大方便佛報恩經 6.4

6.4

佛告阿難及諸大眾：「汝等善聽！汝等乃可說如來無有平等大悲、三念處、五智三昧，不得說言優波離比丘真實是下賤人，修習下行、下願、下精進也；汝等乃可說如來煩惱，無常遷變，不可得說優波離下賤出家。如來以正遍知宣說真實之言，汝等應當信受佛語。如來知見生死過患，獨覺成佛，優波離亦隨出家，三明六通，具八解脫，天人大眾增仰，護持正法，持律第一，堪任供養，能令眾生成就三種妙果，所謂現報、生報、後報。是故，當知優波離者，奇特妙行，偏為大悲菩薩，已於過去無量百千萬億諸佛所殖眾德本，亦於諸佛法中持律第一，亦於釋迦牟尼佛法中持律第一。」

The Buddha told Ānanda and the great assembly: "Listen well, all of you! You might say that the Tathāgata does not possess equal great compassion, the three bases of mindfulness, or the five-knowledge samādhi, but you must not say that the bhikṣu Upāli is truly a lowborn person who cultivates base practices, base vows, and base vigor. You might say that the Tathāgata has afflictions and undergoes impermanent change, but you must not say that Upāli is a lowborn person who left household life. The Tathāgata, with correct and universal knowledge, proclaims words of truth; you should believe and accept the Buddha's words. The Tathāgata, seeing and knowing the faults and perils of saṃsāra, awoke alone to become a Buddha, and Upāli also followed and left household life, attaining the three knowledges, the six supernatural powers, and becoming fully endowed with the eight liberations. The assemblies of devas and humans look up to him with increasing reverence; he protects and upholds the saddharma, is foremost in upholding the Vinaya, is worthy of receiving offerings, and is able to cause sentient beings to accomplish the three kinds of wondrous fruition—namely, retribution in the present life, retribution in the next life, and retribution in subsequent lives. Therefore, you should know that Upāli possesses extraordinary and wondrous practice, is singularly a bodhisattva of great compassion, and has already planted roots of merit in the presence of immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of Buddhas in the past; he was foremost in upholding the Vinaya in the Dharma of those Buddhas, and is also foremost in upholding the Vinaya in the Dharma of Śākyamuni Buddha."