經律異相 45.8

45.8

There was a mother who had been pregnant for several months. Seeing the Buddha and the saṅgha, she thought to herself, "If the child I bear is like this, I will make him a śramaṇa to become a disciple of the Buddha." When her months were complete, she gave birth to a boy of extraordinary beauty, surpassing the crowd. When he reached seven years of age, the family was poor, and she only prepared food for two people and three dharma robes. Holding a water vessel in her hand, she brought her child to the Buddha and said, "May you take pity on my child and allow him to become a śramaṇa." The Buddha at once permitted it, ordering the child's hands to be washed with the vessel. Instantly, nine dragons emerged from the mouth of the vessel, spitting water to bathe the child. The remaining water scattered over the child's head, transforming into a jeweled canopy. Inside it was a lion throne, and atop the throne was a Buddha. Smiling, the Buddha emitted five-colored light that illuminated a thousand billion Buddha-lands, returned to encircle the Buddha's body, and entered through the crown of the child's head. The mother offered food and utensils to the Buddha and also fed her son, arousing the mind directed toward the supreme Way. Ten billion Buddha-lands shook in six ways, and all Buddhas manifested themselves. Offering the mother's food to all those Buddhas and the bhikṣu-saṅgha, all were satisfied and full, and the food was never depleted. The child's hair fell out on its own, and he became a śramaṇa, immediately standing upon the stage of non-retrogression (from the third fascicle of the Ten-Fascicle Avadāna Sūtra).