釋迦譜 4.23

4.23

The Sūtra on the Bodhisattva in the Womb states: The Buddha was between the twin trees, intending to abandon his bodily lifespan and enter nirvāṇa. At midnight on the eighth day of the second month, he personally took his saṅghāṭī, uttarāsaṅga, and antarvāsas, each folded in three strips, and spread them inside the golden coffin. Straightening his body, he lay upon them with his feet resting on one another. He handed his bowl and tin staff directly to Ānanda. The eight great kings each brought five hundred lengths of white fine cloth; sandalwood, timber, and honey were completely placed inside the golden coffin. The Great Brahmā King led the Brahmā assembly to stand on the right side. Śakra Devānām-Indra led the Trāyastriṃśa gods to stand on the left side. Maitreya Bodhisattva and the bodhisattvas of the ten directions stood before him. At that time, the World-Honoured One, desiring to enter the diamond-like samādhi (vajrasamādhi) to break his body into relics, extended his golden arm from inside the golden coffin and asked Ānanda: 'Has the bhikṣu Kāśyapa arrived yet or not?' He replied: 'He has not yet arrived.' Thereupon, the Buddha drew back the fine cloth, entered the golden coffin, and fell completely silent. Wishing to demonstrate where consciousness goes—the consciousness of the path, the consciousness of the worldly, conditioned consciousness, and unconditioned consciousness—the World-Honoured One then, right within the womb[-like coffin], manifested linked skeleton bones throughout the entire trichiliocosm. The Buddha addressed Maitreya: 'Observe these linked skeleton bones, so that all beings may clearly know and resolve the destinations of consciousness.' Maitreya Bodhisattva thereupon rose from his seat, held a diamond seven-jeweled divine staff in his hand, tapped the linked bones, and listened to their sounds. He then said to the Buddha: 'When this person died, he had much anger and fetters; his consciousness fell among dragons. This other person, in his previous life, was complete in the practice of the ten paths of action and gained birth in heaven.' There was a whole-body relic with no deficiency; Maitreya tapped it with his staff, seeking where this consciousness had gone, but could find nothing. After tapping it three times in this manner, he stepped forward and said to the Buddha: 'This person's spiritual consciousness is completely unknowable. Could this be the Tathāgata entering nirvāṇa?' The Buddha told Maitreya: 'The distribution of the relics of the Buddhas is not a realm that you and others can discern. Why is that? This relic is precisely my relic. How could one trace the Tathāgata's spiritual consciousness?' The World-Honoured One then withdrew his divine power and remained silent and without sound in the golden coffin. The gods burned incense and scattered flowers in offering. At that time, Mahākāśyapa arrived leading five hundred disciples. The World-Honoured One heard him with his divine ear, and straightway extended both feet from the golden coffin.