付法藏因緣傳 3.10

3.10

爾時阿恕伽王即請尊者入於宮內。安置寶座自扶而上。白言大聖。佛所遊方行住之處。悉欲起塔增長眾信。尊者讚言。善哉善哉我今當往盡示王處。即嚴四兵便共發引。向林微尼園示佛生處乃至復詣拘尸那城化緣訖已入涅槃處。王聞是語悶絕躄地。冷水灑面方乃惺悟。於是諸處悉皆起塔。施百千兩金然後乃去。復更示王舍利弗等五百羅漢功德之塔。王皆禮拜施金供養。最後往至薄拘羅塔。王言。此塔有何功德。答曰大王。佛記此人無諸衰病。乃往過去九十一劫毘婆尸佛滅度之後。時薄拘羅依一寺住。見諸豪貴來供眾僧。尊者爾時醉酒而臥。心自念言。我既貧乏當何以施。吾今正有一呵梨勒。眾僧若有病患之者可以施之。用療其疾。即便鳴椎。白言施藥。時有比丘甚患頭痛。向知藥人索呵梨勒。知藥者言。有人施藥汝可取服。爾時比丘往彼取藥。服之以訖病尋除愈。由是緣故九十一劫生人天中。未曾有病。最後生一婆羅門家。其母早終父更娉妻。時薄拘羅年在童幼。見母作餅而從索之後母姤弊素懷憎惡。即便擲置餅爐之中。其火焰熾以𨫼覆上。父從外來遍求推覓。即於爐中而得其子。後於一時母復煮肉。而是小兒更從往索。母益瞋恚擲置釜中。湯甚沸熱而不燒爛。父復求覓了不能得。而作是言。我子今者為何所在。時薄拘羅釜中而應。父即出之平全如故。母於後時至一河上。彼薄拘羅牽衣隨後。母大瞋忿而作是言。此何鬼魅妖祥之物。雖復燒煮不能令死。即便舉之擲著河中。值一大魚尋便吞食。以福緣故猶復不死。有捕魚師釣得此魚。持來詣市而衒賣之。索價既多人無買者。從旦至暮將欲臭爛。薄拘羅父於市遊行。見此大魚便作是念。今斯魚者其肉甚多。將欲臭壞索價無幾。我今宜可買而持歸。便與其錢取魚還家。即以利刀開破其腹。時薄拘羅在魚腹內高聲唱言。願父安詳勿令傷我。遂開魚腹抱而出之。年漸長大就佛出家。得羅漢道具諸功德。年百六十未曾有病。乃至無有身熱頭痛。少欲知足常樂閑靜。未曾教人一四句偈。王聞是已。遣持一錢布施此塔。輔相白王同是羅漢。云何獨以一錢用施。王語臣曰。以其自度不能化人。塔神不受還授與王。輔相言曰。真是少欲。乃至一錢尚不欲受。況其多乎。如是五百大阿羅漢。皆有本緣略而不說。阿恕伽王供養如來聲聞塔竟。歡喜合掌而說偈言。

Then King Aśoka invited the Venerable into the palace, arranged a jeweled throne, personally supported him up onto it, and said: "Great Holy One! Wherever the Buddha traveled, walked, and stayed, I wish to erect stūpas to increase the faith of the multitude." The Venerable praised him, saying: "Excellent, excellent! I will now go and show the King every place." He immediately prepared the fourfold army, and they set out together. They headed toward the Lumbinī garden to show the Buddha's birthplace, up to coming to Kuśinagara, where his converting affinity ended and he entered nirvāṇa. Hearing these words, the King fell unconscious to the ground; only after cold water was sprinkled on his face did he revive. Thereupon stūpas were erected in all these places, and having made offerings of a hundred thousand ounces of gold, he then departed. He further showed the King the merit-stūpas of Śāriputra and the other five hundred arhats; the King paid homage to them all and made offerings of gold. Finally, they came to the stūpa of Bakula. The King said: "What merit does this stūpa possess?" [The Venerable] replied: "Great King! The Buddha prophesied that this man would be free of all decline and illness. Long ago, ninety-one kalpas in the past, after the extinction of Vipaśyin Buddha, Bakula was residing at a monastery. He saw wealthy and noble people coming to make offerings to the saṅgha. The Venerable [Bakula] was lying down drunk at the time, and thought to himself: 'Since I am poor and destitute, with what shall I make an offering? Right now I have only a single harītakī fruit. If there are any sick monks among the saṅgha, I can offer it to them to heal their disease.' Thereupon he struck the mallet and announced the offering of medicine. At that time a monk was suffering severely from a headache; he asked the medicine-keeper for a harītakī fruit. The medicine-keeper said: 'Someone has offered medicine; you may take and consume it.' Then the monk went there, took the medicine, and having consumed it, his disease was immediately cured. On account of this cause, for ninety-one kalpas he was born among humans and devas, never having any disease. In his final life, he was born into a brāhmaṇa family. His mother died early, and his father took another wife. When Bakula was still a young child, he saw his mother making cakes and asked her for one. His stepmother was jealous and wicked, harboring a longstanding hatred, and immediately threw him into the cake oven; its flames blazed furiously, and she covered it with a pan. His father came from outside, searched everywhere for him, and found his son right in the oven. Later, on another occasion, the mother was boiling meat, and this little child again came and asked for some. The mother was even more enraged and threw him into the cauldron; the broth boiled scaldingly hot, but he was neither burned nor scalded. The father sought him again, unable to find him at all, and said: 'Where can my son be now?' At that time Bakula answered from within the cauldron; the father pulled him out, entirely safe and sound as before. Later, the mother went to a river, and Bakula held her clothes, following behind. The mother became furiously enraged and said: 'What sort of ghostly, monstrous creature is this? Even though I burned and boiled him, I could not make him die!' She thereupon seized him and threw him into the river. He encountered a large fish, which immediately swallowed him. Owing to his merit, he still did not die. A fisherman caught this fish on a hook, brought it to the market, and offered it for sale. Since he asked a high price, no one bought it; from morning till evening, it was on the verge of rotting and stinking. Bakula's father was walking through the market; seeing this large fish, he thought: 'The meat of this fish now is abundant. It is about to spoil, and the price asked is meager. I should now buy it and take it home.' He then gave him the money, took the fish, and returned home. He immediately cut open its belly with a sharp knife. At that time, Bakula called out loudly from inside the fish's belly: 'May father be gentle, do not let me be harmed!' He then opened the fish's belly and lifted him out. As he gradually grew up, he went to the Buddha and left the household life, attaining the path of an arhat and becoming endowed with all merits. At the age of one hundred and sixty, he had never experienced any illness, not even a fever or a headache. Desiring little and knowing contentment, he always delighted in seclusion and quiet, never having taught anyone even a single four-line verse." Having heard this, the King sent someone with a single coin to make an offering to this stūpa. A minister said to the King: "They are equally arhats; why make an offering with only a single coin?" The King said to the minister: "Because he saved himself and could not convert others." The stūpa deity would not accept it and handed it back to the King. The minister said: "Truly he desires little; he does not even wish to accept a single coin, how much less many!" Such are the five hundred great arhats: each has his past causes, but they are omitted and not recounted. After King Aśoka had finished making offerings to the stūpas of the Tathāgata and the śrāvakas, he joyfully joined his palms and spoke a verse: