Chapter 2 – The Chapter on the Extent of the Lifespan of the Tathāgata
At that time there was a bodhisattva, a great being by the name of Ruciraketu (1) living in the great city of Rājagṛha. He had served victorious ones of the past, planted roots of virtue, and honoured many hundreds of thousands of millions of billions of buddhas. He said to himself, “What are the causes and conditions that have resulted in the lifespan of the Blessed One Śākyamuni being so short, only eighty years? The Blessed One has said that there are two causes, two conditions which result in a long life. What are they? They are abstaining from taking the lives of sentient beings, and giving food. However, for a great many hundreds of thousands of millions of billions of incalculable eons, the Blessed One Śākyamuni has abstained from taking the lives of sentient beings, undertaken the ten kinds of action that are roots of virtue, and given away his own food and a great many other things to living beings. He has even given the flesh, blood, bones, and marrow of his own body as food to satisfy living beings who were hungry, not to mention other kinds of food.”
Whilst this good man was reflecting in this way, his mind absorbed in recollecting the Buddha, his house became vast and spacious. Transformed by the Tathāgata, it was now made of lapis lazuli, covered in many different kinds of divine jewels, and suffused with exquisite divine perfumes. In that house, four thrones made of divine jewels appeared in the four cardinal directions. Divine mats made of divine jewelled cloth appeared covering those thrones, and on those mats divine lotuses appeared that had been transformed by the Tathāgata and were covered in many different kinds of divine jewels. On those lotuses, four buddhas, four blessed ones appeared. The Tathāgata Akṣobhya appeared to the east, the Tathāgata Ratnaketu appeared to the south, the Tathāgata Amitāyus appeared to the west, and the Tathāgata Dundubhisvara appeared to the north, all four buddhas appearing simultaneously on their lion thrones.
At that moment, the great city of Rājagṛha was filled with a great light. Indeed, this entire billion-fold world-system and as many adjacent world-systems as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River in the ten directions were filled with light. Divine flowers rained down, divine musical instruments sounded, and by the power of the Buddha all of the living beings in this billion-fold world-system attained divine happiness. Living beings whose senses were impaired regained the full use of their senses. Those who had been blind from birth were able to see forms with their eyes. Those who were deaf were able to hear sounds with their ears. Those who had become frantic and distracted regained their mindfulness. Those whose minds were distraught were able to collect themselves. The naked were clothed. The stomachs of the hungry were filled. The thirsty had their thirst quenched. Those who were afflicted by disease became free of disease. Those whose sense organs were deficient became possessed of fully functioning sense organs. All over the world there was a great succession of extraordinary miracles.
When Ruciraketu saw those buddhas, those blessed ones, he was astonished, and thought to himself, “How is this possible?”. Pleased, uplifted, delighted, joyful, enraptured, happy, he bowed to those buddhas with folded hands. He reflected on the forms of those buddhas, and he reflected on the good qualities of the Blessed One Śākyamuni. Whilst he was thinking, his uncertainty about the extent of the lifespan of the Blessed One Śākyamuni came into his mind again. “How can it be? What is it that has resulted in the lifespan of the Blessed One Śākyamuni being so short, only eighty years?”
Then those buddhas, those blessed ones who were mindful and knew what the Bodhisattva Ruciraketu was thinking said to him, “Child of good family, do not think like that, that the lifespan of the Blessed One Śākyamuni is so short. Why is this? Child of good family, we can perceive no-one in the world with its gods, māras, and brahmās – no ascetic, no brahmin, no god, no human being, and no titan – who could possibly comprehend the limit of the extent of the lifespan of the Tathāgata Śākyamuni as it stretches into the far distant future. Only the tathāgatas, the arhats, the fully awakened buddhas can do this.”
As soon as those buddhas, those blessed ones, had given this teaching on the extent of the lifespan of the Tathāgata, then by the power of the Buddha gods descended from the realm of sensual desire and from the realm of form, and along with nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, titans, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, and a great many hundreds of thousands of millions of billions of bodhisattvas, they all gathered in the Bodhisattva Ruciraketu’s house. Those tathāgatas then addressed the whole assembly, giving a teaching in verse on the lifespan of the Blessed One Śākyamuni:
You could work out
how many drops of water there are in all the oceans,
but you can’t work out
the lifespan of Śākyamuni.
You could calculate
the number of atoms in all of the Mounts Sumeru,
but you can’t work out
the lifespan of Śākyamuni.
You could work out
how many atoms there are
in the whole world,
but not the lifespan of the Victorious One.
If you wanted to,
you could measure the sky,
but no-one can work out
the lifespan of Śākyamuni.
Even if you talk in terms of
hundreds of millions of eons,
you still can’t calculate
the lifespan of the Awakened One.
As a result of these two causes,
these two conditions,
namely abstaining from harming others
and giving away large amounts of food,
you can’t calculate
the lifespan of this great being,
even if you talk in terms of
incalculable eons.
So you should be in
no doubt whatsoever –
no-one could possibly calculate the limit
of the lifespan of the Victorious One.
Then the brahmin Kauṇḍinya, who was a teacher and elucidator, together with many thousands of other brahmins worshipped the Blessed One. When he heard told of the complete nirvana of the Tathāgata, he immediately fell at the feet of the Blessed One (2) and said to him, “If the Blessed One has empathy for all living beings, if he has great compassion and desires the welfare of all living beings, if he is the mother and father of all beings, unequalled, shining like the moon, rising up like a great sun of wisdom and knowledge, if you look upon all living beings in the same way as you look upon your son Rāhula, grant me one favour.” The Blessed One was silent.
Then, by the power of the Buddha, an eloquent Litsavi prince by the name of Sarvalokapriyadarśana (3) said to the teacher and elucidator Kauṇḍinya, “Great brahmin, why do you ask the Blessed One to grant you a favour? I will grant this favour.” The brahmin replied, “Litsavi Prince, the favour I ask is that I would like to receive a relic of the Blessed One, even one the size of a mustard seed, so that I can worship the Blessed One, a tiny relic that I can keep in my possession. I have heard that by worshipping such a relic, even one the size of a mustard seed, one can become Lord of the Thirty-Three Gods. Listen, Litsavi Prince, to the Sutra of the Supreme Golden Light which is difficult for śrāvakas and solitary buddhas to understand. The Sutra of the Supreme Golden Light will have these kinds of characteristics and good qualities. The Sutra of the Supreme Golden Light, Litsavi Prince, is difficult to understand. We brahmins from faraway lands will place our relic in a reliquary. Litsavi Prince, I ask you for this favour so that living beings will easily be able to become Lords of the Thirty-Three Gods. Litsavi Prince, why wouldn’t you want to ask for a relic of the Tathāgata, even one the size of a mustard seed, that you could keep in a reliquary so that living beings could become Lords of the Thirty-Three Gods? This, Litsavi Prince, is the favour that I would like.”
The Litsavi Prince Sarvalokapriyadarśana then spoke to the teacher and elucidator, the brahmin Kauṇḍinya, in verse:
When lotus flowers bloom
in the rushing torrents of the Ganges,
when crows are red
and cuckoos are the colour of conch-shells,
when the rose-apple tree gives the fruit of the palm
and mango blossoms grow on the wild date tree,
then you will be able to see
a relic the size of a mustard seed.
When you can wrap yourself
in a tortoise-hair cloak
that keeps out the cold in winter,
then there will be a relic.
When a sturdy and unmoving tower
is build upon a foundation
made of gnats’ feet,
then there will be a relic.
When all leeches
grow big sharp
white teeth,
then there will be a relic.
When there is a solid ladder
made of rabbit horn
that can reach up to heaven,
then there will be a relic.
When a mouse climbs that ladder
and eats the moon,
causing trouble for Rāhu,
then there will be a relic.
When a fly drinks a jug of wine
and wanders about the village,
eventually settling down to live in a house,
then there will be a relic.
When there is a donkey
with lips as red as ivy gourd
who dances and sings with joy and grace,
then there will be a relic.
When an owl and a crow
go off to a private place together
to enjoy each other’s company,
then there will be a relic.
When a single leaf from a flame of the forest tree
serves as a sturdy umbrella
to shelter you from the rain,
then there will be a relic.
When an ocean-going ship
bedecked with flags and sails
mounts dry land and continues on its way,
then there will be a relic.
When an owl picks up
Mount Gandhamādana in its beak
and flies away with it,
then there will be a relic.
When he heard these verses, the teacher and elucidator Kauṇḍinya answered the Litsavi Prince Sarvalokapriyadarśana in verse in turn:
Excellent, O greatest of princes.
Excellent, O son of the Victorious One,
great sun(4), hero skilled in using the appropriate means,
best of those who have received a prediction to awakening.
Listen to me, prince,
and in due course I will tell you of
the inconceivable majesty of the Protector of the World,
the Holy One, the Tathāgata.
The abode of the buddhas is inconceivable,
and the tathāgatas are without equal.
All buddhas are kind.
All buddhas have attained perfection.
All buddhas have the same appearance.
This is the nature of the buddhas.
The Blessed One is not produced,
the Tathāgata is not arisen.
His body, which is as indestructible as a thunderbolt,
manifests an emanation body.
That’s why there can be no such thing as a relic of the Great Seer,
even one the size of a mustard seed.
How could there be a relic
from a body that has no blood or bones?
The giving of a relic is a skilful means
used to benefit living beings.
The awakened one has a Dharma-body,
and the Realm of the Dharma is the Tathāgata.
This is what the body of the Blessed One is like.
This is what the teaching of the Dharma is like.
This is what I have heard and what I know.
I asked for this favour
in order to have the opportunity to give
this explanation of the way things are.
Upon hearing this profound teaching on the extent of the lifespan of the Tathāgata, thirty-two thousand gods set their minds on unsurpassed perfect awakening. Their minds electrified with delight, they spoke the following verses as if with one voice.
The Buddha does not attain complete nirvana
and the Dharma does not disappear.
He only appears to attain complete nirvana
in order to bring living beings to maturity.
The Buddha, the Blessed One, is inconceivable,
and the body of the Tathāgata is eternal.
In order to benefit living beings
he shows them many different kinds of things.
When the Bodhisattva Ruciraketu heard the teaching on the extent of the lifespan of the Blessed One Śākyamuni given by these buddhas, these blessed ones, and by these two good men, he was pleased, uplifted, delighted, joyful, enraptured, happy, filled with an exalted rapture and joy. Whilst this teaching on the extent of the lifespan of the Tathāgata was being given, an immeasurable, incalculable number of living beings set their minds on unsurpassed perfect awakening.
The tathāgatas then disappeared.
This is the second chapter of the Supreme Golden Light, the Sovereign King of Sutras,
the Chapter on the Teaching on the Extent of the Lifespan of the Tathāgata.
Notes
The name Ruciraketu means “Brilliant Radiance”.
The translation immediately fell at the feet of the Blessed One follows Nobel’s edition of the Sanskrit text. According to Bagchi’s edition of the Sanskrit text, this phrase would instead read fell laughing at the feet of the Blessed One. Emmerick (1996:6) has he fell at once in tears before the Lord’s feet which accords with the Khotanese translation and the Chinese translations of Jñānagupta and Yixing.
This name means “He who looks upon the whole world with love”. In Bagchi’s edition, this prince is named Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, “He who looks upon all living beings with love”.
The word mahāgira can be interpreted as mahā+agira “great sun” as I have done here, or as mahā+gira “great speaker” as Emmerick does.