無量壽經連義述文贊 1.21

1.21

經曰「從右脇生」者，述云：第三、出胎異常。有三：此初、生處異常也。有說：摩耶十月已滿，乘雲母車往於林微尼園，攀無憂樹從右腋下而生者。非也，撿《莊嚴經》都無此言故。今即菩薩處胎十月既滿，將出胎時，聖后即知，於初夜分請王欲詣彼龍毘園，王勅臣佐駕二萬象，色類白雲其形似仙，備諸車兵執持器杖，以諸妙寶瑩龍毘園如歡喜苑。聖后昇寶乘，世界六種動，帝釋淨路、四王御車、梵天前道除諸惡相，到園遊觀。至彼寶樹，過去無量諸佛之母皆來坐此寶樹下，時百千淨居天亦至此樹下圍遶聖后喜禮而歎。后身放光，仰觀於樹，即以右手攀樹東枝，頻呻欠呿端嚴而立，從母右脇安詳而生。時帝釋梵王曲躬而前，即以兩手覆憍奢耶衣承捧菩薩，將菩薩殿還於梵宮。

Regarding the passage in the sūtra, "He was born from the right side": The commentary states: The third [aspect is] the extraordinary emergence from the womb. There are three parts: this is the first, the extraordinary place of birth. Some say: When Queen Māyā had completed ten months, she rode a mica carriage to the Lumbinī grove, grasped the aśoka tree, and he was born from beneath her right armpit. This is incorrect, because when examining the *Zhuangyan jing* (Lalitavistara), there are no such words at all. The present text means: when the bodhisattva's dwelling in the womb for ten months was complete and he was about to emerge, the holy queen knew it; in the first watch of the night, she requested of the king that she wished to go to the Lumbinī grove. The king commanded his ministers and attendants to harness twenty thousand elephants, colored like white clouds and shaped like ṛṣis, equipped with various chariot troops bearing weapons, and embellished the Lumbinī grove with various exquisite jewels so that it was like the Nandana grove. The holy queen ascended the jeweled carriage, the world quaked in six ways, Śakra purified the path, the Four Kings drove the carriage, and Brahmā led the way, clearing away all evil omens as she arrived at the grove for sightseeing. Arriving at that jeweled tree—beneath which the mothers of immeasurable Buddhas of the past had all come to sit—at that time hundreds of thousands of Śuddhāvāsa devas also arrived beneath this tree, encircling the holy queen with joyous salutations and praises. The queen's body emitted light, and gazing up at the tree, she grasped its eastern branch with her right hand; yawning and stretching, she stood upright and stately, and [the bodhisattva] was born peacefully from his mother's right side. At that time, Śakra and King Brahmā bowed forward, received and supported the bodhisattva with both hands using an enveloping kauśeya cloth, and carried the bodhisattva's palace hall back to the Brahma palace.