法苑珠林 42.66

42.66

又付法藏經云。昔過去九十一劫毘婆尸佛入涅槃後。有一比丘甚患頭痛。薄拘羅爾時作一貧人。見病比丘即便持一呵梨勒果施病比丘。比丘服訖病即除愈。緣施藥故九十一劫天上人中。受福快樂未曾有病。最後生一婆羅門家。其母早亡。父更娉妻。拘羅年幼。見母作餅從母索之。後母嫉妬。即捉拘羅擲置𨫼上。𨫼雖燋熱不能燒害。父從外來見薄拘羅在熱𨫼上。即便抱下。母於後時釜中煮肉。時薄拘羅從母索肉。母益瞋恚。尋擲釜中亦不燒爛。父覓不見。即便喚之。拘羅聞喚釜中而應。父即抱出平復如故。母後向河拘羅逐去。後母瞋忿而作是言。此何鬼魅妖祥之物。雖復燒煮不能令死。即便捉之擲置河中。值一大魚即便吞食。以福緣故猶復不死。有捕魚師捕得此魚。詣市賣之。索價既多。人無買者。至暮欲臭。薄拘羅父見即隨買。持來歸家。以刀破腹。兒在魚腹高聲唱言。願父安庠勿令傷兒。父開魚腹抱兒而不傷損。年漸長大求佛出家得阿羅漢果。從生至老年百六十未曾有病。乃至無有身熱頭痛。由施藥故得是長壽。五處不死。𨫼鑠不焦。釜煮不爛。水溺不死。魚吞不消。刀割不傷。以是因緣。智者應當作如是事。

The Fu fazang jing also states: Long ago, ninety-one kalpas in the past, after the Buddha Vipaśyin entered nirvāṇa, there was a bhikṣu who suffered severely from a headache. At that time, Bakkula was a poor man. Seeing the sick bhikṣu, he gave him one harītakī fruit as an offering. When the bhikṣu consumed it, his illness was cured at once. Because of the cause of offering medicine, for ninety-one kalpas among gods and humans he enjoyed blissful rewards and was never once sick. In his final life he was born into a brāhmaṇa family. His mother died young, and his father remarried. While Bakkula was still young, he saw his [step]mother making pancakes and asked her for some. The stepmother was jealous; she seized Bakkula and threw him onto an iron griddle. Although the griddle was scorching hot, it could not burn or harm him. When the father returned from outside and saw Bakkula on the hot griddle, he immediately embraced him and took him down. Later, when the mother was boiling meat in a cauldron, Bakkula asked her for meat. The mother became even angrier and promptly threw him into the cauldron, yet he was neither burned nor scalded. When the father could not find him, he called out for him. Hearing the call, Bakkula answered from within the cauldron. The father immediately scooped him out, intact as before. Later, when the mother went to the river, Bakkula followed her. The stepmother said in wrath: "What kind of ghost, phantom, or demonic creature is this? Even burning and boiling cannot kill him!" She seized him and threw him into the river. Encountering a large fish, he was swallowed whole. Due to the conditions of his merit, he still did not die. A fisherman caught this fish and took it to the market to sell. Asking too high a price, no one bought it. Toward evening, as it was about to spoil, Bakkula's father saw it and bought it on the spot. He brought it home and cut open its belly with a knife. From inside the fish's belly, the boy cried out in a loud voice: "Please, father, be careful and do not harm your son!" The father opened the fish's belly and embraced the boy without him having suffered any injury. As he grew up, he sought the Buddha, renounced the household life, and attained the fruit of arhatship. From birth to old age at one hundred and sixty, he was never once ill, not even experiencing fever or headache. Because of offering medicine, he attained this long life and did not die in five situations: he did not burn when scorched on a griddle; he did not scald when boiled in a cauldron; he did not die when drowned in water; he was not digested when swallowed by a fish; and he was not harmed when cut with a knife. Through these causes and conditions, the wise should perform deeds such as this.