釋迦譜 1.376

1.376

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: