仁王護國般若波羅蜜多經疏 1.50

1.50

問：阿難是成道日生，二十年後方為侍者，已前諸教何得親聞？答有四義：一本願力故，過去作長者，供養誦經沙彌，今得總持。龍樹讚云「面如淨滿月，目如青蓮華，佛法大海水，流入阿難心。」二佛加持故，《報恩經》云「佛入世俗心，令阿難知。」又云「佛為略說，粗舉其端而能盡解，三三昧力故。」《金剛花經》云「阿難得法性覺性自在王三昧，悉能憶故。」四聞法力故，《觀佛三昧海經》第五云「阿難聞佛說菩薩行，即憶過去九十億佛所說經藏。」《法華》第四云「自聞授記等，即時憶念過去無量千萬億諸佛法藏，通達無礙如今所聞等，而說偈言：『世尊甚希有，令我念過去，無量諸佛法，如今日所聞。』」

Question: Ānanda was born on the day the Buddha attained awakening, and only became his attendant twenty years later. How could he have personally heard the teachings given prior to that? Answer: There are four reasons. First, by the power of his past vows: in the past he was an elder who made offerings to a novice monk who recited the sūtras, and as a result he has now attained dhāraṇī. Nāgārjuna's praise says: "His face is like the pure full moon; / His eyes are like blue lotus blossoms. / The water of the great ocean of the Buddha's Dharma / Has flowed into Ānanda's mind." Second, through the Buddha's empowering grace (adhiṣṭhāna): the *Bao'en jing* says, "The Buddha entered a conventional mind to enable Ānanda to know [them]." It also says, "The Buddha briefly explained them to him, merely raising their bare beginnings, yet he was able to understand them completely, by the power of the three samādhis." The *Vajrapuṣpa Sūtra* says, "Ānanda attained the Sovereign King Samādhi of the Awakened Nature of Dharmatā, and thus was able to remember them all." Third, by the power of the three samādhis. Fourth, by the power of having heard the Dharma: the fifth fascicle of the *Sūtra on the Ocean-Like Samādhi of the Visualization of the Buddha* says, "When Ānanda heard the Buddha preach the bodhisattva practices, he immediately remembered the repositories of sūtras preached by ninety billion past buddhas." Fascicle four of the *Lotus Sūtra* says, "Hearing his own prophecy of awakening and so forth, he instantly remembered the Dharma repositories of immeasurable thousands of myriads of koṭis of past buddhas, penetrating them without hindrance just like what he was hearing at present," and he spoke this verse: 'The World-Honoured One is exceedingly rare; / He has caused me to remember the past / Dharma of immeasurable buddhas, / Just as what I have heard today.'