The Story of Young Scholar Bodhisattva and Burning Light Buddha

The Buddha said, “Reflecting on my past lives, innumerable kalpa ago, I began as an ordinary person. Since I first sought the Buddha Way, my spirit has taken shape throughout the five destinies. As one body died and rotted away, I received another body. The infinite series of births and deaths is as countless as if one were to tally all the grass and trees under heaven that have been cut down. Counting these past bodies would be as futile as trying to estimate the beginning and end of heaven and earth, which is a kalpa. Yet my passings, even more than the extent of heaven and earth, cannot be measured. Therefore, saddened by the endless flow of worldly thoughts of attachment while drowning in an ocean of craving and desire, I only wished to overturn the source of all this. I exhorted myself to [achieve] the extraordinary. Thereafter, for age upon age, I made strenuous efforts but did not regard it as a hardship. I was humble and enjoyed tranquility. I acted without acting, dispassionately. [I cultivated] self-renouncing generosity, in complete sincerity maintained morality, [cultivated] humble patience, [cultivated] courageous energy, and single-mindedly sought to realize sage wisdom. [I was] benevolent to all who live under heaven; compassionate to those suffering from poverty, sickness, and disaster; consoling to those wet with tears of grief and sorrow; nurturing to sentient beings; and a provider of relief to suffering people. I served all buddhas. I discerned who were true people of awakening. I accumulated the merits of all these efforts since unrecorded past ages.

“Then Burning Light Buddha arose in the world. There was a sage king named Governing with Superior Restraint in the great country of Polished Alms-bowl, whose many people were long-lived and happy. All under heaven was at peace and tranquil. At that time, I was a bodhisattva named Young Scholar. Even as a young child, he yearned to be wise and intelligent and had grand, ambitious aspirations. He secluded himself in mountains and valleys, maintaining what is profound and practicing meditation. When he heard that a buddha was in the world, his heart was filled with joy. He put on a deerskin garment and set out, desiring to enter the country [where the Buddha was residing]. On the way, he passed by an assembly on a hill. In the middle of the assembly were people of the Way. There were five hundred of them. The Bodhisattva passed some time with them. All day and all night, they discussed the Way and expounded its meaning. The masters and their disciples were all pleased. When the time came to depart, the five hundred each gave him a silver coin, which the Bodhisattva accepted from them.

Entering the city, he saw that the people were joyfully and busily leveling the road, washing and sweeping it, and burning incense. He immediately asked a passerby, “What is all this for?” The passerby said, “Today the Buddha will be entering the city.” The bodhisattva felt great joy. He thought to himself, ‘How wonderful! Now I will be able to see the Buddha. I should seek him out and tell him my vow.’

Just then, a girl from the royal family passed by. Her name was Gopi. She was carrying a water jug and holding seven blue lotus flowers. The Bodhisattva chased after her and called out, "Elder sister, please stop. For a hundred silver coins, I will buy those flowers you are carrying.”

The girl replied, "The Buddha is about to enter the city. [Even] the king is fasting and bathing. The flowers are to be given as an offering, so they cannot be obtained.”

Again, he asked her, “Elder sister, do you seek more?” She was unwilling to sell them for even two hundred or three hundred [silver coins]. He immediately took out five hundred silver coins from his pouch and gave them all to her.

Gopi thought about the flowers. She meticulously counted the coins and then took the five hundred as payment. Greedy for that silver treasure, she gave him five flowers but kept two for herself.

She turned to leave but began to wonder about him. Who was this person of the Way, wearing deerskin garments that covered his shapely physique? He did not spare his treasure of silver coins to obtain five flowers. Her happiness faltered. She chased after and called out to the young man, “Tell me sincerely, who are these flowers for? If they are not for you, I will take them back, sir.

The Bodhisattva turned and said, “I bought these flowers for a hundred coins each, altogether five hundred. You already agreed to this. What right do you have to take them back?”

She said, “I am from the royal family.  I have the power to take them from you.”

The Bodhisattva held back and flowers and said, “I desire to give them to the Buddha and request that he hear my vow.”

Gopi said, “Good! I vow that in my next lives, I will always be your noble wife. The attractive and the ugly should not be separated. I will surely keep you in my heart. Let the Buddha know of this. Now I have a woman’s weakness and cannot come before [the Buddha]. Please take these two flowers as an offering to the Buddha.” The Bodhisattva granted this.

In a moment, the Buddha arrived. The king and his subjects all paid homage. Each scattered reputable flowers. These flowers all fell to the ground. The Bodhisattva saw the Buddha. He scattered his five flowers, but they all stopped falling in mid-air. They faced the Buddha and ascended as if arising from their roots, not falling to the ground. Afterward, he scattered the two [remaining] flowers. These settled upon both shoulders of the Buddha.

The Buddha knew his intention and praised the Bodhisattva’s words. “You have trained to purify yourself for innumerable eons. You have subdued your mind, surrendered your life, abandoned desire, maintained emptiness, non-arising, non-ceasing, and loving-kindness that is not dependent on anything. You have accumulated virtue and cultivated your vow. Now, you will accomplish [your vow] because I say that you are assured [of future buddhahood]. After ninety-one kalpas, in a kalpa named Sagacious, you will be regarded as a buddha. Your name will be Shakyamuni.”

Having obtained these words of assurance, the Bodhisattva's doubts and misunderstandings came to an end.  Suddenly, he no longer perceived anything. He felt tranquil and entered [a state of deep] concentration. He immediately reached the purifying patient acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. At once, he felt lighter. His body rose into space seven feet above the ground. Then he came down and prostrated himself at the Buddha’s feet. He saw that the ground was damp. Immediately, he took off his leather garments, wishing to cover the mud with them, but it was insufficient. Then he unbound his hair and spread it over the ground to allow the Buddha to walk on it and pass by [without muddying his feet].

The Buddha again praised him and said, “You have courage and energy. Later, when you attain buddhahood in a time of the five degenerations, you will liberate all gods and men without difficulty just as I do.”

The Bodhisattva served Burning Light until he entered nirvana. He received the precepts and protected the Dharma.

From The Buddha Expounds on the Origin of the Auspicious Response of the Crown Prince Sutra

Fascicle One

Translation into Chinese from the Indian by Layman Zhi Qian.

Taisho 185.03.472c04 - 473b01