Very much like the rising sun are the Elephant Treasure’s adorned, neck, feet and face. His body is of pure white. He rests on the seven supports: his four limbs, his trunk, tail and noble organ (varaṅgaṃ) all touch the ground.267 His major and minor limbs are well formed. The tip of his trunk is like a beautiful open red lotus. Like a powerful yogi (iddhimā yogī) he is able to fly skillfully through the air. Anointed with red arsenic powder, the elder elephant comes from the Rajata Mountains to stand in that place. (If he comes from the Chaddanta tribe, it is the youngest that comes. If from the Uposatha tribe it is the eldest).
When the king has fulfilled all the duties of a cakkavatti monarch and speaks his thought, then the elephant comes. This Mahāsudassana did and the elephant came from his natural elephant habitat and stood there. When the Elephant Treasure makes its appearance, and is seen by the elephant keepers, they with great delight go quickly to announce it to the king. The king comes quickly and sees it with a delighted mind. He thinks, “It would be a good thing if this elephant can be tamed.”
Thinking thus, he approaches the elephant which hangs down its ears like a tame calf, seeing that it is the king who approaches. The king desires to mount it, and his retinue, knowing his intention, brings the Elephant Treasure golden flags and ornaments and covers it with golden netting. The king makes the elephant sit, and he mounts it with a seven-jeweled ladder and wishes it to fly into the sky. Immediately upon the arising of this thought, the great elephant rises like a royal swan into the sapphire-blue sky.
From that place he does what is called a “circle tour”. By the time the royal company has finished their morning meal the king has travelled on the elephant over the entire earth and returned to the royal capital. This is the great power of the cakkavatti’s Elephant Treasure. (DN-a 17)
The next to appear, the Horse-Treasure (assaratana), is acquired in an identical way. The counsellors prepare a place for it, the king does his royal duties and then the horse comes. It is mounted by the king and flies into the air to make a circuit of the earth. The Horse Treasure is described as follows:
By the power of the king’s merit a horse of the Sindh race appears. It is resplendent like a mass of clouds in the autumn, adorned with lightning flashes. Its feet and snout are red. Its pure, smooth and compact body resembles the radiant moon. Its head is black like a crow’s neck or like a royal sapphire. Its head is adorned with black hair well arrayed like muñja grass delicately curled.
Going through the sky, he is called Valāhako (“the cloud”), the royal horse who came and stood in that place. (ibid.)
After the horse, the Jewel-Treasure (maṇiratana) is the next to appear. This is a marvellous, self-luminous gem stone.
After the appearance of the Horse-Treasure, there emerges the Jewel-Treasure. It is four hattha268 across, about the size of a wagon-wheel. From both ends, which are like pinnacles, there are very pure strings of pearls. It is adorned with two gold lotuses and attended by a retinue of 84,000 gems. The Jewel-Treasure is splendid like the full moon with its attendant retinue of stars. It comes from Mount Vepulla.269
The Jewel-Treasure is a beryl,270 beautiful, well-formed, eight-sided, well-polished, pure, very clear, clean and perfect in all its parts. The lustre of this jewel radiates for a yojana in all directions. The king decided to investigate the quality of this jewel and fixing it atop his standard, went out in the darkness of night with his four-fold army. (DN 17)
Wherever they went, the lustre of the jewel extended for a yojana round about. The light was like that of the rising sun, and the farmers started to plough the fields, the merchants opened their shops and the labourers began their work. “It is daytime,” they thought. Thus did the Jewel-Treasure manifest for the king. (DN-a 17)
The next to appear is the Woman-Treasure, itthiratana, a marvellously beautiful woman who will become the cakkavatti’s chief queen. In the story of King Mahāsudassana, this queen was named Subhaddā.
Then there appears to the king the Woman-Treasure. She is lovely, beautiful, amiable, excellent, fair complexioned; she is not too tall, not too short, not too thin, not too fat, not too dark and not too pale. She surpasses the beauty of human women, and approaches the beauty of a devī. Her skin is as soft to the touch as cotton wool or the fluff of the silk cotton tree. In the cold season, her limbs are warm to the touch, and in the hot season they are cool. Her body bears the scent of sandalwood, and her mouth smells like a lotus. The Woman-Treasure always rises in the morning before the king, and goes to bed at night after him. She is always obedient and pleasant in her speech and manner. The Woman-Treasure would never be unfaithful to the king even in thought, much less in body. (DN 17)
The commentary adds a few details. The Woman-Treasure always comes either from Uttarakuru, where women are extraordinarily beautiful, or from the royal family of Madda. In the explanation of the adjective dassanīyā (“beautiful”) it says that whoever lays eyes upon her becomes “deranged” (kiccavikkhepa) (DN-a 17). Presumably, the cakkavatti is made of stronger stuff than most human males.
After the Woman-Treasure, the Householder-Treasure (gahapatiratana) appears to the king. He is a man who due to his excellent kamma is born into great wealth and the king appoints him as finance minister (dhanarāsivaḍḍhako, lit. “wealth-increaser”). With the power of the “divine eye” (dibbacakkhu), also derived from his kamma, the Householder-Treasure can see a buried treasure even a yojana below the surface of the earth (ibid.).
Then the Householder-Treasure appeared before the king. With the power of his divine eye, possessed as a result of his kamma, he could see where a treasure was buried, both owned and ownerless. He approached the king and said, “Remain at ease, deva,271 I shall produce wealth for you.” At one time the king decided to test the Householder-Treasure and boarding a boat with him took it to the middle of the Ganges River. There he said, “Householder, I would have some gold and coin.” The householder replied, “Well then, great king, have the boat taken to the river bank.” “It is right here, householder, that I would have gold and coin.” So the Householder-Treasure put both hands into the water and pulled up a pot filled with gold and with coins. “Is that enough, great king, will that do, will that suffice?” “That is enough, that will do, that will suffice.” (DN 17)
The final treasure to appear is the Counsellor-Treasure (pariṇāyakaratana).
Then the Counsellor-Treasure appeared before the king. He was a man learned, wise, clever and skillful.272 He undertakes that which should be undertaken, he abandons that which should be abandoned and he maintains that which should be maintained. He approached the king and said, “Be at ease, great king, I shall advise you.” (ibid.)
The Counsellor-Treasure was like the king’s eldest son. By the king’s merit and his own good kamma he knew the content of other people’s minds. He could determine if anyone within twelve yojana intended the king’s welfare or the king’s harm. The king was well satisfied with him and appointed him adviser for all his affairs. (DN-a 17)
3:1:13 INDIVIDUAL CAKKAVATIS
Although it is the rule that only one cakkavatti can arise in a world-system at any given time, (AN 1: 278)both time and the number of world-systems in the cosmos are beyond counting. This means that in cosmological time and space there have been an infinitude of cakkavattis. The Buddha claimed that in his long wandering in saṃsāra he had himself been, among many other things, a cakkavatti hundreds of times.273 Despite these vast numbers only a very few cakkavattis are mentioned by name in the texts.
One of the most extensively treated is King Mahāsudassana, (DN 17 & Jāt 95) one of the previous births of the Buddha, who may serve as an archetype for the career of all the cakkavattis.
We first hear of Mahāsudassana in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, (DN 16) the sutta which describes the end of the Buddha’s life. The Buddha has chosen the little town of Kusinārā in the Malla country for the site of his decease. Ānanda protests, “Please, venerable sir, do not pass away in this small
, barren remote town.”274 and goes on to name several large famous cities as more dignified sites for this event. The Buddha replies that he should not say this, in ancient times Kusinārā was the site of the great city of Kusāvatī, the capital of the cakkavatti Mahāsudassana. The following sutta275 serves as an appendix to this passage and describes in detail the career of King Mahāsudassana. This begins with the king performing the uposatha fast and the subsequent appearance of the Wheel and his bloodless conquest of all four continents. There then follows the appearance of the other six treasures of a cakkavatti. All of these events occur in the same way for every cakkavatti.
Some particulars of King Mahāsudassana’s reign are mentioned. He undertook extensive public works in the form of public bathing ponds and charitable distribution centres. These were all built with lavish magnificence; the bathing ponds were lined with tiles of gold, silver, beryl and crystal and had staircases leading into the water made of the same precious materials. The charitable centres also operated on a scale well beyond mere soup kitchens:
King Mahāsudassana thought, “Suppose that on the banks of the bathing ponds I were to establish place of giving, such that those who want food can get it, those who want drink can get it, those who want clothing can get it, those who want vehicles can get them, those who want furniture can get it, and those who want women can get them and those who want gold or coins can get that.276
King Mahāsudassana’s palace was built for him by Vessakamma, the architect of the devas. It was called the Dhammapāsāda (“Dhamma Palace”) and was of great size and magnificence. The Dhammapāsāda measured a full yojana from east to west and a half yojana from north to south. The decorations and furnishings are described at great length and everything was made of gold, silver, beryl and crystal. Among the notable ornaments of the palace were two nets of tinkling bells, one of gold with silver bells and one of silver with golden bells. When the wind stirred these bells the sound they made was like that of a skilled five piece orchestra; this sound was “lovely, exciting, pleasant and intoxicating,”277 and when it was heard the thirst of all the male and female drunkards278 in the city of Kusāvatī was relieved.
The king’s wealth was legendary and is described as being in sets of eighty-four thousand. He had eighty-four thousand cities and the same number of palaces, gabled halls (kūṭāgāra), couches, elephants, chariots, jewels, wives, civil servants (gahapati),279 noble retainers (khattiya), and cows. As well, he had eighty-four thousand koṭi280 of garments and made eighty-four thousand offerings of boiled rice morning and evening. The wealth of a cakkavatti is considered to be the summit of sensual enjoyment in the human realm, and yet compared to the pleasure enjoyed in the deva realm it is like a pebble compared to the Himalaya Mountains, and neither of these is even fit to be compared to the attainment of nibbāna (MN 129).
In the end, King Mahāsudassana was wise enough to see the emptiness of all this wealth and he spent the last period of his life living in celibacy and meditation. His last conversation with Queen Subaddhā (the Woman Treasure) is worth recounting:
After many years, many hundreds of years, many thousands of years Queen Subaddhā said to herself, “It is long since I visited King Mahāsudassana. Suppose I were to go see him now?” She told the women of the harem to wash their heads and dress in their golden robes, “It is long since we visited King Mahāsudassana, we shall go to see him now.” She had the Householder Treasure muster the fourfold army and when all was ready Queen Subaddhā accompanied by the women of the harem and the fourfold army went to see King Mahāsudassana.
King Mahāsudassana heard their approach and wondered, “What is this great sound of many people?” He left his chamber to investigate and saw Queen Subaddhā leaning against the door-post. “Do not enter Queen, stay there.”
Then the king ordered one of his servants to fetch his golden couch and place it outside the palace, among the golden palm trees he had had erected there. There he lay himself down in the lion’s posture281 with one foot placed upon the other, with mindfulness and clear comprehension. Seeing him like this, Queen Subaddhā thought, “Very clear are the faculties of King Mahāsudassana, his complexion is very bright and pure. May this not be the time of his passing away!”
She said to him then, “Deva,282 of your eighty-four thousand cities, Kusavāti is the chief. Arouse desire for it, make an intention to live! Of your eighty-four thousand palaces, the Dhamma Palace is the chief. Arouse desire for it, make an intention to live!” And so she went through the whole inventory of his wealth.
The king replied, “Devī, for a long time your words were dear and pleasing to me. but now at the end they are not so.”
“How then, Deva, should I speak to you?”
“You should speak thus; “All things dear and pleasing will change, will be lost, will become otherwise. Do not, Deva, die filled with desire, to do so is suffering, to do so is blameworthy. Of your eighty-four thousand cities, Kusavāti is the chief. Abandon desire for it, do not arouse the intention to live … ” (And so forth through the entire inventory of King Mahāsudassana’s possessions).
Queen Subaddhā cried out and wept, and then wiping away her tears she repeated this speech back to King Mahāsudassana.
King Mahāsudassa died shortly afterward; just as a householder falls into drowsiness after enjoying a big meal, so did the approach of death feel to King Mahāsudassana. After death, he appeared in the brahmaloka.283
Mahāsudassana lived in a period when the human life-span was much longer than it is now. It is said that he spent eighty-four thousand years engaged in childish play, eighty-four thousand years as the viceroy (oparajja), for eighty-four thousand years he ruled as universal monarch and for another eighty-four thousand years he “lived the holy life” (brahmacariyaṃ cari) in the Dhamma Palace.284
Another cakkavatti whose story is told in some detail is Daḷhanemi.285 He was the founder of a lineage of cakkavattis. When he had ruled for many thousands of years the Wheel slipped from its position in the sky. Daḷhanemi knowing this to be a sign that his lifespan was nearing its end, passed on his authority to his son, shaved his hair and beard and took up the life of a religious ascetic.
Shortly after this, the Wheel disappeared altogether. The new king consulted with one of his learned counsellors and was told not to grieve because,
The Ariyan Dhamma Wheel is not an inheritance from your ancestors. Instead, you must perform the duties of a cakkavatti, and then it may come to pass that on a full moon night, when you have bathed your head and are performing the uposatha rite on the royal balcony, then the Ariyan Dhamma Wheel may appear to you, thousand-spoked, with hub and rim, complete in all its parts.
The duties of a cakkavatti are then explained in some detail:
Making the Dhamma your support, you should honour the Dhamma, respect the Dhamma, esteem the Dhamma, reverence the Dhamma. Honouring the Dhamma, you should take it as your emblem and your banner and acknowledge the Dhamma as your overlord.
You should establish righteous (dhammika) protection, watch and ward, over your kinsfolk, your army, your nobles (khattiya) and dependents, over brahmins and householders, over city folk and country folk, samaṇas and brahmins, as well as the birds and beasts.
Do not allow any unrighteousness (adhammakāra) to exist in your kingdom. To those that are in poverty, give wealth. And whatever samaṇas and brahmins may dwell in your kingdom who have gone beyond pride and negligence, who live with patience and forbearance, calmed, disciplined and cooled; these you should approach and consult with from time to time, asking them what is skillful, what is unskillful, what is blameless and what is blameworthy, what should be followed and what not, and what actions will lead in time to misery and suffering, and what actions will lead to well-being and happiness. And having heard them, you should thereafter avoid unskillful actions and perform skillful actions. These are the duties of a cakkavatti. (DN 26)
The new king followed this advice and performed the duties of a c
akkavatti. As a result, the Wheel appeared to him and he went to on to complete the career of a cakkavatti by a bloodless conquest of all four continents. In his turn, he also saw the Wheel slip from its place, handed over power to his own son and went forth into asceticism. This pattern was followed by a third, fourth, fifth and sixth succeeding king.286 However, the seventh king in Daḷhanemi’s line failed in the duty of providing wealth to the poor. As a result, not only did the Wheel not appear for him, but crime became prevalent in his realm as the poor sought wealth by other means. This began a whole cascade of evil developments; punishment, violence, falsehood and so forth and initiated the long cycle of cosmic decline during which human lifespans diminish. This is the cosmic-historical phase in which we are presently living.287
The same sutta which tells the story of King Daḷhanemi and his heirs also predicts the arising of a future cakkavatti named Saṅkha. He will rule during a future period of the cosmic cycle, when human life-spans have again risen to eighty thousand years. His capital city will be Ketumāti, on the site of Barānāsī (Benares) . He will rebuild the renowned one hundred storey palace of the ancient king Mahāpanāda.288 During his reign the final Buddha of this kappa will also arise, who will be known as Metteyya. After ruling for some unspecified time, King Saṅkha will give up the palace of Mahāpanāda, dedicating its use to samaṇas, brahmins, wanderers, the poor and destitute. He will then shave his hair and beard and ordain as a bhikkhu under Buddha Metteyya (DN 26).
Two other cakkavattis are known to have lived at the same time as a Buddha. One unnamed cakkavatti lived during the time of Sujata Buddha, in a previous kappa. He is said to have given the four continents as a gift offering to the saṅgha.289 During the time of Kondañña Buddha, during a previous kappa, the Bodhisatta who eventually took birth as Siddhattha Gotama was a cakkavatti named Vijitāvī who undertook to provide for one trillion bhikkhus.290
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