Possessor of Virtue
Possessor of Virtue
[有徳王] ( Jpn Utoku-o)
The name of Shakyamuni in a previous lifetime when he was a king in Kushinagara, according to a story related in the "Diamond-like Body" chapter of the forty-volume Chinese version of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra translated by Dharmaraksha in 421. His Sanskrit name is unknown, since only fragments of the Sanskrit text are extant. According to this sutra, Possessor of Virtue lived a great many years after the death of a Buddha named Joy Increasing. When the teaching of the Buddha Joy Increasing was destined to perish in forty years, many evil monks who violated the Buddhist precepts armed themselves and attacked a monk called Realization of Virtue while he was preaching that teaching. King Possessor of Virtue rushed to his protection, enabling Realization of Virtue to escape unharmed, but the king received wounds all over his body and died. As a result, the king was reborn in the land of Akshobhya Buddha and became that Buddha's chief disciple, while Realization of Virtue became Akshobhya's second disciple. Later King Possessor of Virtue was reborn as Shakyamuni Buddha, and Realization of Virtue, as Kashyapa Buddha.
