法苑珠林 56.45

56.45

又佛說摩訶迦葉度貧母經云。佛在舍衛國。是時摩訶迦葉。獨行教化到王舍城。常行大哀福於眾生。捨諸豪富而從貧乞。時欲分衛先入三昧。何所貧人吾當福之。即入王舍大城之中。見一孤母。最甚貧困。在於街巷大糞聚中。傍鑿糞聚以為巖窟。羸瘦疾病常臥其中。孤單零丁無有衣食。便於巖窟施小籬柵。以障五形。迦葉三昧知此人宿不植福是以今貧。知母壽命。終日在近。若吾不度永失福堂。母時飢困。長者青衣而棄米汁。臭惡難言。母從乞之。即以破瓦盛著左右。迦葉到所祝願從乞。多少施我可得大福。爾時老母即說偈言。

Furthermore, the Sutra Preached by the Buddha on Mahākāśyapa Delivering the Poor Woman states: The Buddha was in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, Mahākāśyapa went alone to teach and transform beings, arriving at the city of Rājagṛha. He constantly practiced great compassion to bring merit to sentient beings, passing over the wealthy and begging from the poor. When he was about to go on almsround, he first entered samādhi, contemplating: 'Which poor person should I bring merit to?' He then entered the great city of Rājagṛha and saw a solitary woman who was utterly destitute, living inside a large dung heap in an alley. Beside it, she had hollowed out the dung heap into a cavern; emaciated and sickly, she always lay within it. Alone and forlorn, she had neither clothes nor food, and had set up a small fence at the cavern to cover her physical body. Through samādhi, Kāśyapa knew that in her past she had not planted merit, and therefore was poor in this life; he also knew that the woman's life was near its end, and that if he did not deliver her, she would forever lose the hall of merit. At that time, the woman was starving and exhausted. An elder's maidservant had discarded rice water that was foul beyond description. The woman begged for it, received it in a broken tile, and placed it beside her. Kāśyapa arrived at her dwelling, pronounced a blessing, and begged from her, saying, 'If you give me even a little, you can attain great merit.' At that time, the old woman spoke a verse: