三寶感應要略錄 1.7

1.7

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.