無量壽經連義述文贊 1.20

1.20

經曰「捨彼天宮降神母胎」者，述云：此第二、降神入胎也。欲使眾生生尊重心，易受所說，故捨天宮以下入胎。彼經云「菩薩將欲降生十二年前，有淨居天下閻浮地，作婆羅門說韋陀論。十二年後有一勝人，現白象形入於母胎具大人相，若出家者當得成佛。復有天子下閻浮提告辟支佛：『應捨此土，當有菩薩降神入胎。』時王舍城尾盤山中有辟支佛名曰摩燈，聞是語已，起踊在虛空高七多羅樹，化火焚身入於涅槃，唯餘舍利從空而下。波羅奈國五百辟支皆亦如是。菩薩處於天宮觀時方國族，昇一大殿名曰高幢，縱廣正等六十四由旬，為諸天眾說百八法門，謂從信法門終灌頂法門，從彼天宮下生入胎。有一天子名曰勝光，作如此說：『圍陀論所說菩薩下生當作象形而入母胎。』菩薩冬節過已於春分中毘舍佉月不寒不熱之氐宿合時，白月圓淨弗沙星正與月合，其母受持清淨齋戒安穩睡眠時，為白象形六牙具足，其牙金色首有紅光，形相諸根悉皆圓滿，正念了知，於母右脇降神而入。」不應難言歎諸菩薩德，如何將釋此九相文者？釋迦八相即諸菩薩勝進行故。又現八相，時諸菩薩一一現相，相似眾生謂一。故引彼經釋尊莊嚴，釋此菩薩九相之文，有何乖角？但經文煩廣恐費言論，故今推義而約言、稱經而備理。菩薩處胎莊嚴雖多，略申三種：一者宮殿，即欲界諸天各持妙宮至輸檀王，王亦為菩薩造殿綺麗，人間所無。菩薩威力故，令諸宮中悉現摩耶聖后之身，皆有菩薩右脇結坐，諸天自謂菩薩之母唯住我宮。菩薩寶殿縱廣正等三百由旬，三重匝飾皆以牛頭栴檀天香所成，其香一分價直三千大千世界。欲界諸天宮皆現菩薩宮殿之中。一切將入胎時於母右脇，先有此殿然後從天降神入胎，於此殿中結跏趺坐。二者飲食，即菩薩入胎之夜，下從水際涌出蓮華，穿過地輪上至梵世，縱廣正等六十八洛叉由旬，唯除佛菩薩及大梵王無能見者。三千世界所有美味，猶如甘露現此華中。大梵天王以毘瑠璃器盛此淨妙甘露之味奉上菩薩，菩薩受食。唯除究竟後身菩薩無能食者，斯由長夜醫藥救病、妙華侍聖福報所招。三者化物，即菩薩處胎身相光明普遍世界，四大天王夜叉大將與其眷屬，釋提桓因與三十三天，娑婆世界主大梵天王與無量梵眾，如其次第，晨朝中時申時為聽法故皆見菩薩，菩薩慰問為其說法禮退而去。十方無量諸菩薩於日入時，為聽法故來互相問答，唯同行所見，摩耶不能見。又准彼經，十方無量一生補處，十方世界欲色天子皆至兜率供養菩薩，菩薩即於兜率最勝天宮而便降生，時放身光照三千界六種震動有十八相。而今無者，蓋略而已。

Regarding the passage in the sūtra, "Descending from that heavenly palace, [the bodhisattva] lowered his spirit into his mother's womb": The commentary states: This is the second [aspect]: lowering his spirit and entering the womb. Desiring to cause sentient beings to give rise to a reverent mind so that they would easily accept what he taught, he therefore descended from the heavenly palace and entered the womb. That sūtra says: Twelve years before the bodhisattva was to descend and be born, there were [gods of the] Śuddhāvāsa Heaven who descended to the land of Jambudvīpa, disguised as Brahmins, preaching the treatises of the Vedas [and proclaiming]: "Twelve years from now, a superior person will manifest the form of a white elephant and enter his mother's womb, fully endowed with the marks of a Great Man; if he leaves home, he is certain to attain Buddhahood." Moreover, gods descended to Jambudvīpa and announced to the pratyekabuddhas: "You ought to abandon this land; a bodhisattva will descend with his spirit and enter a womb." At that time, in Mount Vipula near Rājagṛha, there was a pratyekabuddha named Mataṅga. Having heard these words, he leaped into the empty air to a height of seven tāla trees, transformed his body into fire, incinerated himself, and entered nirvāṇa, leaving only relics that fell from the sky. The five hundred pratyekabuddhas of the state of Vārāṇasī also did the same. As the bodhisattva resided in the heavenly palace, he observed the proper time, direction, land, and lineage; ascending a great palace hall named High Banner, sixty-four yojanas square, he taught the assembly of gods the one hundred and eight Dharma-gates, from the Dharma-gate of faith down to the Dharma-gate of consecration; from that heavenly palace he descended to be born and enter the womb. A deva named Prabhāśreṣṭha (Sheng Guang) made this utterance: "What is stated in the treatises of the Vedas is that when the bodhisattva descends to be born, he shall take the form of an elephant to enter his mother's womb." After the winter season had passed, in the vernal equinox, in the month of Vaiśākha, at the time of conjunction with the constellation Viśākhā when it is neither cold nor hot, when the bright fortnight was round and pure and the constellation Puṣya was in exact conjunction with the moon, as his mother was observing the pure precepts of the fast and sleeping peacefully, [the bodhisattva], taking the form of a white elephant fully endowed with six tusks—its tusks being golden, its head emitting red light, and its form, marks, and sense faculties all perfectly complete—in right mindfulness and clear comprehension, lowered his spirit and entered through his mother's right side. One should not raise the objection: "Since the text is praising the virtues of all the bodhisattvas, how can you explain it using these passages on the nine aspects?" [For] the eight aspects of Śākyamuni are precisely the superior progressive practices of all bodhisattvas. Furthermore, when the eight aspects are manifested, every single bodhisattva manifests these aspects, and because their similarities are so close, sentient beings consider them to be one. Therefore, in citing that sūtra's account of the World-Honoured One's adornments to explain the passage on the nine aspects of these bodhisattvas, what contradiction could there be? However, since the sūtra text is burdensome and extensive, and we fear wasting words, we now deduce the meaning with concise language, matching the sūtras while being fully equipped with the principle. Although the bodhisattva's adornments while dwelling in the womb are numerous, we briefly state three kinds. The first is the palace halls: namely, the devas of the desire realm each brought splendid palaces to King Śuddhodana, and the king also built a magnificent palace for the bodhisattva such as does not exist in the human world. Due to the bodhisattva's majestic power, the holy queen Māyā's body appeared in every single palace, with the bodhisattva seated cross-legged at her right side; the devas each thought to themselves, "The bodhisattva's mother resides only in my palace." The bodhisattva's jeweled palace hall was three hundred yojanas square, with a threefold perimeter of adornments, all made of heavenly Gośīrṣa sandalwood incense, a single portion of which was worth a trichiliocosm. The palaces of all the devas of the desire realm appeared within the bodhisattva's palace hall. Whenever he was about to enter the womb, this hall existed first at his mother's right side; only then did he lower his spirit from heaven to enter the womb and sit cross-legged within this hall. The second is food and drink: on the night the bodhisattva entered the womb, a lotus flower welled up from the bottom of the water limit, pierced through the earth wheel, and reached up to the Brahma world, being sixty-eight lakṣa yojanas square; with the sole exception of the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and Mahābrahmā, none were able to see it. All the fine delicacies of the trichiliocosm appeared within this flower like ambrosia. The heavenly king Mahābrahmā held this pure and marvelous taste of ambrosia in a vaiḍūrya vessel and offered it to the bodhisattva, and the bodhisattva accepted and consumed it. With the sole exception of a bodhisattva bound to a final rebirth, no one could eat it; this was brought about by the karmic reward of having rescued the sick with medicine and attended holy ones with marvelous flowers throughout the long night [of saṃsāra]. The third is transforming beings: while the bodhisattva was dwelling in the womb, the light of his bodily marks pervaded the worlds. The Four Heavenly Kings and their yakṣa generals with their retinues, Śakra Devānām Indra with the Trāyastriṃśa devas, and the Sahā world lord Mahābrahmā with immeasurable assemblies of Brahmā devas, in their proper sequence, all appeared before the bodhisattva in the morning, at midday, and in the late afternoon in order to hear the Dharma; the bodhisattva consoled them, preached the Dharma for them, and they bowed and departed. Immeasurable bodhisattvas of the ten directions came at sunset to engage in questions and answers for the sake of hearing the Dharma; only those of identical practice could see them, whereas Māyā was not able to see them. Furthermore, according to that sūtra, immeasurable [bodhisattvas] of the ten directions bound to one final rebirth, and devas of the desire and form realms from the worlds of the ten directions, all came to Tuṣita to make offerings to the bodhisattva; the bodhisattva thereupon descended to be born from the supreme Tuṣita heavenly palace. At that time, his body emitted light that illuminated the trichiliocosm, the six kinds of quaking occurred, and there were eighteen marks. That these are absent in the present text is simply due to brevity.