無量壽經連義述文贊 1.34

1.34

經曰「釋梵祈勸請轉法輪」者，述云：第八、法化普洽。有二：初、加威祈請；後、因請起說。此初也。初成正覺，諸天嘆已，住喜悅定，觀菩提樹目不暫捨，禪悅為食，不起于座經於七日，為居此處除諸苦故。第二七日，周匝經行，大千為限。第三七日，觀菩提場，亦為居此得大覺故。第四七日，隨近經行，大海為邊。時魔王請：「曠劫苦行方得成佛。唯願善逝入於涅槃。」佛報波旬：「求大菩提，欲利眾生。而我法中未獲義利，三寶未備、未說妙法，云何涅槃？」波旬聞已心生憂惱。時彼三女見父愁苦更變其形，一為少婦之形、一為中婦之形，來至佛所。以神通力皆成老母，還至父所言：「我復為變化惑亂彼沙門，仍以大神通化我為老母。願王以威力令得如本形。」魔報諸女：「汝可自往懺悔前罪，彼攝神力方得復本。」諸女至佛，言：「我今極生悔，冀得罪銷滅。唯願慈悲力，令復於本形。」佛以慈悲故，攝神通令復如本。第五七日，住目真隣陀龍王所居，龍神守護。第六七日，往尼俱陀樹下，近尼連河有多外道皆來慰問。第七七日，至多演林中觀諸眾生為生老病死所逼迫。時北天竺兄弟二人，為眾商之主，一名帝履富婆、一名婆履，以五百乘車載其珍寶還歸本國。有二調牛，一名善生、二號名稱，巧識前路，止不能進，心懷恐懼。林神忽語：「勿懷恐，汝得大利。有佛出世初成正覺，住此林中，不食已來四十九日。汝等應將種種飲食而以上之。」時二調牛便向佛行，故諸商人隨調牛而往。遙覩如來相好光如日出，生希有心，以為天神。佛舉袈裟，即知如來，辨諸美味蘇蜜甘蔗乳糜豆屬乃時奉施，右遶三匝却住一面，白佛哀愍，受我微供。佛作是思：「以何器受？」時四天王各上金鉢。佛言：「出家不合汝鉢。」北方天王語餘天言：「昔青身天將白石鉢來與，我等欲施石鉢，今正是時。」各還自宮持彼石鉢以上如來。佛各受四天王之鉢，次第相重安置，右手按之合成一器，四際分明。時商眾於晨朝時牧人揲乳，凡所揲者化為醍醐，心生希有，選上粳米煮以為糜，和好合密盛栴檀鉢以上如來。如來受已，鉢擲空中。梵王接還自宮，起塔供養。佛自呪願而授記莂。入深禪定觀諸世間，便作思惟：「所證之法非心言境，恐無利應。」默然住而，說偈言：「我得甘露無為法，甚深寂靜離塵垢。梵王若來勸請我，或當為轉微妙法。」螺髻梵王以佛威神，即知如來默然之旨，與六十八拘胝梵眾來白佛言：「世尊！多有眾生堪能悟入甚深之法，唯願說之。」而佛默然。梵王亦知默然之旨，即與釋天乃至阿迦尼吒天於夜分中至多演林禮已右遶。釋天白佛：「請轉法輪。」佛猶默然。大梵重請，佛說二偈：「我證逆流道，甚深難可見。盲者莫能覩，故默而不說。世間諸眾生，著彼五塵境，不能解我法，是故今默然。」梵釋諸天聞已憂惱，忽然不現。復於一時，大梵天王歎摩伽陀國諸外道等封著邪見，詣佛偈請：「摩伽陀國，多諸異道，因邪見故，種種籌量。唯願牟尼，為開甘露，最清淨法，令其得聞。」世尊以佛眼觀諸眾生上中下根及以三聚，告梵王言：「我今為汝請，當雨於甘露。一切諸世間，天人龍神等，若有淨信者，聽受如是法。」梵王聞已，喜歎不現。神唱言：「如來今受梵王勸請。」於一念頃虛空神聞，展轉傳至阿迦吒天。而今言梵釋祈請者，略舉不盡之言也。祈，巨衣反，作蘄求福也。轉者即通自他轉，自即如來三道轉滿，他即轉所得法至他相續法。轉者即不定義，以移轉故。佛雖既自轉，而未有他轉，故次請轉。

Regarding the sūtra's words, "Śakra and Brahmā prayed and entreatied him to turn the wheel of the Dharma," the commentary states: This is the eighth, the universal pervasive permeation of the Dharma conversion. There are two parts: first, entreaty through an display of awe-inspiring power; second, initiating the exposition because of the entreaty. This is the first. When he had first accomplished correct awakening, after the gods had praised him, he abided in the samādhi of joyous delight, gazing upon the bodhi tree without looking away for even a moment. Taking the joy of meditation as food, he did not rise from his seat for seven days, so that by residing in this place he would dispel all suffering. In the second seven-day period, he circumambulated, using the great trichiliocosm as the boundary. In the third seven-day period, he contemplated the bodhimanda, likewise because he had attained the great awakening by residing here. In the fourth seven-day period, he walked near it, with the great ocean as the boundary. At that time, the demon king entreatied him: "Only after hard ascetic practices across vast eons have you succeeded in becoming a Buddha. May the Sugata please enter into nirvāṇa!" The Buddha told Māra Pāpīyān: "I sought the great bodhi wishing to benefit sentient beings. Yet in my Dharma, they have not yet obtained beneficial meaning; the Three Jewels are not yet complete, and the wonderful Dharma has not yet been expounded. How could I enter nirvāṇa?" Hearing this, Māra Pāpīyān felt distress in his heart. At that time, his three daughters, seeing their father's sorrow and suffering, transformed their bodies again, one into the form of a young woman and one into the form of a middle-aged woman, coming to where the Buddha was. By his supernormal power, they were both turned into old women. Returning to their father, they said: "We made transformations again to bewilder that śramaṇa, yet with his great supernormal power he transformed us into old women. We pray the King uses his awe-inspiring power to restore us to our original forms." Māra told his daughters: "You should go yourselves and repent of your previous sins; only when he withdraws his supernormal power will you regain your original state." The daughters went to the Buddha and said: "We now give rise to extreme remorse, hoping our sins may be dissolved. We pray that by your power of loving-kindness and compassion, you will cause us to return to our original forms." Because of loving-kindness and compassion, the Buddha withdrew his supernormal power and caused them to return to their original forms. In the fifth seven-day period, he stayed at the dwelling of Mucilinda, the dragon king, guarded by the dragon spirit. In the sixth seven-day period, he went under the nyagrodha tree near the Nairañjanā River; many non-Buddhists came to greet and console him. In the seventh seven-day period, he arrived in the Tarāyaṇa grove and contemplated all sentient beings oppressed by birth, old age, sickness, and death. At that time, two brothers from North India, leaders of a merchant guild, one named Trapuṣa and the other named Bhallika, were returning to their native land carrying their precious treasures on five hundred carts. They had two trained oxen, one named Sujāta and the second named Yaśas, who skillfully recognized the road ahead; yet they stopped and could not proceed, harboring fear in their hearts. The grove deity suddenly spoke: "Do not harbor fear, you will obtain great benefit! A Buddha has appeared in the world, newly accomplishing correct awakening; he abides in this grove, and has not eaten for forty-nine days. You should bring various kinds of food and drink to offer to him." At that time the two trained oxen walked toward the Buddha, so all the merchants followed the trained oxen and went along. Glimpsing from afar the Tathāgata's marks and signs shining like the rising sun, they gave rise to a sense of rarity, thinking he was a heavenly deity. The Buddha lifted his kāṣāya robe; they immediately recognized he was a Tathāgata. Preparing various delicacies—ghee, honey, sugarcane, milk-rice, beans, and the like—they offered them at that time, circumambulated him to the right three times, and stepped back to stand to one side, saying to the Buddha: "Take pity and accept our humble offering." The Buddha thought: "In what vessel shall I receive it?" At that time, the Four Heavenly Kings each presented a golden bowl. The Buddha said: "For a renouncer, your bowls are not fitting." The Heavenly King of the North told the other deities: "Formerly, the Blue-bodied Deva brought white stone bowls and gave them to us; we wished to give stone bowls, and now is precisely the time." Each returned to his palace and brought back the stone bowl to present to the Tathāgata. The Buddha accepted the bowls of the Four Heavenly Kings respectively, stacked them one above the other in order, and pressed them with his right hand to fuse them into a single vessel, with their four rims clearly distinct. At that time, when the herdsmen pressed milk for the merchants in the morning, all that was milked turned into clarified butter. Feeling it was wondrous, they selected the finest non-glutinous rice and boiled it into gruel, blended it well with honey, filled a sandalwood bowl, and presented it to the Tathāgata. When the Tathāgata had received it, he threw the bowl into the air. The Brahmā King caught it and returned to his palace, erecting a stupa to make offerings to it. The Buddha recited incantations of aspiration and bestowed a prophecy. Entering deep samādhi, he contemplated the worlds and thought: "The Dharma realized by me is not an object of mind or words; I fear there will be no beneficial response." Abiding in silence, he spoke a verse:
"I have attained the nectar-like, unconditioned Dharma,
profound, quiescent, and free from defilement.
If King Brahmā comes to entreat me,
I may turn the subtle, wonderful Dharma for their sake."
Through the Buddha's spiritual power, the Conch-Topknot Brahmā King immediately knew the Tathāgata's silent intention, and with sixty-eight koṭis of Brahmā followers, came and addressed the Buddha: "World-Honored One! There are many sentient beings capable of awakening to and entering this profound Dharma. We only pray you expound it!" Yet the Buddha remained silent. The Brahmā King also knew the intention of his silence, and together with Śakra and up to the Akaniṣṭha Heaven, arrived in the Tarāyaṇa grove during the night, made obeisance, and circumambulated him to the right. Śakra addressed the Buddha: "Please turn the wheel of the Dharma." The Buddha was still silent. When Mahābrahmā entreatied him again, the Buddha spoke two verses:
"The path I have realized goes against the stream,
profound and difficult to see.
The blind cannot behold it,
therefore I remain silent and do not speak.
All sentient beings in the world
are attached to the realm of the five dusts,
and cannot understand my Dharma;
for this reason I now remain silent."
Hearing this, Brahmā, Śakra, and the deities became sorrowful, and suddenly vanished. Again at another time, the Great Brahmā Heavenly King lamented that the various non-Buddhists in Magadha were stubbornly attached to wrong views, and approached the Buddha to entreat him in verse:
"In the kingdom of Magadha
there are many diverse paths;
because of wrong views
they make various speculations.
May the Muni alone
unfold the nectar-like,
most pure Dharma
and cause them to hear it!"
With the Buddha-eye, the World-Honored One contemplated the superior, middling, and inferior faculties of sentient beings, as well as the three groups, and told the Brahmā King: "Now, because of your entreaty, I shall rain down the nectar. In all the worlds, among gods, humans, nāgas, and spirits, if there are any with pure faith, let them listen to and receive such Dharma." Hearing this, the Brahmā King rejoiced, praised him, and vanished. A deity cried aloud: "The Tathāgata has now accepted King Brahmā's entreaty!" In a single thought-moment, the deities of space heard it, and it was transmitted stage by stage up to the Akaniṣṭha Heaven. Now, saying that Brahmā and Śakra prayed and entreatied is an abridged expression that does not exhaust the whole account. 'Qi' (prayer) means praying and seeking blessings. 'Turning' (zhuǎn) applies both to oneself and to others: to oneself means the Tathāgata's full completion of turning the three turnings of the wheel; to others means transmitting the attained Dharma into the mental continuities of others. 'Turning' has the meaning of being non-fixed, because of moving and shifting. Although the Buddha had already turned it for himself, he had not yet turned it for others; therefore, they next entreatied him to turn it.