法苑珠林 26.22

26.22

佛告大王。欲知此等八萬四千金色獼猴者。乃是過去拘樓秦佛時。波羅柰國。俱睒彌國。二國之中共有八萬四千比丘尼。行諸非法犯諸重禁。狂愚無智如癡獼猴。見好比丘視之如賊。時有羅漢比丘尼。名善安隱。具為說法復懷忿恨。時羅漢尼見諸惡人不生善心。即起慈悲。身昇虛空作十八變。時諸惡人見變化已。各脫金環散阿羅漢尼上。願我生生身作金色。前所作惡今悉懺悔。時諸惡人身壞命終墮阿鼻地獄。次第經歷。至九十二劫常處地獄。從地獄出。五百身中常為餓鬼。從餓鬼出。一千身中常為獼猴。身作金色。大王當知。爾時八萬四千犯戒尼罵羅漢尼者。今此會中八萬四千諸金色獼猴是也。爾時供養諸惡比丘尼者。今大王是。此諸獼猴。因宿習故。持華持香供養大王。爾時。污彼比丘尼者。今瞿迦梨及王五百黃門是。佛告大王。身口意業不可不慎。

The Buddha told the great king: 'If you wish to know who these eighty-four thousand golden monkeys are: in the past, during the time of Krakucchanda Buddha, in the two kingdoms of Vārāṇasī and Kauśāmbī, there were a total of eighty-four thousand bhikṣuṇīs who committed various unlawful acts and violated the heavy prohibitions. Mad, foolish, and devoid of wisdom like silly monkeys, when they saw a good bhikṣu they regarded him as a thief. At that time, there was an arhat bhikṣuṇī named Śubhakṣemā. Even when she expounded the Dharma fully for them, they harbored resentment. When the arhat nun saw that these evil people did not generate good thoughts, she gave rise to compassion, rose into the air, and performed eighteen transformations. When the evil people saw these transformations, they each took off their golden armlets and scattered them over the arhat nun, [vowing,] "May our bodies be golden in life after life! We now repent all the evils we committed before." When those evil people's bodies broke up and their lives ended, they fell into the Avīci hell, passing through it in succession; for ninety-two kalpas they constantly remained in the hells. Emerging from the hells, they were constantly hungry ghosts for five hundred lifetimes. Emerging from the hungry ghosts, they were constantly monkeys for one thousand lifetimes, with bodies of gold. Great King, you should know that the eighty-four thousand precept-breaking nuns who reviled the arhat nun at that time are the eighty-four thousand golden monkeys in this assembly today. The one who made offerings to those evil bhikṣuṇīs at that time is you, Great King, today. Because of past habits, these monkeys hold flowers and incense to make offerings to the Great King. Those who defiled those bhikṣuṇīs at that time are Kokālika and the king's five hundred eunuchs today. The Buddha told the great king: 'One cannot but be cautious regarding the karma of body, speech, and mind.'