XXIX. THE TWENTY-NINTH DHARMA ASSEMBLY: KING UDAYANA
Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was dwelling in the country of Kauśāmbī, in the Ghoṣila Garden, together with a great assembly of bhikṣus, one thousand two hundred and fifty in all.
At that time the first consort of King Udayana, named Śyāmā, held faith in the Tathāgata and the holy assembly, revering and drawing near to them, making offerings to them, and constantly praising the merits of the Tathāgata.
The second consort, named Devī, harbored jealousy and flattering deceit, and lied to the king, saying that the Tathāgata and his disciples had behaved improperly toward the chief consort.
The king was greatly enraged, and taking up his bow and arrow he shot at Consort Śyāmā. Out of compassion for the king, Consort Śyāmā entered the samādhi of loving-kindness, and the arrow that was shot turned back and halted in the air directly above the crown of the king's head; that arrow blazed red like a mass of fire, exceedingly fearsome. The king shot three arrows, and they all were the same.
When King Udayana saw this, the hair on his whole body stood on end, and in terror and remorse he said to the consort: "Are you a goddess or a nāga-maiden? Or are you a yakṣa-maiden, a gandharva-maiden, a piśāca-maiden, or a rākṣasī?"
Consort Śyāmā said: "I am neither a goddess nor a rākṣasī. Great King, you should know that I have heard the Buddha expound the Dharma, and I uphold the five precepts as an upāsikā. Because I had compassion for the king, I entered the samādhi of loving-kindness. Although the king gave rise to an unwholesome mind toward me, by the power of the vow of loving-kindness I was not harmed. It would be excellent, Great King, if toward the Tathāgata you would take refuge and bow in homage; surely you will then obtain peace and joy."
The king thought: "If a consort who has heard the Dharma and become an upāsikā still possesses such majestic spiritual power, how much more the Tathāgata, the Perfectly Enlightened One."
King Udayana then went to where the Buddha was, bowed his head at the Buddha's feet, circumambulated him three times to the right, related the above matter, and said: "I earnestly pray that the Tathāgata and the holy assembly may joyfully grant that I confess my fault, so that this transgression may swiftly be extinguished."
That Buddha said: "As the king has himself related, because he mistakenly regarded the Tathāgata and the holy assembly as foolish worldlings possessed of fault, the king gave rise to a mind of anger and resentment. Now if the king is able, in accordance with the Buddha's Dharma and discipline, to repent of his transgression with no mind of concealment, and to the very end of future ages not commit it again, then I shall embrace and sustain the king so that his wholesome dharmas may increase and grow."
The king said: "World-Honored One! Because I was deluded and driven to mad confusion and perversion by a woman, having no understanding, I gave rise to fury, and this sinful karma will cause me to fall into hell. I earnestly pray that the Tathāgata, for the peace and joy of sentient beings, will out of compassion reveal the faults and calamities, the flattering crookedness and false deceit of women, so that we may not draw near to women, and may thereby be forever freed from all suffering and entanglement."
The Buddha said: "Set that matter aside. Why does the king ask about this matter and not ask about something else?"
The king said: "I do not ask about anything else. Because a woman has caused me to create the karma of hell, now I wish only to know the faults and calamities of women, their flattering crookedness, falseness, deceit, and depraved enticement. I pray the World-Honored One will reveal it to me."
King Udayana entreated and asked in this way three times.
The Buddha said: "Great King, you must first know the faults and calamities of the man, and afterward you may observe the faults and calamities of the woman."
The king said: "Yes, World-Honored One! I gladly wish to hear."
The Buddha said: "All men, on account of four kinds of unwholesome faults, are deluded and confounded by women.
"The first is that, dwelling in the defilement of desire and clinging to it without satiation, delighting in women and giving way to dissipation, he does not know to draw near to śramaṇas and brāhmaṇas who are endowed with pure morality and who cultivate meritorious deeds. Because he does not draw near to such persons, his calm faith, his morality, his learning, his giving, and his wisdom all degenerate and are lost. Because he has no faith, morality, learning, giving, or wisdom, this person is not a good man;
he performs the karma of evil paths, has no wisdom, is intoxicated by the pleasures of desire, is seized by desire, is bound by desire, takes desire as his very life, draws near to fools and stays far from the wise, makes friends with the wicked and creates transgressions, covets and delights in the impure realm of women, and so is subdued by women like a servant or slave, bound and fallen at the place of women, knowing no shame, drawing near and dwelling at the gate of sores and blood and pus, foul and rank, where mucus and spittle constantly flow like the impure scene of a charnel ground.
To such a degree that he turns away from and abandons his father and mother, knowing nothing of the kindness of their nurture; he forsakes śramaṇas and brāhmaṇas, having no mind of reverence, respect, or offering; toward the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha he has no faith or reverence, and he will utterly lose the realm of nirvāṇa. This kind of man will fall into the Saṃghāta hell and the Avīci hell, and will also fall among the hungry ghosts and animals, with none able to save him.
Though he hears the teaching of the Buddha, he still constantly thinks of women singing, dancing, sporting, and laughing, knowing no satiation or renunciation. This person is habituated to foolishness and wickedness, and does not delight in cultivating the practices and affairs of a good man. Great King, you should know that the time when a man draws near to women is precisely the time when he draws near to the karma of evil paths.
This is the first fault and calamity of the man."
The World-Honored One then spoke a verse, saying:
"The realm of desire is all suffering,Base, defiled, and ugly,Blood and pus, rank and foul,Exceedingly to be loathed and feared.
It is a place where there gather togetherMany kinds of faults and calamities.What person of wisdomWould delight in this realm?
Like a latrine pitBrimming with filth and pollution,Or like a swollen, rotting dog,Like a dead jackal,
Like a forest of corpses,Filled with filth and pollution—The filth and pollution of desire's defilement,Loathsome, is just the same.
Those foolish peopleWho lust and cling to womenAre like a bitch that has whelped,Never once forsaking them;
Or like flies that, seeingVomited food,Or again like a herd of swine,Crave the filthy places.
Women can breakThe pure precepts and prohibitions,And can also ruinMerit and renown.
They become the cause of hell,A hindrance to birth in the heavens.What person of wisdomWould again delight in the realm of desire?
Again, like a personWho drinks and eats poison,Body and mind in pain and suffering,Unable to move about—
By this cause of desire,He makes for himself the root of suffering.Like a body that has poison within,The fool does not know it.
Or again like one who does not understandA magical conjurer's art,Yet vainly chases after it,Wearing himself out for nothing—
The foolish person is the same:Toward the defilement of desireHe constantly, in suffering, craves and seeks,And must fall into hell.
Or he sets out feasts,With singing, dancing, and skilled music,And takes the daughter of anotherHome to be his own wife.
He gathers together many kindsOf suffering, with no benefit;The fool createsKarma of suffering without profit.
He increases and enlarges his many sins,And his wholesome roots recede and are lost.In matters of no profitHe does not stint his own body and life.
By this he falls downInto the deep pit of evil paths,Summoning the hells,Iron balls glowing red,
Mountains of knives and sharp blades,Poison arrows and every suffering.Women can bring togetherMany affairs of suffering.
They falsely borrow flowers and incenseTo adorn themselves beautifully;The fool, here,In delusion craves and seeks them.
He draws near and praisesThe base realm of forms,His wisdom receding and lost,Falling into the three evil destinies.
This is because of foolishnessThat he is deluded and confounded,Like a sea bird grown wearyThat loses its bearing toward the shore.
Or again like a foolish personWho takes a heated iron chainAnd hangs it about his own neck,Like an ox bearing the yoke.
The realm of desire is like wineThat makes a person drunk and mad.Why does the foolNot know it as foolish suffering?
Or toward his father and motherHe knows nothing of kindness and love.This is on account of the defilement of the fleshThat such calamity and fault arise.
Constantly with depraved desire,And dharmas such as these,He praises and practices them,Knowing no shame.
They, on account of foolishness,Are deluded and confounded;Having created such transgressions,They will go to the three evil destinies.
The utterly mad and drunken person,Indulging in the realm of desire—Even the kindness of father and motherHe too is able to forsake.
If a person greedily defiledDraws near to the realm of desire,Then he opposes and turns againstThe unsurpassed field of merit.
Innumerable koṭisOf false thoughts harass and disturb him;Revolving, they bind and afflict—From this they arise.
Or again he seeks afterThe fame and gain of the world,And with such non-DharmaThey urge and entice one another.
By this, in the present,He summons suffering;At death he must surely fallInto the Avīci hell.
The sufferings he sees in the presentAll gather upon his body;Good friends depart far from him,The heavenly palaces are utterly lost.
What person of wisdomWould delight in this place?Better to enter hell,To run upon the mountain of knives,
To lie upon the brazier of fire,Than to draw near to the forms of women.If a person is constantly defiled,Craving and indulging in depraved desire,
He ruins and loses very manyThings of profit and joy.Women can becomeThe cause of every suffering.
Greedy desire can destroyAll peace and joy.Evil dharmas gather together,Good friends depart far away—
All have their root inCraving and seeking after women.If a person is able to hearThe Buddha's admonitory teaching,
And toward womenIs able to give rise to loathing and renunciation,Then this is the adornmentOf the pure reward of the heavens,
And he will also swiftly realize
Unsurpassed bodhi.
"Furthermore, Great King! As for father and mother, they both wish their child to obtain profit and joy, and so they are able to do what is hard to do and to endure what is hard to endure; even all kinds of impurity, filth, and pollution they are able to bear. Again, wishing the body, complexion, and strength of the child to grow swiftly, they let it see the most excellent and wondrous things in Jambudvīpa, and they suckle, nurse, and rear it with no mind of weariness.
Again, wishing their child to enjoy happiness, they busily seek and acquire wealth and goods to supply the child in full, and they go to the house of another to seek a marriage and take a daughter for their child. The marriage completed, the child lusts and clings to his wife and forgets his father and mother. Or, seeing his father and mother gradually decline into old age, he despises and opposes them and squanders their wealth and goods, or he moves his father and mother to dwell elsewhere.
All of this is because greed and desire delude and pervert him, so that toward his father and mother he casts them aside without reverence, love, or nurture, while toward the daughter of another's house he cherishes, reveres, and supplies her without knowing weariness. This is the accomplishing of the root of hell, and it is also the second fault and calamity of the man."
The World-Honored One spoke a verse:
"You should all know:Toward father and mother,Honoring and making offerings—This person will constantly be
Guarded and sustainedBy Śakra, Brahmā, and the World-Protectors,Who can cause him to dwell at homeIn peace, security, and joy.
Or, by reason of trade,Going to sea to distant lands,He comes and goes in safety,And obtains those gains and profits.
This indeed is calledA great priceless treasure,Able to give its fruits—Named the supreme field.
Thus in the present lifeThe fruit and reward of precious treasureIs all obtained by making offeringsTo father and mother.
And in the life to comeHe will obtain freedom fromThe bodies of mules and horsesBearing heavy loads and driven about;
He will also not fall intoThe hells of the dung river and ash,The mountains of knives and sharp blades,The boiling copper glowing red.
And again in the next life,Born among humankind,He will be rich with precious treasures,With grain and silk in abundance;
His wife, children, and kinfolkWill all be harmonious and concordant.Or in time to comeHe will be born in the heavens,
With palaces and gardens,Music arising of itself,Free to play and enjoy,Receiving wondrous bliss.
What person of wisdom,Hearing this sound of Dharma,Toward the field of father and motherWould not diligently make offerings?
"Furthermore, Great King! If a man, by reason of wrong views, does not know that his own body will swiftly perish and be destroyed, and so creates evil karma and thereby deceives himself—this foolish person vainly lets the time pass by. Like wood or stone carved and engraved into a form, though he resembles a person in shape, he has no understanding and is habituated to greed and desire; thus he accomplishes the karmic causes of the evil paths. This is the third fault of the man."
The World-Honored One spoke a verse, saying:
"A man, then, by desireIs made deluded and confounded,And so he constantly createsEvery kind of evil transgression.
Perversion and darknessCover and obstruct their minds;On account of this they will be bornInto the prisons of the evil paths.
Those of depraved conductWill moreover depart far fromAll the sages and worthies,And will not revere them.
The ranks of śramaṇas,By reason of perverted views,Even to taking refugeIn mountains, rivers, and depraved spirits—
On account of greedy desire,Or again they kill and harmThe various kinds of birds and beasts,Sacrificing to gods and spirits.
By reason of perverted views,With non-Dharma they seek merit;By this they utterly part fromAll peace and joy.
If one is among the ranksOf these who create evil,Not knowing pure faith,Fierce and dangerous, without shame—
Such persons as theseUtterly part from the worthies and sages;They will surely fallInto the Wailing hell.
Or, on account of greedy desire,They oppress and harm others,And will fall into hell,Burning, burning to the utmost.
And again, by reason of perverted views,Toward the Buddha, Dharma, and SaṅghaThey cannot draw near,Revere, or make offerings.
The Dharma-jewel, the right teaching,They will not listen to attentively;Departing far from the worthies and sages,They fall into the evil destinies.
Therefore the person of wisdom,Having obtained a human body,Should not, in delusion,Fall into perverted, false views.
He should cultivate givingAnd uphold pure morality;He will then be born in the heavensAnd realize the path of bodhi.
"Furthermore, Great King! Or there may be a man who, for the sake of his own body and life, labors and toils excessively to gather wealth and goods, and then, bound by a woman, must serve and provide for her like a servant or slave; and so he craves and seeks treasures all the more, giving nothing to śramaṇas and brāhmaṇas, and willingly submits even to the king's law and punishment. Seeing the woman sad and sorrowful, he at once thinks to himself: 'What must I now do to make her glad?' Such men are slaves of greedy desire; toward that base and impure realm they yet imagine it to be pure, and give rise to a mind of lustful defilement. The time when he draws near to a woman in this way is precisely the creating of the karma of evil paths. This is the fourth fault of the man."
The World-Honored One spoke a verse, saying:
"The person whom greedy desire deludes—He truly has no peace or joy;Because he draws near to evil dharmas,He is not called a good man.
If a person indulges himselfAnd does not know to guard the precepts and prohibitions,Acting according to his mind's wish,He ruins and loses his merits and benefits.
That person without wisdomPractices the dharmas of animals,Running and chasing after the five sense-objectsLike one who delights in filthy dung.
The fool does not know to look uponThe faults and calamities of the defilement of flesh;He falsely imagines it a thing of value,Like that blind person.
Bound by the desire of forms,He increases and enlarges his lustful desire,Just like a jackalThat does not leave the charnel ground.
Toward sounds, scents, tastes, and touchesHe gives rise to a mind of lustful defilement,Revolving in birth and deathLike a tethered monkey.
Because ignorance covers him over,He is deluded and confounded by women,Like a market-trader seeking gainWho deceitfully comes to draw near.
The fool who draws near to desireEnters the realm of Māra,Just like an eḍūka beastThat craves the smell of filthy dung.
It is also like a hailstormThat can injure the standing grain.The potter constantly nears the fireAnd is for the most part scorched and burned;
Those who have not yet seen the truthLose their wholesome dharmas through desire,As wind blows away fine chaff—This meaning is just the same.
Suppose a good manWere seized by an enemy;Better to endure that calamityThan to draw near to women.
If one craves and delights in the forms of women,The mind's greedy seeking grows ever greater;The foolish worldling grasps at marksAnd increases and enlarges lustful desire,
Like one who, in the heat of summer,Travels long across the wilderness,And, parched, drinks salt water:Having drunk, his thirst increases all the more.
One who has not seen the truly real,In foolishness vainly lives and is born,Drawing near to women,With greedy desire and craving firmly fixed.
If a person touches a venomous snake,He is harmed by the snake;The worldling who violates desireIs harmed by desire just the same.
It is like a beautifully colored vaseFilled entirely with poison within:Within the vase is truly to be feared,While the outside appears upright and dignified.
So is the adornment of women—They are called fair and beautiful,But their bodies are most filthy,Like a leather sack full of dung.
Again, it is like taking colored silkTo wrap a sharp-edged blade:The adornment of women—This meaning is just the same.
Like fire filling a deep pit,Without smoke yet able to burn,Women too are just the same:Cruel and without compassion.
Like the carcass of a dog or snake,Foul and rotting away,Or like burning filthy dungThat everyone finds repugnant—
The carcass of a dog or snake, and dung,Though most repugnant,Yet those womenAre even more to be loathed.
It is like the time of the kalpa's destructionWhen the great earth all bursts into flame:The dense forests with their grasses and trees,All of them are burned.
The great creatures dwelling in the sea—The waters dry up till none are left;Sumeru and the precious mountains,The world is burned through and through.
At the time of the kalpa's burning thus,Both mountains and seas are consumed,And there is no sentient beingWho has any one able to save it.
By the lustful desire for womenThe foolish men are burned and harmed,Just like the fire-calamity of the kalpaIn which all is burned away.
The impure body constantly oozesMucus, spittle, phlegm, blood, and pus;Why does that deluded foolStill lust and cling to such a body?
Sinews and bones knit and propped together,Wrapped and bundled, sustained by skin and flesh,Rank and filthy, most repugnant,Like food cast away to be burned.
Or like a granary or storehouseWhere chaff and straw lie scattered about,This body, with its many impurities,Is filled to the full just the same.
Liver, gall, kidney, spleen, and stomach,Heart, lungs, intestines, dung, and filth,Together with brain, marrow, pus, and blood—Eighty thousand kinds of small worms
Dwell therein, constantly gnawing and sucking.Those dark and foolish people,Wrapped about by the net of delusion,Do not understand this clearly,
Eating and drinking the dregs and leavings.The nine orifices constantly ooze;This body of transgression, such as it is,Comes from filthy karma of former lives.
The fool who lusts after women,Lusting and clinging to their sounds and forms,By this gives rise to defiled attachment,Never knowing things as they truly are.
Like flies that, seeing vomit,At once give rise to a mind of delight,The fool who delights in women—The realm is just the same.
Tilting and leaning toward the forms of women,He constantly defiles his own body.Why does that foolDelight to draw near to such a place?
Like birds that seek their foodAnd do not know to avoid the net and snare,Those who crave and love womenAre harmed in just the same way.
It is like fish in the waterThat swim before the fishermanAnd are at once caught by him:Is this not to harm oneself?
Women are like the fisherman,Flattering deceit serving as the net;Men are the same as the fish,Caught in just the same way.
The sharp knife of a murderer,Though it too is to be feared—That sharp knife of womenHarms one even more.
Like a moth that lands on the lamp's flame,Or when a house is set ablazeAnd the insects are burned and consumedWith none to rescue and save them—
Those deluded and drunken toward womenAre burned by the fire of desire;By this they fall into the evil destinies,Unable to be saved, just the same.
Those foolish ones of depraved conductLust and cling to others' wives and concubines,Falsely giving rise to thoughts of delight,Just like a household rooster
Or like a pheasant of the wildThat blunders into the place of slaughter;By this they harm themselves,And there is none to rescue or aid them.
Forsaking and parting from the Buddha's right Dharma,They draw near to those women;By these karmic causes and conditionsThey fall into the three evil paths.
Again, like a troop of monkeysLeaping and swinging among the boughs of trees,They will surely come to harm—Is this not because of foolish greed?
So too the person of greedy desire,Toward those women,Is seized and caught by the net of delusion,Constantly suffering birth and death.
Like a worldly criminalStabbed through by a sharpened stake,The one drunk and deluded by lust and cravingConstantly clings to the forest of sharp swords.
As when, using a fierce flame,One heats and boils a cauldron of water,And throws beans and sesame into it,And they sink and drift with the boiling water—
So too the person of greedy desire,Not understanding good and evil,At death will fall into the evil paths,To be boiled in the seething cauldron.
The great number of seething cauldronsIs sixty-four koṭis;Those who create evil karmaTake them as their dwelling place.
Each and every such cauldronIs broad and great, a yojana wide;A fierce fire burns it all about,The bottom and the four sides of the cauldron.
There are some who, for a full hundred years,Or for two, three, or four hundred,Suffer the torment of being seethed and scorched—All from the karma they themselves created.
The hell-wardens grip sharp hooks,And from time to time they hook them out;Their skin and flesh are all rotted and dissolved,And only white bones remain.
Then the hell-wardensBring them again to the iron pen,And with mallets stab and pound them to bits,With none able to rescue or aid them.
Then their bones and marrowAre all crushed fine as dust;Driven by the wind of karma,Having died, they live again.
If there are those who violate and oppressThe wives and children of others,They will have to climb iron thornsAnd suffer the calamity of axes and mallets.
The iron pitchfork with three sharp prongs,Or having four or five prongs—Those who violated and oppressed others' wives and childrenWill suffer that punishment.
There are also crows with iron beaksThat peck out and take their marrow and brains;The packs of wolves and jackalsVie to come and lap and devour them.
The person of depraved desire, such as this,Will fall into the dung hell;Or he will run upon the edge of knives,And must also climb the mountain of knives.
The person of depraved desire, such as this,Will fall into the hot, burning hell;Having suffered the torment of burning fire,He is then carried over to the hell of ice.
The person of depraved desire, such as this,Also falls into the hell of extreme heat;The Wailing and the Great Wailing,And he passes too through the Black-Rope hell.
The person of depraved desire, such as this,Will sink in the hot, fetid river;Again he passes through the ash hell,And before reaching the bottom he dies.
There is the hell of iron caltrops,With five-rooted thorns sharp and keen;Chased and bitten by iron dogs,In fear he runs into the forest of thorns.
For lusting and clinging to womenHe falls into a place of great terror;Or he must swallow iron balls,Or he must drink molten copper.
There are two mountains of burning heatThat on either side press together;The person who was of greedy desire long agoNow suffers torment within them.
At the time of such suffering,There is none at all to rescue or aid;The suffering of this retribution of sinIs all from the karma he himself made.
Those who once shared his joys in former days—Now where are they to be seen?Alone, by himself, he suffers torment;They do not come to save one another.
Because, in former lives,He himself created sinful karma,Even his father and motherCannot save one another.
Because, in former lives,He himself created sinful karma,Even his sons and daughtersCannot save one another.
Because, in former lives,He himself created sinful karma,Even his brothersCannot save one another.
Because, in former lives,He himself created sinful karma,Even his sistersCannot save one another.
Because, in former lives,He himself created sinful karma,Even his friendsCannot save one another.
The fool, for the sake of depraved desire,Greedily seeks after women;In the Avīci hellHe suffers torments such as these.
Women are spoken of as impure,Foul and ugly, with much such filth;The place that fools draw near,The wise all depart far from.
To draw near to those womenIs the very utmost of baseness,The evil among all evils—What is there in them to delight in?
The greedy, desirous worldlingsConstantly embrace a sack of dung;By these karmic causes and conditionsThey will receive measureless suffering.
The fool, for the sake of women,Willingly endures every punishment,Imprisonment, binding, and beating,Yet still has no mind of loathing or renunciation.
The fool, for the sake of women,Suffers every kind of burning harm,And though he can bear and endure that pain,He still has no mind of loathing or renunciation.
Or he is placed upon a sharp stake,Or slain, or drowned in water,Or thrown into a great pit,Suffering every poison and pain in full.
Though he sees such suffering,He still dwells within lust and desire,Praising the women,Never once knowing loathing or renunciation.
Or there may be a person of little wisdomWho knows it to be the root of suffering;Yet knowing this, he still draws near,Like glue and lacquer meeting fire.
Hearing the Buddha's admonitory teaching,Though he has a mind of faith and acceptance,He still rears and keeps women,As many as a flock of sheep.
Or, hearing the Buddha's teaching,He has just given rise to a mind of remorse and loathing,But in a moment harm gives rise to greed again,As a poisonous disease relapses.
Just as a swine that, frightened,Pauses for but a moment,If it sees a puddle of filthy dung,The mind of greedy craving arises again—
The fool, having heard the Dharma,Is for a moment fearful in his mind;But afterward, seeing the forms of desire,The mind of greedy craving arises again.
Just as there may be a manWho from upon his own headStrips off a garland of goldAnd puts on instead a heated iron helmet—
The fool, for the sake of greedy desire,Casts away the Buddha's teaching,Greedily seeking base dharmasAnd creating every kind of sinful karma.
The person drunk and deluded by the forms of desireFalls into the realm of Yama,Constantly swallowing heated iron ballsAnd drinking molten copper.
The person deluded by the forms of desireForsakes the good and does what is wrong,Forsakes and departs from the place of cool refreshment,And goes forever to the realm of Yama.
If a person possessed of wisdomHears the Buddha speak this Dharma,He must cast away all desireAnd swiftly seek the path of emancipation."
When the World-Honored One had spoken this verse, King Udayana said: "World-Honored One! The words I have just now heard are truly rare, truly rare. The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, has well spoken of the faults and calamities of the forms of desire. Now I take refuge in the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha. From this day to the end of my life I take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha as an upāsaka; I earnestly pray that the World-Honored One will embrace and sustain me."
When the Buddha had spoken this sūtra, King Udayana and all the great assembly of devas, humans, and the worldly eightfold division of devas and nāgas, having heard what the Buddha taught, all rejoiced and reverently put it into practice.
