經律異相 47.38

47.38

Beyond Jambudvīpa, in the northern sea, there is a golden mountain named Marks of Merit, twenty yojanas high. Inside it is a cave named Morning Star, one yojana wide and six yojanas high, where a bodhisattva dwelt in the past. Inside it, a lion cultivates the benevolence of a śrāvaka. There is another cave named Pure Path, equal in height and breadth, where a bodhisattva dwelt in the past. Inside it, a hare cultivates the benevolence of a śrāvaka. There is another cave named Joy and Delight, equal in height and breadth, where a bodhisattva dwelt in the past. Inside it, a dragon cultivates the benevolence of a śrāvaka. The mountain has a water deity named Varuṇa; there is a rākṣasī named Cultivating Shame. Each has a retinue of five hundred. These two women constantly make offerings together to these three beasts. These twelve beasts constantly roam day and night within Jambudvīpa; they are revered by humans and devas, and their merits are accomplished. Having already made profound and solemn vows before various buddhas, they constantly cause one beast to wander and convert beings throughout a day and night, while the remaining eleven beasts abide peacefully cultivating benevolence, cycling around and beginning again. On the first day of the seventh month, the rat first roams, converting all beings with rat bodies by means of the śrāvaka vehicle, causing them to abandon evil karma and encouraging them to cultivate wholesome deeds. In this order, on the thirteenth day, the rat roams again, and so on until the end of twelve months and twelve years. Therefore, this land has much merit, and even animals are capable of teaching and converting. For this reason, bodhisattvas from other regions should constantly revere this Buddha-world. If there are monks, nuns, upāsakas, or upāsikās who wish to see these twelve beasts, who wish to attain great wisdom, great concentration, and great supernatural power, who wish to master all scriptures, and who wish to increase wholesome dharmas, such a person should use white earth to make a mountain seven feet in breadth and length and twelve feet high. Smear it with various incenses and cover it with gold leaf, twenty feet around on all four sides. The scattered campaka flowers should be held in copper vessels, and various juices suitable at improper times should be placed on the four sides. Purely uphold the precepts and bathe three times daily. With reverent faith in the Three Jewels, stand ten paces away facing directly east of the mountain. Chanting such a dhāraṇī, abide for fifteen days; one shall then see the form of a crescent moon upon the mountain. At that time, one will know that one sees the twelve beasts. Having seen them, whatever one wishes will be obtained as desired. If one can practice austerities, one will immediately see with one's own eyes these twelve beasts and bodhisattvas. They may assume the forms of devas, the forms of ghosts, or the forms of birds and beasts, roaming Jambudvīpa to teach and convert such various living beings. If one tames beings as a deva or human, that is not difficult; but if one tames beings as an animal, that is indeed difficult. (Extracted from the twenty-fourth fascicle of the Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra.)