犍陀國王經

Thus have I heard.

At one time, the Buddha was dwelling in the Jeta Grove, the Garden of Anāthapiṇḍika, in the country of Śrāvastī, together with an assembly of 1,250 bhikṣus.

At that time, there was a king named Gandha who venerated the brahmins. There was a brahmin who lived in the mountains and had planted many fruit trees. At that time, a man gathering firewood damaged the fruit trees. When the brahmin saw this, he went together with others to the king and reported, saying: "This fellow has gained nothing yet has damaged my fruit trees. The king should put him to death to punish his offense."

The king, who reverently served the brahmins, did not dare to disobey, and so he had the man who had damaged the trees put to death. Not long afterward, there was an ox that ate another man's rice crop. The owner beat it and cut off one of the ox's horns, so that blood flowed and covered its face, and the pain was unbearable. The ox went straight to the king and said: "I have truly gained nothing; I ate but a little of the man's rice, yet upon being seen by him I was beaten, and my horn was cut off."

The owner of the rice also came to the king. The king, who understood the speech of birds and beasts, said to the ox: "For your sake, I shall put him to death and punish his offense."

The ox hastily replied: "Even if you put this man to death today, it cannot make my pain cease. I only wish that, as a warning for the future, others not be made to suffer as I have."

The king then sighed and said: "I serve the brahmins, who are wont to sit beneath the trees eating their fruit, and who bid me put a man to death—they are not the equal of this ox." He then summoned the brahmin and asked: "If I were to do this deed today, would there be merit in it?"

The brahmin answered: "It can avert calamity, and afterward you will gain the merit of wealth, honor, and long life."

The king asked again: "Can it grant release from birth and death?"

He answered: "It cannot grant release from birth and death."

The king thought to himself: "It is this Path that I ought to revere and serve." He then commanded his ministers to prepare chariots and horses, and went to the place of the Buddha. Casting his five limbs to the ground, he paid homage to the Buddha and said: "I have heard that the Buddha's Path is supreme and lofty, that its teaching is vast and boundless, and that it has delivered countless beings throughout the world. I pray that I may receive the words of the Dharma and so reform myself."

The Buddha then bestowed upon the king the Five Precepts and the Ten Wholesome Deeds. For the sake of all heaven and earth, of human beings and living creatures, he expounded the Dharma of no arising and no ceasing.

The king performed obeisance, his head and face to the ground, and said to the Buddha: "If I now exalt, honor, and uphold the precepts of the Dharma, shall I gain merit?"

The Buddha taught, saying: "Giving and observance of the precepts bring merit in this present life. Patience, diligence, single-mindedness, and wisdom bring immeasurable virtue. Hereafter one is born into the heavenly realms; one may also become a Wheel-Turning Sage King[1]; and one may also attain the unconditioned, the path that transcends the world."

The Buddha then manifested for the king his auspicious marks, his majestic and radiant spiritual presence. The king at once gave rise to joy, his mind and thoughts were liberated, and he straightway attained the fruit of the path of Srotāpanna.

The Venerable Ānanda arranged his robes, placed his head and face to the ground, paid homage to the Buddha, and said: "What manner of past causes and conditions did this king and this ox once share? The words and intent of the ox dispelled his delusion, so that he forsook the brahmins and came to revere the Buddha's path. Seeing the Buddha and hearing the Dharma, he straightway attained the traces of the Path."

The Buddha taught, saying: "Long ago, in the time of the Buddha Kanakamuni, the king and the ox were brothers, and both were upāsakas. Together they upheld the abstinence precepts for one day and one night. The king kept the precepts with diligence and without indolence; when his life ended he was born into the heavenly realms, and when that lifespan ended he descended to become a king. The ox at that time transgressed the precept by eating in the evening, and afterward received the retribution for his offense; through that offense he was reborn as an ox. Through a hundred lifetimes he possessed full understanding, and so he came to awaken the mind and thoughts of the king. Seven days later, the ox's life ended and he was born into the heavenly realms."

The Buddha taught: "The fourfold assembly of disciples, who uphold the abstinence precepts, must never transgress them."

When the bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs, the upāsakas and upāsikās, the devas, nāgas, and spirits had heard this Sūtra, they rejoiced, came before the Buddha to pay homage, and withdrew.

The Sūtra of King Gandha