法苑珠林 25.14

25.14

第七論云。所以稱婆拘羅壽命極長者。以曩昔曾供養六萬佛於諸佛所常行慈心。蜎飛蠕動有形命類。常加慈愍。無有毫氂殺害之想。佛告阿難。如我今日正壽八十者。如來隨世欲適眾生不現其異。故壽八十。婆拘羅者受前宿世慈心之福故。年壽加倍一百六十。往昔毘婆尸如來出世時有長者。居明貞修稟性良謙。請佛及僧九十日四事供養。有一比丘來求索藥。長者問曰。何所患苦。答曰。頭痛。長者答曰。此必膈上有水。仰攻其頭。是以頭痛。即施一呵梨勒果。因服病除。緣是福報。九十一劫未曾病患。阿難問婆拘羅。何以不為人說法。為無四辯智慧而不說耶。答曰。我於四辯捷疾之智非為不足。直自樂靜不喜憒鬧。故不說法。故長命省事第一也。

The seventh treatise states: Why Bakkula is called [foremost in] extremely long lifespan: In the distant past, he had made offerings to sixty thousand buddhas, always cultivating a mind of loving-kindness in the presence of those buddhas. Toward flying gnats, squirming insects, and all manner of living beings with forms, he was always filled with compassionate pity, without the slightest thought of harming or killing. The Buddha told Ānanda, 'My lifespan today is precisely eighty years because the Tathāgata accords with the ways of the world to accommodate living beings and does not display exceptionality; therefore my lifespan is eighty years. Bakkula received the blessing of his mind of loving-kindness in former lives; therefore, his lifespan was doubled to one hundred and sixty years.' Formerly, when Vipaśyin Tathāgata appeared in the world, there was an elder whose dwelling was pure and righteous in practice, endowed with a gentle and modest nature. He invited the Buddha and the Saṃgha for ninety days of offerings with the four necessities. There was a monk who came seeking medicine. The elder asked him, 'What ailment troubles you?' He replied, 'A headache.' The elder answered, 'This must be water above the diaphragm surging up against the head; therefore your head aches.' He immediately gave him a harītakī fruit. Upon taking it, the illness was eliminated. By virtue of the karmic reward of this blessing, for ninety-one kalpas he never had any sickness. Ānanda asked Bakkula, 'Why do you not expound the Dharma for people? Is it because you lack the wisdom of the four unhindered analytical knowledges that you do not preach?' He replied, 'It is not that my swift wisdom in the four unhindered analytical knowledges is deficient; I simply take delight in quietude and dislike clamour, which is why I do not expound the Dharma.' Therefore, he is foremost in long life and few affairs.