俱舍論疏 9.11

9.11

[On the Śāstra's statement:] "This auspicious omen […] not as it was seen": This is the answer. The Bodhisattva, since ninety-one kalpas ago, had long abandoned [birth as] an animal; that his mother saw a white elephant was an auspicious sign. Just as the ten things seen in King Kṛki's dreams indicated the future and were not as they were seen. "Kṛki" is Sanskrit, translated here as "Zuoshi" (maker of deeds); he was the father of Kāśyapa Buddha. At night he dreamed of ten things and reported them in full to the Buddha. The Buddha said: "These portend the advance omens of the disciples in the future bequeathed Dharma of Śākya[muni]." The king dreamed of seeing a large elephant shut in, with no door except a small window; through expedients the elephant got its body out, but only its tail was obstructed by the window and could not get out. This portends that disciples in the bequeathed Dharma of Śākya will be able to abandon parents, wives, and children to leave household life and cultivate the Way, yet amidst this will still harbor [desire for] fame and profit and be unable to abandon them, just as the tail was caught in the window. As for the well, the king dreamed of seeing a thirsty person seeking water to drink, and there was a well possessing the eight virtues that followed the thirsty person, yet he would not take it to drink. This portends that the religious and lay disciples in Śākya's bequeathed Dharma will be unwilling to study the Dharma; those who understand the Dharma will, for the sake of fame and profit, pursue them to preach it to them, yet they still will not study it. As for the roasted flour, the king dreamed of trading a sheng of genuine pearls for a sheng of roasted flour. This portends that disciples in Śākya's bequeathed Dharma, seeking profit, will expound the Buddha's true Dharma for others, hoping for their material wealth. As for the sandalwood, the king dreamed of taking sandalwood incense to trade for ordinary wood. This portends that disciples in Śākya's bequeathed Dharma will trade internal true Dharma for external texts and the like. As for the wonderful garden, the king dreamed of a wonderful garden with flourishing flowers and fruits, destroyed by mad thieves without anything remaining. This portends that disciples in Śākya's bequeathed Dharma will eradicate the garden of the Tathāgata's true Dharma. As for the young elephants, the king dreamed of small elephants driving a large elephant out of the herd. This portends that bad factions of precept-breaking bhikṣus among disciples in Śākya's bequeathed Dharma will drive out and expel precept-holding, virtuous bhikṣus from the assembly. As for the two monkeys: the king dreamed of seeing a monkey whose body was smeared with excrement and filth rushing boldly through its troop, so that all who saw it avoided it. This portends that precept-breaking persons among disciples in Śākya's bequeathed Dharma will plot to slander good persons with evil deeds, so that all who see them keep far away. The king also dreamed of seeing a monkey who had no actual virtue, yet the troop together supported and upheld him, anointed his head with sea water, and established him as their king. This portends that precept-breaking bhikṣus among disciples in Śākya's bequeathed Dharma, having no actual knowledge, will, for fame and profit, be supported and upheld by bad factions to be made heads of the assembly. As for the wide and durable robe, the king dreamed of a wide and durable robe, of which eighteen people each took hold of a small piece, pulling from the four sides in contention, yet the robe was not torn. This portends that disciples in Śākya's bequeathed Dharma will divide into eighteen [schools], showing that the Dharma they study has its respective followers, and with differing school tenets they will give rise to mutual strife. This indicates the persons capable of studying the Dharma. What was dreamed like this merely portended the omens of other future events, not as it was seen. Therefore one knows that when the Bodhisattva's mother saw a white elephant in a dream, it merely portended an auspicious sign, and was not as it was seen. [On the Śāstra's statement:] "Furthermore, all intermediate existences […] the former is smaller and the latter larger": Because of the Bodhisattva entering the womb from the right flank, it explains thereupon that all other intermediate existences enter through the birth canal, not that it intends to prove that the Bodhisattva's intermediate existence enters through the birth canal. If explaining size in terms of the time of birth, the one born earlier is larger; if explaining size in terms of receiving the embryo, the one conceived later is larger. According to this text of the Śāstra, it speaks only of the fixed case; if karma is different or reception in the womb is long or short, then it is not fixed. Someone says: "This text intends to prove that the Bodhisattva enters through the birth canal"—this is incorrect. This text should prove that the Bodhisattva enters through the right flank, because the Bodhisattva is born from the right flank. The *Vibhāṣā*, fascicle 70, states: "Question: At what place does the Bodhisattva's intermediate existence enter the womb? Answer: He enters through the right flank, entering the womb with right awareness, regarding his mother as mother, because he is free from lustful desire. Another says: He enters through the birth canal, because this should be the rule for all womb-born and egg-born beings. Question: At what place does the prior intermediate existence of a wheel-turning king or a pratyekabuddha enter the womb? Answer: They enter through the right flank, entering the womb with right awareness, regarding the mother as mother, because they are free from lustful desire. Another says: They enter through the birth canal, because this should be the rule for all womb-born and egg-born beings. Another master says: Because the merit and wisdom of a Bodhisattva are exceedingly superior, when about to enter the womb he has no inverted perception and does not give rise to lustful desire. Although wheel-turning kings and pratyekabuddhas have merit and wisdom, they are not exceedingly superior; when about to enter the womb, although free from inverted perception, they still give rise to lustful desire; therefore, when entering the womb, they necessarily enter through the birth canal." Furthermore, the *Nyāyānusāra* says: "In principle, the intermediate existence actually enters the womb as it wishes and not necessarily through the birth canal, because of absence of obstruction; however, it is constrained by the womb through the power of karma." The *Nyāyānusāra* differs from the other treatises. This treatise's statement, "Furthermore, all intermediate existences", does not definitely refer to the Bodhisattva.