經律異相 19.74

19.74

昔有清信士。名優多羅。尊佛樂法親賢聖眾。月六齋奉八戒絕殃行仁。群生護命。名曰珍重。榮華不能迴其心。豔女國寶不能亂其志。貞信難傾。酒不歷口。孝從是務。過時不食。虛心稟道。香花脂粉未嘗附身。兵仗凶器不以毀德。遠愚親賢。以佛神化喻其母心。母信邪倒見。慳而不惠。壽終之後。子為沙門。心穢寂滅。端坐樹下。觀察十方。常自念曰。吾母死二十餘年。試尋所在。欲報生養之恩。斯須之間有一餓鬼。醜黑可憎。髮長纏身。繞足曳地進退頓蹌呼嗟無救。到沙門所曰。吾與群愚惡人為黨。不信佛教。恣口所欲。今為餓鬼。二十五年不見沙門。今日遇矣。死便餓渴。願以天潤。惠我水穀。濟吾微命。沙門答曰。大海清水豈不足飲乎。鬼曰。適欲就飲。水化為膿。鰺臭無量。獲飯一飡。化為炎炭。燒口下徹。惡鬼又以鐵鎖繫吾頸。鐵杖洞然。亂捶吾身。吾罪何重。乃至于斯。沙門曰。昔為人時。違戾佛教。聾瞽為黨。愚惑自逐。以禍為福。守慳不施。貪取非分。鬼泣淚曰。誠如此矣。又吾處世。為人時有男。奉佛五戒。專守十善。為清信士。六齋八戒未甞有虧。以孝事親。以智奉聖。尋高清沙門之迹。由影追形。勸吾布施。供養聖眾。吾以無正真之智。信狂愚妖言。今獲其禍。楚毒難陳。垂泣而曰。沙門哀我濟我。沙門曰。乃當斯戾。以何德攘禍乎。鬼曰。以瓶盛水。楊枝著中。以法服覆。上比丘僧。令飯具供養。舉吾名呪願之。令得衣食。其為不久。夫有命終。在餓鬼者。沙門呪願。皆應時得。沙門如其言。瓶水楊枝住其中。飯比丘僧。以法服上之僧。舉其名呪願。即有大池水中生蓮花。芬芳動身。果樹陰涼。所願從心。伴等五百人。怪之曰。斯子猶獨有何福助。早免重咎。願即從心乎（出優多羅母經）。

Formerly, there was an upāsaka named Uttara. He revered the Buddha, delighted in the Dharma, and drew close to the assembly of wise and noble ones. Observing the six fast-days of the month, he maintained the eight precepts, put an end to misdeeds, and practiced benevolence. Protecting the lives of all living beings, he was called "Zhenzhong" (One of Rare Worth). Splendor and glory could not sway his mind; seductive women and state treasures could not disorder his resolve. His chaste faith was difficult to shake; alcohol never passed his lips. Filial obedience was his constant pursuit; he did not eat past noon. With an open mind, he received the Path. Fragrant flowers and cosmetics never touched his body; weapons and instruments of violence were not used by him to harm virtue. Keeping distant from the foolish and drawing close to the worthy, he sought to use the Buddha's spiritual transformation to persuade the mind of his mother. His mother, however, believed in heterodoxy and inverted views, and was stingy and ungenerous. After her life ended, her son became a śramaṇa. With the defilements of his mind stilled and extinguished, he sat upright beneath a tree and observed the ten directions. He constantly thought to himself, "My mother has been dead for more than twenty years. Let me seek out where she is, wishing to repay the kindness of her having given me life and nurtured me." In a brief instant, there was a hungry ghost (preta), ugly, black, and repulsive, whose long hair wrapped around her body and coiled around her feet, dragging on the ground. Stumbling forward and backward, weeping and crying out without rescue, she came to the śramaṇa's place and said, "I was of a faction with foolish and evil people, did not believe in the Buddha's teachings, and indulged my mouth in whatever it desired. Now I have become a hungry ghost; for twenty-five years I have not seen a śramaṇa. Today I have met you. Since my death, I have been starved and parched. I wish that with heavenly moisture you would bestow on me water and grain, to preserve my feeble life." The śramaṇa replied, "Is the clear water of the great ocean not enough to drink?" The ghost said, "As soon as I approach to drink, the water transforms into pus, boundless in its rancid stench. If I obtain a single mouthful of food, it turns into blazing charcoal, burning my mouth and piercing all the way down. An evil demon also binds my neck with an iron chain, and bludgeoning my body at random with a blazing iron staff. How heavy was my sin, that it has reached such an extremity as this?" The śramaṇa said, "Formerly, when you were human, you contravened the Buddha's teaching, took the deaf and blind as your companions, and let yourself be driven by foolish delusions, taking misfortune for fortune, clinging to stinginess without giving, and greedily taking what was beyond your due." The ghost wept tears and said, "Truly it was so. Moreover, when I was in the world as a human, I had a son who upheld the Buddha's five precepts, devotedly maintained the ten wholesome deeds, and was an upāsaka. His six fast-days and eight precepts were never neglected. He served his parents with filial piety, served the noble ones with wisdom, and followed the footprints of noble and pure śramaṇas like a shadow pursuing a form. He urged me to practice giving and make offerings to the noble assembly. Because I lacked true and right wisdom, I believed mad, foolish, and deceitful words. Today I suffer this calamity; the bitter torment is difficult to describe." Weeping tears, she said, "Śramaṇa, pity me and save me!" The śramaṇa said, "Having incurred such an offense, with what virtue can you avert the calamity?" The ghost said, "Fill a vase with water, place willow branches inside, cover it with a Dharma robe, and offer it to the bhikṣusaṃgha, providing them with a meal offering. Invoke my name and make a prayer for me, so that I may obtain clothing and food. It will not take long. Whenever someone dies and is among the hungry ghosts, when a śramaṇa makes a prayer, they will receive it at that very moment." The śramaṇa acted according to her words. With a vase of water and willow branches placed inside, he provided food to the bhikṣusaṃgha, offered the Dharma robe to the saṃgha, and invoked her name in prayer. Immediately, there was a great pool with lotuses blooming in the water, their fragrance refreshing the body, and cool shade under fruit trees; whatever she wished came according to her heart's desire. Her five hundred companions marveled at it, saying, "What merit and help does this person have alone, that she has so quickly escaped her heavy guilt and obtained whatever she wishes according to her heart's desire?" (From the Sūtra of Uttara's Mother).