付法藏因緣傳 4.6

4.6

說是偈已即命一臣。汝持此果向雞頭末寺。如我辭曰。阿恕伽王禮眾僧足。我唯於此半菴摩勒而得自在。一切所有皆悉亡失。此果雖尠是最後施。唯願眾僧愍我貧苦。而為納受。上座耶舍告眾僧曰。汝等當觀。阿恕伽王受福快樂總御天下。今為群臣所共制奪。唯於半果得自在分。當知生死甚可厭患。富貴五欲不久敗壞。威勢自在須臾殄滅。咄哉三有難可久居。即勅典事令磨此果。用置羹中。使一切僧普得其供。阿恕伽王命垂欲絕。問羅提毱。此閻浮提誰得自在。羅提毱言。唯有王耳。既聞是語。即起合掌遍觀四方。而作是言。唯除庫藏。今以四海一切大地悉施佛僧。及自昔來所作功德。不求生死轉輪帝釋。願來生處速證道果。函印題封付羅提毱。於是氣絕遂便命終。依轉輪王莊嚴殯葬。如是尊者憂波毱多。開發王心增長其信。有善方便教化眾生。後復一時宿羅城中有一商主名為天護。甚大敬信。欲入大海採求珍寶。若海迴還為僧造作般遮于瑟。至海採寶安隱還歸。起意便欲設大施會。有比丘尼得阿羅漢。觀察眾中誰為福田。又復思惟。何者僧首。見諸羅漢及與學人。斷煩惱穢堪受供養。觀一比丘名阿沙羅。未得解脫最居僧首。時比丘尼即往語言。大德今者應自莊嚴。時此比丘不達其意。便著淨衣剃髮澡浴。復於後時。此比丘尼更語沙羅。教令嚴飾。時阿沙羅極大瞋忿。我隨汝語甚自嚴潔。有何醜惡屢出斯言。比丘尼曰。大德當知。此俗莊嚴非佛法也。佛法莊嚴謂獲四果。奇哉大德甚為輕劣。長者天護欲設大會。其受供者多諸賢聖。汝為僧首未免生死。以有漏心最初受供。是故我今欲相覺悟。阿沙羅聞慘然悲泣自惟。老朽何能盡漏。比丘尼言。佛法無時豈少壯老。宜可往覲憂波毱多。彼必相令得免諸苦。比丘即詣憂波毱多。正值僧浴同現神變。阿沙羅歡喜即說偈言。

Having spoken this verse, he immediately commanded a minister: "Take this fruit to the Kukkuṭārāma monastery, and speak as I say: 'King Aśoka pays homage at the feet of the Saṅgha. Only over this half an āmalaka fruit do I now have mastery; all that I had has been lost. Though this fruit is small, it is my final gift. I pray only that the Saṅgha, pitying my poverty and suffering, will accept it.'" The Elder Yaśas addressed the monastic community: "You should observe: King Aśoka enjoyed blessed joy and governed the whole world, yet now he has been stripped [of power] by his ministers, having mastery only over half a fruit. Know that cyclic existence is profoundly loathsome! Wealth, rank, and the five desires soon decay; authority and mastery are extinguished in an instant. Alas! The three realms of existence are difficult to dwell in long." He then instructed the monastery steward to crush this fruit and place it in the broth, so that all the monks might universally receive this offering. When King Aśoka was on the verge of breathing his last, he asked Radhagupta: "Who holds mastery over this Jambudvīpa?" Radhagupta said: "Only you, Great King." Having heard these words, he sat up, joined his palms, looked in all four directions, and spoke these words: "Excluding only the treasury, I now bestow all the great earth within the four seas upon the Buddha and the Saṅgha; and by the merit I have performed from the past to the present, I do not seek the cyclic rebirth of a cakravartin or Śakra, but vow that in my next place of birth I may swiftly realize the fruit of the Way." He placed the letter in a box, stamped the seal, addressed it, and entrusted it to Radhagupta. Thereupon his breath ceased, and he passed away. He was adorned and buried in the manner of a cakravartin. In this way, the venerable Upagupta awakened the king's mind and increased his faith; he possessed skillful means to teach and transform sentient beings. Later, at another time, in the city of Śūra, there was a merchant chief named Devagupta, who had great reverence and faith. Intending to enter the great ocean to gather rare jewels, [he made a vow]: "If I return safely from the sea, I will hold a pañcavārṣika assembly for the Saṅgha." Having gone to the sea, gathered the jewels, and returned safely, he set his mind on hosting this great gathering of giving. A bhikṣuṇī who was an arhat observed who in the assembly served as a field of merit, and further considered who held the head of the Saṅgha. She saw that the arhats and trainees had severed the defilements and impurities and were worthy of receiving offerings. Observing a bhikṣu named Āṣāḍha, who had not yet attained liberation but sat at the very head of the Saṅgha, the bhikṣuṇī went to him and said: "Bhadanta, you should now adorn yourself." At that time, this bhikṣu did not grasp her meaning, so he put on clean robes, shaved his hair, and bathed. Later, this bhikṣuṇī again spoke to Āṣāḍha, instructing him to adorn himself. Āṣāḍha became extremely enraged: "Following your words, I have thoroughly cleansed and adorned myself. What ugliness is there that you repeatedly utter such words?" The bhikṣuṇī said: "Bhadanta, you should know that this is a worldly adornment, not that of the Buddhadharma. The adornment of the Buddhadharma refers to attaining the four fruits. How strange, bhadanta, that you are so frivolous and base! The elder Devagupta wishes to host a great assembly; those receiving the offerings are mostly worthy and noble ones. Yet you, as the head of the Saṅgha, have not escaped cyclic existence, and with a mind subject to outfluxes you would be the first to receive the offering. Therefore, I now wished to awaken you." When Āṣāḍha heard this, he wept mournfully and thought to himself: "Old and decrepit as I am, how can I exhaust the outfluxes?" The bhikṣuṇī said: "The Buddhadharma has no [fixed] time—how could it depend on youth, vigor, or old age? You should go and pay homage to Upagupta; he will surely cause you to be freed from all suffering." The bhikṣu immediately went to Upagupta. He arrived just as the monks were bathing and jointly manifesting supernormal transformations. Delighted, Āṣāḍha spoke a verse: