經律異相 18.10

18.10

In the city of Śrāvastī there was a great elder. His wife gave birth to a baby boy named Kanakavarna, who was extraordinarily handsome. The boy's hands were clenched into fists; the parents were frightened and opened both his hands, whereupon they saw two gold coins in the child's hands. Delighted, they took them, but they continuously reappeared. Taking them diligently in this way, they filled the treasury without exhausting them. When the boy grew older, he addressed his parents, asking to go forth from the household life, and they granted it. He went to the Buddha's place, shaved his hair and beard, and donned the kāṣāya. When he came of age, he received the precepts. Approaching the platform, he paid homage to the assembly of monks in sequence. Wherever he paid homage, both his hands pressed on the ground, and in every spot there were two gold coins. After receiving the precepts, he practiced with diligent effort and attained the path of an arhat. Ānanda addressed the Buddha: 'What merit did this monk Kanakavarna previously create that he held gold coins in his hands?' The Buddha said: 'Ninety-one kalpas ago, there was a Buddha named Vipaśyin who appeared in the world. As he was traveling through the realms with the assembly of monks, the elders prepared offerings for the Buddha and his disciples. At that time, a poor man gathered firewood and sold it, earning two coins. Seeing the Buddha, he was filled with joy, and immediately gave the two coins to the Buddha and the Saṅgha. Because the poor man gave the two coins to the Buddha and the Saṅgha, for ninety-one kalpas he constantly held gold coins in his hands, and wealth and treasures came to him spontaneously. That poor man of that time was this monk Kanakavarna.' (From the Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, fascicle 2)