經律異相 38.16

38.16

"There was a woman who was several months pregnant. Seeing the Buddha and the saṅgha, she made a vow: 'After I give birth to my child, may he leave home to become a śramaṇa.' But after giving birth to the child, her affectionate love was so deep that she did not carry out her original wish. When the child reached the age of seven, her mind suddenly regained its realization: she prepared food for two people and three Dharma robes, took a vase, and led the child to the Buddha's presence. She addressed the Buddha: 'Please have pity on my child and allow him to become a śramaṇa, so that he may later attain the Path and his physical form may be like the Buddha.' The Buddha immediately permitted it. The mother poured water and washed her child first; at that moment, nine dragons emerged from the vase, spouting water to bathe the child. When the bathing was done, the remaining water was sprinkled on the child's head, and above and below his head it transformed into a canopy of flowers, interlaced with precious curtains, and upon lion seats there were Buddhas. The Buddha then smiled, emitting five-colored light that illuminated ten billion lands, circled back around the Buddha's body, and entered through the crown of the child's head. The mother then stepped forward to offer the food to the Buddha and to feed her child. The child gave rise to the mind of unexcelled, equal awakening. The ten billion Buddha lands shook in six ways, and all the Buddhas of those lands appeared naturally. With the mother's share of food, the Buddha satiated all those; the Buddha and the bhikṣus were all equally full and satisfied, while the food remained as before. The mother was filled with joy, and along with gods and humans attained avaivartika. At that time, the child's hair fell out, he became a śramaṇa, and was established in non-retrogression. That was my very self." (Extracted from the Sūtra on the Past Buddha's Alms-gathering.)