Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (225)

King Ananda tested the power of his own merit

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, this King Anantakīrti, at a certain time, suddenly thought of something: I should test how great my merit is and how strong its power is—by the power of my merit, let all the trees, flowers, and fruits throughout the four continents flourish endlessly in abundance. After he formed this thought, all the flowers and fruits throughout the four continents indeed blossomed and flourished. After the wheel-turning King Anantakīrti formed this thought, all the trees, flowers, and fruits throughout the four continents indeed flourished to his heart's content, laden with abundant fruit.

Without merit, one cannot even make a single sapling grow strong and sturdy, let alone the flowers, fruits, and trees of the four great continents and the four continents. A wheel-turning king can make the flowers, fruits, and trees of the four continents all grow luxuriantly, with the fruits they bear exceedingly abundant and flourishing, so that the sentient beings of the four continents can never exhaust them. A wheel-turning king can accomplish this with a single thought—how strong must his mental power be? Is it the function of mental power? In fact, it is the power of merit.