經律異相 12.18

12.18

The Buddha was in Rājagṛha, at a great assembly of bodhisattvas and the fourfold community. As the Buddha preached the Dharma, there was a pregnant woman of the Jiala clan in the assembly. The child in her womb joined its palms and listened to the sūtra. Wanting the entire assembly to see this, the Buddha then manifested a great light that illuminated where the Jiala woman was sitting. The multitude all saw the female child in the womb joining her palms and listening to the sūtra, as if reflected in a mirror. With eight kinds of voice, the Buddha asked the female child in the womb: 'For what reason do you join your palms and listen to the sūtra?' By the Buddha's spiritual power, she immediately answered the Buddha: 'Because people in the world all practice the ten unwholesome deeds, I wish to cause them to practice the ten wholesome deeds. Furthermore, because birth and death among worldly people do not cease, and because people in the world are unfilial to their parents and do not make offerings to śramaṇas, brāhmaṇas, and men of the Way, for these reasons I join my palms and listen to the sūtra.' When the female child finished speaking these words, she was born, just as the Prince was born from the right side. The earth shook in six ways. Spontaneous heavenly music sounded in the air, and a multitude of heavenly flowers rained down. There was a thousand-petalled lotus flower as large as a chariot wheel, with a stem made of jewels, resembling blue lapis lazuli. The female child then sat upon the lotus flower. Śakra held heavenly garments and gave them to the child to wear. The female child told him: 'You are an arhat, and I am a bodhisattva; you are not my peer and not of my kind. I have my own garments.' Śāriputra addressed the Buddha: 'From which country has this female child come, that clothes should be sent to her?' The Buddha said: 'This female child comes from a pure buddha-realm in the southeast, a hundred thousand buddha-realms away from here.' Garments from her native country spontaneously arrived through the air with a rustling sound. When the female child saw the clothes arrive, she put them on. She was destined to attain the five supernatural faculties; moreover, the people of her native country all attained the five supernatural faculties. When the female child had finished putting on the clothes, she stepped down from the lotus flower and walked before the Buddha. With each step the female child took, the earth shook in six ways. Touching her head and face to the ground, she paid homage to the Buddha, saying three times, 'Namo Buddhāya.' Then kneeling upright, she addressed the Buddha: 'Now in this assembly there are many women of the Jiala clan. May the Buddha preach the sūtra for them, so that they may obtain male bodies.' The Buddha said: 'I do not cause you to become a man, nor do I cause you to become a woman; it is entirely obtained from one's own bodily deeds.' The Buddha said: 'There is one matter by which a male body can be quickly attained. What is this one? Generating the aspiration for the bodhisattva Way. Furthermore, a woman's body should be contemplated internally: it is like a mechanism, with bones and joints propping one another up, covered only by sinews and skin. A woman is constantly afraid of others, like a viper or a toad, not daring to come out by day.' At that time, seventy-five women of the Jiala clan in the assembly, hearing the Buddha preach the sūtra, rejoiced and leaped with joy. Stepping forward, they touched their heads and faces to the ground, paid homage to the Buddha, and said to him: 'We vow to generate the bodhisattva mind and become men. If we do not obtain male bodies, we will never rise.' At that time, seventy-five Jiala householders came from the country of Śrāvastī to the Buddha's place. Seeing all their wives before the Buddha, they thought to themselves: 'We have already lost our wives!' They then asked Śāriputra: 'These women are our wives; why are they here?' Śāriputra answered: 'They wish to become bhikṣuṇīs. Will you permit it or not?' The householders replied: 'First allow us to become bhikṣus.' Śāriputra addressed the Buddha: 'These seventy-five householders all wish to become bhikṣus.' The Buddha called out: 'Come, good sons!' They all became bhikṣus: their hair fell off spontaneously, kāṣāyas came onto their bodies, and with alms bowls in hand, they all came forward and paid homage to the Buddha. At that time, the seventy-five women each took off their pearl circlets and scattered them over the Buddha. Thereupon, in the sky, they spontaneously transformed into seventy-five pearl-encrusted canopies with hanging ornaments; inside the curtains were seven-jewelled beds with seats upon them, and beside the Buddha were countless bodhisattvas listening to the sūtra. Seeing this transformation, the seventy-five women all rejoiced greatly, and using the Buddha's spiritual power, they flew and remained in the sky. Flowers spontaneously rained down and were scattered over the Buddha. Coming down from the sky, they obtained male bodies, stepped forward, and addressed the Buddha: 'We wish to become bhikṣus.' The Buddha said to Maitreya Bodhisattva: 'Lead them away and confer the precepts upon them.' Maitreya Bodhisattva immediately conferred the precepts, and they became bhikṣus. For the female child, there spontaneously appeared a sevenfold transformed canopy of flowers with a stem like a lotus flower. She took it and gave it to her mother, saying: 'The Buddha is the teacher who delivers people in heaven and on earth. Mother, offer this flower canopy to the Buddha; it is a canopy for the teacher of heaven and earth. In the future, mother, you will also be a canopy for the world.' The female child said to her mother: 'Now you should generate the bodhisattva mind.' The mother replied to the female child: 'When I first conceived you, I constantly saw the Buddha, the Dharma, and the saṅgha of bhikṣus in dreams; I was free from the minds of the three poisons, and my body was peaceful and secure. I knew that the child in my womb was a bodhisattva mahāsattva; because of this, I was at ease. At that time, I generated the bodhisattva mind.' Having received the flower canopy, the mother took it and offered it to the Buddha. The earth shook in six ways. The Buddha said to Śāriputra: 'The stars of the four continents may still be counted, but the parents delivered by this female child throughout past and future cannot be known.' (Extracted from the Sūtra on the Girl in the Womb Listening to the Sūtra)