Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (126)

Chapter Two: The Story of King Anantakirti (King of Boundlessness)

Original text: 大王。乃往过去。无量俱胝。那由他劫。有转轮王。名无边称。富贵自在。有大威德。象马车乘。众宝辇舆。最胜轮宝。无能坏者。已曾亲近。无量诸佛。于彼佛所。种多善根。随意所念。皆得成就。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, in the past, countless kalpas ago, there was a wheel-turning sage king named King of Boundlessness (Anantarāja), who was extremely wealthy, at ease, and possessed great majestic power. He had elephants, horses, chariots, and litters adorned with many jewels, the seven treasures complete, as well as the most supreme jewel-wheel that no one could destroy. This King of Boundlessness had in the past drawn near and made offerings to immeasurable Buddhas, and had planted abundant roots of goodness in the presence of those Buddhas. Due to the attraction of these roots of goodness and merit, whatever he wished in his mind would be accomplished; all his ideas could be realized.

The purpose of the World-Honored One telling this story was to teach and alert King Śuddhodana not to be attached again to wealth, pleasure, and enjoyment, for one whose mind is never content will surely suffer future calamities. The story tells what kind of retribution comes from being attached to the world without satisfaction, and what kind of retribution comes from a mind that is never content. This story indeed proves that when the human mind is not content, those who have not eradicated greed will find it difficult to know contentment regarding the five desires and six sense objects—even King of Boundlessness, who planted many roots of goodness in the presence of immeasurable Buddhas, was no exception.

The Indian terms "koṭi" and "nayuta" of kalpas refer to an extremely, extremely long span of time. One complete cycle of the earth's formation, abiding, destruction, and emptiness is one great kalpa, equal to 80 times 16.8 million years. That long ago, before immeasurable great kalpas, there was a wheel-turning king called King of Boundlessness. Wheel-turning kings are divided into four kinds: gold wheel kings, silver wheel kings, copper wheel kings, and iron wheel kings. The iron wheel king, the lowest in rank, can only govern one great continent—for example, governing exclusively the southern continent of Jambudvīpa of our earth, or exclusively the eastern continent of Pūrvavideha, ruling only one continent; a copper wheel king rules two continents, a silver wheel king rules three continents, and a gold wheel king rules four continents. At the foot of Mount Sumeru there are four great continents all around. All the small worlds have these four great continents around their Mount Sumeru. Our Sahā world has a total of one billion Mount Sumerus, which means that the Sahā world of Śākyamuni Buddha, one trichiliocosm, has one billion earths, one billion Jambudvīpas, one billion Pūrvavidehas, one billion Aparagodānīyas, and one billion Uttarakurus, and thus there would be one billion gold wheel kings, while copper wheel kings and iron wheel kings would number more than one billion. The blessings these wheel-turning sage kings obtained all came from making offerings to immeasurable tens of millions of kotis of Buddhas; these are worldly blessings of mundane dharma.

The wheel-turning king was extremely wealthy and at ease, had power and authority, great majestic virtue, the elephant treasure, horse treasure, chariot treasure, gold, silver, and jewels, litters, and the other seven treasures. Riding upon his seven-jeweled litter, the wheel-turning king could fly instantly from Jambudvīpa of our earth to the other continents, and could even fly instantly to Śakra, the lord of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. This is the attraction of the gold wheel king's blessings: whatever he wanted, he could obtain—of course, within the material scope of the desire realm.

The wheel-turning king had drawn near immeasurable Buddhas before he cultivated this blessing. We cannot even accomplish small things; having not cultivated blessings, we are not at ease with things like gold, silver, and treasures—racking our brains is useless, and they will not appear. Without cultivating blessings, even a university graduate or doctoral student, striving their whole life in this world, will still not succeed; although their abilities are complete, without blessings they cannot obtain what they need. One who has cultivated blessings, even if illiterate, can become greatly wealthy and noble. In the past, many poets complained in their verses that they had talent but no opportunity—why? Talent alone is useless; one must also have blessings. Everything we obtain in this life was cultivated in past lives. If we wish to have great blessings and merit for our own use, we must constantly cultivate blessings. All blessings and merit do not fall from the sky; they all come from cultivating blessings that benefit others. In particular, we should cultivate many blessings in the Mahāyāna Dharma, making many offerings and giving generously (dāna) to the Mahāyāna Three Jewels.

The gold wheel king made offerings to immeasurable Buddhas and planted so many roots of goodness before he became a gold wheel king. If we do not cultivate diligently, but only recite a single Buddha's name and, at the end of life, are reborn in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) and wait there to become a Buddha—can we become a Buddha? We have only made offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha, and even that not well. Arriving in the land of bliss, we would only encounter one Buddha, Amitābha—can we become a Buddha thereby? Even becoming a gold wheel king required making offerings to immeasurable Buddhas, let alone attaining the far more supreme retribution of accomplishing the Buddha Way. The Buddha said in the sūtras that for sentient beings to become Buddhas, they all need to make offerings to immeasurable, boundless numbers of Buddhas, listening to the sūtras and hearing the Dharma beside every single Buddha, making offerings to the Buddhas life after life, so that their blessings and merit can be complete and they can become the World-Honored One who is doubly honored in blessings and wisdom. Therefore it is impossible to say that by reciting a Buddha's name and reaching the land of bliss one becomes a Buddha. Without even sufficient experience in liberating sentient beings, and since the Buddha Dharma has never taught this, and blessings have not been cultivated, it is impossible to become a Buddha so easily.

If there really were such an effortless thing as becoming a Buddha by reciting a Buddha's name, and if disciples wanted to listen to the Dharma, yet one could not even expound the Hīnayāna teachings, much less the Mahāyāna teachings, how would one liberate sentient beings? Moreover, where would these sentient being disciples come from? Having never liberated disciples, never having formed affinities with sentient beings, how could one possibly have disciples? Without having liberated sentient beings, there are no disciples; without the assistance of disciples, one cannot establish a Buddha land, nor can one become a Buddha. For example, to be a king, without ministers and without subjects, one cannot be a king. Having only been to the land of bliss, without having liberated sentient beings, blessings are not complete; unable to expound the sūtras and speak the Dharma, wisdom is not complete; blessings and wisdom are both incomplete, and one cannot become a Buddha.