經律異相 36.34

36.34

There was an elder who wished to erect a stūpa and monastery. The timber was all prepared, but they lacked only one stone to place beneath the pillar. There was another elder who, though not revering the Buddha, nevertheless knew there was merit; he thus gave a fulling stone from his house in charity, and so the monastery could be completed. When this donor of the stone died, he was immediately born in the second heaven, in a palace of the seven treasures, attended by jade maidens, with food and clothing coming naturally. After a long time, that country was worn away and ruined; with no one to repair it, the monastery was completely destroyed, and only that single stone was submerged in the earth. The people plowed the field, and the stone obstructed their plow. They had the intention to dig it up. The god who was the master of the stone felt his heart agitated; with the divine eye he saw that someone was digging up the stone. He thought to himself, 'Because of this stone, I gained merit and was born in heaven. If someone now takes it away, will my merit not be exhausted?' He then descended, transformed into an ordinary person, and stood before the person digging up the stone. He asked, "Sir, do you wish to take this stone away?" That person replied, "I wish to plow the land, and encountering this stone which obstructs the plow, I only wish to remove it." The god asked, "Suppose you plow this land, you will harvest only several tens of hu [of grain]." The god said, "Do not take this stone; I will give you five hundred liang of gold." The person asked, "Sir, could you be a spirit?" He answered, "I am a heavenly being." He then resumed his heavenly body and said to the person, "I was originally a person of this land. In a previous life, I gave this stone to religious persons to erect a monastery. Because of this merit, I was born in heaven and received natural sustenance. Just now, my heavenly palace trembled, and wondering at the cause, I looked and saw you; that is why I came. This stone is the root of my merit; you must not take it." When the person heard this, he said, "I originally did not know that this was a stūpa and monastery of spirits and gods, a field of merit for heavenly beings; I dare not violate it." The god returned to heaven. That person thought, 'This god merely gave this stone and attained merit such as this; I should rebuild the stūpa and monastery.' He immediately undertook the labor and restored the stūpa as before. (Extracted from the Sūtra of Karmic Retribution, and also from the first fascicle of the Ten-Fascicle Sūtra of Avadānas)