Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (226)

King Ananta Tests the Power of His Roots of Goodness

Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。如是思惟。我今更试。自善根力。令四天下。一切人民。若有所愿。随意无违。作是念已。彼四天下。所有人民。一切希求。皆得如意。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, the wheel-turning King Anantarāja (King of Boundlessness) then gave rise to this thought: I now wish to further test the power of my roots of goodness, so that all the people of the four continents, if they have any wishes, may have them fulfilled at will without contradiction to their intentions. After King Anantarāja gave rise to such a thought, all the people of the four continents had every one of their aspirations fulfilled exactly as they wished.

Can the four continents even be counted? They cannot. Right now, the population of Jambudvīpa alone numbers in the billions, and the populations of the other three great continents are even larger. If every single person has one wish, and all of them can be made satisfied and content, how immense must that power of mental intention be—this truly counts as benefiting and bringing joy to sentient beings. After King Anantarāja made this thought, the people of the four continents truly obtained whatever they wished for. In our present world, because sentient beings have meager merit (alpa-puṇya), we cannot attract the appearance of a wheel-turning sage king; there are no more wheel-turning sage kings.

Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复更思惟。以我所有。善根力故。令四天下。普雨妙花。作是念已。于四天下。降雨种种。上妙天花。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, King Anantarāja again gave rise to this thought: By the power of all my roots of goodness, let wondrous flower-rain fall everywhere throughout the four continents. After he gave rise to such a thought, all kinds of supremely wondrous celestial flowers rained down upon the four continents, as numerous as rain.

The flowers on this earth are not beautiful enough; compared with the celestial flowers above, they appear somewhat coarse, whereas the flowers in the heavens are extremely wondrous and superb, their fragrance and colors far more magnificent than those of the human world. Even so, by doing this King Anantarāja also consumed an enormous amount of his own merit; he cashed out all the merit he had cultivated before measureless Buddhas, leaving no savings behind. Once there are no savings left in the tathāgatagarbha, his merit vanishes, and nothing he does can be accomplished. Therefore, we who study Buddhism must not casually squander our own merit; we should enjoy blessings as little as possible and reserve them for the attainment of buddhahood.

Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复更思惟。以我所有。善根力故。令四天下。雨妙宝衣。作是念已。于四天下。悉雨宝衣。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, King Anantarāja again gave rise to this thought: By the power of all my roots of goodness, let wondrous jeweled garments rain down upon the four continents like rain. After he gave rise to this thought, indeed a rain of jeweled garments fell everywhere throughout the four continents.

Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复更思惟。以我所有。善根力故。令四天下。悉皆雨银。作是念已。于四天下。皆得雨银。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, King Anantarāja further made the following thought: By the power of my roots of goodness, let a rain of silver fall upon the four continents. After he gave rise to this thought, indeed silver rained down everywhere throughout the four continents like rain. His greed kept growing; as soon as this thought of raining silver was made, silver truly rained down from the sky.

Original text: 大王。彼无边称王。复更思惟。以我所有。善根力故。令四天下。降雨黄金。作是念已。于四天下。皆雨黄金。所以者何。皆由无边称王。于往昔时。与诸众生。共修善业。之所获得。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, King Anantarāja further made the following thought: By the power of my roots of goodness, let a rain of gold fall upon the four continents. After he gave rise to this thought, indeed a rain of gold fell throughout the four continents. Why was he able to do this—wishing for gold and thereby raining gold, wishing for silver and thereby raining silver? It was all because this wheel-turning sage king, in the past, had cultivated wholesome karma together with all those sentient beings, and thus was able to obtain such retribution.