Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (126)

Chapter Two: The Story of King Anantakīrti

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, in the past, countless koṭi-nayuta kalpas ago, there was a wheel-turning king named Anantakīrti, who was wealthy, at ease, and possessed of great majestic virtue, with elephants, horses, chariots, and palanquins adorned with many jewels, his seven treasures complete, and also the most supreme cakra jewel that no one could destroy. This King Anantakīrti had in the past drawn near and made offerings to countless Buddhas, planting abundant good roots at the abodes of so many Buddhas. Due to the good roots and merit thus accumulated, whatever he thought of in his mind would be accomplished—all his wishes could be realized.

The World-Honored One told this story with the purpose of teaching and alerting King Śuddhodana not to crave wealth, honor, and pleasure any longer, for one whose mind knows no contentment will surely suffer later calamity. The story describes what kind of retribution results from craving the world without satisfaction, and what kind of retribution results from a mind without contentment. This story indeed proves that when the human mind is never satisfied, those who have not eliminated greed find it difficult to know contentment regarding the five desires and six sense objects—even King Anantakīrti, who planted good roots at the abodes of countless Buddhas, was no exception.

The Indian terms koṭi and nayuta kalpas refer to an extremely, extremely long span of time. One complete cycle of the earth's formation, abiding, destruction, and emptiness constitutes one great kalpa, equivalent to 80 times 16.8 million years. Countless great kalpas ago, there was a wheel-turning king named Anantakīrti. Wheel-turning kings are divided into four types: golden wheel kings, silver wheel kings, copper wheel kings, and iron wheel kings. The iron wheel king, the lowest in rank, can only govern one great continent—for example, governing exclusively the southern continent of Jambudvīpa on our earth, or exclusively the eastern continent of Pūrvavideha, ruling only one continent. Copper wheel kings rule two continents, silver wheel kings rule three continents, and golden wheel kings rule four continents. Around the foot of Mount Sumeru there are in total four great continents. All small world-systems have these four great continents surrounding Mount Sumeru. Our Sahā world has in total one billion Mount Sumerus, which means that Śākyamuni Buddha's Sahā world, 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 attained all came from making offerings to countless thousands of millions of kotis of Buddhas; these are worldly blessings of mundane dharma.

The wheel-turning king was extremely wealthy and at ease, possessed power and authority, and had great majestic virtue, with the elephant treasure, horse treasure, chariot treasure, gold, silver, jewels, palanquins, and the other seven treasures. Riding upon the seven-jeweled palanquin at his feet, the wheel-turning king could fly instantly from Jambudvīpa on our earth to the other continents, and could even fly instantly to Śakra, lord of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. This is the result of the golden wheel king's blessings—whatever he wished to obtain he could obtain, of course within the material range of the desire realm.

The wheel-turning king had to draw near countless Buddhas before cultivating such blessings. We cannot even accomplish small matters, having never cultivated blessings; regarding things like gold, silver, and treasures, we are not at ease with them—racking our brains is useless, and they will not appear. Without cultivating blessings and virtue, even university graduates and doctoral students, striving their whole lives in this world, still will not succeed; although their abilities are complete, without blessings they cannot obtain what they need. Those who have cultivated blessings, even if illiterate, can still achieve great wealth and honor. In the past, many poets complained in their verses about having talent but no opportunity—why? Talent alone is useless; one must also have blessings. Everything we obtain in this life is what we cultivated in past lives. If we wish to have great blessings and virtue at our disposal, we must continually cultivate blessings. All blessings and virtue do not fall from the sky; they all come from cultivating blessings by benefiting others. In particular, one should cultivate many blessings within the Mahāyāna Buddhadharma, making many offerings and giving generously to the Mahāyāna Three Jewels.

The golden wheel king made offerings to countless Buddhas and planted so many good roots, yet only became a golden wheel king. If we do not cultivate diligently, but only recite a single Buddha's name and, at the end of life, are reborn in the Land of Bliss to wait there for buddhahood—can we become Buddhas? We have only made offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha, and even that not well; arriving in the Land of Bliss, we would only encounter one Buddha, Amitābha—can we thereby become Buddhas? Even becoming a golden wheel king requires making offerings to countless Buddhas, let alone achieving the far more supreme retribution of accomplishing the Buddha Way. The Buddha said in the sūtras that for sentient beings to become Buddhas, they must all make offerings to countless, boundless Buddhas, listening to the sūtras and hearing the Dharma beside each and every Buddha, making offerings to the Buddhas life after life, before their blessings and virtue can be complete and they can become the World-Honored One, the Honored One of Both Blessings and Wisdom, complete in both. Therefore it is impossible to say that by reciting a Buddha's name and reaching the Land of Bliss one becomes a Buddha. Without even sufficient experience in liberating sentient beings—the Buddhadharma has never said such a thing, and blessings have not been cultivated—it is impossible to become a Buddha so easily.

If such an easy thing truly existed—becoming a Buddha by reciting a Buddha's name—then if disciples wished to listen to the Dharma, yet one could not even expound the Hīnayāna teachings, let alone the Mahāyāna, how could one liberate sentient beings? Moreover, where would these disciple-sentient beings come from? Having never liberated disciples, never having formed affinities with sentient beings, how could one possibly have disciples? Without having liberated sentient beings, there are no disciples; without the assistance of disciples, one cannot establish a Buddha-land, nor can one 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, without having liberated sentient beings, blessings are not complete; unable to expound the sūtras and speak the Dharma, wisdom is not complete; blessings and wisdom are both incomplete—thus one cannot become a Buddha.