經律異相 47.130

47.130

昔佛在羅閱祇國。遣一羅漢名須漫。持佛髮爪至罽賓國南山作佛圖。寺五百羅漢常止其中。旦夕燒香繞塔禮拜。時彼山中有五百獼猴。見道人供養塔寺。即便相將至深㵎邊。負輦泥石効作佛圖。竪木立剎弊幡繫頭。旦夕禮拜亦如道人。時山水暴漲。五百獼猴一時漂沒。魂神即生第二忉利天上。七寶殿舍衣食自然。各自念言。從何所來得生天上。即以天眼自見本形。獼猴之身。効諸道人戲作塔寺。雖身漂沒神得生天。今當下報故屍之恩。各將侍從華香伎樂臨故尸上。散華燒香繞之七匝。時山中有五百婆羅門。外學邪見不信罪福。見諸天人散華作樂繞獼猴屍。怪而問曰。諸天光影巍巍乃爾。何故屈意供養此尸。諸天人言。此屍是吾等故身。具述本事。等以此微福得生天上。今故散華以報故身之恩。戲為塔寺獲福如此。若當至心奉佛。其德難喻。卿等邪見不信正真。百劫勤苦無所一得。不如共至耆闍崛山禮事供養得福無限。即皆欣然共至佛所。五體作禮散華供養。諸天人白佛。我等近世獼猴之身。蒙世尊之恩。得生天上。恨不見佛今故自歸。重白佛言。我等前世有何罪行受獼猴身。雖作塔寺身被漂沒。佛告天人。不從空生。往昔世時有五百年少婆羅門共行入山欲求仙道。時山上有一沙門。欲於山上泥治精舍。下谷取水身輕若飛。五百婆羅門興嫉妬意同聲笑之。今此沙門上下飄疾甚如獼猴。何足為奇。如是取水不止。山水一來溺死不久。佛告諸天人。時上下沙門我身是也。五百年少婆羅門者五百獼猴身是。戲笑作罪身受其報。佛說偈言。

Formerly, when the Buddha was in the kingdom of Rājagṛha, he dispatched an arhat named Sumana to take the Buddha's hair and nails to the southern mountains of the kingdom of Kaśmīra to construct a stūpa. In the monastery, five hundred arhats constantly resided, burning incense, circumambulating the stūpa, and bowing morning and evening. At that time, there were five hundred monkeys in those mountains. Seeing the practitioners making offerings at the stūpa and monastery, they led one another to the edge of a deep ravine, carried mud and stones, and imitated them by making a stūpa. They set up timber to erect a mast, tying tattered banners to the top, and bowed morning and evening just as the practitioners did. At that time, a mountain torrent suddenly surged, and the five hundred monkeys were swept away and drowned all at once. Their consciousnesses were immediately reborn in the second heaven, the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, where seven-jeweled halls and dwellings, clothing, and food were theirs by nature. Each thought to himself, “From where have I come to be born in heaven?” Then, with the divine eye, each saw his former form—the body of a monkey. By imitating the practitioners and playfully making a stūpa and monastery, although their bodies were swept away and drowned, their spirits were reborn in heaven. “We should now descend to repay the kindness of our former corpses.” Each took his retinue, flowers, incense, and instrumental music, and went down to his former corpse, scattering flowers, burning incense, and circumambulating it seven times. At that time, there were five hundred brāhmaṇas in the mountains who engaged in non-Buddhist heterodox views and did not believe in wrongdoing or merit. Seeing the devas scattering flowers, playing music, and circumambulating the monkey corpses, they marvelled and asked, “The radiance and splendor of you devas are so magnificent! Why do you condescend to make offerings to these corpses?” The devas said, “These corpses were our former bodies.” They related the past events in full: “Equally by this slight merit, we attained rebirth in heaven. Now we have purposefully come to scatter flowers to repay the kindness of our former bodies. If playfully making a stūpa and monastery yields such merit, how much more if one serves the Buddha with utmost sincerity—its virtue is beyond compare! You gentlemen hold wrong views and do not believe in the true and correct, suffering bitter hardships for a hundred kalpas without gaining a single thing. It would be better for us to go together to Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa to worship and make offerings, gaining boundless merit.” Thereupon, they all joyfully went together to the Buddha's abode, bowed with their five limbs to the ground, scattered flowers, and made offerings. The devas addressed the Buddha, “In our recent lifetime we had the bodies of monkeys. By the Bhagavat's grace, we were reborn in heaven. Regretting that we had not seen the Buddha, we have now come to take refuge.” They addressed the Buddha again, “What wrongful conduct did we commit in former lives to receive monkey bodies, and, though we made a stūpa and monastery, to have our bodies swept away and drowned?” The Buddha told the devas, “It did not arise from nothing. In the distant past, there were five hundred youthful brāhmaṇas who entered the mountains together seeking the path of the ṛṣis. At that time, there was a śramaṇa on the mountain who wished to plaster and repair a vihāra on the mountain. He went down into the valley to fetch water, his body as light as if flying. The five hundred brāhmaṇas gave rise to jealousy and laughed at him with one voice, ‘Now this śramaṇa moves up and down as swiftly as a monkey—what is so extraordinary about that? If he continues fetching water like this without stopping, as soon as a mountain torrent comes, he will drown before long!’” The Buddha told the devas, “The śramaṇa who went up and down at that time was myself. The five hundred youthful brāhmaṇas were the five hundred monkeys. Because they committed a sin in jest, their bodies received its retribution.” The Buddha spoke a gāthā: