三寶感應要略錄 1.7

1.7

釋迦牟尼如來成道八年。思報母摩耶恩。從祇洹寺起。往忉利天。於善法堂中金石之上。結跏趺坐。爾時摩耶。出兩道乳。潤世尊唇。示親子緣。佛為說法。是時人間四眾。不見如來。渴仰憂愁。如喪父母。如箭入心。共往世尊所住處。園林庭宇。悉空無佛。倍加悲戀。不能自止。問阿難言。如來今日竟為所在。阿難報曰。我亦不知。二王思都如來。遂得苦患。爾時優填王。勅國界內諸奇巧師匠。而告之曰。我今欲作佛像。巧匠白王言。我等不能作佛妙相。假使毘首羯摩天。而有所作。亦不能得似於如來。我若受命者。但可摸擬螺髻玉毫少分之相。諸餘相好光明威德難及。誰能作耶。世尊來會之時所造形像。若有戲誤。我等名稱普並皆退失。竊共籌量。無能敢作。復白王言。今造像應用純紫栴檀之木。文理體質堅密之者。但其形相。為座為立。高下若何。王以此語問臣。智臣白王言。當作坐像。一切諸佛。得大菩提。轉正法輪。現大神變。作大佛事。皆悉坐故。應作坐師子座結跏趺坐之像。時毘首羯摩。變身為匠。持諸刻器。到於城門白言。我今欲為大王造像。王心大喜。與主藏臣。於內藏中。選擇香木。肩荷負持。與天匠而謂之言。仁為造像。令與如來形相似。時大目連。請佛神力。往令圖相。還返操斧破木。其聲上徹忉利天。至佛會所。以佛力聲所及處。眾生聞者。罪垢皆得消除。盲者得眼。聾者能聞。啞者能言。醜者端正。貧者得福。乃至三途離苦得樂。一切未曾有益。皆悉現起。是時天匠。不日而成。高七尺。或云五尺。機見不同。面及手足。皆紫金色。王見相好。心生淨信。得柔順忍。業障煩惱並消除。唯除曾於聖人起惡語業。是時波斯匿王。復召國中巧匠。欲造佛像。而生此念。如來形體。莫如真金。即純以紫摩金。而作高五尺。爾時閻浮之內。始此二如來像。爾時如來。過夏經九十日已。告四眾言。却後七日。當下至閻浮提僧伽尸國大池水測。時天帝告自在天。從須彌頂至池水。作三徑路。金銀水精。或時地作。或淨居天作也。是時如來踏金道。時五王往詣佛所。迦尸國波斯匿王。拔嗟國優填王。五都人民之主惡生王。南海主優陀延王。摩訶陀國瓶沙王。頭面禮足。爾時優填王。頂戴佛像。并諸上供珍異之至佛所。而一奉獻佛。時木像從座而起。如生佛足步虛空。足下雨華。放光明來迎世尊。合掌叉手。為佛作禮少似於佛。而說偈言。佛在忉利天。為母說法時。大工造像聲。遠聞善法堂。三十三天眾。同音皆隨喜。未來世造像。獲無量勝福。爾時世尊。亦復長跪合掌向像。於虛空中。百千化佛。亦皆合掌。其像躬低頭。世尊親為摩頂授記曰。吾滅後一千年外。當於此土為人天作大饒益。我諸弟子。以付屬汝。若有眾生。於佛滅後造像。幡華眾香持用供養。是人來世。必得見佛。出生死苦。爾時優填王。白世尊言。前佛滅度造像者。猶在世不。佛言。我以佛眼普見十方。前佛滅度後造像者。皆生十方佛前。無有一人猶在生死。但造菩薩像者。故留在世。瓶沙王是也。爾時木像。白生佛言。世尊前進。可入精舍。世尊亦語像言。止止不須說。我緣將盡。入滅不久。汝在世間。久利眾生。在前而入滅。若在後者。人生輕慢。再三往復。其像進却還本位。於是世尊自移於寺邊小精舍之內。與像異處。相去二十步。優填王。歡喜不能自勝。於時五王白世尊曰。當云何造立神寺。爾時世尊申右手。從地中出迦葉佛寺。以此為法。時五王即於彼處。起大神寺。安置其像而去云云。

Eight years after Śākyamuni Tathāgata attained awakening, wishing to repay the kindness of his mother Māyā, he arose from the Jetavana monastery and went to the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. In the Sudharmā hall, upon a golden stone, he sat cross-legged. At that time, Māyā produced two streams of milk that moistened the World-Honoured One's lips, demonstrating their bond as mother and child, and the Buddha preached the Dharma for her. At that time, the fourfold assembly in the human realm, not seeing the Tathāgata, were thirsty with yearning and filled with sorrow, as if they had lost their father and mother, as if an arrow had entered their hearts. Together they went to the place where the World-Honoured One dwelt, but the gardens, groves, courtyards, and chambers were all empty, without the Buddha. Their grief and yearning doubled, and they could not restrain themselves. They asked Ānanda, "Where indeed is the Tathāgata today?" Ānanda replied, "I also do not know." The two kings longed so deeply for the Tathāgata that they fell painfully ill. At that time, King Udayana ordered all the wondrous craftsmen within his realm, saying to them, "I now wish to make an image of the Buddha." The skilled craftsmen said to the king, "We cannot make the marvelous physical characteristics of the Buddha. Even if Viśvakarman deva were to make something, it could not resemble the Tathāgata. If we accept the command, we can only approximate a small portion of the signs such as the spiral uṣṇīṣa and the jade-like hair tuft; the other major and minor marks, the radiance, and the majestic virtue are hard to match. Who could make it? If the image made when the World-Honoured One returns has any flaw, our fame will be entirely lost." Deliberating secretly together, none dared to make it. They further said to the king, "To make the image now, one should use pure purple sandalwood, of fine grain and dense texture. But as for its posture, should it be seated or standing? How high should it be?" The king asked his ministers with these words. A wise minister said to the king, "It should be made as a seated image. When all the Buddhas attain great awakening, turn the wheel of the True Dharma, manifest great supernatural transformations, and perform great Buddha-works, they all sit. Therefore, you should make an image seated cross-legged on a lion throne." Then Viśvakarman transformed his body into a craftsman, holding carving tools, and arrived at the city gate, saying, "I now wish to make the image for the great king." The king was greatly delighted. Together with the minister in charge of the treasury, he selected fragrant wood in the inner treasury, carried it upon his own shoulders, gave it to the divine craftsman, and said to him, "Good sir, make the image and cause it to resemble the form of the Tathāgata." Then Mahāmaudgalyāyana, by requesting the Buddha's supernatural power, went [to heaven] to depict the physical form, and returned. [The craftsman] swung his axe and split the wood, and the sound penetrated upward to the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, reaching the Buddha's assembly. Where the sound reached through the Buddha's power, all sentient beings who heard it had their sins and defilements eliminated: the blind gained eyes, the deaf were able to hear, the mute were able to speak, the ugly became handsome, the poor gained fortune, and even those in the three wretched realms left suffering and attained joy; unprecedented benefits of every kind all manifested. Then the divine craftsman finished it in no time at all. It was seven feet tall—or, some say, five feet; beings saw it differently according to their capacities. Its face, hands, and feet were all purple-gold in color. When the king saw the major and minor marks, pure faith arose in his heart, and he attained the patience of compliance; his karmic obstacles and afflictions were all eliminated, except for his karma of having spoken harsh words to a noble one in the past. At that time, King Prasenajit also summoned skilled craftsmen in his country, wishing to make an image of the Buddha, and had this thought: "For the Tathāgata's physical form, nothing compares to real gold." He then made one five feet tall entirely of purple-gold. At that time, within Jambudvīpa, these were the first two images of the Tathāgata. When the Tathāgata had spent ninety days passing the summer [retreat], he said to the fourfold assembly, "Seven days from now, I will descend to the side of the great pool in the country of Saṃkāśya in Jambudvīpa." Then the Lord of the Devas told the Deva of Sovereignty to construct three pathways from the summit of Mount Sumeru to the pool, made of gold, silver, and crystal; or, as some say, made by the earth, or made by the Pure Abode devas. Then the Tathāgata trod upon the golden path. At that time, five kings went to the Buddha's location: King Prasenajit of the country of Kāśi, King Udayana of the country of Vatsa, King Virūḍhaka the ruler of the people of the five cities, King Udayana the ruler of the Southern Sea, and King Bimbisāra of the country of Magadha; they touched their heads to the ground in veneration at his feet. At that time, King Udayana carried the Buddha image atop his head and brought supreme offerings of rare treasures to the Buddha's location, presenting them all to the Buddha. Then the wooden image rose from its seat, as if alive, and the Buddha stepped through the void, flowers raining beneath his feet as he radiated light to welcome the World-Honoured One. It pressed its palms together, bowed to the Buddha, resembling the Buddha a little, and spoke a verse: / "When the Buddha was in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, / preaching the Dharma for his mother, / the sound of the master craftsman making the image / was heard far away in the Sudharmā hall. / The assembly of the Thirty-Three Heavens / all rejoiced in unison. / Making images in future worlds / will obtain measureless supreme merit." / At that time, the World-Honoured One also knelt long with palms pressed together toward the image; in the sky, hundreds of thousands of transformed Buddhas likewise all pressed their palms together. The image bowed its head, and the World-Honoured One personally patted its head and gave it a vyākaraṇa, saying, "More than a thousand years after my extinction, you will bring great benefit to humans and devas in this land. I entrust all my disciples to you. If there are sentient beings who make images after the Buddha's extinction, holding banners, flowers, and various incenses to make offerings, these people in future lives will surely see the Buddha and transcend the suffering of birth and death." At that time, King Udayana said to the World-Honoured One, "Are those who made images after the extinction of past Buddhas still in the world or not?" The Buddha said, "With the Buddha-eye, I see everywhere in the ten directions: those who made images after the extinction of past Buddhas have all been born before the Buddhas of the ten directions; not a single person remains in birth and death. Only those who made bodhisattva images still remain in the world, King Bimbisāra being one." Then the wooden image said to the living Buddha, "May the World-Honoured One advance and enter the vihāra." The World-Honoured One also said to the image, "Stop, stop! There is no need to speak. My karmic conditions are about to end; I will enter extinction before long. You will benefit sentient beings for a long time in the world, so enter first. If you enter later, people will give rise to contempt." After exchanging words three times, the image withdrew and returned to its original seat. Thereupon, the World-Honoured One himself moved into a small vihāra beside the monastery, staying in a different place from the image, separated by twenty paces. King Udayana was overjoyed beyond measure. At that time, the five kings said to the World-Honoured One, "How should a divine monastery be built?" Then the World-Honoured One extended his right hand, and the monastery of Kāśyapa Buddha emerged from the earth to serve as the model. The five kings then erected a great divine monastery at that place, installed the image, and departed, and so forth.