In his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra (Fahua wenju), Zhiyi provided a backstory about the past-life relationship of these four persons: the king, the queen, and their two sons. In the remote past, four monks were practicing austerities in pursuit of enlightenment. However, the struggle to obtain sufficient food and other necessities seriously hindered their practice. At length, one of them abandoned his efforts in order to support the other three. With his aid, they attained the way, while he, thanks to the merit gained by assisting them, was born repeatedly as a king in the human or heavenly realms. Eventually he became King Subhavyūha. By that point, however, he was exhausting his merit. Perceiving that his downward trajectory would soon lead him to rebirth in the hells, the other three whom he had once assisted resolved to repay their debt to him, choosing to be reborn as his consort and sons in order to lead him to the dharma.