妙法蓮華經文句 1.143

1.143

如來梵聲深遠，遠聽如佛邊不異，目連欲知佛聲遠近，極去遠遠猶如近聞，仍用神力飛過西方恒河沙土，聞釋師子聲如本不異，去去不已，神力盡身疲，正值他方大眾共食，仍息鉢緣上經行，彼人驚怪：「此人頭蟲從何處來？」彼佛言：「此是東方無量佛土有佛名釋尊，神足第一弟子，尋聲極此，非蟲也。」《涅槃》云：佛求侍者，心在阿難，如東日照西璧（云云）。

The Tathāgata's Brahma voice is deep and far-reaching; heard from afar, it is no different from being beside the Buddha. Maudgalyāyana wished to know how far or near the Buddha's voice reached. Going extremely far away, it still sounded just as if heard close by. Continuing to use his supernatural powers, he flew past Buddha lands in the west as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, yet he heard the Lion of the Śākyas' voice unchanged from before. Going on and on without stopping, his supernatural powers were exhausted and his body fatigued. It so happened that an assembly in another realm was eating together; he rested and walked around on the rim of a bowl. The people there were astonished and said: "Where did this human-headed insect come from?" That Buddha said: "In the east, across immeasurable Buddha lands, there is a Buddha named Śākya the Honoured One. This is his foremost disciple in supernatural powers, who reached here following the sound; he is not an insect." The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: When the Buddha was seeking an attendant, his mind was on Ānanda, like the morning sun shining on the western wall (and so on).