法苑珠林 56.12

56.12

又百緣經云。佛在世時。迦毘羅衛城中有一長者。財富無量不可稱計。其婦生一肉團。長者見已心懷愁惱。謂為非祥。往詣佛所請問吉凶。佛告長者。汝莫疑怪。但好養育。滿七日已汝當自見。時長者聞是語已喜不自勝。還詣家中勅令瞻養。七日頭到。肉團開敷有百男子。端正殊妙世所希有。年漸長大值佛出家得阿羅漢果。諸天世人所見敬仰。時諸比丘見已請說得道因緣。佛告比丘。乃往過去九十一劫。有佛出世。號毘婆尸入涅槃後。時彼國王名槃頭末帝。收取舍利造四寶塔。高一由旬。而供養之。時有同邑一百餘人作倡伎樂。齎持香華供養彼塔。各共發願。以此功德使我來世所在生處共為兄弟。發是願已各自歸去。

The Sūtra of a Hundred Avadānas also says: When the Buddha was in the world, there was an elder in the city of Kapilavastu whose wealth was boundless and beyond calculation. His wife gave birth to a lump of flesh; seeing it, the elder felt sorrow and distress, considering it an ill omen. He went to the Buddha's place to inquire about good or bad fortune. The Buddha told the elder, "Do not doubt or wonder at it; just raise it well. When seven days are complete, you will see for yourself." Hearing these words, the elder was overjoyed beyond measure, returned home, and ordered that it be cared for and nourished. When the seventh day arrived, the lump of flesh opened, and there were one hundred boys, upright and exquisite, rare in the world. As they grew older, they met the Buddha, left the household life, and attained the fruit of arhatship, revered and admired by devas and worldly humans. When the monks saw this, they asked him to explain the causes and conditions of their attaining the Way. The Buddha told the monks, "In the distant past, ninety-one kalpas ago, a Buddha appeared in the world named Vipaśyin. After he entered nirvāṇa, the king of that country at the time, named Bandhumat, collected the śarīra and built a four-jewelled stūpa one yojana high to make offerings to them. At that time, over one hundred men of the same village played music, held incense and flowers, and made offerings to that stūpa, each making a vow together: 'By this merit, wherever we are born in future lives, may we be brothers together!' Having made this vow, they each returned home.