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saying, "Let him come quickly." The novice came of his own accord. The king, knowing a suitable seat, said, "Be seated." Looking here and there, "There is no other bhikkhu now," he approached the royal couch with the raised white umbrella, showing the king his intention to receive the bowl. The king, seeing him approaching the couch, thought thus: "Today, this novice will be the master of this house." The novice, having given the bowl into the king's hand, ascended the couch and sat down. The king offered all the rice-gruel, sweets, rice, and delicacies prepared for his own sake. The novice accepted only what was necessary for his sustenance. At the conclusion of the meal, the king said, "By whom, sir, were you What kind of advice do you know? I know a portion, great king. Then, dear, tell it to me. Very well, great king. To suit the king, he spoke the Appamāda Vagga from the Dhammapada for rejoicing. The king, hearing, "Diligence is the path to the Deathless, negligence is the path to death," said, "Dear, finish what is unknown." At the end of the rejoicing, receiving thirty-two dishes of rice, the next day, taking thirty-two monks, he entered the royal palace and performed the meal duty. The king said, "Let another thirty-two monks take alms with you." In this way, increasing day by day, he cut off the food of sixty thousand Brahmins and wanderers, and established a daily meal for sixty thousand monks in the inner residence, with the same faith as when Nigrodha Thera had come. Nigrodha Thera also established the king together with his retinue in the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts, making his faith unwavering in the Buddha's dispensation with the faith of an ordinary person. Then the king, having built a great monastery named Asokārāma, established food for sixty thousand monks. In all Jambudīpa, in eighty-four thousand cities, he had eighty-four thousand monasteries built. Adorned with eighty-four thousand shrines, by righteousness, not by unrighteousness. One day, it is said, the king, having given a great donation at Asokārāma, sitting in the midst of the Saṅgha of sixty thousand monks, having invited the Saṅgha with the four requisites, asked this question: "Venerable sirs, how much is the Dhamma taught by the Blessed One?" "Great king, nine parts, and in brief, eighty-four thousand aggregates of the Dhamma." The king, pleased with the Dhamma, thought, "I will honor each aggregate of the Dhamma with a monastery." In one day, he spent ninety-six crores of wealth, and commanded the ministers, "Come, sirs, building one monastery in each city, build eighty-four thousand monasteries in eighty-four thousand cities." And he himself, in Asokārāma, began the work for the Asoka Mahāvihāra. The Saṅgha gave Indaguttathera, a monk of great power and might, a Khīṇāsava, as the overseer of the new construction. Whatever was not completed, the Thera completed by his power. Thus, in three years, the work on the monastery was finished. On a single day, from all the cities, letters arrived, and the ministers informed the king. "Completed, O King, are eighty-four thousand monasteries." Then the king approached the Saṅgha of monks and asked, "Venerable sirs, I have had eighty-four thousand monasteries built, from where shall I obtain relics?" "Mahārāja, we have heard that there is a relic deposit, but it is not known in what place it is." The king, having a Cetiya broken up in Rājagaha and not finding relics, had preparations made and taking the four assemblies, monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen, went to Vesālī. Not finding them there either, he went to Kapilavatthu, not finding them there either, he went to Rāmagāma. In Rāmagāma, the Nāgas did not allow the Cetiya to be broken up. The axe that fell on the Cetiya was shattered to pieces. Thus, not finding them there either, having broken up all the Cetiyas in Allakappa, Pāvā, and Kusinārā, and not finding relics, having made preparations, he went to Rājagaha and gathered the four assemblies, asking, "Has anyone ever heard of a relic deposit in such and such a place?" There, an eighty-year-old Thera said, "I do not know of a relic deposit in such a place. However, when I was seven years old, my great-grandfather Thera, having had me take a flower basket, said, 'Come, Sāmaṇera, there is a stone mound in such and such a place, let us go there,' and having gone and worshipped, he said, 'It is fitting, Sāmaṇera, to note this place.'" "I know only this, Mahārāja," he said. The king, saying, "This is the place," had the road cleared, and having removed the stone mound and the dust, he saw a lime floor below. Then, having removed the lime and the bricks, gradually descending into the enclosure, He saw seven jeweled relic caskets and eighty cubits of wooden figures revolving. That Yaksha, having called the servants and had the relic work done, but not finding an end or a limit, worshiping the deities, said, "Having taken these relics, I will enshrine them in eighty-four thousand monasteries and make offerings; may the deities not cause any hindrance." Sakka, the king of gods, wandering on a tour, seeing that, addressed Vissakamma and said, "Friend, King Asoka has descended into the enclosure, intending to take out the relics; go and remove the wooden figures." He, having come in the guise of a boy from the five Cūḷagāmas, stood before the king with a bow in his hand and said, "I will remove them, great king." "Remove them, friend." Taking an arrow, he shot it at the joint itself; everything was scattered. Then the king took the sealed key with the signet ring from the treasure chest, saw the jewel mine, and, seeing the letters, "In the future, poor kings, having taken this jewel, will make offerings to the relics," being angry, "Is such a king as I a poor king?" having repeatedly tried to close the four doors, he entered the inner chamber. Lamps lit more than eighteen years and two hundred years ago were still burning just as they were; blue lotus flowers brought and placed at that moment, as if the flower arrangement was arranged at that moment, as if the perfumes were ground and placed at that moment. The king, having taken a golden plate and read, "In the future, a prince named Piyadassi, having raised an umbrella, will become a righteous king named Asoka; he, having taken these relics, will spread them widely," thinking, "I have been seen by the venerable Mahākassapa Thera," having bent his left hand, he clapped with his right hand. He, having placed only a small amount of relics for attendance in that place, having taken all the remaining relics, having closed the relic chamber in the same way as it was previously closed, having made everything just as it was naturally, having established a stone shrine on top, enshrined them in eighty-four thousand monasteries. He established thus, in Jambudīpa's realm, Asoka, the righteous king, had eighty-four thousand cetiyas built. All the stupas, the sole lights of the world, for all, they bring heaven and liberation, forsaking all other tasks, let people worship them, always, in every time. The Story of the Eighty-Four Thousand Stupas 12. Thus, Asoka, the righteous king, having made eighty-four thousand great monasteries, approached the great elder, and asked, "Am I an heir, venerable sir, in the Buddha's dispensation?" "Whose heir are you, great king? You are external to the dispensation." "Venerable sir, having spent ninety-six crores of wealth, and having built eighty-four thousand monasteries with cetiyas, am I not an heir? Who else is an heir?" "You, great king, are called a provider of requisites. But whoever ordains their own son and daughter, that one is called an heir in the dispensation." When this was said, King Asoka, desiring to be an heir in the dispensation, seeing Prince Mahinda standing not far away, said, "Can you, dear son, renounce?" The prince, naturally inclined to renounce, hearing the king's words, became exceedingly joyful, and said, "I will renounce, O king. Having ordained me, be an heir in the dispensation." And at that time, the king's daughter, Saṅghamittā, was also standing in that place. Seeing her, he said, "Can you too, dear daughter, renounce?" "Good, father," she replied. The king, having obtained his son's consent, with a delighted heart, approached the community of monks, and said, "Venerable sirs, having ordained these children, make me an heir in the dispensation." The community, accepting the king's words, had the prince ordained with Moggaliputta Tissa Thera as preceptor, and Mahādeva Thera as teacher. Majjhantika Thera conferred the higher ordination. At the very moment of ordination, he attained arahantship with the discriminations. For the king's daughter Saṅghamittā, the teacher was a theri named Āyupālā, and the preceptor was a theri named Dhammapālā. Then, from the time of his higher ordination, Mahinda Thera always remained in the presence of his preceptor, While mastering both the Vinaya and the Dhamma, Having ascended to both councils, Having collected the Tipiṭaka with its commentary, The Theravāda, Having learned it within three years, He became the chief of about a thousand monks, Who were his preceptor's pupils and disciples. Then at that time, The Elder Moggalliputtatissa, Considering where the Teaching would be well-established in the future, Knowing that it would be well-established in the border regions, Having assigned responsibilities to those monks, He sent those monks to those places. He sent the Elder Majjhantika to the Kasmīra-Gandhāra country, Saying, "Go to this country and establish the Teaching there." Having said the same to the Elder Mahādeva, He sent him to the Mahiṃsaka region. He sent the Elder Rakkhita to Vanavāsī, The Yona Dhammarakkhita Thera to Aparantaka, The Elder Mahādhammarakkhita to Mahāraṭṭha, The Elder Mahārakkhita to the Yona country, The Elder Majjhima to the Himalayan region,