陀羅尼雜集 9.35

9.35

At that time the Buddha addressed the great assembly, saying: “In countless past kalpas, when I was an ordinary mortal, my name was *Zhetatuo. I was a merchant in the kingdom of *Gālunluo. Engaged in trade and commerce, I was deceitful and dishonest, committing countless evil deeds; my lustful depravity and unruliness were beyond description. In my foolishness at that time, I killed my father and engaged in illicit passion with my mother. After several years had passed, all the people throughout the state came to know of it, proclaiming aloud: ‘This *Zhetatuo killed his father and loved his mother; several years have now passed.’ At that time I thought to myself: ‘I am no different from brute beasts; I have no human conduct left.’ Thereupon, in the night, I leapt over the city wall of the kingdom of *Gālunluo and fled, heading toward a deep marsh. At that time the king of this kingdom, named *Vījara, issued an order to the people of the state: ‘This *Zhetatuo was lustful, depraved, and lawless, bringing about this deed. Whoever can capture this man shall be rewarded handsomely with treasures.’ Thereupon the people of this state were enlisted to seize me. Filled with fright and dread, I fled the state and became a śramaṇa. In another kingdom I cultivated the ten virtuous deeds, practicing seated meditation and studying the path, weeping day and night for thirty-seven years. Because of the obstacle of the five heinous sins, my mind could not achieve samādhi, and I was overwhelmed by boundless sorrow and grief. During those thirty-seven years in a mountain cave, I constantly wept aloud, crying, ‘Woe is me! Woe is me! With what state of mind can I be rid of this suffering?’ Sighing with sorrow, I came down from the cave to beg for food, and on the road found a large bowl on the ground. Inside it was a case containing a scripture; there was no other text, but only the *Dharmaprīti-duḥkhotsarga-dhāraṇī (Dhāraṇī for Gathering the Joy of the Dharma and Renouncing Suffering). It explained that past Buddhas, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, when approaching nirvāṇa, regularly spoke this dhāraṇī in the realm of *Piyueluo and entrusted it to the great bodhisattvas. If anyone in the future should come to hear this dhāraṇī, it is because that person observed the five precepts and ten virtuous deeds in past lives that they are enabled to hear it. If someone hears it yet does not take it to heart and does not cultivate it, they are termed ‘lacking affinity.’ This dhāraṇī can eradicate the great sins of the five heinous acts and samsāra of a hundred billion kalpas. If anyone receives, upholds, reads, and recites it, they will never fall into the three wretched realms—hell, hungry ghosts, or animals. Why is this? When the Buddhas of the past were about to enter nirvāṇa, they exclusively taught it, revering, praising, and extolling its immeasurable merit, and entrusted it to the bodhisattvas. If there are sentient beings in the future who hear this dhāraṇī, cultivate it, and set their minds on it, their karmic rewards will be difficult to calculate, like Mount Sumeru or an ocean of jewels, beyond the reckoning of ordinary mortals. If someone has committed evil deeds and, having overheard the name of this dhāraṇī, does not have time to practice it but holds it in mind even once, should they fall into hell, all those in hell will receive this person’s grace and their torment will cease. If someone can practice it, exerting vigorous effort in their present life to cultivate and attain it, they will behold hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddha lands and obtain immeasurable merit beyond full description; only the Buddhas and bodhisattvas can fathom it completely, while voice-hearers (śrāvakas) of the two vehicles cannot comprehend it. Why is this? This dhāraṇī was not spoken by one Buddha or two Buddhas; it was spoken by the Buddhas of the past, numerous as the sands of the Ganges. When I obtained this scripture at that time, I ceased begging for food and returned with joy toward the cave. Arriving in the cave, I burned incense, paid homage, and with tears of sorrow praised and revered it, cultivating, reading, and reciting it in the cave. Only after a full year did I begin to attain it; because of the obscuration of my sinful karma, it had not been able to enter my mind and heart. Thereupon, on an autumn night, having bathed, I cultivated for a period of seven days. Like a child first learning, I was not a little confused and unsettled. I then practiced for another seven days, yet remained equally confused and unsettled without difference. In my mind I was distressed and troubled, not knowing what to do. Contemplating the characters and text of this dhāraṇī in my mind, after several repetitions, my mind suddenly attained samādhi. At that time I was filled with delight, just as a person who finds a hundred thousand catties of gold on the ground without anyone knowing feels ceaseless internal joy; so it was with me at that time. Having cultivated for several years, I flew through the air without hindrance and beheld the Buddhas of the ten directions and three periods of time. Let future practitioners practice it in accordance with the Dharma.”