Buddha? When one becomes a Buddha, one must have immeasurable, boundless disciples assisting in spreading the Dharma. First of all, the two great disciples on the left and right are bodhisattvas of equal enlightenment protecting at the Buddha's side; there are also the many bodhisattvas from the first to the ninth bhūmi, as well as bodhisattvas newly enlightened, ordinary bodhisattvas, śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and so on. These disciples must all be immeasurable and boundless in number before a Buddha-land can be established. Therefore, one who wants to become a Buddha must make offerings to immeasurable Buddhas and constantly follow immeasurable Buddhas to study the Dharma, so that one's own merit may soon be perfectly complete.
Before becoming a Buddha one must study a great deal of Buddha-Dharma; it cannot all be learned beside a single Buddha. The Tripitaka and twelve divisions of the canon preserved in Jambudvīpa are only a tiny portion of the Dharma the Buddha taught. The Dharma the Buddha spoke in the Sahā world is as scant as the dirt under a fingernail, while the Dharma he never spoke in the Sahā world is as abundant as the soil of the great earth. Even so, the Tripitaka and twelve divisions in Jambudvīpa already appear to sentient beings as vast as a sea; many people can read only one tenth or one twentieth of it—how much more the extremely abundant Dharma the Buddha never spoke out. The Buddha-Dharma is truly vast and boundless; therefore we need to make offerings to immeasurable Buddhas, constantly follow the Buddhas to cultivate and study, and constantly cultivate merit; only then can we finally accomplish the Buddha Way.
Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。忽于一时。作是思惟。我当自试。福德之力。以我福故。令四天下。所有一切。树木花果。皆得茂盛。受用无尽。作是念已。彼四天下。所有花果。而得敷荣。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, that wheel-turning king, King of Boundlessness, at a certain time suddenly thought of one thing: "I should test how great my merit is and how strong its power is. With the power of my blessings, let all the flowers, fruits, and trees of the four continents—Jambudvīpa, Pūrvavideha, Aparagodānīya, and Uttarakuru—grow lush and luxuriant, and after growing provide inexhaustible enjoyment, never to be picked to the end." After the wheel-turning king King of Boundlessness raised this thought, all the trees, flowers, and fruits of the four continents indeed flourished as he wished, laden with fruit.
Without merit, one cannot even make a single sapling grow sturdy, let alone the flowers, fruits, and trees of the four great continents. The wheel-turning king could make the flowers, fruits, and trees of the four continents all grow extremely luxuriant, with the melons and fruits they bore exceedingly abundant and plentiful, so that the sentient beings of the four continents could never exhaust their enjoyment. A single thought of the wheel-turning king could accomplish this—how strong must his mental power be? Was it the working of mental power? In fact, it was the power of merit.
Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。如是思惟。我今更试。自善根力。令四天下。一切人民。若有所愿。随意无违。作是念已。彼四天下。所有人民。一切希求。皆得如意。
Explanation: Great King, that wheel-turning king, King of Boundlessness, raised another thought and deliberated thus: "I now wish to see just how great the power of my roots of goodness is. Let all the people of the four continents, if they have wishes and prayers, obtain whatever they need at will—whatever they want they get, without going against their wishes." After King of Boundlessness gave rise to this thought, all the people of the four continents had every hope fulfilled as they wished.
Can the four continents be counted? They cannot. Today Jambudvīpa alone has several billion people, and the other three great continents have even more. One wish per person—if every one of them could be satisfied to their hearts' content, how great must that power of thought be; this counts as benefiting and bringing joy to sentient beings. After King of Boundlessness made this thought, the people of the four continents truly obtained whatever they wanted. In our present world, because sentient beings' blessings are meager (alpa-puṇya), the birth of a wheel-turning sage king cannot be attracted, so there are no wheel-turning sage kings now.
Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复更思惟。以我所有。善根力故。令四天下。普雨妙花。作是念已。于四天下。降雨种种。上妙天花。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, that King of Boundlessness raised another thought and deliberated thus: "By the power of all my roots of goodness, let wondrous flower-rain fall everywhere over the four continents." After he gave rise to this thought, over the four continents there fell all kinds of supremely wondrous celestial flowers, as many as rain.
The flowers on earth are not beautiful enough; compared with the celestial flowers of heaven they appear rather coarse, while the flowers in heaven are extremely wondrous and supreme, their fragrance and colors far more magnificent than those of the human world. Even so, by doing this King of Boundlessness also consumed an enormous amount of his own merit: he cashed out all the merit he had cultivated at the places of immeasurable Buddhas, leaving no deposits. Once there are no deposits in the tathāgatagarbha, that merit vanishes and nothing one does can be accomplished. Therefore we who study Buddhism must not squander our own merit at will; we should enjoy blessings as little as possible and save them for the purpose of becoming Buddhas.
Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复更思惟。以我所有。善根力故。令四天下。雨妙宝衣。作是念已。于四天下。悉雨宝衣。
Explanation: Great King, that King of Boundlessness again had this thought: "By the power of all my roots of goodness, let wondrous jeweled garments rain down over the four continents, like rain." After he gave rise to this thought, indeed over the four continents a rain of jeweled garments entirely fell.
Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复更思惟。以我所有。善根力故。令四天下。悉皆雨银。作是念已。于四天下。皆得雨银。
Explanation: Great King, that King of Boundlessness again deliberated thus: "By the power of all my roots of goodness, let a rain of silver fall over the four continents." After he gave rise to this thought, indeed over the four continents silver entirely rained down, like rain. His greed kept growing; after this thought of raining silver arose, silver truly rained from the sky.
Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复更思惟。以我所有。善根力故。令四天下。降雨黄金。作是念已。于四天下。皆雨黄金。所以者何。皆由无边称王。于往昔时。与诸众生。共修善业。之所获得。
Explanation: Great King, that King of Boundlessness again deliberated thus: "By the power of all my roots of goodness, let a rain of gold fall over the four continents." After he gave rise to this thought, indeed a rain of gold fell over the four continents. Why could this be—raining gold when he wished gold to rain, raining silver when he wished silver to rain? This was all because this wheel-turning sage king, in past times, had together cultivated wholesome karma with all those sentient beings who received the benefit; only thus could he obtain such retributive results.
This time the wheel-turning king wanted a rain of gold; his greed grew ever greater, no longer craving small things. If that greedy thought of his could become reality, what does it show? It shows that his merit was very great; only thus could these greedy thoughts be realized. If a person has a thought that gold should fall from the sky and gold truly falls, under what circumstances could that happen? Only under the circumstance that all people under heaven have such great merit. Not only must the person making the thought have merit, but the other people concerned who are to receive the benefit must also have the merit to enjoy these benefits. If those who would enjoy it together lack the merit to enjoy it, that rain of gold cannot fall; even if it could fall, those without merit could not obtain it. Without karmic seeds of merit, the flowers and fruits of merit cannot appear; the merit of sentient beings must be complete—this is a prerequisite. In the age when the wheel-turning sage king lived, his subjects all had great blessings; only because they had that blessing in their destinies could they attract a rain of gold over the world.
This was brought about by the common karma of the wheel-turning sage king and the people of the four continents. Common karma means having accumulated the same merit together; only then can one share together the common retributive results. For example, husband and wife have common karma; without common karma they cannot come together. Husband and wife both have the same wholesome or unwholesome karma and can together attract wealth and honor or poverty; it is impossible for one to be wealthy and noble while the other is poor—then they could not come together. If the common karma of the two spouses is exhausted, with one due to receive the retributive result of wealth and honor and the other the retributive result of poverty, the two cannot live together. Parents and children also have common karma. If parents and children have no common karma—for instance, if the parents are due to receive the retributive result of poverty while the children are due to enjoy the retributive result of wealth and honor—then after the children grow up and leave home, they will prosper and become wealthy elsewhere, and the parents cannot enjoy it, showing that they had no common karma. Sentient beings live together on the earth, so the humans on earth all have common karma; likewise, those living in one small city—the people of that small city also have common karma.
Therefore, if one wants the retributive result of wealth and honor, there is no need to seek it; it suffices to truly practice generosity (dāna) and cultivate blessings—whoever cultivates obtains it, and whoever does not cultivate does not obtain it. Wholesome karma has no boundary and no limit; it is not that if you cultivate this karma of wealth and honor, then I no longer have it—each who cultivates obtains it; if all people cultivate it, all people obtain it. Therefore common karma gathers sentient beings in one place, while uncommon karma separates them from one another. In the land of bliss, the common karma of sentient beings attracts heavenly clothing and heavenly food existing naturally, with the seven treasures everywhere and gold paving the ground—that is the common karma of the sentient beings of the land of bliss—whereas people on earth wear gold on their bodies as a treasure. When the blessings of the earth's people have been enjoyed until little remains, the best thing on earth will be iron; the humans of that time, upon obtaining a piece of scrap iron, will wear it as a treasure, because sentient beings have no blessings; the common karma of the blessingless attracts vile things, with no treasures.
When the earth was first formed, sweet springs were spread everywhere and the earth's richness grew naturally; at that time humans had descended from the second dhyāna heaven and had great merit. Later, sentient beings gave rise to greed and their merit decreased, so the sweet springs and the earth's richness vanished and no longer appeared, and natural rice began to grow. Later, when blessings decreased further, even the natural rice no longer grew, and humans had to plant the five grains; right up to the present, crops have been planted by human labor. Today on earth, the highly nutritious five grains and plants—even their names can no longer be heard; this is the result of consuming merit. The sentient beings of the present age all belong to those of meager merit (alpa-puṇya), and the sentient beings of the future will be of even meagerer merit than those of today; the tasty grains and rice will all have disappeared—they will neither eat nor see them, and may not even hear of them. Therefore everything we need in life comes from our blessings.
Where are these blessings stored? They are all stored in the tathāgatagarbha. The tathāgatagarbha is our bank of merit. If we consume all the deposits in the bank, we will become poor and lowly people; if the merit deposited in the bank is not withdrawn, or only a little is withdrawn for enjoyment, we are wealthy and noble great elders. Practitioners should deposit much and use little; after withdrawing it, use it again to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings, thereby depositing the blessing back in; then the deposits in the bank will grow ever greater, with interest compounding upon interest. When the cultivation of merit is perfected, one can become a Buddha.
If we are to compare with one another, do not compare who enjoys more wealth; compare who has the most deposits in the bank of the tathāgatagarbha. Whoever has the most deposits in the tathāgatagarbha bank is the most wealthy and noble, and will become a Buddha first. Even if we now do not have much wealth to enjoy, if the deposits in our tathāgatagarbha are very abundant, then we are the greatly wealthy and noble. Whether one is wealthy and noble depends on the deposits, not entirely on cash. Therefore we should enjoy as little as possible, letting the deposits in the tathāgatagarbha grow ever more abundant, or take these deposits out to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings, then cultivate blessings and deposit blessings again.
Take one yuan out of the tathāgatagarbha deposits to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings, and the rate of return is over a thousandfold, or immeasurably manyfold. Take out one yuan and give it in generosity (dāna) to a person without cultivation, and the return is one thousand yuan—a thousandfold rate of return; if given to a person with cultivation, the return becomes a hundred-thousandfold, a millionfold, immeasurably manyfold, all returned into the bank of the tathāgatagarbha. Understanding this principle, we will know how to cultivate blessings. If one yuan is spent on oneself, the bank's deposits decrease by one yuan; if spent on others, the bank gains another one thousand, two thousand, a hundred thousand, a million, immeasurable tens of thousands. Those who understand cultivating blessings should enjoy as little as possible—the more one enjoys, the fewer the blessings—and let others enjoy, benefiting and bringing joy to others more; your return is tens of millions of times, immeasurably many times. When blessings are sufficient, when bank deposits are sufficient, when causes and conditions are complete, only then can one attain realization, or become a bodhisattva-mahāsattva of the first bhūmi, the second bhūmi, or the tenth bhūmi, all the way to becoming a Buddha.
Cultivating blessings is never easy in the first place; if blessings are all used on oneself, they grow ever fewer. If one further takes possession of others' property or steals others' property, the merit will be repaid at the cost of a thousandfold or immeasurably manyfold; merit is consumed by that many times—thinking of it, it is truly not worth it. If one is born into the heavens and serves once as a heavenly lord, the blessings accumulated over many lives and eons may well be zeroed out; if born among humans as an official or minister, the merit is also mostly consumed. When enjoying blessings, blessings are consumed very quickly: receiving one prostration and worship reduces the deposits by a good deal; having servants attend to washing and cooking reduces the blessings; or being hailed once with "Long live!"—that little accumulated blessing is gone. Blessings are consumed away bit by bit just like this. Those who study Buddhism and cultivate must understand the principle of gathering and cultivating blessings, and for the sake of their Path-endeavor and becoming a Buddha, widely accumulate provisions for the Path.
Original text: 大王。此阎浮提。大地纵广。一万八千。踰缮那量。复有六十俱胝。诸大城郭。中有一城。名宝庄严。纵广正等。十二踰缮那。四面平正。妙巧成就。于其城外。有多罗树。七重行列。四宝所成。金银琉璃。玻胝迦宝。装校严饰。甚可爱乐。
Explanation: Great King, this land of Jambudvīpa is eighteen thousand yojanas in length and breadth, and it has as many as sixty koṭis (six hundred million) great cities. Among them there is a city named Precious Adornment, twelve yojanas in length and breadth, its four sides even and level, wonderfully and skillfully made. Outside this city there were tāla palms arranged in sevenfold rows, made of the four treasures—gold, silver, vaiḍūrya, and sphaṭika jewels—adorned and decorated most beautifully and delightfully.
Original text: 彼金树者。其叶花果。悉皆是银。彼银树者。其叶花果。皆是黄金。吠琉璃树。其叶花果。皆玻胝迦。彼玻璃树。其叶花果。悉是琉璃。其城七重。宝网宝铃。诸妙珍琦。弥覆其上。
Explanation: The leaves, flowers, and fruits of those gold trees were all made of silver; the leaves, flowers, and fruits of those silver trees were all made of gold; the leaves, flowers, and fruits of those vaiḍūrya trees were all made of sphaṭika; the leaves, flowers, and fruits of those sphaṭika trees were all made of vaiḍūrya. The city was covered over by sevenfold jeweled nets, jeweled bells, and many wondrous rare treasures.
Those wondrous states described above should be very familiar to us from reciting the Amitābha Sūtra; the land of bliss is just like this, and Jambudvīpa in the age of the wheel-turning king was just as wondrous, showing that the humans of that time had great merit. The sentient beings of today no longer have much merit and cannot attract such supreme living environments.
Original text: 城外复有。七重宝堑。皆以七宝。所共合成。一一宝堑。深半由旬。广一由旬。金沙布底。八功德水。澄湛盈满。诸妙音鸟。翔集其中。优钵罗花。拘没那花。钵讷摩花。分陀利花。普遍开发。周匝阶陛。四宝合成。黄金为阶。白银成陛。白银为阶。黄金成陛。琉璃为阶。玻璃成陛。玻璃为阶。琉璃成陛。一一阶道。七宝所成。其傍皆植。金色芭蕉。复于道首。置诸宝座。巧妙装校。甚可爱乐。
Explanation: Outside the city there were also sevenfold jeweled moats, all composed together of the seven treasures. Each jeweled moat was half a yojana deep—that is, twenty li deep—and one yojana wide, forty li wide, with gold sand paving the bottom; the water of eight merits within was limpidly clear, filling the jeweled moats. Many birds with wondrous voices flew and gathered within them, singing harmonious, beautiful, and pleasing sounds. There were also utpala flowers, kumuda flowers, padma flowers, and puṇḍarīka flowers blooming everywhere. The surrounding steps were composed of the four treasures: gold for the steps and silver for the stairways; silver for the steps and gold for the stairways; vaiḍūrya for the steps and sphaṭika for the stairways; sphaṭika for the steps and vaiḍūrya for the stairways. Every stepway was made of the seven treasures, and alongside the stepways were planted golden plantain trees. At the head of the stepways jeweled seats were placed, adorned and arranged most skillfully, delighting and gladdening all.
One great yojana in India equals forty Chinese li, and one small yojana equals twenty Chinese li. The seven-treasure ponds of the land of bliss are also paved with gold sand, and the water in the jeweled ponds possesses eight kinds of merits. The Sūtra of Immeasurable Life describes: the water of eight merits follows sentient beings' thoughts—if they wish it to reach their knees, it reaches their knees; if they wish it to reach their waists, it reaches their waists—limpid and soft, filling the jeweled ponds. Many Buddha-lands in the worlds of the ten directions are inhabited by blessed sentient beings; for sentient beings without blessings, the Buddha-lands they attract are filthy, defiled, and poor. What kind of living environment sentient beings have is determined by their roots of goodness and merit.
Original text: 如是富乐。种种严饰。皆是无边称王。积集广大。善根福力。之所获得。又彼宝庄严城。周匝复有。八万四千清净园林。一一园中。有八大池。其池各广。半踰缮那。
Explanation: Such various adornments of wealth, honor, and wondrous joy were all obtained by King of Boundlessness through accumulating vast roots of goodness and the power of merit in past lives. Around that city of Precious Adornment there were also eighty-four thousand pure parks; in each park there were eight great ponds; each pond was half a yojana wide.
Original text: 一一池岸。有四阶陛。四宝所成。巧妙严饰。八功德水。充满其中。众色莲华。开敷弥布。于其池岸。复有诸花。阿提目葛多花。詹博迦花。嚩始计花。苏曼那花。阿输迦花。婆师迦花。如是种种。诸妙香花。无边称王。与诸臣民。止住园中。共为游乐。
Explanation: On the banks of each pond there were stairways made of the four treasures, skillfully adorned with the four kinds of jewels; the water of eight merits filled them; lotus flowers of many colors bloomed and spread over the pond banks; and on those pond banks there were still more fresh flowers, such as atimuktaka flowers, campaka flowers, vaśikā flowers, sumanā flowers, aśoka flowers, and vārṣika flowers—such various and numerous wondrous fragrant flowers. King of Boundlessness and his ministers and subjects dwelt in the parks, sporting and amusing themselves together.
Original text: 大王。彼王宫城，高广严好。宝多罗树行植于上。宝网周遍，宝铃和鸣，出妙音响。如五乐声。时彼人民，赖王德化。富乐自在，安隐而住。
Explanation: Great King, King of Boundlessness's palace city was tall and broad, majestic and splendid, with jeweled tāla palms planted in rows upon it; jeweled nets covered it all around, and jeweled bells chimed in harmony, emitting wondrous sounds like the music of five kinds of instruments played in concert. At that time the people relied on the transforming nurture of King of Boundlessness's merit, living lives of wealth, joy, ease, and peace.
Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复于异时。如是思惟。我今应往。东胜身洲。作是念已。王领四兵。俱乘虚空。即至其处。彼诸小王。皆来奉迎。各以国土。虔诚致献。王于彼住。百千万岁。
Explanation: Great King, that King of Boundlessness at another time gave rise to this thought: "I should now go to Pūrvavideha." After giving rise to this thought, King of Boundlessness led the four divisions of soldiers and flew through the sky together to Pūrvavideha. The petty kings of Pūrvavideha all came out to welcome him, each reverently offering his own territory to King of Boundlessness, and King of Boundlessness dwelt there for hundreds of thousands of myriads of years.
This wheel-turning sage king, wealthy and at ease as he was, was still not content and wanted to go to Pūrvavideha for carefree amusement. All the petty kings there came to welcome him; because his merit was great, they immediately bowed their heads and declared themselves vassals. If the local petty kings' merit had been greater, they would certainly have driven him away; when merit was about equal, they would war with one another. Many families are also like this: whoever has greater merit, the others listen to. Those petty kings all offered their territories to him, letting him rule them. His lifespan far exceeded hundreds of thousands of myriads of years; his lifespan at that time was extremely long, reckoned in kalpas. At the time of Buddha Maitreya, the lifespan of people in Jambudvīpa will be eighty-four thousand years, and there are lifespans even longer than this. According to the sūtras, when some Buddhas prophesied to their disciples that they would become Buddhas, their subjects' lifespans were twenty kalpas, forty kalpas, or immeasurable kalpas—one kalpa being 16.8 million years—their lifespans were truly very long.
Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复自思惟。我今当往。西牛贺洲。作是念已。领四兵众。俱乘虚空。即至其所。彼诸小王。皆来奉迎。各以国土。虔诚致献。王于彼住。百千万岁。
大王。彼无边称王。复自思惟。我今当往。北俱卢洲。作是念已。领四兵众。俱乘虚空。即至其所。彼诸人民。欢喜归化。王于彼住。百千万岁。
Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, that King of Boundlessness again gave rise to this thought: "I should now go to Aparagodānīya." After giving rise to this thought, he led the four divisions of soldiers riding jeweled horses, jeweled elephants, jeweled chariots, and other flying conveyances, flying through the sky to Aparagodānīya. The petty kings of Aparagodānīya all came to welcome him, each reverently offering his own territory to him, and King of Boundlessness dwelt there for hundreds of thousands of myriads of years. Then that King of Boundlessness again gave rise to this thought: "I should go to Uttarakuru." After giving rise to this thought, he led the four divisions of soldiers and flew through the sky together to Uttarakuru, where the people all joyfully submitted to King of Boundlessness, and King of Boundlessness dwelt there for hundreds of thousands of myriads of years.
Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复自思惟。我昔闻有三十三天。住须弥顶。我今当往。作是念已。即乘龙象。与四兵众。飞腾空中。上须弥顶。时无边称王。问御臣曰。汝见须弥。及以大海。并四天下。其事云何。御臣答言。我见其相。旋转不定。如陶家轮。王语御臣。汝所见者。此龙象王。大行未止。
Explanation: Great King, King of Boundlessness again gave rise to this thought: "I once heard that there is a Heaven of the Thirty-Three dwelling atop Mount Sumeru; I should now go there." After giving rise to this thought, he rode the dragon-elephant and, together with the four divisions of soldiers, soared into the sky toward Mount Sumeru. At that time King of Boundlessness asked the minister beside him: "How do you see Mount Sumeru, the four great seas, and the four continents?" The minister replied: "I see their forms spinning without stop, like a potter's wheel." King of Boundlessness said to the minister: "The reason you can see such forms is that the dragon-elephant you ride is flying swiftly and has not yet stopped."
Original text: 王复前进。问御臣曰。见须弥等。其相云何。御臣答言。我今见彼。须弥大海。皆悉震动。王语臣曰。今将至于。须弥山顶。此龙象王。小行未止。王复前进。问御臣曰。见须弥等。其相云何。御臣答言。我今见彼。须弥大海。不动不转。王语臣曰。此龙象王。今已到彼。须弥山顶。
Explanation: King of Boundlessness continued flying forward and asked the minister: "Now how do you see the appearance of Mount Sumeru and the rest?" The minister replied: "I now see Mount Sumeru and the great seas all trembling." King of Boundlessness said: "That is because we are about to reach the summit of Mount Sumeru." King of Boundlessness, riding the dragon-elephant, continued flying slowly, not yet stopped; King of Boundlessness asked the minister again: "What appearance does Mount Sumeru have now?" The minister replied: "I now see Mount Sumeru and the great seas neither moving nor turning." King of Boundlessness said: "Now the dragon-elephant king has already arrived at the summit of Mount Sumeru."
Original text: 时无边称王。及四兵众。到须弥已。彼帝释天主。即时遥见。无边称王。欢喜来迎。而作是言。善来大王。即分半座。命王而坐。时无边称王。即就其座。住于天上。经无量岁。与彼天主。分半同治。
Explanation: After King of Boundlessness and the four divisions of soldiers arrived at Mount Sumeru, the heavenly lord Śakra of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three immediately saw King of Boundlessness from afar and joyfully came forward to welcome him, saying: "Welcome, Great King!" He then offered half of his own jeweled seat for King of Boundlessness to sit on. King of Boundlessness at once took the seat, dwelt in that heaven for immeasurable years, and with the heavenly lord Śakra ruled the Heaven of the Thirty-Three jointly, each with half.
Original text: 在彼时久。作是思惟。可退彼天。我独为主。作是念已。王及兵众。即时退堕。宝庄严城。宝箧园中。时守园者。见是事已。告城中人。作是唱言。今有天人。退没于此。
Explanation: After King of Boundlessness had dwelt in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three for a long time, he thought thus: "I should drive away the heavenly lord Śakra and myself alone be the lord of this heaven, ruling this heavenly realm." After he gave rise to this thought, King of Boundlessness and his four divisions of soldiers fell down into the Precious Casket Garden of the human city of Precious Adornment. At that time, when the garden keeper saw them fall down, he told the people in the city, proclaiming: "Just now a celestial being has fallen from heaven and vanished here."
Original text: 时彼国王。名曰作爱。闻是说已。速严驾驭。诣彼园中。见如上事。怪未曾有。即敕排备。种种香花。末香涂香。诣彼王所。偏袒右肩。右膝着地。长跪合掌。安慰问讯。白彼王言。圣天至此。为当是谁。
彼即答曰。汝昔曾闻。有转轮王。名无边称不。作爱王言。我闻耆旧说。昔有王名无边称。威德自在。领四天下。与四兵众。乘空而上。三十三天。汝所闻者。岂异人乎。则我身是。
Explanation: At that time the king of the city of Precious Adornment was named Udayana. Hearing this account, he quickly readied a carriage and hurried to the park; seeing such a thing, he marveled, for it had never happened before. The king then ordered people to prepare various fragrant flowers, powdered incense, and paste incense, went to King of Boundlessness, bared his right shoulder, placed his right knee on the ground, knelt long with palms joined, greeted and consoled King of Boundlessness, and said to him: "Holy One from heaven, who are you?" King of Boundlessness said: "Have you ever heard that in the past there was a wheel-turning king named King of Boundlessness?" King Udayana said: "I have heard the elders say that in the past there was a king named King of Boundlessness, majestic in virtue and sovereign, ruling the four continents, who with the four divisions of soldiers flew up through the sky to the Heaven of the Thirty-Three." King of Boundlessness said: "The one you heard of is no other person—it is I myself."
Original text: 时无边称王。从天退已。初闻人间。饮食气味。不能堪任。犹如酥油。沃热沙中。时作爱王。见其顿弊。不能止住。有何善说。我于来世。作何宣传。时无边称王。语作爱王曰。我从昔来。富贵自在。王四天下。一切所须。皆得如意。升忉利天。帝释分座。贪无厌故。从天退下。如上众事。当如是说。
作是语已。即便命终。佛言大王。往昔无边称王者。岂异人乎。今我身是。是故当知。诸根如幻。境界如梦。系心正观。勿生疑惑。
Explanation: At this time King of Boundlessness had just fallen back from heaven; upon first smelling the odors of human food and drink, he could not bear it in his heart, just like ghee flowing onto hot sand. Seeing that King of Boundlessness's body was weak and frail, the king knew he would not live much longer, and asked him: "Do you have any last words to leave? How should I proclaim you in the future?" King of Boundlessness said: "From the past until now I have been wealthy and at ease, ruling the four continents, with all my needs fulfilled as I wished. After ascending to the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, Śakra offered me half of his jeweled seat, but because of my insatiable greed I fell back down from heaven. The various matters above should be told just like this." After King of Boundlessness finished speaking, he passed away.
Finally, Buddha Śākyamuni said: Great King, this wheel-turning king, King of Boundlessness, was no one else—he was the previous incarnation of myself, Buddha Śākyamuni. Therefore you should know that the faculties are like illusions and the realms are like dreams; gather the mind at one place, contemplate with right mindfulness, and give rise to no doubt.
