阿彌陀經通贊疏 1.61

1.61

贊曰：第二苦行辨才對。摩訶如前解。迦葉者，梵云迦葉波，姓也，此略云迦葉，此婆羅門姓飲光仙人種。昔有婆羅門獲證仙果，身體金色飲蔽日月之光，尊者是彼之種，以姓標名；又迦葉身飲蔽日月光，故以為號。《付法藏傳》云：往昔過九十一劫毘婆尸佛入涅槃後，四部弟子起七寶塔。時彼塔中有佛形像，佛面金色少處缺壞，有一貧女遊行乞匃得一金珠，見像面壞欲薄像面。迦葉爾時作鍛金師，女即持往詣令修薄，匠師聞於福事，歡喜為令作發願。女云：「願生生世世常為夫婦，身真金色恒受勝樂，常修梵行。」從是已來九十一劫身金色，生天人中快樂無極，最後託生第七梵天。時摩竭陀國有婆羅門名尼𤘽律陀，過去修福，聰明多智巨福無量，金銀七寶牛羊田宅奴婢車乘，比瓶沙王千倍為勝。王有金犁千具，彼婆羅門恐與王齊畏招罪咎，其家但作九百九十九具金犁，唯少一具。其家有金㲲千張，最下之者價直百千兩金。有六十圌金栗，每圌有三百四十斛。其家雖富而無子息。於其舍側有一樹神，頗有靈祇，夫婦累求子息，數年無應。怒曰：「今七日盡心奉事，若復無驗必相燒煎。」樹神愁怖告四天王，四天王告帝釋，帝釋遍觀閻浮，無堪與彼而為子者，即詣梵王廣宣上事。梵王即以天眼遍觀，一梵天臨當命終，即往勸之勸其生往。梵天受教即來託生，滿足十月生男兒，顏端正身真金色，光明赫𭴢照四十里。相師占云：「此兒宿福必定出家。」父母聞之皆懷愁惱，本為求子繼紹，若也出家必當絕嗣。夫婦議曰：「當說何計斷絕其意？」復自思惟：「世所耽著唯有美色，當為娉取。」迦葉至年十五，欲為取妻，語父母言：「我意志清淨，不須婚姻。」父母不許。兒知難免，便設權計語父母言：「能為我得紫金色女端正超世，我當取之。」父母即召諸婆羅門遍行求娉。諸婆羅門鑄一金神，端正奇特，寽持舁行聚落，高聲唱言：「若有在室得見金神禮拜之者，後出嫁時必得好夫。」有一女人身真金色端正無比，聞此語已出往禮拜金神。長者見之歡喜，即為取作兒妻。夫婦相見皆無染情，共立要契各住一房。父母聞已，毀除一室令共一房。迦葉語妻曰：「我若眠息汝當行道，汝若睡息我當行道。」妻因睡次申手床前，毒蛇入房欲螫妻手，迦葉見已以衣掌手舉於舊床，妻便驚窹而責之曰：「本立要誓各修梵行，今何觸手？」迦葉具陳。妻曰：「毒蛇螫我手，令我半身枯；今君觸我手令墮三塗。」夫妻節操深厭世間，啟辭父母求欲出家，父母見志不移便即聽許。夫婦俱共出家來詣佛所，佛即攝受，漸得果滿。此尊者心堅白玉、體瑩黃金，杜多之行難齊，少欲知足情莫，並不歸寂滅，賴且留身入三昧於鷄足山中，獻袈裟於龍華會上，故云苦行也。

The Praise says: The second [pair] is the match of Ascetic Practice and Eloquence. "Mahā" is explained as before. As for Kāśyapa, in Sanskrit it is Kāśyapa, a clan name; here it is abbreviated as Kāśyapa. This is the clan of the Brahmin immortal "Drinker of Light." Long ago there was a Brahmin who attained the fruit of an immortal; his body was golden in color, drinking in and obscuring the light of the sun and moon. The Venerable One belongs to his lineage, so he is designated by the clan name. Furthermore, Kāśyapa's own body drank in and obscured the light of the sun and moon, and thus it was taken as his epithet. The *Account of the Transmission of the Dharma Treasury* states: In the past, ninety-one eons ago, after the Buddha Vipaśyin entered nirvāṇa, the fourfold assembly of disciples erected a seven-jeweled stūpa. At that time, inside that stūpa there was an image of the Buddha. The golden face of the Buddha was slightly chipped and damaged. There was a poor woman roaming and begging who obtained a gold bead. Seeing that the face of the image was damaged, she wished to gild the face of the image. At that time Kāśyapa was a goldsmith. The woman then brought it to him to have him gild and repair it. Hearing of this meritorious deed, the craftsman joyfully made it for her and made a vow. The woman said: "I vow that in life after life we will always be husband and wife, our bodies of genuine golden color, constantly enjoying supreme bliss, and always cultivating the pure life." From that time onwards, for ninety-one eons their bodies were golden; born among gods and humans, their joy was boundless. Finally, he was reborn in the Seventh Brahma Heaven. At that time, in the country of Magadha, there was a Brahmin named Nyagrodha. Having cultivated merit in the past, he was intelligent, very wise, and had boundless vast merit. His gold, silver, seven jewels, cattle, sheep, lands, residences, slaves, and carriages surpassed King Bimbisāra's a thousandfold. The king had one thousand gold plows; that Brahmin, fearing to rival the king and afraid of inviting blame and punishment, made in his household only nine hundred and ninety-nine gold plows, lacking just one. His family possessed one thousand sheets of golden fine cotton, the lowest of which was worth a hundred thousand ounces of gold. There were sixty bins of golden grain, each bin containing three hundred and forty bushels. Although his family was rich, they had no offspring. By the side of his residence was a tree spirit of considerable spiritual efficacy. The husband and wife repeatedly prayed for offspring, but for several years there was no response. Angrily he said: "Now for seven days we will serve you with wholehearted devotion. If there is still no sign of efficacy, I will certainly burn and scorch you." The tree spirit, terrified and sorrowful, informed the Four Heavenly Kings. The Four Heavenly Kings informed Śakra. Śakra looked everywhere across Jambudvīpa, but there was no one capable of being their child; he then went to the Brahma King and expounded the matter in detail. The Brahma King then looked everywhere with his divine eye; one Brahma deva was about to end his life. He immediately went to encourage him, urging him to go and be born there. The Brahma deva accepted the instruction and came to take birth. When the ten months were complete, a boy was born, his features handsome and dignified, his body of genuine golden color, his radiant light blazing and illuminating forty leagues (*li*). A physiognomist divined: "This child's past merit ensures he will certainly leave the household." Hearing this, the parents were both filled with sorrow and distress. Originally seeking a son to continue their lineage, if he were also to leave the household, the lineage would surely be severed. The husband and wife deliberated: "What plan should we devise to cut off his intention?" They further thought: "What the world is addicted to is only beautiful women. We must betroth one for him." When Kāśyapa reached the age of fifteen, they wished to take a wife for him. He spoke to his parents, saying: "My aspiration is pure; I have no need for marriage." The parents did not permit it. The son, knowing he could not escape it, then devised an expedient plan and told his parents: "If you can obtain for me a purple-golden woman whose beauty surpasses the world, I will take her." The parents immediately summoned various Brahmins to travel everywhere seeking a betrothal. The Brahmins cast a golden deity, remarkably upright and extraordinary, carried it upon their shoulders through villages, and loudly proclaimed: "If there is a maiden who beholds this golden deity and pays homage to it, when she marries she will certainly obtain a fine husband." There was a woman whose body was of genuine golden color, incomparably beautiful. Having heard these words, she came out to pay homage to the golden deity. The elder, seeing her, was delighted and immediately took her to be his son's wife. When the husband and wife met, neither had any defiled lust; together they made an agreement, each dwelling in a separate room. When the parents heard of this, they demolished one room and made them share a single room. Kāśyapa said to his wife: "When I sleep and rest, you should walk the path; when you sleep and rest, I should walk the path." As the wife was sleeping, she stretched her hand out in front of the bed; a poisonous snake entered the room, intending to bite the wife's hand. Seeing this, Kāśyapa covered his hand with his garment and lifted it back onto the old bed. The wife was startled awake and rebuked him, saying: "Originally we made a vow that each would cultivate the pure life. Why do you now touch my hand?" Kāśyapa explained everything. The wife said: "Had the poisonous snake bitten my hand, it would have withered half my body; but now you touching my hand causes me to fall into the three wretched destinies." The husband and wife's moral integrity was firm, deeply detesting the worldly realm. They took leave of his parents, asking to leave the household. Seeing that their resolve could not be shaken, the parents then granted permission. The husband and wife both left the household together and came to the Buddha's dwelling. The Buddha accepted them, and gradually they attained the full fruit. This Venerable One's mind was steadfast as white jade, his body lustrous as yellow gold; his dhūta practices are difficult to match, his few desires and contentment without parallel. Moreover, he did not enter extinction, but entrusted his body to remain in samādhi inside Cockfoot Mountain (Kukkuṭapāda), to offer the kāṣāya robe at the assembly of the Dragon Flower. Hence he is called "ascetic practice."