佛祖統紀 28.121

28.121

裴氏鸚鵡。唐成都尹韋臯記曰。人有獻鸚鵡者　河東裴氏謂。此鳥名載梵經。智殊常類常狎而敬之。始告以六齋之禁及午後非時。終夕不食。或教以持佛名號。仰首奮翼若善承聽。每清晨永夜發和雅音。阿彌陀佛聲聲相續。一日有憔悴容。訓養者鳴磬而告之曰。將去此而西歸乎。每一擊磬一稱佛。十擊磬而十念成。斂翼委足揜然而絕。案釋典十念成往生西方。又云。得佛惠者沒有舍利。遂命火焚之。得舍利十餘粒。貞元十九年九月記。

The Pei family's parrot. In a record by Wei Gao, Mayor of Chengdu in the Tang: Someone presented a parrot to Pei of Hedong, who said: 'The name of this bird is recorded in the Indic scriptures; its intelligence is extraordinary among its kind.' He always treated it with fond respect. He initially told it of the prohibitions of the Six Fast Days and of eating at forbidden times after noon; thereafter, it ate nothing until evening. Sometimes he taught it to invoke the Buddha's name; it would raise its head and flutter its wings as if listening attentively. Every dawn and long night, it made gentle and elegant sounds, reciting 'Amitābha Buddha' in continuous succession. One day, it appeared haggard. Its keeper struck a chime stone and told it: 'Are you about to depart from here and return to the West?' With each strike of the chime stone, it uttered the Buddha's name once; when the chime was struck ten times, ten recitations were completed. Folding its wings and dropping its legs, it peacefully expired. According to Buddhist scriptures, when ten recitations are completed, one achieves rebirth in the Western Land. They also say that one who receives the Buddha's grace will leave relics upon death. Fire was then ordered to cremate it, and over ten relics were obtained. Recorded in the ninth month of the nineteenth year of Zhenyuan.