俱舍論疏 1.5

1.5

Third, describing the particular events of the intermediate period: in the sūtras, vinayas, and treatises, accounts of the time and seasons intervening between [the Buddha's] abhisambodhi and the dharmacakrapravartana differ in brevity or detail, and vary in sequence. For now, what occurred before observing the capacities [of beings] is narrated according to the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya, and what occurred after observing their capacities is recounted according to the Vibhāṣā. Points of agreement and difference with other texts are appended immediately thereafter. Fascicle thirty-one of the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya states: 'In the first watch of the night he attained the vidyā of past lives; in the middle watch of the night he attained the vidyā of witnessing birth and death; in the final watch of the night he attained the vidyā of the destruction of the āsravas. Having attained these trividyā, he immediately went beneath the bodhi tree, sat cross-legged, and remained unmoved for seven days experiencing the bliss of vimokṣa. When seven days had elapsed, he arose from that samādhi and received barley meal and honey from two merchant brothers, conferring upon them the two refuges. It is said that the initial upāsakas began from this. The Four Heavenly Kings presented bowls to receive the barley meal and honey. This is the first seven-day period.' The Sūtra of Causes and Effects speaks of his receiving the merchants' barley meal and honey after observing the capacities. The Dharmaguptaka states: 'Having consumed the barley meal and honey, he immediately sat cross-legged beneath the tree for seven days unmoved, roaming in the samādhi of vimokṣa. When seven days had elapsed, he arose from the samādhi. Not far from there was a harītakī fruit tree, and the tree deity there offered the World-Honoured One harītakī fruit. Having accepted it, he conferred upon [the deity] the two refuges. This is the second seven-day period. Having consumed this fruit, he entered samādhi as before; emerging from samādhi, he entered the village of Uruvilvā to beg for alms, and after receiving food from a brāhmaṇa, he conferred upon him the two refuges. This is the third seven-day period.' The above three periods of seven days were beneath the bodhi tree. 'Having eaten, he further went beneath a rājāyatana tree and entered samādhi as before. Having emerged from the samādhi, he entered the village of Uruvilvā to beg for alms, and after receiving food from a brāhmaṇa woman, he conferred upon her the two refuges. It is said that this was the beginning of upāsikās.' According to this vinaya passage, humans who receive the three refuges obtain the lay vows (upāsaka-saṃvara), whereas spirits and animals do not. 'This is the fourth seven-day period. Having eaten, he returned beneath the rājāyatana tree and entered samādhi as before; having arisen from samādhi, he entered the village of Uruvilvā to beg for alms, and after receiving food from a brāhmaṇa man and woman, he conferred upon them the three refuges. This is the fifth seven-day period.' The above two periods of seven days were beneath the rājāyatana tree. 'Having eaten, he went to the palace of the nāga king Mucilinda; having arrived, he entered samādhi as before, and the heavens rained for seven days. And so forth, down to the nāga king coiling his body around the Buddha, shading the Buddha with his hood, and so forth. This is the sixth seven-day period.' The Sūtra of Causes and Effects places this after observing the capacities. The above six periods of seven days were spent experiencing the bliss of the samādhi of vimokṣa. Furthermore, the Dharmaguptaka states: 'Having arisen from samādhi, he went beneath an ajapālanigrodha tree, laid out his sitting mat, and sat cross-legged.' The Mahīśāsaka-vinaya states: 'He entered samādhi for seven days.' It also states: 'He accepted food from a woman [selling] curd, and having eaten, he entered samādhi.' The above is from the Mahīśāsaka text. The Dharmaguptaka also states: 'He had this thought, saying: "I have now attained it. This Dharma is profound, difficult to comprehend and difficult to know, tranquil, quiescent, subtle, supreme, known by the wise." And so on, until having contemplated, he spoke two verses; having spoken the two verses, he remained silent.' The above period of contemplating the profound Dharma does not state the number of days. The Lotus Sūtra says: 'Contemplating the tree and also walking back and forth, / during three periods of seven days / he contemplated such matters: / "The wisdom I have attained / is subtle and foremost of all. / Sentient beings are of dull faculties, / clinging to pleasure and blinded by delusion; / how can beings such as these / be ferried across?"' This accords with the sense of the vinaya. According to the above, six periods of seven days were spent experiencing the bliss of vimokṣa, and three periods of seven days contemplating the Dharma, making nine periods of seven days in all. The day of emerging from the preceding samādhi is the start of the succeeding seven days; excluding the overlapping six days, fifty-seven days remain, which is prior to the entreaty by Brahmā. This agrees with the number of days in the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa and the Vibhāṣā. Fascicle eight of the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: 'After Śākyamuni Buddha attained the way, for fifty-seven days he preferred not to teach the Dharma, saying: "My Dharma is profound, difficult to comprehend and difficult to know. All sentient beings are bound and attached to worldly dharmas, and none can comprehend it. It is better to remain silent and enter the bliss of nirvāṇa." At that time, Brahmā and others entreated the Buddha to first turn the wheel of the Dharma for the sake of all sentient beings. The Buddha then silently accepted the entreaty. Later, he went to the grove of Vārāṇasī to turn the wheel of the true Dharma.' This agrees with the meaning of the vinaya and the Lotus Sūtra. The Dharmaguptaka also says: 'Brahmā entreated the Buddha to turn the wheel of the Dharma; after the Buddha consented, Brahmā returned to his palace.' The above account of observing the capacities agrees in general meaning between the vinaya, the Vibhāṣā, and others; minor differences between them are omitted without narration. The above is recounted based on fascicle one hundred eighty-two of the Vibhāṣā. The treatise says: 'Beneath the bodhi tree, the Bodhisattva attained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi through thirty-four moments of mind. With the Buddha-eye he surveyed all realms of the world [to see] who should be the first to hear my true Dharma, that I may expound it for them. Having observed, he knew that Rāmaputra should be the first to hear my Dharma. At that time, a deva addressed the Buddha, saying: "Rāmaputra passed away last night."' Some say seven days; the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya says: 'Udraka Rāmaputra has been dead for seven days.' It also says: 'At that time the World-Honoured One also gave rise to knowledge and vision, knowing that he had passed away, and lamented with a sigh: "He has missed a great benefit! If he had heard the Dharma taught by me, he would have attained true understanding." The World-Honoured One observed again: "Apart from him, who should be the first to hear my true Dharma, that I may expound it for them?" Having observed, he knew Ārāḍa Kālāma.' The Dharmaguptaka says: 'Ārāḍa Kālāma should hear the Dharma first.' 'The deva again addressed the Buddha: "Seven days have already passed since he died."' Some say yesterday; the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya also says yesterday. 'At that time the World-Honoured One also gave rise to knowledge and vision, knowing that he had passed away, and lamented as before.' Question: When he first attained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, why did he not preach the Dharma for those two persons, but waited until they had passed away so that they could not hear the Dharma? Was not the Tathāgata's teaching and transforming untimely? It is further said: 'At that time, the roots of goodness of those two persons were not yet mature; they were not yet capable of hearing the Dharma. Why is this? After the Buddha attained abhisambodhi, if that first person had retained more than fifty-seven days of life, he would have been capable of hearing the Dharma; if that second person had retained more than fifty-one days of life, he would have been capable of hearing the Dharma. Hence, the Buddha's teaching and transforming was not untimely.' According to this treatise text, although the Vibhāṣā does not expound in detail the number of days prior to Brahmā's entreaty, excluding the day of the Buddha's abhisambodhi, the fifty-seven days up until his assent to the entreaty agree with the vinaya and the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, and so forth. It also says: 'The World-Honoured One sometimes retains his own life-force (āyuḥsaṃskāra), as when awaiting Subhadra and others. If it were a matter of retaining the life-force of another, there is no such possibility.' According to this treatise text, there is no retaining the life-force of another. 'The World-Honoured One observed again: "Apart from those two persons, who should be the first to hear my teaching of the Dharma, that I may expound it for them?" Having observed, he knew that the five persons including Kauṇḍinya should hear the Dharma first. He then thought: "They are my relatives from my father and mother who previously paid respect and made offerings to me. Now I wish to repay them; where are they located?" A deva then said: "They are now in Mṛgadāva, [the grove of] the ṛṣis in the land of Vārāṇasī." At that time the World-Honoured One also gave rise to knowledge and vision, knowing they were in that place. He then departed from beneath the bodhi tree and travelled on foot.' Question: The Buddha was fully endowed with supreme miraculous power; why did he travel on foot? Answer: Out of reverence for the Dharma, he did not use his supernatural travel. Moreover, when the Buddha walked, his feet were always four fingers' breadth above the ground, and in every footprint there was a distinct, painted-like mark of a lovely thousand-spoked wheel with auspicious swastikas; where his shadow touched, even up to seven days later, it caused any sattva who reached that spot to experience serenity and joy in all their faculties. 'Gradually travelling, he arrived at Vārāṇasī. At that time, the five persons caught sight of the Buddha unexpectedly, and thereupon agreed upon a rule among themselves: "That Gautama, indolent and arrogant, desiring much, confused and devoid of mindfulness, has achieved nothing at all. And now he comes again, wishing to call and entice us. Let us not converse with him, pay him respect, or greet him; we shall merely spread a single ordinary seat and leave it to him whether he sits or not." At that time, as the World-Honoured One gradually drew near to them, compelled by his awesome majesty and virtue, they abandoned their original resolution; unconsciously, all at once they rose from their seats, ran to meet him, and with joined palms took refuge. Among them, some adjusted and spread a clean seat, some took the Buddha's robe, some took the Buddha's bowl, some offered water, and some washed his feet, all addressing the Buddha: "We pray only that you take your seat." The Buddha then thought: "Such foolish men make a rule themselves, and in a moment break it again." Then the Buddha went to the seat and sat down serenely, his majestic radiance extraordinary like Mount Meru. And so forth, down to the World-Honoured One then gradually guiding and transforming them, causing them to be subdued. During the first part of the day, he expounded the Dharma, admonished, and instructed two persons, sending the remaining three persons into the village to beg for alms, and the almsfood they begged was sufficient for six persons. During the latter part of the day, he expounded the Dharma, admonished, and instructed three persons, sending the remaining two persons into the village to beg for alms, and the food they begged was sufficient for five persons, because the World-Honoured One by nature refrains from eating at improper times. Teaching and transforming them in this way for three months—some say four months—once the roots of goodness of those five persons had matured, on the eighth day of the bright half of the month of Kārttika, the Tathāgata turned the wheel of the true Dharma for them, at which time Kauṇḍinya was the first to see the Dharma.'