法苑珠林 28.11

28.11

如雜寶藏經云。佛告諸比丘。過去久遠無量世時。波羅柰國中有山。名曰仙山。有梵志在彼山住。大小便利常於石上。後有精氣墮小行處。有雌鹿來舐。即便有娠。日月滿足來至仙人所生一女子。端正殊妙。唯脚似鹿。梵志取之養育長成。梵志事火。使火不絕。此女宿火。小不用意。使令火滅。此女恐怖畏梵志瞋。有餘梵志離此住處。此女往彼乞火。梵志見跡跡有蓮華。要此女言。繞我舍七匝當與汝火。若去時亦繞七匝。莫行本跡異道而還。即如其言。取火而去。時梵豫國王出行遊獵。見彼梵志繞舍周匝十四重蓮華。復見二道有兩行華。怪其所以問梵志言。都無水池。云何有此妙華。彼具答之。王尋華跡至梵志所從索女看。見其端正甚適悅意。即從梵志求索此女。梵志與王。王即立為第二夫人。後時有娠。相師占言。當生千子。王大夫人聞已生妬。漸作計校。恩好招諭鹿女左右多與財寶。日月滿足便生千葉蓮華欲生之時。大夫人以物縵眼。不聽自看。捉臭爛馬肺承著其下。取千葉蓮華。盛著㩜裏擿於河中。還為解眼而語之言。看汝所生唯見一段臭爛馬肺。王遣人問。為生何物。而答王言。唯生臭肺。大夫人而語王言。王喜倒惑此畜生所生仙人供養。生此不祥臭穢之物。王即便退其夫人之職不復聽見。時烏耆延王。將諸徒眾從夫人婇女下流游戲。見黃雲蓋從河上流隨水而來。王作是念。此雲蓋下必有神物。遣人往看。於黃雲下見有一㩜。即便接取開而看之千葉蓮華。葉葉有一小兒。取之養育。以漸長大各有大力。烏耆延王歲常貢獻梵豫王。集諸獻物遣使欲去。諸子問言。欲作何等。時王答言。欲貢獻彼梵豫國王。諸子各言。若有一子猶望能伏天下使來貢獻。況有千子而當獻他。千子即時將諸軍眾降伏諸國。次到梵豫國。王聞軍至募其國中。誰能攘却如此敵。都無有人能攘却者。第二夫人來受募言。我能却之。問言。云何得却。夫人答言。但為我作百丈之臺。我坐其上必能攘却。作臺已竟夫人在上而坐。爾時千子欲舉弓射。自然手不能舉。夫人語言。汝慎莫舉手向父母。我是汝母。千子問言。何以為驗。母答子言。我若按乳一乳有五百岐。各入汝口。是汝之母。若當不爾非是汝母。即時兩手按乳。一乳之中五百岐。入千子口中。其餘軍眾無有得者。千子降伏向父母懺悔。諸子於是和合二國無復怨讐。自相勸率。以五百子與親父母。以五百子與養父母。時二國王分閻浮提。各畜五百子。佛言。欲知彼時千子者。賢劫千佛是也。爾時嫉妬夫人縵他目者。文鱗瞽目龍是也。爾時父者。白淨王是也。爾時母者。摩耶夫人是也。諸比丘白佛言。此女有何因緣生鹿腹中。足下生華。復有何因為王夫人。佛言。此女過去世時生貧賤家。母子二人田中鋤穀。見一辟支佛持鉢乞食。母語女言。我欲家中取我食分與是快士。女言。亦取我分并與。母即歸家。取母子二人食分來與辟支佛。女取草採華為之敷草座。散華著上。待辟支佛坐。女怪母遲。上一高處遙望其母已見其母。而語母言。何不急疾。鹿驟而來。母既至已。嫌母遲故尋作恨言。我生在母邊。不如鹿邊生也。母即以二分食與辟支佛。餘殘母子共食辟支佛食竟。擲鉢著空作十八變。時母歡喜。即發誓願。使我將來常生聖子。如今聖人。以是業緣。後生五百子。皆得辟支佛。一作養母。一作所生母。以語母鹿驟故生鹿腹中。脚似鹿甲。以採華散辟支佛。故跡中一百華生。以敷草故。常得為王夫人。其母後身。作梵豫王。其女後身作蓮華夫人。由是業緣後生賢劫千聖。以誓願力常生賢聖。諸比丘聞已歡喜奉行。又分別功德經云。昔有長者。名曰善施。家有未出門女。在家向火暖氣入身。遂便有娠。父母驚怪詰其由狀。其女實對不知所以。父母重問。加諸杖楚。其女不改。遂上聞王。王復詰責。女亦不異。許之以死。女即稱怨曰。天下乃當有無道之王。枉殺無辜。我若不良自可保試。見枉如是。王即檢保如女所言。無他增減。語其父母。我欲取之。母對曰。隨意取之。用此死女何為。王即內之宮裏。隨時瞻養。日月遂滿。產得一男。端正姝妙。年遂長大出家得道。聰明博達。精進不久得阿羅漢道。還度父母。又譬喻經云。昔有夫妻二人無子。祠祀天神以求係嗣。神即許之。遂便懷妊。生四種物。一者栴檀斗盛米。二者甘露瓶。三者寶囊。四者七節神杖。其人歎曰。吾求兒子更生餘物。便到神所重求所願。神即語言。汝欲得子何物稱益。答曰。子當使令給養吾等。神云。食此米斗用之無盡。甘露蜜瓶食之無減。而消百病。珍寶之囊用之無損。七節神杖以備凶暴。兒子豈能辦此。其人大喜還家試驗。如言不虛。遂成大富。不可算計。國王聞之。即遣眾兵欲往攻奪。其人擎杖飛游擊敵。摧破強眾。皆悉退散。其人歡喜。無復憂患。

As the *Zabaozang jing* states: The Buddha addressed the monks: "Long ago in the past, countless ages ago, in the kingdom of Vārāṇasī there was a mountain named Mountain of the Ṛṣis. There was a Brahmacārin living on that mountain who regularly urinated and defecated on a rock. Later, some semen fell onto the place where he had urinated, and a doe came and licked it, whereupon she became pregnant. When the months and days were fulfilled, she came to the ṛṣi's place and gave birth to a girl. She was wonderfully handsome and exquisite, except that her feet resembled those of a deer. The Brahmacārin took her in and raised her to adulthood. The Brahmacārin worshipped fire and kept the fire burning constantly. This girl was tending the fire overnight, and through a brief moment of carelessness she let the fire go out. The girl was terrified, fearing the Brahmacārin's anger. There was another Brahmacārin living away from this dwelling. The girl went there to beg for fire. That Brahmacārin saw her footprints, and in every footprint there was a lotus flower. He made a pact with the girl, saying, 'Circle my house seven times, and then I will give you fire. When you leave, also circle it seven times; do not tread on your original tracks, but return by a different path.' She complied with his words, took the fire, and departed. At that time, King Brahmadatta went out on a hunting trip. He saw that around that Brahmacārin's house were fourteen concentric rows of lotus flowers, and he also saw two paths with two lines of flowers. Marveling at the cause of this, he asked the Brahmacārin, 'There are no pools of water at all; how are there these exquisite flowers?' The Brahmacārin answered him in full. The king followed the tracks of the flowers to the Brahmacārin's place and asked to see the girl. Seeing her beauty, he was exceedingly delighted. He thereupon asked the Brahmacārin for this girl. The Brahmacārin gave her to the king, and the king immediately installed her as his secondary queen. Later, she became pregnant. A physiognomist foretold, 'She shall give birth to a thousand sons.' The chief queen heard this and grew jealous. She gradually devised a scheme: through kindness and favor she won over and instructed the deer-girl's attendants, giving them many treasures. When the months and days were fulfilled, she gave birth to a thousand-petaled lotus flower. When she was about to give birth, the chief queen blindfolded her eyes with cloth, not permitting her to look for herself. She took a foul, rotten horse lung to receive [the birth] underneath, while she took the thousand-petaled lotus flower, placed it into a basket, and threw it into the river. She then untied her blindfold and said to her, 'Look at what you have born: you see only a piece of foul, rotten horse lung.' The king sent someone to ask what had been born, and she answered the king, 'Only a foul lung was born.' The chief queen said to the king, 'Your Majesty has gladly been deluded: what was born of this beast and raised by a ṛṣi has brought forth this inauspicious, foul and filthy thing.' The king immediately demoted her from her rank as queen and would no longer see her. At that time, the King of Ujjayinī, leading his retinue, queens, and court ladies, was amusing himself downstream. He saw a canopy of yellow clouds coming from upstream following the flow of the water. The king thought, 'Beneath this cloud canopy there must be a divine object.' He sent someone to go and look. Under the yellow clouds they saw a basket. They immediately retrieved it, opened it, and looked inside: it was a thousand-petaled lotus flower, and on every petal was a little boy. He took them in and raised them; as they gradually grew up, each possessed great strength. The King of Ujjayinī was accustomed to paying annual tribute to King Brahmadatta. He assembled the tributary goods and sent an envoy, preparing to depart. The sons asked, 'What are you going to do?' The king answered, 'I wish to pay tribute to that King Brahmadatta.' The sons each said, 'If there were even one son, one would still expect him to be able to subjugate the world and make them come pay tribute; how much more so with a thousand sons—why should we offer tribute to another?' The thousand sons immediately led the military hosts to subjugate the various kingdoms, and next came to the kingdom of Brahmadatta. When the king heard that the army was arriving, he made a proclamation throughout his kingdom: 'Who can repel such an enemy?' There was no one who could repel them. The secondary queen came to accept the recruitment, saying, 'I can repel them.' She was asked, 'How can you repel them?' The queen answered, 'Only build me a platform a hundred fathoms high. When I sit upon it, I will surely be able to repel them.' When the platform was completed, the queen sat upon it. At that time, the thousand sons wished to raise their bows to shoot, but naturally their hands could not be raised. The queen said to them, 'Beware, do not raise your hands against your parents! I am your mother.' The thousand sons asked, 'What is the proof?' The mother answered the sons, 'If I press my breasts, one breast will issue five hundred streams, each entering your mouths; then I am your mother. If this should not happen, I am not your mother.' Thereupon, pressing her breasts with both hands, five hundred streams from each breast entered into the mouths of the thousand sons, while none of the rest of the host received any. The thousand sons submitted and repented before their parents. The sons thereupon brought harmony between the two kingdoms, so that there was no longer any enmity. They encouraged one another, giving five hundred sons to the birth parents and five hundred sons to the adoptive parents. At that time, the two kings divided Jambudvīpa, each keeping five hundred sons." The Buddha said, "If you wish to know who the thousand sons at that time were, they are the thousand Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa. The jealous queen who blindfolded the other's eyes at that time is the blind naga Mucilinda. The father at that time was King Śuddhodana. The mother at that time was Queen Māyā." The monks said to the Buddha, "What was the karmic cause for this woman being born from a deer's womb and flowers sprouting beneath her feet, and what was the cause for her becoming a royal queen?" The Buddha said: "In a past life, this woman was born into a poor and lowly family. Mother and daughter were weeding grain in the fields when they saw a pratyekabuddha holding an alms bowl and begging for food. The mother said to the daughter, 'I wish to fetch my portion of food from home and give it to this fine gentleman.' The daughter said, 'Take my portion as well and give them together.' The mother immediately returned home, fetched the portions of food for both mother and daughter, and brought them to give to the pratyekabuddha. The daughter gathered grass and plucked flowers to spread a grass seat for him and scattered the flowers upon it, waiting for the pratyekabuddha to sit down. The daughter wondered at her mother's delay, went up to a high place, and gazed in the distance for her mother. Having caught sight of her mother, she said to her, 'Why do you not hasten? Gallop like a deer!' When the mother arrived, out of resentment at the mother's delay, she at once uttered words of regret: 'Being born at my mother's side is not as good as being born at the side of a deer!' The mother then gave the two portions of food to the pratyekabuddha, and the remaining mother and daughter ate together. When the pratyekabuddha finished eating, he tossed his bowl into the air and manifested eighteen transformations. The mother was delighted and immediately made a vow: 'May I in the future constantly give birth to holy sons like this holy man today.' By virtue of this karmic cause, she later gave birth to five hundred sons, all of whom became pratyekabuddhas; one served as the adoptive mother and one as the birth mother. Because she told her mother to gallop like a deer, she was born from a deer's womb, with feet like deer hooves. Because she gathered flowers and scattered them for the pratyekabuddha, one hundred flowers sprouted in her footprints. Because she spread the grass, she constantly became a king's queen. Her mother in a later life became King Brahmadatta; the daughter in a later life became Lady Padmavatī. By virtue of this karmic cause, she later gave birth to the thousand sages of the Bhadrakalpa; by the power of her vow, she constantly gave birth to sages and worthies." Having heard this, the monks rejoiced and put it into practice. Furthermore, as the *Fenbie gongde jing* states: Formerly, there was an elder named Sudatta. In his household was an unmarried daughter. At home she faced the fire, and the warm air entered her body; thereupon she became pregnant. Her parents were startled and bewildered, and questioned her about the circumstances. The daughter answered truthfully that she did not know the cause. The parents questioned her again, subjecting her to beatings with rods. The daughter did not alter her words. Thereupon the matter was reported to the king. The king also interrogated and reproached her, but the girl did not change her account. He threatened her with death. The girl thereupon cried out in grievance, saying, 'Can it be that under heaven there is an unprincipled king who would wrongfully put an innocent person to death? If I am not chaste, you may surely hold me under bond and test me; why must I be wronged like this?' The king thereupon investigated and took surety as the girl had said, without any discrepancy. He said to her parents, 'I wish to take her.' The mother replied, 'Take her as you please; what use is this doomed girl?' The king immediately took her into the palace, caring for and nourishing her according to the season. The months and days were fulfilled, and she gave birth to a boy, who was handsome and exquisite. As he grew up, he left the household and attained the Way. Clever and broadly learned, through diligent practice he before long attained the way of an arhat, and returned to deliver his parents. Furthermore, as the *Avadāna-sūtra* states: Formerly, a husband and wife had no children. They sacrificed to a heavenly deity to seek an heir. The deity granted it to them, and she thereupon became pregnant, giving birth to four objects: first, a sandalwood peck filled with rice; second, an ambrosia vase; third, a treasure pouch; and fourth, a seven-jointed divine staff. The man sighed, saying, 'I sought a son, yet instead brought forth these other things!' He then went to the deity's place to renew his request for his wish. The deity said to him, 'You wish to have a son, but what object can compare in benefit? Eat from this rice peck and its use is inexhaustible; consume from the sweet ambrosia vase and it never diminishes, while it cures a hundred diseases; use the pouch of rare treasures and it suffers no loss; with the seven-jointed divine staff you can defend against the violent. How could a son accomplish this?' The man was greatly pleased, returned home, and tested them; just as spoken, it was not false. He thereupon became immeasurably wealthy. When the king of the country heard of this, he dispatched many soldiers, intending to attack and seize them. The man brandished the staff, flew through the air, and struck the enemy, smashing the powerful troops so that they all retreated and scattered. The man was joyful, free from any further grief or worry.