景德傳燈錄 1.59

1.59

阿難復念。我若偏向一國而般涅槃。諸國爭競。無有是處。應以平等度諸有情。遂於常河中流將入寂滅。是時山河大地六種震動。雪山中有五百仙人。覩茲瑞應飛空而至。禮阿難足胡跪白言。我於長老當證佛法。願垂大慈度脫我等。阿難默然受請。即變殑伽河悉為金地。為其仙眾說諸大法。阿難復念。先所度脫弟子應當來集。須臾五百羅漢從空而下。為諸仙人出家受具。其仙眾中有二羅漢。一名商那和修。二名末田底迦。阿難知是法器。乃告之曰。昔如來以大法眼付大迦葉。迦葉入定而付於我。我今將滅。用傳於汝汝受吾教。當聽偈言。

Ānanda further reflected: 'If I favor one country and enter parinirvāṇa there, the kingdoms will fight; this would not be right. I should deliver sentient beings equally.' Thereupon, in the middle of the Gaṅgā River, he was about to enter tranquil extinction. At that moment, the mountains, rivers, and great earth shook in six ways. In the snowy mountains there were five hundred ṛṣis who, seeing this auspicious omen, flew through the air and arrived. Bowing at Ānanda's feet, they knelt on their right knees and said: 'Through the Elder, we are destined to realize the Buddha-Dharma. We pray you extend great compassion to deliver us.' Ānanda silently accepted their request. He immediately transformed the river Gaṅgā into golden ground and expounded the great Dharma for the host of ṛṣis. Ānanda further thought: 'The disciples I previously delivered ought to assemble.' In an instant, five hundred arhats descended from the sky and conferred ordination and full precepts upon the ṛṣis. Among the host of ṛṣis were two arhats: one named Śāṇavāsa, and the second named Madhyāntika. Knowing they were vessels of the Dharma, Ānanda addressed them: 'Formerly the Tathāgata entrusted the great Dharma eye to Mahākāśyapa; Kāśyapa entered samādhi and entrusted it to me. Now that I am about to pass into extinction, I pass it on to you. You who receive my teaching must listen to my verse:'