經律異相 23.47

23.47

The Buddha was travelling in the land of Jetavana in Śrāvastī. King Prasenajit invited the Buddha and the Saṅgha to receive an offering of food in the palace. As they were about to proceed to the royal palace, there was a bhikṣuṇī named Ciñcā, who tied a wooden basin to her belly to look as if she were pregnant. She then demanded clothing from the Buddha, saying: "You are my husband, and from you I became pregnant; yet you provide me neither clothing nor food—what is the meaning of this?" At that time, the great assembly—humans, devas, Śakra, Brahmā, the Four Heavenly Kings, the devas, ghosts, and spirits, as well as the people of the state—none were not terrified. The Buddha is the honoured one of all three realms; his mind is purer than a maṇi jewel, the brightness of his wisdom surpasses the sun and moon, he walks alone through the three periods of time with none able to match him, he subdues all heterodoxies, and none among the ninety-six paths fail to submit to him. His lofty virtue cannot be likened by analogy. Empty space has no form and cannot be defiled; the Buddha's mind surpasses it and has no peer. Since this bhikṣuṇī was a disciple of the Buddha, why would she harbour evil, wishing to slander the Tathāgata? The Buddha, seeing the minds of the assembly and wishing to resolve their doubts, looked upward. At that time, Śakra Devānām Indra immediately descended, transformed into a mouse, and gnawed through the cord that bound the basin. The basin immediately fell to the ground. When the great assembly saw this, anger and joy were mingled, and they were astonished at the reason for it. At that time, the great king was enraged that this bhikṣuṇī, having renounced her family and left behind secular duties to become a disciple of the Buddha, was not only unable to praise the boundless merits of the Tathāgata, but instead harboured jealousy and slander. Thereupon the great king immediately ordered his attendants to dig a pit in the earth, intending to bury her upside down. At that time, the Buddha explained, saying: "Do not do so. This is my own past transgression, not solely her calamity. Long ago in the distant past, there was a merchant who was selling many fine pearls that were round, bright, and beautiful. At that time, there was a woman who wished to buy them all. Just as the trade was about to be concluded, there was a man who raised the offer with double the price and alone obtained the pearls and left. Because the woman did not obtain them, she harboured hatred; she then begged him for them, but he was also unwilling to give them. Her fury grew intense, and she said: 'I was going to buy the pearls, but you came and snatched them away; and when I begged you for them, you were again unwilling to give them. You have disgraced and insulted me; in whatever life I am born, I shall repay this grudge against you.' The man who bought the pearls at that time was myself; the woman was Ciñcā. This is a condition from the past, not merely of this present life" (Extracted from the Sūtra of Previous Lives, fascicle 1).