經律異相 5.24

5.24

In the kingdom of Śrāvastī there was a poor household; the husband and wife were stingy and greedy, having no faith in the Way and virtue. Pitying their ignorance, the Buddha manifested as a śramaṇa and went to their door to beg for alms. At that time the husband was away, and the wife cursed him without reason. The śramaṇa said to her: “I am a practitioner of the Way who sustains himself by begging. I do not mind your cursing; I hope only for a single meal.” The woman said: “Even if you were to drop dead where you stand, you still wouldn't get any food, let alone while you are safe and sound, hoping for my food! You are just delaying; you had better leave at once!” Thereupon the śramaṇa stood before her, rolled back his eyes, exhaled his breath, and manifested dropping dead on the spot. His body swelled up, worms came out of his nose and mouth, his belly burst open, his intestines rotted, and foul filth spilled forth. Seeing this, the woman was terrified, cried out in fear, and fled. Then the practitioner vanished and left. Several li away from the house, he sat resting under a tree. Her husband was returning home and met his wife on the road, wondering at her terror. The wife told her husband the whole matter. The husband was enraged and asked where the monk was. The wife said: “He has already left, though I imagine not far.” The husband immediately grasped his bow, strapped on his knife, and pursued him by following his tracks. Drawing his bow and baring his knife, he rushed straight ahead, wanting to strike the practitioner. The practitioner immediately transformed into a small lapis lazuli city surrounding himself; the man circled it several times but could not enter. He asked the practitioner: “Why do you not open the gate?” The practitioner said: “If you want the gate to open, discard your bow and knife.” The man thought to himself: “I should comply with his words. Once I get inside, I will strike him with my fists.” He promptly discarded his bow and knife, but the gate still did not open. He spoke again to the practitioner: “I have already discarded my bow and knife. Why does the gate not open?” The practitioner said again: “I told you to discard the bow and knife of the evil intentions in your mind, not the bow and knife in your hands.” Thereupon the man's heart quaked and his body trembled: “The practitioner is holy and divine, for he knows my mind!” He immediately kowtowed, repented, and reproached himself, saying to the practitioner: “I have a base wife who did not recognize a true person, which caused me to give rise to evil. Please show a little mercy; do not abandon me. I now wish to bring her here to encourage her to cultivate the Way.” He got up and returned home. His wife asked: “Where is the śramaṇa?” The husband fully recounted the virtues of his spiritual transformations: “He is now over there. You should go yourself to repent and eliminate your transgressions.” Thereupon the husband and wife went to the practitioner's place, prostrated themselves on the ground to repent, and wished to become his disciples. They asked: “This lapis lazuli city is peerlessly solid, your resolve is bright and your intent settled, free from worries and troubles forever. By what virtue have you attained such divine wonder?” The practitioner answered: “I learn broadly without satiety, uphold the Dharma without laxity, vigorously maintain the precepts, and my mind is not heedless. Through this I attained the Way and reached nirvāṇa myself” (from the third fascicle of the Dharmapada Sūtra).