七佛八菩薩所說大陀羅尼神呪經 2.12

2.12

At that time, the Buddha addressed the great assembly, saying: "In the past, during incalculable kalpas when I was an ordinary being, my name was Jātata. In the kingdom of Kāthura, I worked as a merchant engaging in trade. Deceitful and untrue, I committed countless evil deeds; my lustful depravity was unprincipled beyond description. At that time, in my delusion, I killed my father and had lustful relations with my mother. Over several years, the people of the entire country all came to know of it, raising their voices and proclaiming: 'This Jātata has killed his father and had lustful relations with his mother for several years now.' I then reflected that I was no different from beasts and no longer possessed human conduct; then in the kingdom of Kāthura, I leaped over the city wall, fled, and headed for the deep marshes. At that time, the king of this country, named Vija, proclaimed to the people of the kingdom: 'This Jātata's lustful depravity was unprincipled, which brought about these acts. Whoever is able to capture this person will be lavishly rewarded with precious treasures.' Thereupon, the people of this country each eagerly desired to apprehend me. At that time, terrified, I immediately fled the country and became a śramaṇa. In another country, I practiced the ten virtues and meditated in study of the Way, weeping tears day and night for thirty-seven years. Because of the obstacle of the five heinous crimes, my mind was unsettled, and my sorrow and grief were unbearable. During those thirty-seven years, dwelling in a mountain cave, I constantly wept aloud: 'How bitter, how bitter! With what mind can I cast off this suffering?' While lamenting and descending from the cave to beg for food, I found a large bowl on the ground along the way, inside of which was a sūtra box. There were no other scriptures, only the Dhāraṇī for Gathering the Joy of the Dharma and Renouncing Suffering. It explained that when the past Buddhas, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, were about to enter nirvāṇa, they always preached this dhāraṇī in the kingdom of Viyala and entrusted it to the great bodhisattvas. If someone later gets to hear this dhāraṇī, this person must have cultivated and maintained the five precepts and ten virtues in past lives to be enabled to hear it. If someone hears it, yet does not keep it in mind and does not cultivate and collect it, this is called being without karmic connection. This dhāraṇī can eradicate the great sins of the five heinous crimes and birth and death of ten billion kalpas; if someone upholds, reads, and recites it, they will never fall into the three bad destinies: hell, hungry ghosts, or animals. Why is this? When the past Buddhas were about to enter nirvāṇa, they would inevitably preach it, revering and praising it, declaring its merit to be immeasurable, and entrusting it to the bodhisattvas. If subsequent sentient beings get to hear this dhāraṇī, cultivate it, and keep it in mind, their retributive blessing will be hard to calculate. It is like Mount Sumeru or the treasure ocean, which ordinary beings cannot measure. If someone commits evil deeds, secretly hears the name of this dhāraṇī without time to practice it, but once holds it in their heart, when they fall into hell, all those in hell will receive this person's grace and their suffering will cease. If someone is able to practice, diligently cultivate, and attain it in their present body, they will behold hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddha lands and obtain immeasurable blessings beyond full description. Only Buddhas and bodhisattvas can exhaustively know it; śrāvakas and those of the two vehicles cannot comprehend it. Why is this? This dhāraṇī was not spoken by one or two Buddhas, but by past Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. At that time, when I obtained this sūtra, I did not continue begging for food, but returned joyfully to the cave. Reaching the cave, I burned incense, paid homage, and praised it with tears of sorrow. Cultivating, praising, and reciting it in the cave, it took a whole year before I began to grasp it; because of the obstacle of sinful karma, I was unable to take it into my heart. Thereupon, on an autumn night, I bathed and practiced for seven days; like a child first learning, I was not a little bewildered. I then practiced for another seven days, and was just as bewildered without difference. Sorrowful and troubled in heart, not knowing what to do, I quietly contemplated the words of this dhāraṇī in my mind; after several repetitions, my mind suddenly became settled. I was then as overjoyed as a person who finds hundreds of thousands of catties of gold in the ground: with no one else knowing, the inner joy never ceases; so it was with me at that time. Cultivating for several years, I flew through the air without obstruction and beheld the Buddhas of the ten directions and the three times. Future practitioners should practice it according to the Dharma."