Rinda [輪陀] (): A king who appears in a story of a previous lifetime of Ashvaghosha, related in Nāgārjuna’s Commentary on the Mahayana Treatise. In ancient times, there lived a king named Rinda (Sanskrit unknown) who ruled a kingdom where there were a thousand white swans, each with a beautiful voice. When he heard the swans sing, he acquired dignity and strength. These swans, however, sang only when they saw white horses. One day, the white horses disappeared. The king searched for them, but to no avail. He declared that, if non-Buddhists could make the swans sing, he would revere their teachings only and destroy Buddhism; if, however, a Buddhist could make the swans sing, he would revere Buddhism only and destroy the non-Buddhist teachings. At that time, a bodhisattva named Ashvaghosha (meaning “horse neigh”) employed supernatural powers to induce the appearance of a thousand white horses, and the thousand swans sang. As a result, this bodhisattva enabled the correct teaching to prosper, securing its ceaseless flow.
Nichiren (1222–1282) mentions the story of King Rinda in writings such as King Rinda and White Horses and White Swans. According to his account, the roles of the white horses and white swans are reversed. Rinda is described as having acquired and maintained his dignity and strength by listening to the neighing of white horses. These white horses neighed only when they saw white swans. One day, all the swans suddenly disappeared from the kingdom; consequently, the white horses stopped neighing. Feeling his powers begin to wane, King Rinda issued a mandate, and in response, all the non-Buddhist teachers gathered and offered prayers but to no effect. Then Bodhisattva Ashvaghosha prayed to all the Buddhas in the ten directions. The swans immediately reappeared, the white horses began to neigh again, and the king regained his powers.