釋迦譜 1.376

1.376

普耀經云（一名方等本起）菩薩住兜率天其諸天子各六十六億。咸共講議。當使菩薩。現生何種或有說言。維提種。摩竭國其母真正。其父不真。拘薩大國。父母宗族皆不真正。和沙大國。王無威神受他節度。維耶離國。喜諍不和無清淨行。此鏺樹國。舉動虛妄志性麁獷不應生彼。有一天子。名曰幢英。詣菩薩所。而前諮問。究竟菩薩一生補處。所可降神種姓云何。菩薩報曰。其國種姓有六十德。一生補處乃應降神（六十德以文多不載）今此釋種熾盛。五穀豐熟快樂無極。人民滋茂植眾德本。迦維羅衛眾人和睦上下相承。一切諸釋渴仰一乘。其白淨王性行仁賢。夫人妙姿性溫貞良。猶天玉女。護身口意強如金剛。前五百世為菩薩母。應往降神受彼胞胎。於時菩薩問諸天子。以何形貌降神母胎。或言儒童形。或曰釋梵形。或言日月王形。或曰金翅鳥形彼有梵天名曰強威。從仙道來。報諸天言。象形第一。六牙白象威神巍巍。梵典所載。所以者何。世有三獸。一兔二馬三白象。兔之渡水趣自渡耳。馬雖差猛。猶故不知水之深淺。白象之渡盡其源底。聲聞緣覺其猶兔馬。雖渡生死不達法本。菩薩大乘譬如白象。解暢三界十二緣起。了之本無。救護一切。莫不蒙濟。菩薩過冬盛寒。春末夏初。樹始華茂。不寒不暑。適在時宜。沸宿應下。菩薩從兜率天。化作白象。口有六牙。諸根寂定。光色巍巍。現從日光降神母胎。趣於右脇。所以處右。所行不左。王后潔妙晏寐忽覺。白象王來處於胞胎。身心安隱猶如逮禪（瑞應本起修行本起皆云。菩薩初下。化乘白象。冠日之精）爾時菩薩觀降胎時至。即乘六牙白象。發兜率宮。無量諸天作諸妓樂。燒眾名香散天妙華。隨從菩薩滿虛空中。放大光明普照十方。以四月八日明星出時。降神母胎。于時摩耶夫人於眠寤之際。見菩薩乘六牙白象。騰虛而來從右脇入。身現於外如處瑠璃。夫人體安快樂如服甘露。顧見自身如日月照。心大歡喜踊躍無量。見此相已。廓然而覺。生希有心。即便往至白淨王所。而白王言。我於向者眠寤之際。其狀如夢見諸瑞相。極為奇特。王即答言。我向亦見有大光明。又復覺汝。顏貌異常。汝可為說所見瑞相。夫人即便具說上事。以偈頌曰。

The Puyao jing says (also named Fangdeng benqi): When the Bodhisattva dwelt in Tuṣita Heaven, its devaputras, numbering sixty-six hundred million each, conferred and deliberated together: “In which clan should the Bodhisattva be made to appear and be born?” Some said, “The clan of Videha. In the kingdom of Magadha, the mother is upright and pure, but the father is not pure. In the great kingdom of Kośala, both parents and their lineage are not upright and pure. In the great kingdom of Vaṃśa, the king lacks majestic power and is subject to others' control. In the kingdom of Vaiśālī, they delight in disputation and discord, lacking pure conduct. In this kingdom of Śūrasena, actions are false, and the people are coarse and fierce by disposition; he should not be born there.”

There was a devaputra named Dhvajāgra who went to the Bodhisattva's abode, stepped forward, and inquired: “Regarding the clan and lineage into which the ultimate Bodhisattva bound to one last birth should descend his spirit, what must it be like?”

The Bodhisattva replied: “A land and lineage must possess sixty virtues before an [aspirant] bound to one last birth may descend his spirit.” (The sixty virtues are omitted here due to the length of the text.) “Now, this Śākya clan is flourishing; the five grains are abundant and ripe; there is boundless joy; the people thrive and plant the roots of many virtues. In Kapilavastu, the populace is harmonious, and high and low support one another. All the Śākyas thirst for and revere the Single Vehicle. King Śuddhodana is benevolent and virtuous by nature, and Queen Māyā is exquisite in appearance, gentle, chaste, and upright, like a celestial jade maiden. Her protection of body, speech, and mind is as firm as a diamond. For the past five hundred lifetimes, she has been the Bodhisattva’s mother. I ought to go and descend my spirit to enter her womb.”

Then the Bodhisattva asked the devaputras: “In what bodily form should I descend my spirit into the mother’s womb?” Some said in the form of a young brāhmaṇa, some said in the form of Śakra or Brahmā, some said in the form of the King of the Sun or Moon, and some said in the form of a garuḍa. Among them was a Brahmā-god named Balādhika who came from the path of ṛṣis and told the gods: “The form of an elephant is supreme. A white elephant with six tusks has majestic and towering spiritual power, as recorded in the Vedic texts. Why is that? In the world there are three beasts [that cross water]: the first is the hare, the second is the horse, and the third is the white elephant. When a hare crosses the water, it barely manages to cross itself. Although a horse is somewhat fiercer, it still does not fathom the water’s depth. When a white elephant crosses, it reaches the very bottom of the source. Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are like the hare and the horse: though they cross birth and death, they do not penetrate the root of phenomena. The Bodhisattva’s Great Vehicle is likened to the white elephant: fully comprehending the twelve links of dependent origination across the three realms, realizing their original nonexistence, he rescues and protects all, and none fail to receive deliverance.”

When the severe cold of winter had passed, at the end of spring and the beginning of summer, when the trees first blossomed luxuriously, neither cold nor hot, precisely in season, under the constellation Tiṣya [the Bodhisattva] was to descend. From Tuṣita Heaven, the Bodhisattva manifested as a white elephant with six tusks, his sense faculties tranquil, his radiant splendor towering. Appearing to descend from the sunlight into his mother's womb, he made his way into her right side. The reason he entered the right side was that his conduct was never crooked. The pure and exquisite queen suddenly awoke from a peaceful slumber: the king of white elephants had come and dwelt in her womb. Her body and mind were tranquil and at ease, as if attaining dhyāna. (The Ruiying benqi and the Xiuxing benqi both state: “When the Bodhisattva first descended, he transformed himself into one riding a white elephant, wearing the essence of the sun as a crown.”)

At that time, seeing that the moment to descend into the womb had arrived, the Bodhisattva mounted a six-tusked white elephant and departed from Tuṣita Palace. Countless devas played varied music, burned assorted famed incenses, and scattered marvelous celestial flowers; following the Bodhisattva, they filled the open sky. Emitting a great radiance, he universally illuminated the ten directions. On the eighth day of the fourth month, at the time the morning star arose, he descended his spirit into his mother's womb. At that moment, Queen Māyā, between sleeping and waking, saw the Bodhisattva riding a six-tusked white elephant, soaring through the sky, and entering through her right flank. His body was visible from the outside as if set within vaiḍūrya. The queen felt ease and delight in body, as if she had consumed ambrosia. Looking at her own body, it was as if illuminated by the sun and moon. Her heart rejoiced exceedingly with boundless exaltation. Having seen these signs, she was completely awakened and gave rise to a rare and unprecedented thought. She immediately went to King Śuddhodana and addressed the king: “Just now, between sleeping and waking, in a state like a dream, I saw various auspicious portents of extraordinary wonder.”

The king replied: “I too just saw a great radiance, and moreover perceive that your countenance is extraordinary. You may recount the auspicious portents you have seen.”

The queen then recounted in full the above matter, speaking in verse: