經律異相 40.16

40.16

There was a brahmacārin named Samudrareṇu who said to the Buddha: "May the Tathāgata and the assembly of monks accept my four requisites of offering for a full seven years." The Tathāgata consented. Later, the brahmacārin had this thought: "I have now caused hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of sentient beings to bring forth the bodhicitta. Yet I do not know what the wheel-turning sage king aspires to—whether he seeks to be a king of men, a king of gods, a śrāvaka, a pratyekabuddha, or seeks supreme bodhi. If in a future life I am certain to attain the Buddha Way, when I lie down to sleep at night, the devas, Māra, Brahmā, and all Buddha World-Honoured Ones should manifest dreams to me." In his sleep, he saw a light, and immediately saw all the Buddha World-Honoured Ones of worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges in the ten directions, each from afar bestowing a lotus upon him. The flowers were marvelous, and on each flower platform, a solar disk was seen. Above the solar disk was a seven-jeweled canopy. From each solar disk issued sixty koṭis of light rays, all of which entered the brahmacārin's mouth. He saw his own light fill a thousand yojanas, pure as a clear mirror, and looking into his belly, he saw sixty koṭis of nayutas of hundreds of thousands of bodhisattvas sitting cross-legged on lotuses in samādhi. He further saw the filaments of the sun surrounding his body, and from among the flowers issued all kinds of instrumental music. He also saw his king, covered in blood, running in all four directions, with the face and head of a pig, eating various insects, sitting beneath an eraṇḍa tree, with immeasurable sentient beings coming to consume his body until only a skeleton remained; repeatedly taking birth, he was also like this. He further saw the princes, some with the faces of pigs, elephants, water buffaloes, lions, foxes, wolves, tigers, leopards, or monkeys, covered in blood, all eating sentient beings, sitting beneath eraṇḍa trees, with immeasurable sentient beings coming to consume their bodies until their skeletons fell apart; repeatedly taking birth, they were also like this. He also saw a prince wearing sumana flowers as a necklace, riding a small broken cart drawn by a water buffalo, rushing southward along a crooked path. He further saw the Four Great Heavenly Kings, Śakra Devānām Indra, and the Great Brahmā King come to his place and say to the brahmacārin: "You should now first take one lotus from all the lotuses on your four sides and give it to the wheel-turning king, and give one flower to each prince. Give the remaining flowers to the minor kings, next to your sons, and then distribute them all to the other people." Suddenly he awoke. Recalling all the matters he had seen in the dream, he realized that the sage king's vow was lowly and that he loved saṃsāra. He further realized that the princes had brought forth the mind seeking the śrāvaka vehicle, which was why he had dreamed of one wearing sumana flowers as a necklace, riding a water buffalo cart and rushing southward along a crooked path. "For what reason did I dream of this? The Buddha World-Honoured Ones [showed this to me] because I previously exhorted and urged immeasurable sentient beings within Jambudvīpa to dwell securely in the three grounds of merit and bring forth the bodhicitta, inviting the Buddha and the saṅgha to provide all comforts for a full seven years" (from the Sūtra on the Brahmacārin Samudrareṇu Inviting the Tathāgata).