經律異相 46.45

46.45

Māra arranged an offering of food, magically creating forty thousand monks wearing dirty, ragged, ruined robes, holding broken alms-bowls, with their chests and backs all exposed, their facial features hideous and ugly, crippled, lame, hunchbacked, their minds fearful and agitated, receiving various kinds of food. Mañjuśrī caused the bowls of these magically transformed persons to remain constantly full of food; yet when they took mouthfuls of food, they choked and could not swallow. Their bodies were ill at ease, and they naturally collapsed to the ground. [Mañjuśrī] asked Māra, "Why do the monks not eat?" Māra said, "They are about to die." Mañjuśrī said, "Can one who is free from poison still practice defiled poison? Those who have lust, anger, and delusion—that indeed is poison." Thereupon he preached the Dharma: "I am free from such poison." Five hundred devas who had accompanied Māra gave rise to the bodhicitta. (Extracted from the lower fascicle of the Sūtra on Mañjuśrī's Manifestation of the Treasure Store)