經律異相 24.31

24.31

There were three hundred thousand monks: one hundred thousand arhats, two hundred thousand trainees (śaikṣas), and countless ordinary people. At the place of the senior seat, no one sat. The king asked Yaśas: 'Why is no one sitting at the foremost seat?' Yaśas answered: 'The Buddha said that among his disciples, the one who can roar the lion's roar is named Piṇḍola; he is the foremost senior.' When the king heard this, his hair stood on end like kadamba flowers. He further asked: 'Is there anyone now living who saw the Buddha enter nirvāṇa?' Yaśas replied: 'Piṇḍola is the one.' The king asked again: 'May I see that person now?' Yaśas replied: 'He should be arriving now.' When the king heard this, great joy arose within him; he immediately spoke verses of praise, joined his palms, and looked up into the sky without averting his eyes for a moment. At that time, Piṇḍola, surrounded and escorted by countless arhats, descended from the sky and sat in the foremost seat. The entire assembly stood up. Seeing Piṇḍola, his hair and temples were snow-white, and the skin of his forehead and his eyebrows covered his face, looking like a pratyekabuddha. The king prostrated with his five limbs touching the ground to pay homage to Piṇḍola, licked his feet with his tongue, and weeping, spoke verses praising Piṇḍola. Raising his eyebrows with both hands, Piṇḍola praised Aśoka: 'I have seen the Tathāgata many times,' and thereupon praised the Buddha's virtues. Aśoka asked again: 'Where did you see the Buddha?' Piṇḍola replied: 'When the Buddha and five hundred arhats went together to Rājagṛha for the rains retreat, I was in the assembly. Again, in the country of Śrāvastī, in order to vanquish the non-Buddhists, he displayed various spiritual powers. Again, he held the rains retreat in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven to teach the Dharma to his mother, and after descending, he went to the country of Sāṃkāśya. Again, when Sumāgadhā, an orphan girl, invited the Buddha and five hundred arhats, the Buddha traveled by spiritual power to the country of Puṇḍravardhana, and I, lifting a mountain by spiritual power, also traveled through the sky to that country. At that time, the Tathāgata admonished me, saying: "You shall not attain nirvāṇa; stay to uphold my Dharma."' Aśoka asked again: 'Venerable Piṇḍola, how many people accompany you?' He answered with a verse: