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traversed the city, which was decorated and prepared by the great multitude, went to the monastery, and stood amidst the assembly of monks. At that moment, eighty crores of monks were assembled, and ninety-six hundred thousand nuns. Among them, a hundred thousand were Arahant monks. It occurred to them: "If the king were to see his authority without remainder, he would be exceedingly devoted to the Buddha's dispensation." Then they performed the miracle called 'Opening the World'. The king, standing in the Asoka Grove, looking in all four directions, saw the entire Jambudīpa up to the ocean, and the eighty-four thousand monasteries shining with a magnificent monastery festival offering. Seeing that splendor, filled with great joy and delight, he thought, "Has such joy and delight ever arisen in anyone else?" and asked the assembly of monks: "Venerables, in the dispensation of our World-Lord, the Ten-Powered One, who made a great sacrifice? Whose sacrifice is great?" The assembly of monks entrusted the matter to Thera Moggaliputtatissa. The Thera said: "Great King, in the dispensation of the Ten-Powered One, there was no one like you who was a giver of requisites, even when the Tathāgata was alive. Your sacrifice alone is great." The king heard the Thera's words filled with great joy and delight, he thought: "There is no one like me who gives requisites. My sacrifice is great. I uphold the Dispensation with gifts. If so, am I an heir to the Dispensation, or not?" Then he asked the community of monks: "Am I, venerable sirs, an heir to the Dispensation?" Then the Elder Moggaliputtatissa, hearing these words of the king, and seeing the potential of Prince Mahinda, thought: "If this prince were to go forth, the Dispensation would greatly flourish." He then said to the king: "No, great king, one is not an heir to the Dispensation by that much. Rather, one is counted as a giver of requisites or an attendant. Even if, great king, one were to give a heap of requisites from the earth up to the Brahma-world, one would not be counted as an 'heir in the Dispensation'." "Then how, venerable sir, does one become an heir to the Dispensation?" "Whoever, great king, whether rich or poor, ordains his own flesh-and-blood son— this one, great king, is called an heir to the Dispensation." When this was said, King Asoka, thinking, "Even after making such a sacrifice, I have not attained the state of an heir to the Dispensation," and desiring to attain the state of an heir in the Dispensation, looked here and there and saw Prince Mahinda standing not far off. Seeing him, he thought: "Although I intended to place this prince in the viceroyalty from the time Prince Tissa went forth, yet going forth is superior even to the viceroyalty." Then he said to the prince: "Can you, my dear, go forth?" The prince, who by nature had desired to go forth from the time Prince Tissa went forth, hearing the king's words, became exceedingly joyful and said: "I will go forth, O king. By ordaining me, you will become heirs to the Dispensation." At that time, the king's daughter, Saṅghamittā, also at that very moment She was in that very place. And her husband, a prince named Aggibrahmā, had gone forth with Prince Tissakumāra, the viceroy. The king, seeing her, said, “You too, mother, can go forth?” “Yes, father, I can.” The king, having obtained the consent of his children, with a joyful mind, said to the Sangha of bhikkhus: “Venerable sirs, ordain these children and make me an heir to the Dispensation.” The Sangha, accepting the king’s word, ordained the prince with Moggaliputtatissa Thera as preceptor and Mahādeva Thera as teacher. They gave him higher ordination with Majjhantika Thera as teacher. At that time, the prince was just twenty years old. In that very ordination boundary, he attained Arahantship together with the analytical knowledges. For Princess Saṅghamittā, the teacher was Ayupālittherī, and the preceptor was Dhammapālittherī. At that time, Saṅghamittā was eighteen years old. As soon as she was ordained, they established her in the training in that very ordination boundary. At the time of their ordination, the king had been consecrated for six years. Then, from the time of his higher ordination, Mahinda Thera, learning the Dhamma and Vinaya from his own preceptor, mastered all the Theravāda, which comprised the two recitations and the Tipiṭaka with commentaries, within three years. He became the chief of a thousand bhikkhus, who were disciples of his preceptor. At that time, King Asoka, the Dhamma King, had been consecrated for nine years. However, in the eighth year of the king’s consecration, Kontaputtatissa Thera, while wandering for alms to treat his illness, could not obtain even a small amount of ghee. His life-span exhausted by the power of the illness, he exhorted the Sangha of bhikkhus with diligence, sat cross-legged in the air, entered the fire-element absorption, and attained final Nibbāna. The king, hearing that news, paid homage to the Thera and said, “While I am ruling, such requisites for bhikkhus are hard to find!” and had ponds made at the four gates of the city, filled with medicine, and given away. At that time, four hundred thousand [coins] from the four gates of Pāṭaliputta, and one hundred thousand from the assembly hall, thus five hundred thousand [coins] arose for the king each day. Thereupon the king sent one hundred thousand daily to Nigrodha Thera. One hundred thousand for offerings of perfumes, garlands, etc., at the Buddha's shrine. One hundred thousand for the Dhamma, which was provided for the four requisites of those who uphold the Dhamma and are learned. One hundred thousand for the Saṅgha, one hundred thousand for medicine at the four gates. Thus, a magnificent gain and honor arose in the Dispensation. The sectarians, whose gain and honor had declined, not even obtaining food and clothing, desiring gain and honor, entered the Dispensation as renunciants and expounded their own views, saying, "This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya." Even those who could not obtain ordination shaved their heads themselves, donned saffron robes, and wandered in the monasteries, entering into Uposatha, Pavāraṇā, Saṅgha-kamma, and Gaṇa-kamma. The bhikkhus did not perform Uposatha with them. Then Moggaliputtatissa Thera thought, "This dispute has now arisen, and it will soon become harsh. It is not possible to settle it while dwelling among these people." So, entrusting the Saṅgha to Mahinda Thera, and desiring to dwell in comfort himself, he went to the Ahogaṅga mountain. Those sectarians, even though reproved by the Bhikkhu Saṅgha according to the Dhamma, the Vinaya, and the Teacher's Dispensation, did not establish themselves in practice conforming to the Dhamma and Vinaya, and raised various kinds of tumors, defilements, and thorns for the Dispensation. Some worshipped fire, some tormented themselves with the five fires, some followed the sun, some declared, "We will break up the Dhamma and the Vinaya." Then the Bhikkhu Saṅgha did not perform Uposatha or Pavāraṇā with them. For seven years in Asokārāma, Uposatha The Observance Day was interrupted. They reported this matter to the king. The king ordered an official: "Go to the monastery, settle the dispute, and have the Observance Day performed." The official, unable to question the king, approached other officials and said: "The king sent me, saying, 'Go to the monastery, settle the dispute, and have the Observance Day performed.' How, pray, is a dispute settled?" They said: "We think this: 'Just as when settling a border dispute, they kill the bandits, even so, the king must intend to kill those who do not perform the Observance Day.'" Then that official went to the monastery, assembled the community of bhikkhus, and said: "I have been sent by the king to 'have the Observance Day performed.' Do it now, venerable sirs, the Observance Day." The bhikkhus said: "We do not perform the Observance Day with heretics." Then the official, starting from the seat of the elders, began to strike off heads with a sword. Now, Thera Tissa saw that official acting so wrongly. Thera Tissa was not just anyone; he was the king's brother by the same mother, named Prince Tissa. The king, upon his anointing, had appointed him to the viceroyalty. One day, he went into the forest and saw a great herd of deer playing in joyful sport. Seeing them, he thought: "These deer, who feed on grass, play like this. But these ascetics, eating delicious food in the royal palace, and sleeping on soft couches— what kind of sport will they not play!" He returned from there and reported this thought of his to the king. The king thought: "The prince has worried over nothing! Come, I will make him understand this." One day, acting as if angry for some reason, he said: "Come, accept the kingdom for seven days, then I will kill you." Threatening him with the fear of death, he made him understand the matter. That prince, they say, thinking, "He will kill me on the seventh day," did not bathe properly, did not eat, did not sleep, and became extremely emaciated. So the king asked him, "Why are you like this?" "From fear of death, sire." "Hey, you, seeing a limited death, are you not at ease, not playing? How will monks, seeing death bound to every breath, play?" From then on, the prince found faith in the teaching. Then again, one day, going out hunting, wandering in the forest, he saw the Elder Yonaka Mahādhammarakkhita seated, being fanned by a certain elephant holding a sāla branch. Seeing him, joy arose in him, and he thought, "When will I, too, go forth like this great elder? Will that day ever come?" The elder, knowing his intention, while he was watching, rose into the air, stood on the surface of the water in the pond at Asokārāma, hung his robes and upper garment in the air, and began to bathe. The prince, seeing the elder's power, was exceedingly pleased,