經律異相 41.29

41.29

Formerly, there was an elder named Sudatta who invited the Buddha and the saṃgha to broadly set out a great assembly. On the road, he encountered a person presenting a jar of curd, and seeing a brāhmaṇa, he asked him to carry it back. Arriving there, the brāhmaṇa saw the Buddha and the saṃgha, was delighted, and stayed. He listened to the sūtra and observed the fast until evening before returning home. His wife found it very strange; he had not eaten, and as evening came, she pressed him to eat. Failing to complete the rules of the fast, he later died. His spirit became the deity of a great marsh tree in the country of Uttara. At that time, five hundred scholars wished to go to the divine pond of the three sacrifices to bathe in hopes of becoming immortals. Their provisions were exhausted, and they had neither water nor soup, so they were already exhausted. Looking toward that tree from afar, they thought there would be a spring of water; but when they all arrived beneath the tree, there was no water or spring at all, and they were about to fall into great distress. They raised their voices together to beseech the tree deity for mercy: "Save our lives!" The tree deity then manifested half of his body, raised the tip of his right index finger, and of its own accord there appeared food of a hundred flavors; he presented honey-drink in his hands, completely provided with various things, and they all ate their fill. At that time, the five hundred men conferred among themselves, saying: "We wished to go to the divine pond to bathe in hopes of becoming immortals; could the sublime way of immortals surpass this?" They again asked the tree deity, "What merit did you perform to possess such sacred virtue?" The tree deity replied: "Formerly, I saw the Buddha at the monastery in Śrāvastī and observed the eightfold fast; but I was ruined by my wife and did not complete the rules of the fast. My spirit should have been born in heaven." The five hundred men then together observed the rules and precepts of the fast, and later attained the path of the srotāpanna. (From Essential Matters from Various Sūtras.)