The AWJ is traditionally considered to be one of the translations produced by Faju 法炬, a monk of unknown origin, during the Western Jin dynasty (265-317 CE). However, this ascription may be unreliable as will be explained below.
that whoever has committed one of the five ānantarya crimes will fall into hell in his next birth, asks Devadatta whether he will undergo such retribution for his patricide; Devadatta comforts Ajātaśatru by saying that he has done no evil and therefore will not receive such retribution.354 This is heard by some monks during their alms tour in Rājagṛha. They report it to the Buddha who, in response, criticizes Devadatta’s fallacy and predicts Ajātaśatru’s future rebirths:
Then the World-Honoured One spoke this stanza:
“The foolish one [Devadatta] knowing this place [hell?],
says that there is no retribution for the crime [Ajātaśatru’s patricide?]. Now I can see the future:
the retribution will be received at the determined place [hell?].”355
At that time, the World-Honoured One told the bhik+us, “King Ajātaśatru of Magadha, though having killed his father, the king, will soon come to me and will have equal faith in me.356 After having finished his life, he will fall into hell in a way similar to the bouncing of a ball (Chin. ru-paiju 如拍毱).”
At that time, a bhik+u said to the World-Honoured One, “After passing away from hell, where will he be reborn?” The World-Honoured One replied, “After passing away from hell, he will be reborn in the place of the Four Heavenly Kings.”
The bhik+u said, “After passing away from there, where will he be
reborn?” The World-Honoured One replied, “O bhikṣu, after passing away from there, he will be reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-three gods.” The bhik+u said, “After passing away from the Heaven of the
Thirty-three gods, where will he be reborn?” The World-Honoured One replied, “O bhikṣu, after passing away from the Heaven of the
Thirty-three gods, he will be reborn in the Heaven of the Yāma gods.”
354 Devadatta’s reply to Ajātaśatru goes as follows: “Great King! Do not be afraid. What crime have
you committed? What wrong have you done? One who has committed a crime will receive retribution. One who has done a crime will receive the fruit. But, great King, you have done no evil. [Only] those who have done evil will themselves receive the retribution.” (T.508.775c16-19).
355 776a2-3. 愚者知是處，言殃謂無報。我今觀當來，受報有定處。
356 The meaning of the word dengxin 等信, lit. “equal faith”, is not clear to me. Here it perhaps means
The bhik+u said, “After passing away from there, where will he be reborn?” The World-Honoured One replied, “After passing away from the Heaven of the Yāma gods, he will be reborn in the Heaven of the Tuṣita gods.”
The bhik+u said, “After passing away from the Heaven of the Tuṣita gods, where will he be reborn?” The World-Honoured One replied, “After passing away from the Heaven of the Tuṣita gods, he will be reborn in the Heaven of the gods creating [magical enjoyments] at will
(*nirmāarati+u deve+u).”
The bhik+u said, “After passing away from the Heaven of the gods creating [magical enjoyments] at will, where will he be reborn?” The World-Honoured One replied, “O Bhikṣu, after passing away from the Heaven of the gods creating [enjoyments] at will, he will be reborn in the Heaven of the gods controlling [magical enjoyments] created by others (*paranirmitavaśavarti+u deve+u).”
The bhik+u said, “O World-Honoured One, after passing away from the Heaven of the gods controlling [magical enjoyments] created by others, where will he be reborn?” The World-Honoured One replied, “O bhikṣu, after passing away from the Heaven of the gods controlling [magical enjoyments] created by others, he will be reborn in the Heaven of the gods creating [magical enjoyments] at will, in the Heaven of the Tuṣita gods, in the Heaven of the Yāma gods, in the Heaven of the Thirty-three gods, and in the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings. Then he will once again be reborn among humans.”
The bhik+u said, “O World-Honoured One, after passing away from here, where will he be reborn?”The World-Honoured One replied, “O bhikṣu, King Ajātaśatru of Magadha, throughout twenty kalpas, will not go to the three evil destinies and will transmigrate between the realms of gods and humans. In his final birth, he will have hair and beard shaved and put on the monastic robe [consisting of] three parts. Due to his firm faith, he will go forth from home into homelessness to learn the Path. He will [eventually] become a pratyekabuddha named ‘Free of Defilements’.” The bhik+u said, “O World-Honoured One, it is really marvellous, really wonderful, that one who has committed such a crime, will experience such [heavenly] pleasure and will become a pratyekabuddha named ‘Free of Defilements’.” The World-Honored replied, “[Because] King Ajātaśatru of Magadha will attain perfection of aspiration (fayi-chengjiu 發意成就), myrids of good things will come. O bhikṣu, if one is capable of attaining perfection of aspiration, one can be released from hell. If one does not attain perfection of aspiration but attains perfection of causes and conditions ( yinyuan-chengjiu 因緣成就), supposing that one is not born in hell, he can still establish expedient means whereby he will not fall into hell.” The bhik+u said, “If that person attains perfection of both [= both aspiration and causes and conditions], where will he be reborn?” The World-Honoured One replied, “If he attains perfection of both, he
will be reborn in two places. What are the two? He will be reborn among gods or humans.”The bhik+u said, “[Compared with] one who attains perfection of aspiration but does not attain perfection of causes or conditions, what is the difference between the two cases?” The World- Honoured One replied, “O bhikṣu, [if one] attains perfection of
aspiration but does not attain perfection of causes or conditions, one is of weak faculties (*m-dvindriya). [If one] does not attain perfection of aspiration but attains perfection of causes and conditions, O bhikṣu, one is of sharp faculties (*tīk+nendriya).” The bhik+u said, “What is the difference between weak faculties and sharp faculties?” The World- Honored One said, “One who has weak faculties, O bhikṣu, makes no progress in his actions. One who has sharp faculties, O bhikṣu, is clever and wise.” The bhik+u said, “What is the difference between these two? What karma will they have in return?” At that time, the World-Honoured One spoke this stanza:
“The wise is regarded as superior in the world, and will arrive at a safe place (yogak+ema?357). All [the wise] can know right action358,
and can judge that whatever has birth must have death.”
“This is, O bhikṣu, the difference between them.” At that time the bhik+u heard what the Buddha said and, after having rejoiced and [undertaken to] practice it, rose from his seat and venerated [the Buddha’s] feet with his forehead. He circumambulated [the Buddha] three times and then departed. 359
The following part of the text tells us that the monk later comes to Ajātaśatru’s palace and repeats the Buddha’s prophecy.360 Ajātaśatru does not believe in what the monk says and sends Jīvaka to ask the Buddha whether he has really made such a prophecy. The Buddha confirms:
357 The term anyin安隱 might be a translation of yogak+ema “spiritual success, = enlightenment, peace,
or salvation” (BHSD, 448a, s.v.). For instance, anyin-chu 安隱處 is also mentioned in the Mppś (T1509. 133a20) in referring to the state the Buddha attained, where Lamotte (1944-1980: i. 594) renders it as “l’endroit de la Sécurité (yogak+ema)”.
358 Chin. 諸能知等業. I am not sure about this translation. On dengye 等業 as a synonym of zhengye
正業 (“right action”; Skt. samyak-karmānta), see Nakamura (2001: iii. 1236b, s.v.).
359 T. 508. 776a1-776b17 (see Appendix I, Textual Material 14). As far as I know, this text has never
been translated into a Western language. It has been summarized into Japanese in Hirakawa (1971: 7-8) and Sadakata (1986: 146-147).
360 The bhik+u’s repetition of the prophecy is translated into Japanese in Miyazaki (2010: 119). I am
“Yes, O Jīvaka, the Buddha, the World-Honoured One, said nothing different. What you stated is in accordance with what happened. The reason [why I said so], O Jīvaka, is that the king Ajātaśatru will gain the rootless faith. O Jīvaka, all men and women [who have gained the rootless faith] will have such destinies, with no difference.”361
Jīvaka reports the Buddha’s answer to Ajātaśatru and advises him to visit the Buddha. However, Ajātaśatru still does not trust the Buddha and does not take the advice. When the Buddha hears this from Jīvaka, he says:
“O Jīvaka, the king of Magadha will soon come to me and will gain the rootless faith. If I enter into parinirvāa, he will thenceforth worship my relics.”362
The Buddha goes on to preach the Dharma to Jīvaka. The text closes abruptly with a formula describing Jīvaka’s rejoicing at the Buddha’s teaching, but no mention is made of Ajātaśatru’s subsequent visit to the Buddha.
The story in the AWJ is interesting in a number of ways. It provides a very different prophecy of Ajātaśatru’s future rebirths as compared with the one given by Buddhaghosa. Here, after his death Ajātaśatru will fall into hell in a way similar to the bouncing of a ball and he will be continuously reborn in the six heavens inhabited by the gods of the world of desire (kāmadevas), from the heaven of the Cāturmahārājikas up to that of the Paranirmitavaśavartin gods, whence he will return through these heavens, and in his final birth as a human he will attain pratyekabuddha-hood.