法苑珠林 35.56

35.56

如阿闍世王受決經云。時阿闍世王請佛食已。佛還祇洹。王與耆婆議曰。佛飯已竟。更復何宜。耆婆言。唯多然燈。於是王乃勅具百斛麻油膏。從宮門然至祇洹精舍。時有貧窮老母。見王作此功德。乃更感激。行乞得兩錢。以至油家買油膏。膏主曰。母人大貧窮乞得兩錢。何不買食以自連繼。用此膏為。母曰。我聞佛生難值百劫一遇。我幸逢佛而無供養。今日見王作大功德。雖實貧窮欲然一燈作後世本。於是膏主嘉其至意。與兩錢膏應得二合。特益三合。凡得五合。母則往當佛前然之。計此不足半夕。乃自誓言。若我後世得道如佛。膏當通夕光明不消。作禮而去。王所然燈或滅或盡。母所然燈。光明特朗殊勝諸燈。通夕不滅。膏又不盡。至明朝旦。佛告目連。天今已曉可滅諸燈。目連承教以次滅燈。諸燈皆滅。唯母一燈三滅不盡。便舉袈裟以扇之燈光益明。乃以威神引隨嵐風以次吹燈。燈更熾盛上照梵天。傍照三千世界。悉見其光。佛告目連。止止。此當來佛之光明功德。非汝威神所滅。此母宿命供養百八十億佛。已從前佛受決。務以經法未暇修檀。故今貧窮無有財寶。却後三十劫當得作佛。號曰須彌燈光如來至真等正覺。世界無有日月。人民身中皆有大光。光明相照如忉利天。母聞歡喜作禮而去。王問耆婆。我作功德巍巍如此。佛不與我決。此母一燈便與授決。耆婆曰。王所作雖多心不專一。不如此母注心於佛也。於是後時闍王以至誠心。奉獻油華供養佛故。佛便授王決曰。却後八萬劫。劫名喜觀。王當為佛。佛號淨其。闍王太子名旃陀和利。時年八歲。見父受決甚大歡喜。即脫身眾寶以散佛上曰。願淨其佛所。我作金輪王得供養佛。佛般泥洹我當承續為佛。佛言。必如汝願。佛號旃檀。

As the Sūtra on King Ajātaśatru's Receiving Prediction states: At that time, after King Ajātaśatru had invited the Buddha to a meal, the Buddha returned to Jetavana. The king consulted with Jīvaka, saying, 'The Buddha has finished his meal. What further would be fitting?' Jīvaka said, 'Only burning many lamps.' Thereupon the king ordered the provision of a hundred piculs of sesame oil, lighting lamps from the palace gate all the way to the Jetavana vihāra. At that time there was an impoverished old woman who, seeing the king perform this meritorious deed, was deeply moved. Going begging, she obtained two coins, with which she went to an oil merchant to buy oil. The oil merchant said, 'Old woman, you are exceedingly poor. Having begged and obtained two coins, why do you not buy food to sustain your life? What will you use this oil for?' The woman said, 'I have heard that a Buddha's appearance in the world is difficult to encounter; it happens but once in a hundred kalpas. I am fortunate to have met the Buddha, yet I have no offerings to make. Today I saw the king perform great merit. Although I am truly poor, I wish to burn a single lamp to serve as the foundation for future lives.' Thereupon the oil merchant, admiring her sincere intention, added three he to the two he of oil that two coins should have bought, so that she received five he in total. The woman then went before the Buddha and lit it. Calculating that this was insufficient for half the night, she made a vow, saying, 'If in a future life I attain the Way like the Buddha, may this oil keep its bright light burning through the whole night without extinguishing.' She bowed in reverence and departed. The lamps that the king had lit were either extinguished or had burnt out, but the lamp lit by the woman had a light exceptionally bright, far surpassing all the other lamps, remaining unextinguished through the night, its oil remaining unspent. When morning came, the Buddha addressed Maudgalyāyana, 'Dawn has now broken; you may extinguish the lamps.' Maudgalyāyana, receiving the instruction, proceeded to extinguish the lamps in sequence. All the lamps were extinguished, but only the woman's single lamp would not go out even after three attempts to quench it. He then raised his kāṣāya to fan it, but the light of the lamp grew brighter. He then used his supernatural power to summon the Vairambha wind to blow against the lamp in turn, but the lamp flared even more brilliantly, shining upward to the Brahmā heaven and outward across the trichiliocosm, its light seen everywhere. The Buddha addressed Maudgalyāyana, 'Stop, stop! This is the radiant light and merit of a future Buddha; it is not something your supernatural powers can extinguish. In past lives this woman made offerings to one hundred and eighty billion Buddhas, and she has already received prediction from previous Buddhas. Because she devoted herself to the scriptural teachings and had no leisure to cultivate dāna, she is poor in her present life and possesses no wealth. Thirty kalpas from now, she will become a Buddha named Sumerupradīpa Tathāgata, Arhat, Samyaksaṃbuddha. Her world will have no sun or moon; the bodies of the people will all possess great radiance, their light illuminating one another like that of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven.' Hearing this, the woman rejoiced, bowed in reverence, and departed. The king asked Jīvaka, 'The merit I performed was towering like this, yet the Buddha gave me no prediction. For this woman's single lamp, he bestowed a prediction!' Jīvaka said, 'Though what the king did was vast, your mind was not focused; it was not like this woman, who concentrated her whole mind upon the Buddha.' Thereupon, in later times, King Ajātaśatru, because he offered oil and flowers to make offerings to the Buddha with utmost sincerity, was given a prediction by the Buddha, who said: 'Eighty thousand kalpas from now, during a kalpa named Pleasing to Behold, the king shall become a Buddha. The Buddha's name will be Śuddha.' King Ajātaśatru's crown prince, named Candravardhana, was eight years old at the time. Seeing his father receive the prediction, he rejoiced exceedingly; he immediately took off all the jewels on his body, scattered them over the Buddha, and said, 'I vow that in the realm of the Buddha Śuddha, I will become a gold-wheel-turning king and be able to make offerings to the Buddha; and when that Buddha enters parinirvāṇa, I shall succeed him as Buddha.' The Buddha said, 'It shall surely be as you vow. The Buddha's name will be Candana.'