經律異相 6.24

6.24

佛在羅閱祇國。遣一羅漢名曰須漫。持佛髮爪往罽賓南山中作一浮圖。寺有五百羅漢常止其中。旦夕燒香繞塔禮拜。五百獼猴見道人供養。入深㵎邊負輦泥石起立佛塔。竪木為剎繫以弊幡。旦夕禮拜。暴水泛漾一時漂死。生忉利天。即以天眼自見本末。各持華香伎樂臨故屍上繞之七匝。諸天人遙覩散華奏樂遶獼猴屍。有五百婆羅門外學邪見。問天曰。何為屈意供養於此。答曰。是吾故身。昔在世間學諸沙門戲立塔寺。藉此生天今報之恩。卿等邪見百劫勤苦無所一得。不如共往耆闍崛山禮拜供事其福無限。時婆羅門即皆欣然。共至佛所五體投地散華供養（出法句譬喻經第一卷）。

When the Buddha was in the city of Rājagṛha, he dispatched an arhat named Sumana, bearing the Buddha's hair and nails, to build a stūpa in the southern mountains of Kaśmīra. Five hundred arhats constantly resided in the monastery, burning incense and circumambulating the stūpa morning and evening in worship. Five hundred monkeys saw the monks making offerings, went to the side of a deep ravine, carried mud and stones, and erected a Buddha stūpa. Setting up a wooden pole as a mast, they tied tattered banners to it, bowing morning and evening. A flash flood swept over them, and they were all drowned at once. They were born in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven. Immediately, using their divine eyes, they saw their own past and present. Each holding flowers, incense, and musical instruments, they approached their former corpses and circumambulated them seven times. While the devas were seen from afar scattering flowers, playing music, and circumambulating the monkeys' corpses, five hundred brāhmaṇas with heterodox views from outside traditions asked the devas: 'Why do you deign to make offerings here?' They answered: 'These are our former bodies. Formerly in the world, we imitated the śramaṇas and playfully erected a stūpa and monastery. Relying on this, we were born in heaven; we are now repaying their kindness. You of heterodox views have toiled for a hundred kalpas without gaining a single thing. It would be better to go together to Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa to worship and serve [the Buddha]; its merit is limitless.' Thereupon, the brāhmaṇas were all filled with joy, went together to the Buddha's abode, cast their five limbs to the ground, and scattered flowers in offering. (Extracted from the Dharmapada-avadāna Sūtra, fascicle 1)