福力太子因緣經

Thus did King Puṇyabala govern and reign throughout the whole of Jambudvīpa, his majestic power lofty and supreme, his realm prosperous, mighty, and free. King Puṇyabala bestowed jewels and wealth upon all the people, and with the Dharma of the Ten Wholesome Deeds he taught, transformed, and guided them. At that time the people of Jambudvīpa flourished, were at peace, and were happy.

There was no strife or enmity with hostile armies, no theft, no hunger or thirst, and no disease; nor was there anyone destitute or in want. Everyone possessed treasuries full of precious things, had many kinsfolk, and dwelt at ease in accordance with their wishes. Moreover, in every place the thorns, brambles, stones, and gravel all naturally vanished; there was no foul weather, and the rains and dews fell to nourish all.

Flowers and fruits grew in abundance, and the grain filled the fields.

The people all knew how to increase their merit and power, practiced giving and the various works of merit, kept their minds pure, and upheld and observed the precepts. When the people of Jambudvīpa reached the end of their lives, they were all reborn among the gods of the Four Great Heavenly Kings. King Puṇyabala opened forth the roots of goodness for all people of this present age and of ages to come, bringing them great benefit; and countless thousands of people, after passing away, were reborn in the Tuṣita Heaven.

The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:

"You should know that this King Puṇyabala was no stranger; he is none other than I Myself now. When I was still a Bodhisattva, I was King Puṇyabala. The royal father, Cakṣurbala, is now King Śuddhodana; Queen Vistīrṇaprabhā is now Queen Māyā. The youth endowed with consummate physical form and marks is now the bhikṣu Ānanda; the youth endowed with consummate diligence is now the bhikṣu Śroṇakoṭiviṃśa; the youth endowed with consummate craftsmanship is now the bhikṣu Aniruddha; the youth endowed with consummate wisdom is now the bhikṣu Śāriputra; the lord of the gods, Śakra, at that time, is now the bhikṣu Maudgalyāyana; the king of that other country who was about to die is now Māra; and that poor man is now the bhikṣu Rāhula.

"The physician who was punished by the king is now the bhikṣu Kauṇḍinya.

"O bhikṣus, for this reason you should know that, in all times and at every moment, the multitude of sentient beings ought to cultivate this supreme practice of meritorious deeds and power. This is why I first expounded upon merit and power, for I see no other small Dharma whose cultivation yields such great benefit as this."

At that time the bhikṣus all gave rise to doubt and thus said to the Buddha:

"World-Honored One, in his former lives what kind of deeds did King Puṇyabala cultivate, that he came to receive this karmic reward—to become a king ruling over all the countries, to possess full renown, supreme majesty and virtue, and to enjoy the merit of gods and humans? Whatever things he needed, merely by thinking of them he had all that he wished, falling down from the heavens. When he was born, the earth quaked and trembled, and from the sky precious objects rained down upon the lion throne; Śakra, lord of the gods, offered a canopy, and treasuries of jewels appeared... How did such things come to be? We pray the Buddha will explain this for us."

The Buddha said:

"O bhikṣus, King Puṇyabala cultivated and accumulated meritorious deeds over many lives, and his vast vows and practices, joined with the power of various conditions, would surely cause him to receive this supreme reward of merit.

"O bhikṣus, you should know that all the deeds which sentient beings perform are not apart from the various conditions for their accomplishment, nor are they apart from the earth element, water element, fire element, and wind element that are bound together; whether wholesome or unwholesome, they all arise as deeds in accordance with the aggregates, the bases, and the elements."

The Buddha spoke a verse:

"O bhikṣus, I recall a remote past kalpa long ago. At that time a Buddha appeared in the world named Ajita Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed One, the Tamer of Beings, the Teacher of Gods and Humans, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. After this Buddha had everywhere accomplished the work of a Buddha throughout the world, at last, in a certain country, He entered the great Nirvāṇa without remainder, like firewood exhausted and a flame gone out. The king of that country gathered His relics and built a great precious stūpa to make offerings to them.

Afterward the assembly of bhikṣus beat drums, struck the gaṇḍī, and sounded the conch to make announcement throughout the great assembly. A hundred thousand countless bhikṣus gathered together in one place, and there was a great Dharma master who, on a day of favorable conditions, expounded the essentials of the Dharma everywhere for the sake of all.

At that time there was in that country a gambler named Vijaya, who was greatly addicted to games of dice and gambling. His wife was named Vistīrṇavijayā, and his son bore the same name. At first this man had gathered together the family fortune and used it for gambling, so that his goods and possessions gradually passed into others' hands, and in the end the whole estate was squandered away. There remained only two outer robes, an umbrella, a pair of leather sandals that he commonly used, and five gold coins.

One day this man suddenly said:

"Because I have created no causes of merit, I have come to such poverty and misery as this."

Having said this, he lamented and bewailed, and taking those things he left his house. Asking one after another of the gamblers, he made his way to the place where the Dharma was being expounded.

Vijaya saw the great Dharma master seated upon the lion throne, with many people sitting all around, reverently joining their palms and listening to the Dharma. Seeing this fine and beautiful sight, he gave rise to a pure mind and thought: "Now I too shall listen to the Dharma in this way." Vijaya then set down the things he had brought in one spot, joined his palms, and with utmost sincerity listened to the expounding of the Dharma. At that time the Dharma master spoke a verse:

A person should cultivate the causes of merit,
And practicing thus, let there be no interruption;
According to what one delights in, do it in season—
By accumulating merit one gains peace and joy.

Vijaya heard the verse and pondered the line "By accumulating merit one gains peace and joy": "For a long time I have created no causes of merit, and so I have fallen into poverty and misery. Now I ought, according to my ability, to practice some small work of merit." But then he thought again: "Of my family's wealth and possessions nothing remains save these things upon my person; among them I would take the five gold coins and one cloak.

Yet to give these away, I must consider that I am a man so poor that I wish to take my own life. If I do not give, I shall forever ruin the cause of merit, and in another life I shall have nothing to rely upon. By what skillful means now might I be able to leave behind this poverty and misery, preserving my bodily life in this present existence, while cultivating works of merit without losing the supreme cause?

Now I would rather endure hunger and poverty, for surely I shall gain much merit and virtue; therefore I shall take the gold coins and the cloak and give them as a gift."

While Vijaya was thinking thus, that Dharma master spoke another verse:

Wholesome dharmas should be cultivated with all speed,
For thus one is able to cut off the manifold karmic offenses;
Thus should one cultivate the cause of supreme merit—
All the offenses of karma bring no peace or joy.

Vijaya heard this verse again and pondered those words, "Swiftly cultivate the wholesome dharmas," and resolved to do this deed. He therefore gave rise to a pure mind of giving: he took the umbrella and held it above the head of the Dharma master, took the sandals and placed them beneath the Dharma master's feet, spread out the five gold coins beside the seat, and took the cloak and draped it upon the Dharma master. Within his heart Vijaya was filled with utmost joy and felt as though uplifted; he bowed his head at the master's feet, and his pure faith grew all the greater, and he made this vow:

"I vow that by this supreme root of goodness in giving, in this present life and forever hereafter, in life after life I shall possess great, supreme merit and power; that I shall have full and great renown, enjoy the merit of gods and humans, possess lofty majesty and virtue, and become king of all the countries. If there be anything I need, then in accordance with my thought that thing shall straightway appear, fine and beautiful, abundant and inexhaustible."

When Vijaya had made this vast vow, the Dharma master then dedicated the merit on his behalf.

At that point the gambler departed from the assembly. With only the robe that covered his body, he returned home. His wife and son, seeing him, were astonished and thought: "Before, he took the household goods away with him—he has probably gambled them all away." So his wife asked: "My husband, in the house now there remain only myself and our young child, and besides nothing at all. Surely we too are about to die?"

The husband, all the more pressed and oppressed by poverty and hardship, then composed himself, and on account of these circumstances spoke a verse:

In the world there is no suffering greater than the suffering of poverty;
The suffering of poverty is as the suffering of death.
I would rather willingly bear the suffering of death
Than delight in living with the suffering of poverty.

Having spoken this verse, Vijaya stood there sighing. Afterward his wife took a pitcher to the well, and though she drew up water, she used all her strength yet could not pull it up. The wife called her husband to come and look; the two of them together pulled with all their strength, yet still could not raise it, and they called their son. The three of them put forth all their strength and managed to pull it up a little, and they were utterly astonished to see beneath the pitcher of water three iron tubes filled full of gold coins, stacked one upon another. The husband then marveled and thought: "Could it be that because I gave a gift before, I now receive this fruit?" Joyfully he gazed upon those gold coins and spoke a verse:

How wondrous—this merit appearing in this place!
All offenses and faults are utterly cut off.
What is gained now is owing to what was planted before;
Know that the fruit of karmic reward is just like this.

Vijaya's wife rejoiced and asked:

"My husband, how have such fine and good things as these come about? Please tell me clearly."

Vijaya recounted it all for his wife to hear. After this he gambled and always won, for his merit and power, opening forth, now yielded this karmic reward. Thus the report spread far and wide everywhere, and everyone in the country said to one another:

"How truly rare is this great and extraordinary merit—suddenly this man has become wealthy and at ease."

From that time onward Vijaya turned toward the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, and gave rise to pure faith even greater than before. Day after day, at the Buddha's stūpa, he made vast offerings, and moreover cultivated, upheld, and maintained the true Dharma. Each day Vijaya took food of the finest flavors to offer to the assembly of monks.

Besides this, the śramaṇas, brāhmaṇas, and the beggars by the roadside were also amply supplied by Vijaya with all the things they needed. Furthermore, he built a vast vihāra and invited bhikṣus from everywhere to dwell there, that he might serve them and make offerings. Thus the fame of Vijaya spread afar to every place.

Afterward the king of that country suddenly passed away, and there was no heir to succeed him. The ministers and attendants and the company of kinsfolk, knowing that this man possessed great merit and power and great renown, consulted together and then earnestly invited and entreated him to succeed to the royal throne. And so the name of the gambler existed no more, but he was honored by all and styled the Great King Vijaya.

King Vijaya, having attained such a result, his heart rejoicing, gave rise to a fierce resolve, and performed works of merit and giving even more abundantly than before. He cultivated and upheld the precepts, and having opened forth the cause of merit everywhere for the sake of his officials and soldiers, his kinsfolk, and all people, when he reached the end of his life he was reborn in the Heaven of Mastery over Others' Creations, becoming a son of the Heavenly King there.

When he was born among the gods, King Vijaya had the most excellent wish-fulfilling jewels and garments raining down from the sky, and his body shone with a radiance that overwhelmed the light of all the other gods. The gods, seeing this manifestation, were all amazed and praised it, saying that so supreme a fruit of merit was rarely seen.

The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:

"You should know that King Vijaya was no stranger; he is the King Puṇyabala of whom I spoke before. That man at first was a gambler, yet he was able to give rise to a mind of joy and delight in hearing the Dharma, and he gave away everything he possessed to the Dharma master. For this reason he now receives this supreme karmic reward, succeeding to the royal throne and opening forth the cause of merit.

By this cause and condition, for twenty-six lifetimes he was a Heavenly King of the Heaven of Mastery over Others' Creations; for thirty-six lifetimes a Heavenly King of the Heaven of Delight in Creation; for thirty-six lifetimes a Heavenly King of the Tuṣita Heaven; for thirty-six lifetimes a Heavenly King of the Yāma Heaven; for thirty-six lifetimes a Heavenly King of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven; for thirty-six lifetimes a Heavenly King among the Four Great Kings;

and for countless hundreds of lifetimes a Golden-Wheel-Turning King, using the true Dharma to govern and transform all four continents, complete with the seven treasures—namely the precious wheel, the precious elephant, the precious horse, the precious jewel, the precious woman, the divine steward of the treasury, and the divine steward of the army.

Such seven treasures he enjoyed and used at will.

The king had a thousand sons, very fine and beautiful in form, brave and strong, diligent, and able to subdue all other armies. From the ends of the heavens and the corners of the seas, throughout all the lands of his realm, there was no terror, no theft, no knives or staves... All people cultivated the true Dharma and lived in peace and joy.

At that time the World-Honored One spoke a verse to the bhikṣus:

Such victorious persons, great beings as these,
For many lives are sovereign lords above all else;
Because the Buddha universally embraces the world—
This is what the Buddhas have always taught.

If one is able to hear it, it is a rare thing:
This vast cause-and-condition of spiritual power.
One who has done evil deeds can yet give rise to faith,
While those who have wisdom are not yet awakened.

Therefore, how exceedingly rare it is—
The one of great majesty and virtue, fulfilling whatever is sought!
You should hold in reverence the gate of the true Dharma,
And the words the Buddha has taught, ever keep them in mind.

The Buddha said to the bhikṣus:

"What I have taught, you should train and learn in this way. Therefore ever diligently delight in the true Dharma; revere it, respect it, faithfully serve it, and make offerings to it. Whatever you do, take it as your refuge and support. One who trains and practices in this way gains great benefit."

When the Buddha had finished speaking this sūtra, the bhikṣus and all people, having heard what the Buddha taught, were greatly delighted, and with faith they received it and reverently put it into practice.