付法藏因緣傳 1.18

1.18

爾時迦葉入願智三昧。觀所集法無闕少耶。思惟已訖知皆具足。便作是念。如來大師我善知識。利安饒益如母愛子。我今以法益同梵行。示未來世作大悲想。欲使大法流布不絕。始於今者報如來恩。我年朽邁身為老壞。臭爛之體甚可厭惡。無常危敗不可依恃。恒為諸苦之所惱害。誰有智者當樂此身。我今宜可入般涅槃。復更思惟。我今當住大慈大悲佛婆伽婆真善知識。無量淨善功德所熏。微妙舍利所在之處。皆往禮拜恭敬供養。即飛虛空至四塔前禮拜供養。復詣八塔至心恭敬。譬如雁王飛到大海娑伽羅宮禮敬佛牙。如大壯士屈申臂頃至忉利天。釋提桓因與諸天眾。出迎迦葉禮敬供養。摩訶迦葉告帝釋曰。我欲涅槃。禮如來髮故來至此。釋提桓因聞是語已。心懷惆悵悲泣懊惱。自取佛髮敬授迦葉。迦葉受已至心禮敬。牛頭栴檀以用供養。供養已訖語諸天子。五欲無常不可久保。如花上露見陽則晞。唯有善法深可願樂。當觀苦空慎莫放逸。作是語已從彼天沒還王舍城。阿難隨逐未曾捨離。恐入涅槃或不覩見。後於少時摩訶迦葉告阿難曰。汝獨入城。我亦當往。爾時迦葉著衣持鉢。入王舍城作是念言。阿闍世王本與我要。若涅槃時必來見我。我今當往告之可乎。到王門下語守門人。為我白王。摩訶迦葉今在門外欲得相見。守門人言。王今睡眠。若覺之者恐貽罪累。迦葉語言。王若覺者。好為我語。摩訶迦葉欲入涅槃。來與王別不見而去。於是迦葉至鷄足山。於草敷上跏趺而坐。作是願言。今我此身著佛所與糞掃之衣。自持己鉢乃至彌勒令不朽壞。使彼弟子皆見我身而生厭惡。復作是念。阿闍世王若不見我。沸血必當從面而出。命不全濟。若使彼王與阿難來。山當為開令其得入。若還去者復當還合。便捨命行唯留少壽。應時大地六種震動釋提桓因與諸天子。以曼陀羅花天諸末香。供養舍利生大悲惱。而作是言。如來滅度感戀未息。迦葉涅槃增我悲惱。賓鉢羅窟即便空曠。巷里窮酸苦厄羸劣。貧露孤寒彼恒矜愍。今捨之去誰當覆護。如十五日天無雲翳。月及眾星處空顯現。如來聖眾亦復如是。住在世間猶如星月。死無常雲如何卒起。一旦隱蔽最勝福田。諸天如是極生悲感。哀摧號哭啼泣懊惱。共相裁抑歸還天上。阿闍世王於睡臥中。夢屋梁折。尋便驚覺心生惶怖。門人白王。摩訶迦葉欲入涅槃。來與王別正值眠息。令我致意即便迴還。王聞是事悶絕躄地。冷水灑面方得醒悟。舉聲大哭涕泣盈目。我何薄祐垢障深厚。諸聖涅槃不一覩見。即詣竹園禮阿難足。問言。迦葉滅度未耶。阿難答言。已涅槃矣。今在何處。我欲供養。於是阿難共阿闍世王向雞足山。王既到已山自開闢。迦葉在中全身不散。曼陀羅花以覆其上。王見是已發聲號哭。舉身投地。𧂐諸香木欲闍毘之。阿難問言。欲作何等。答欲耶旬。阿難言曰。摩訶迦葉以定住身待於彌勒。不可得燒。彌勒出時當將徒眾九十六億至此山上見於迦葉。時彌勒眾皆作是念。釋迦如來弟子身形卑陋若此。彼佛亦當與斯無異。於是迦葉踊身虛空作十八變。變為大形充滿世界。時彌勒佛即就迦葉取僧伽梨。是時大眾見其神力。除憍慢心成阿羅漢。王供養已還歸本國。時雞足山還合如初。

At that time, Kāśyapa entered the samādhi of knowledge through vow and contemplated whether the Dharma he had compiled had any omission or deficiency. Having finished reflecting, he knew it was entirely complete, and then had this thought: “The Tathāgata, the Great Master, is my spiritual friend; he benefited and brought welfare [to me] just as a mother loves her child. Now, by using the Dharma to benefit my fellow practitioners of the religious life and displaying it for future generations out of great compassion, I desire to cause the Great Dharma to spread without interruption, only now repaying the Tathāgata's benevolence. My years are decrepit, and my body is broken by old age; this foul and rotting physical frame is utterly loathsome. Impermanent, precarious, and ruinous, it cannot be relied upon, and is constantly tormented by diverse sufferings. What wise person could delight in such a body? It is fitting that I now enter parinirvāṇa.”
He further reflected: “I should now visit, pay homage to, revere, and make offerings at every place where the wondrous śarīras—imbued with the boundless pure and wholesome merit of the Bhagavat Buddha, the true spiritual friend of great benevolence and great compassion—are present.”
He then flew into the sky to the four stūpas, paying homage and making offerings; he further went to the eight stūpas with utmost reverence. Like a king of geese flying to Sāgara’s palace in the great ocean to revere the Buddha’s tooth relic, or like a strong man bending and extending his arm, in an instant he arrived at the Trāyastriṃśa heaven. Śakra Devānām Indra and the celestial assembly came forth to welcome Kāśyapa, paying homage and making offerings. Mahākāśyapa said to Śakra: “I desire to enter nirvāṇa; having come here to pay homage to the Tathāgata's hair relic, I have arrived.” Hearing these words, Śakra Devānām Indra felt dejected, wept, and grieved. He personally retrieved the Buddha's hair relic and respectfully presented it to Kāśyapa. Having received it, Kāśyapa paid homage with utmost devotion and made offerings with ox-head sandalwood. When the offerings were complete, he addressed the devaputras: “The five desires are impermanent and cannot be preserved for long; they are like dew upon a flower, evaporating as soon as it meets the sun. Only wholesome Dharma is deeply to be desired. You should contemplate suffering and emptiness, and take care not to be heedless.” Having spoken these words, he vanished from that heaven and returned to Rājagṛha.
Ānanda followed him closely, never leaving his side, fearing that [Kāśyapa] might enter nirvāṇa without his being able to see him. After a short while, Mahākāśyapa said to Ānanda: “Go into the city alone; I too shall go.”
At that time, Kāśyapa put on his robes, took his bowl, and entered Rājagṛha, thinking to himself: “King Ajātaśatru previously made a pact with me, saying, ‘When you enter nirvāṇa, you must come see me.’ Should I now go and inform him?” Reaching the king’s gate, he said to the gatekeeper: “Tell the king for me that Mahākāśyapa is now outside the gate wishing to see him.”
The gatekeeper said: “The king is currently asleep. If I wake him, I fear I will incur punishment.”
Kāśyapa said to him: “When the king awakes, tell him properly: ‘Mahākāśyapa wished to enter nirvāṇa, and came to bid farewell to the king; not seeing you, he departed.’”
Thereupon Kāśyapa went to Mount Kukkuṭapāda, sat cross-legged upon a grass mat, and made this vow: “May this body of mine, wearing the rag-robes given by the Buddha and holding my own bowl, remain undecayed until the time of Maitreya, so that his disciples may all behold my body and give rise to revulsion [toward worldly existence].” He further thought: “If King Ajātaśatru does not see me, boiling blood will burst from his face and his life will not be spared. If that king comes with Ānanda, the mountain shall open for them to let them enter; when they depart, it shall close again.”
He then relinquished his life-formations, retaining only a small lifespan. Immediately, the great earth shook in six ways. Śakra Devānām Indra and the devaputras, using māndārava flowers and celestial powdered incense, made offerings to the śarīra and gave rise to great grief and anguish, saying: “Our longing since the Tathāgata's extinction has not yet ceased, and Kāśyapa's nirvāṇa adds to our grief. The Pippala cave is now desolate. Those in the alleys and lanes who are destitute, tormented, and frail, poor, exposed, and solitary—he always took pity on them; now that he has abandoned them and departed, who will shelter and protect them? Just as on the fifteenth day, when the sky is cloudless, the moon and the host of stars appear clearly in the void, so too was the Tathāgata's holy assembly: abiding in the world, they were like the stars and the moon. How could the cloud of impermanence and death suddenly arise, concealing in a single morning the supreme field of merit?” In this way the devas gave rise to extreme grief; broken by sorrow, wailing and weeping in anguish, they restrained one another and returned to heaven.
King Ajātaśatru, while lying asleep, dreamed that the roof-beam of his house snapped. He immediately awoke with a start, his heart filled with terror. The gatekeeper reported to the king: “Mahākāśyapa wished to enter nirvāṇa and came to bid farewell to the king. It coincided with your resting in sleep; he had me convey his regards and then turned back.” When the king heard this, he fell to the ground in a faint. Only when cold water was sprinkled on his face did he regain consciousness. Raising his voice in loud lamentation, tears filling his eyes, [he said]: “How meager are my blessings, and how thick are my defilements and obstructions! At the nirvāṇa of the holy ones, I did not witness a single one.”
He went at once to the Bamboo Grove, bowed at Ānanda's feet, and asked: “Has Kāśyapa passed into extinction?”
Ānanda answered: “He has already entered nirvāṇa.”
“Where is he now? I wish to make offerings.”
Thereupon Ānanda and King Ajātaśatru set out for Mount Kukkuṭapāda. When the king arrived, the mountain opened of itself. Kāśyapa was inside, his whole body intact, covered by māndārava flowers. Seeing this, the king cried out weeping and threw himself to the ground. He gathered various fragrant woods, intending to cremate him. Ānanda asked: “What do you intend to do?”
He replied: “I intend to burn him.”
Ānanda said: “Mahākāśyapa has stabilized his body through concentration to await Maitreya; he cannot be burned. When Maitreya appears, he will lead an assembly of nine billion six hundred million to this mountain to see Kāśyapa. At that time, Maitreya’s assembly will all think: ‘The disciples of Śākya Tathāgata were of such small and base stature; that Buddha too must have been no different.’ Thereupon Kāśyapa will leap into the void, display the eighteen miraculous transformations, and transform into a vast form filling the world. Then Maitreya Buddha will approach Kāśyapa and take the saṅghāṭī robe. At that time, seeing his supernatural power, the great assembly will eliminate their pride and become arhats.”
After making offerings, the king returned to his own country. Then Mount Kukkuṭapāda closed again as before.