妙法蓮華經文句 1.135

1.135

《中阿含》第二十云：「佛在阿耨達池，龍王云：『此眾不見舍利弗，願佛召之。』佛命目連往祇洹呼，身子正縫五納衣。答云：『汝但前去，我在後來。』目連云：『我為佛使人，云何前去？』目連以手摩衣，衣即成。身子念：『目連弄試我，我亦試之。』即以衣繩擲地，『汝能舉此耶？』目連念：『身子弄試我。』即盡力舉不起。身子于時以繩繫閻浮樹，一天下動；繫二三四，四天下亦不立；又繫小千、中千、大千亦不立，又繫他方佛座脚，十方佛世界皆鎮鎮不動。目連自念：『我神力第一，今不能動，將不失神力？』因催促令去，答：『汝前去。』目連還佛所，已見身子在佛前。龍王見地動問佛，佛答：『二人之力。』龍王及五百比丘，於目連生輕心，佛言：『舍利弗於四神力得自在，目連亦自在，而不能拔者，佛力耳。』語目連云：『現汝神力。』目連以鉢絡盛五百比丘，舉著梵宮，一足躡須彌，一足至梵宮，身在彼方而說偈滿大千國，五百心伏（云云）。」

The twentieth fascicle of the Madhyamāgama says: 'When the Buddha was at Lake Anavatapta, the nāga king said: "This assembly does not see Śāriputra; may the Buddha please summon him." The Buddha ordered Maudgalyāyana to go to the Jetavana to summon him. Śāriputra was just sewing a five-patch robe. He answered, saying: "You just go on ahead; I will follow behind." Maudgalyāyana said: "I am the Buddha's messenger; how could I go on ahead?" Maudgalyāyana rubbed the robe with his hand, and the robe was instantly completed. Śāriputra thought: "Maudgalyāyana is teasing and testing me; I shall also test him." He immediately threw the cord of the robe to the ground: "Can you lift this?" Maudgalyāyana thought: "Śāriputra is teasing and testing me." He then used all his strength, but could not lift it. Śāriputra at that time tied the cord to a jambu tree, and the entire continent shook; he tied it to two, three, and four, and the four continents also could not remain steady; he further tied it to the small-thousand, medium-thousand, and great-thousand worlds, and they too could not remain steady; he then tied it to the leg of a Buddha's seat in another realm, and the Buddha worlds of the ten directions all remained firmly unmoved. Maudgalyāyana thought to himself: "I am foremost in supernatural powers, but now I cannot move it; have I perhaps lost my supernatural powers?" He therefore urged him to go, and Śāriputra replied: "You go on ahead." When Maudgalyāyana returned to the Buddha's place, he already saw Śāriputra before the Buddha. Seeing the earth shake, the nāga king asked the Buddha, and the Buddha replied: "It is the power of the two men." The nāga king and the five hundred monks gave rise to slighting thoughts toward Maudgalyāyana. The Buddha said: "Śāriputra has attained mastery over the four bases of supernatural power, and Maudgalyāyana also has mastery; that he could not pull it up was solely the Buddha's power." He said to Maudgalyāyana: "Manifest your supernatural power." Maudgalyāyana placed the five hundred monks into his bowl-net and raised it up to the Brahmā palace. With one foot treading on Mount Sumeru and one foot reaching the Brahmā palace, his body residing in that realm, he recited gāthās that filled the great-thousand realm, and the five hundred were subdued in their minds, and so forth.'