English
It is said that in King Bindusāra's weak time, Prince Asoka, having abandoned the kingdom of Ujjeni obtained by himself, came and took possession of the entire city, and arrested Prince Sumanakumāra. On that very day, Sumanā, the queen of Prince Sumana, became fully pregnant. Disguised, she went out and, heading towards an outcaste village not far away, near the house of the elder outcaste, there was a banyan tree. Hearing the voice of the deity dwelling in that tree saying, "Come here, Sumanā!" she went near it. The deity, by her power, Having built a hall of reeds, she placed her there, saying, "Dwell here." She entered that hall, and on the very day she arrived, she gave birth to a son. Because he was taken under the protection of the Nigrodha deity, she named him Nigrodha. From the day he saw him, the elder Caṇḍāla, regarding him as his own master's son, established a continuous routine of service. The royal princess lived there for seven years, and Nigrodha Kumāra also became seven years old. Then, a certain Arahant named Mahāvaruṇa Thera, seeing the boy's potential for attainment, while dwelling nearby, thought, "Now the boy is seven years old. It is time to ordain him." Having informed the royal princess, he ordained Nigrodha Kumāra, and the Kumāra attained Arahantship at the razor's edge. Thus it was said in the Mahāvaṃsa: 9. That Mahāvaruṇa Thera, then seeing the young boy, Endowed with potential, the Arahant asked the mother, He ordained him at the razor's edge, and he attained Arahantship. It is said that one day, having cared for his body early in the morning, performed the duties towards his teachers and preceptors, taking his bowl and robes, he set out, thinking, "I will go to the door of my mother's patroness's house." The place of his mother's residence was such that he had to enter the city through the southern gate, go through the middle of the city, and exit through the eastern gate. And at that time, Asoka Dhammarājā was pacing in the lion's cage, facing the eastern direction. At that very moment, Nigrodha reached the royal courtyard, with calmed senses and a peaceful mind, looking only a yoke's length ahead. Thus it was said, "One day, standing in the lion's cage, he saw Nigrodha, a novice, going through the royal courtyard, his teeth controlled, his senses calmed, endowed with proper deportment." Having seen him, this thought occurred to him: "All these people are of distracted minds, like frightened deer. But this young boy is undistracted, and his looking and glancing, his drawing in and stretching out, are exceedingly beautiful. Surely, there is a supramundane Dhamma within him." From the very sight of the novice, the king's mind was pleased, and affection arose. Why? Because of previous... When the king was doing meritorious deeds, this merchant was his elder brother. 10. By former association, Or by present benefit; Thus, affection arises, Like a lotus in the water. Then the king, his affection arisen, with great respect, sent his ministers, saying, "Summon the novice!" Because they were so slow in coming, he sent two or three more, saying, "Let him come quickly!" The novice came of his own accord. The king, knowing a suitable seat, said, "Please be seated." He looked here and there, and seeing that there was no other monk, he approached the royal couch with its raised white parasol, showing the king his intention to receive the bowl. The king, seeing him approaching the couch, thought, "Today, this novice will become the master of this house!" The novice, giving the bowl into the king's hand, ascended the couch and sat down. The king offered all the rice gruel, hard food, rice, and delicacies prepared for himself. The novice accepted only what was necessary for his sustenance. At the end of the meal, the king said, "Do you know the advice given to you by the Teacher?" "I know a part of it, great king," he replied. "Dear one, tell it to me too," he said. "Very well, great king," he said, and to give his approval, he spoke a verse from the chapter on mindfulness, appropriate to the king. The king, hearing "Mindfulness is the path to immortality, negligence is the path to death," said, "Unknown to me, dear one, finish it!" At the end of the approval, having received thirty-two portions of choice food, the next day he took thirty-two monks and entered the royal palace and performed the meal service. The king said, "Let another thirty-two monks take alms with you tomorrow." In this way, increasing it day by day, he cut off the food of sixty thousand Brahmins and wanderers and established a perpetual meal for sixty thousand monks in the inner palace, through the same faith as Nigrodha Thera had. Nigrodha Thera also... Having established him, along with his retinue, in the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts, he established an unwavering faith in the Buddha's dispensation, through a faith common to ordinary people. The king also had a great monastery built, named Asokārāma, and established a perpetual alms-offering for sixty thousand monks. Throughout all Jambudīpa, in eighty-four thousand cities, he had eighty-four thousand monasteries built. Thus it was said: 11. By the fault of a Caṇḍāla's words, Born in a Caṇḍāla village; The fruits of rejoicing in the offering attained, He was without taints. This is the account of Nigrodha Thera. The merchant Madhudāyaka, having passed away from the deva-world, was reborn in the royal family in the city of Pupphapura, and became a prince named Piyadāsa. Having raised the umbrella of sovereignty, he ruled as sole monarch over all Jambudīpa. How? King Bindusāra had one hundred sons. Asoka killed them all, except for Tissa Kumāra, who shared the same mother as himself. While killing them, he ruled the kingdom for four years without being consecrated. At the end of four years, in the eighteenth year after the passing away of the Tathāgata, two hundred years having passed, he attained the consecration as sole monarch over all Jambudīpa. Then, in all Jambudīpa, in eighty-four thousand cities, kings would come and attend upon him. He had three palaces suitable for the three seasons: one named Mahāsappiko, one named Moragīvo, one named Maṅgalo. In these, surrounded by thousands of dancers, he resided. The one who showed him the honey shop, named Asandhimittā, a royal daughter with the splendor of a goddess, the chief of sixty thousand women, became the chief queen of King Dhammāsoka. Immediately after the consecration, these royal powers came to him: his command extended one yojana down into the earth, and likewise up into the sky. From Lake Anotatta, deities brought sixteen water-pots with eight conduits each, day by day. When he developed faith in the dispensation, he gave eight pots to the community of monks. Two pots for sixty monks versed in the three baskets. Two jars of ghee for the chief queen Asandhimittā. Four jars he himself consumes, the deity brings daily from the Himalayas Nāgalatā toothpicks, smooth, soft, and flavorful, with which the king, the queen, sixteen thousand dancers, and sixty thousand monks perform their daily teeth-cleaning duties. The deity brings him daily myrobalan without disease, harītakī without disease, golden-colored ripe mangoes, rich in fragrance and flavor. From Lake Chaddanta, they bring five-colored robes and cloaks, yellow hand-wiping cloths, and divine drinks. The Nāga kings bring him daily from the Nāga realm anointing perfumes, seamless flower-patterned cloths for robes, priceless eye ointment. A thousand new cartloads of Sāli rice, sprouted from Lake Chaddanta, are brought daily by parrots. Mice make them huskless. Not even one broken grain appears. This rice is used for consumption in all the king's places. Bees make honey. In the blacksmith shops, they strike clear anvils. Karavīka birds come and, singing sweetly, perform the king's offering rites. Endowed with these powers, the king one day sent golden chains and brought the Nāga king Mahākāla, who had seen the form of four Buddhas, of kappāyuka age, and having seated him under a white parasol on a priceless throne, having made offerings with hundreds of colors of water and land flowers and golden flowers, having surrounded him on all sides with sixteen thousand dancers adorned with all ornaments, said, "May the form of the truly enlightened Sammāsambuddha, the supreme Dhamma-wheel-turning lord of infinite wisdom, appear to these eyes," and with that, he scattered it over his entire body. His Buddha-form, born of merit's radiance, Adorned with eighty minor marks, And thirty-two major signs of a great man, With its own glory, Like a pond adorned with blooming lotuses, Like the sky, bright with scattered rays of starlight, Radiant with varied hues of blue, yellow, and red, Encircled by a halo of light, Like a golden mountain peak, Adorned with diverse, pure banners, A delight to the eyes of gods, men, nāgas, and yakshas, Gazing upon it, he made an offering with his eyes for seven days. It is said that the king, Having attained consecration, Favored external ascetics for only three years, In the fourth year, he became devoted to the Buddha's teaching, His father, Bindusāra, was a devotee of Brahmins, He had established a perpetual offering For about sixty thousand Brahmins, And ascetics of the Brahmin caste. Asoka, continuing the offering established by his father In his own inner palace, One day, standing at the lion window, Seeing them eating with unrestrained senses, With unrefined conduct, He thought, "It is fitting to examine such an offering, And give it in a worthy place." Thinking thus, he said to his ministers, "Go, bring to the inner palace The ascetics and Brahmins Whom you deem worthy, I will give an offering." The ministers, replying "Very well, O King," Brought those white-robed ascetics, The Jīvakas, the Niganthas, and others, And said, "These, O Great King, are our arahants."