佛祖統紀 4.41

4.41

On the fifteenth day of the fourth month, Mahākāśyapa reflected thus: 'We should compile the Tripiṭaka so that the Dharma may long abide.' Thereupon, standing upon the summit of Mount Sumeru, he struck a bronze gaṇḍī (pronounced qiándì; the treatises on sound translate it as 'bell'; according to the Five-Part Vinaya, whatever sounds are made by earthenware, wood, bronze, or iron are all called gaṇḍī; various vinayas often write it as gaṇḍī-hammer) and uttered a gāthā, saying: / 'All disciples of the Buddha, / If you remember the Buddha, / You should repay the Buddha's kindness; / Do not enter nirvāṇa!' / All disciples endowed with supernormal powers assembled together. Kāśyapa selected one thousand people, all arhats, excluding only Ānanda. King Ajātaśatru provided daily food and drink for the one thousand people. During the summer retreat, when reciting the precepts on the fifteenth day of the third month, Kāśyapa entered samādhi and observed with the divine eye: Ānanda alone had not yet exhausted his defilements. Taking him by the hand, he led him out. Ashamed and weeping, Ānanda said: 'In the Buddha's Dharma, an arhat is not permitted to attend upon and serve [the Buddha]; it was for this reason alone that I retained residual fetters without severing them.' Mahākāśyapa said further: 'You have yet other offenses. You urged the Buddha to ordain women to go forth from the household, causing the True Dharma to decrease by five hundred years.' Ānanda said: 'All the Buddhas of the three times have the fourfold assembly.' Kāśyapa said further: 'When the Buddha was about to enter nirvāṇa, he had back pain and lay down saying he needed water, yet you did not provide it.' Ānanda said: 'At that time, five hundred carts had crossed the stream, and the water was turbid, so I did not take it.' Kāśyapa said further: 'The Buddha asked you: "If someone well cultivates the four bases of supernormal power, he could abide for an eon or less than an eon." You should have answered: "The Buddha should abide for an eon or less than an eon." The Buddha asked thrice and you did not answer, thereby causing the World-Honoured One to enter nirvāṇa early.' Ānanda said: 'Māra obscured my mind; that is why I did not answer.' Kāśyapa said further: 'When you folded the saṅghāṭī robe for the Buddha (褺, pronounced tújié, refers to a layered garment, meaning to fold in layers), you stepped on it with your feet.' Ānanda said: 'When I held the robe, a great wind blew it down under my feet; it was not out of disrespect.' Kāśyapa said further: 'Why was it not shameful that after parinirvāṇa, the Buddha's concealed privities were shown to women?' Ānanda said: 'I thought that when women saw the Buddha's concealed privities, they would feel ashamed of their female form and desire to attain a male body, cultivating all manner of the Buddha's roots of virtue; it was not done to break the precepts.' Kāśyapa ordered him to make confession of the six duṣkṛta offenses within the Saṅgha (duṣkṛta is translated here as "bad action", and also as "that which ought to be trained in"). Kāśyapa said further: 'Sever your defilements until they are completely exhausted, and only then may you enter.' Ānanda reflected on all phenomena, seeking to exhaust his remaining defilements; because his power of samādhi was slight, he did not immediately attain the Way. As the latter part of the night was drawing to a close, extremely fatigued, he rested; lying on his back upon the pillow, he suddenly attained awakening, entered the diamond-like samādhi, destroyed all defilements, and attained the six supernormal powers. In the latter part of the night, he went to the Saṅgha hall and knocked on the door. Kāśyapa said: 'Enter through the keyhole of the door.' Ānanda thereupon used his supernormal power to enter through the hole, and bowed down in repentance. Kāśyapa then said: 'Harbour no resentment; return to your original seat.' Having bowed to the Saṅgha, Ānanda ascended the lion seat (from the *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa*). Kāśyapa told him: 'Let there be not a single word or syllable missing from the Dharma preached by the Buddha.' At that time Ānanda first recited the scriptures: first, the Womb Transformation Piṭaka; second, the Intermediate State Piṭaka; third, the Mahāyāna Vaipulya Piṭaka; fourth, the Precepts and Vinaya Piṭaka; fifth, the Ten Stages Bodhisattva Piṭaka; sixth, the Miscellaneous Piṭaka; seventh, the Diamond Piṭaka; eighth, the Buddha Piṭaka. This was the completion of the Dharma of the scriptures. Ānanda raised his voice and chanted: 'Thus have I heard: At one time, the Buddha was dwelling at...' Kāśyapa and the great assembly all shed tears: 'Alas! Old age and death are like illusions and transformations! Yesterday we saw the Buddha, and today it is already proclaimed: "Thus have I heard"' (*Garbhāvakrānti Sūtra*).