古來世時經

Thus have I heard:

At one time the Buddha was journeying and teaching at the Deer Park of the Seers in Vārāṇasī. At that time the bhikṣus, after they had finished eating, assembled in the lecture hall to deliberate together, saying:

"Suppose there were an elder who practiced impartiality. Should a bhikṣu of pure precepts, who upholds the precepts rightly, enter the house of that elder to beg for alms—compared with a person who receives a hundred catties of gold, which is the more excellent?"

A certain bhikṣu replied:

"A person who receives a hundred catties of gold—even a thousand catties of gold—of what benefit is it? Consider this matter carefully. A bhikṣu who reveres the precepts and practices rightly, receiving the offering of that elder—I hold that the merit of that elder is the most supreme."

At that time the venerable Aniruddha was also present in the assembly, and having heard this discourse, he answered, saying:

"Not merely a hundred or a thousand catties of gold—suppose there were jewels and treasures many times greater than this, still they would not equal the offering of food given by an elder to a bhikṣu of true precepts. Why is this so? I recall a former life of mine in the country of Vārāṇasī.

At that time grain was scarce and the people were stricken with famine, and I had to carry grass to sell in order to support my own life. At that time there was a Pratyekabuddha named Upariṣṭha who came journeying and teaching in this country. In the morning I went out of the city wishing to go and carry grass, and at that time the Pratyekabuddha donned his robe and, taking up his bowl, entered the city to beg for alms.

On the road, as I was carrying grass back into the city, I met him again, carrying his bowl empty as he went out. The Pratyekabuddha Upariṣṭha, seeing me coming from afar, thought to himself: 'Early in the morning I entered the city as this man went out of the city. Now he returns carrying grass; perhaps this morning he has not yet eaten.

Let me then follow behind him and go to his house to beg for a little, that I may pass through this hunger.' At that time I carried the grass back to my own house and set the load of grass down upon the ground, and turning around I saw the Pratyekabuddha following behind me as a shadow follows a form. Then my mind thought: 'Early this morning when I went out of the city I saw this Pratyekabuddha entering the city to beg for alms, but he carries his bowl empty as he returns; perhaps he has not obtained anything to eat or drink.

Let me go without eating in order to offer it to him.' I then brought out the food, and kneeling down I offered it to him, that his body might be at ease. I said:

"May the venerable one, out of compassion, accept it."

Then the Pratyekabuddha said:

"Grain is scarce and the people are stricken with famine; therefore divide this food into two portions—put one portion into my bowl, and the other portion you yourself shall eat. Only thus is it in accord with the Dharma."

I personally addressed him:

"That is so, O holy one, but this white-robed layman is at home; whenever I kindle a fire I can cook whatever there is to eat, cooking and eating at my leisure—whether sooner or later, it does not matter. I beg the venerable one, out of compassion for my household, to accept it."

Then that Pratyekabuddha at last consented to accept the food. By the merit of this deed I was born seven times in the heavens as king of the devas, and seven times in the world I was made a person of honor and nobility. By this single offering, kings, elders, the people, ministers, and the hundred officials—whoever beheld me—offered me clothing, food and drink, beds and seats, bedding, and medicines to cure illness; these things I did not seek, yet they came to me of their own accord.

When I was first born in the household of the Śākya clan, the storehouses revealed gold, silver, and precious jewels beyond counting, and other goods and possessions in measureless number. When I left home and cast away my career to become a śramaṇa—if at that time I had known that this Pratyekabuddha venerable one had attained the Way, and with a vast and expansive mind had made offerings to him, then the merit would have been beyond measure." At that time there were these verses:

I came to know those who come and go,
Where they go in birth and death;
Though there be joy and pleasure in the heavens,
How can it equal the attainment of the Noble Path?

At that time the World-Honored One, with the divine ear, heard all that the bhikṣu Aniruddha said to the assembly of bhikṣus concerning his past lives—which were indeed the karmic recompense he had attained in former existences. The World-Honored One came from his chamber of meditation to the lecture hall, and seating himself before the bhikṣus, he said to the bhikṣus:

"For what matter have you assembled together here to deliberate?"

The bhikṣus replied:

"We have all assembled together here to deliberate upon the destinations to which sin and merit, good and evil, lead. The venerable Aniruddha was himself speaking of the roots of virtue he had cultivated in former lives."

The Buddha said to the bhikṣus: "You have spoken of matters of the past. Do you then wish to hear the Tathāgata speak of the origins that lie in the future?"

The bhikṣus replied:

"Yes indeed, World-Honored One; now is the proper time for the World-Honored One to speak of the Dharma of the future for the bhikṣus to hear. Having heard it, we shall reverently uphold it."

The Buddha said:

"Listen attentively and reflect well."

The bhikṣus replied:

"Yes indeed, World-Honored One; we long to hear it."

The Buddha said:

"In the age to come, human beings shall live as long as eighty thousand years. The people of this continent of Jambudvīpa shall be prosperous, and the five grains abundant. The settlements of people shall dwell apart from one another at the distance of a cockcrow (so that both sides can hear it). Women shall reach five hundred years of age before they take a husband. Living beings at that time shall have only three kinds of ailment: the ailment of old age, of defecation and urination, and of desire and seeking.

"At that time there shall be a king named Śaṅkha, lord of the four quarters under heaven, who shall be a Wheel-Turning King governing the people by the right Dharma, and who shall have the seven treasures arising naturally: a chariot with wheels of gold, a white elephant, a blue-green horse, a bright pearl, a wife who is a jade maiden, a minister who oversees the treasuries, and a minister who oversees the armies. The king shall have a thousand sons, valiant, strong, and of surpassing appearance, who can subdue the armies of other countries.

The king shall govern the four quarters under heaven without using whip, staff, or sword and blade, civilizing them by the right Dharma, and the people shall be at peace. The king shall have a great chariot made of the seven treasures, with wheels of a thousand spokes, thirty-two cubits high. This chariot shall be very tall, its majestic radiance towering on high; upon the chariot there shall hang banners, in order to bestow upon all living beings clothing and food, beds and seats, and to convey incense and flowers, lamps and torches, to make offerings to śramaṇas, venerable ones, and the destitute.

When he has finished giving, then through the faith of his household, he shall renounce his country, renounce his royal throne, renounce his home to study the Way, and become a śramaṇa. Then this son of noble clan, having longed for the Way, shall shave off his hair and beard, clothe his body in the Dharma robe, attain the holy life, purely cultivate the unsurpassed, and reach the consummation of the Buddha's teaching; in the present life he shall naturally accomplish the six supernatural powers, having put an end to birth and death, having done what was to be done, and having thoroughly understood the source of name and form."

At that time a venerable bhikṣu in the assembly rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, knelt upright with palms joined, and addressed the World-Honored One:

"In a future life shall I become King Śaṅkha, lord of the four quarters under heaven, with the seven treasures arising naturally, having a thousand sons, governing by the right Dharma, giving generously to all, and then going forth to study the Way and attaining the wisdom free of attachment?"

Then the World-Honored One rebuked that bhikṣu, saying:

"You foolish man, you ought to bring it about that in a single lifetime you accomplish virtue of the Way to its ultimate end. Why do you instead seek to drift round and round in birth and death, saying: 'In my future life let me become a Wheel-Turning Sage King, coveting the seven treasures, having a thousand valiant sons, and only thereafter entering the Way'?"

The Buddha said to that bhikṣu:

"In your future life you shall become King Śaṅkha, lord of the four quarters under heaven, giving generously to all, and going forth to attain the Way."

The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:

"For human beings of the age to come, the lifespan shall increase to eighty thousand years. There shall be a World-Honored One named Maitreya, the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, the Well-Gone One, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed One, the Tamer of the Dharma, the Teacher of Gods and Humans, named Buddha, the World-Honored One, just as I am now. The devas, Brahmā and Śakra, śramaṇas, and brahmins, in the heavens above and beneath the heavens—there shall be none who do not submit and follow him to receive the teaching of the Way.

He shall broadly expound the Dharma, civilizing the superior, the middling, and the inferior, causing them skillfully to discern the meaning and to purely cultivate the holy life. He shall cause all to be transformed by the Way, just as I do now. His pure teaching shall spread everywhere throughout the heavens above and the earth below, and there shall be none who do not receive it.

His assembly of bhikṣus shall be without number."

At that time the venerable Maitreya in this assembly then rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, knelt upright with palms joined, and coming forward addressed the Buddha, saying: "Yes indeed, World-Honored One; in my future life, when human beings shall live as long as eighty thousand years, I shall become Maitreya, the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, and shall civilize living beings in the heavens above and beneath the heavens, just as the Buddha does now."

At that time the World-Honored One praised the venerable Maitreya, saying:

"Excellent! Excellent! Practice the loving-kindness that is gentle, yielding, and vast, in order to deliver immeasurable and innumerable living beings. Give rise to this aspiration, and for the sake of all living beings in the age to come proclaim and guide them, just as I do now. In the age to come you shall become a Buddha named Maitreya, the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, the Well-Gone One, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed One, the Tamer of the Dharma, the Teacher of Gods and Humans, named Buddha, the World-Honored One."

At that time the venerable Ānanda was holding a fan and attending upon the Buddha, and the Buddha said to the venerable Ānanda: "Bring here the robe woven of golden thread. I shall bestow it upon the bhikṣu Maitreya."

The venerable Ānanda obeyed, and at once brought it and presented it to the World-Honored One. Having received it, the World-Honored One then gave it to the venerable Maitreya, saying to the venerable Maitreya:

"Receive this Dharma robe and offer it to the Saṃgha. Why is this? Because the Tathāgatas, the Worthy Ones, the Perfectly Enlightened Ones, while in the world bring much benefit to human beings, using their utmost virtue to deliver them."

The venerable Maitreya then took this robe and offered it up to the Saṃgha. At that time Māra Pāpīyas thought to himself: "The śramaṇa Gautama has expounded the future age for the bhikṣus. Now I wish to go and disturb his teaching of the Dharma."

Māra then went before the World-Honored One and spoke this verse:

The World-Honored One said:

"Now Māra Pāpīyas has deliberately come here, wishing to vex and disturb the teaching of my Way."

The Buddha spoke a verse:

The deva-Māra:

The World-Honored One:

The deva-Māra:

At that time the Buddha answered Māra with a verse:

At that time Māra Pāpīyas thought to himself: "The Tathāgata is a divine and holy one, who has known the places of my abiding, my arising, and my destruction"; and so Māra, sorrowful and joyless, ashamed, departed.

When the Buddha had spoken thus, at that time all rejoiced.

THE BUDDHA SPEAKS THE SUTRA OF ANCIENT AND FUTURE TIMES