法苑珠林 76.19

76.19

又百緣經云。佛在世時。王舍城中有一長者。財寶無量不可稱計。其婦足滿十月便欲產子。然不肯出。尋重有身。足滿十月復產一子。先懷者住在右脇。如是次第懷妊九子。各滿十月而產。唯先一子故在胎中不肯出外。其母極患。設諸湯藥以自療治。病無降損囑及家中。我腹中子故活不死。今若設終必開我腹取子養育。其母於時不免所患。即便命終。時諸眷屬載其尸骸詣於塚間。請大醫耆婆。破腹看之。得一小兒。形狀故小頭鬚皓白。俯僂而行。四向顧視語諸親言。汝等當知。我由先身惡口罵辱眾僧故。處此熟藏中經六十年。受是苦惱難可叵當。諸親聞已號啼悲哭不能答之。爾時世尊遙知此兒善根已熟。將諸大眾往到尸所。告小兒言。汝是長老比丘不。答言。實是。第二第三亦如是問。故言道是。時諸大眾見此小兒與佛答對。各懷疑惑。前白佛言。今此老兒宿造何業。在腹髮白。俯僂而行。復與如來共相答問。

Furthermore, the Sūtra of the Hundred Avadānas says: When the Buddha was in the world, there was an elder in the city of Rājagṛha whose wealth and treasures were immeasurable and beyond reckoning. His wife, having completed ten months [of pregnancy], was about to give birth to a child, but it was unwilling to come out. Soon she became pregnant again, and having completed ten months, she gave birth to another child. The one conceived earlier remained in her right flank. In this manner, she successively conceived nine children, each born upon the completion of ten months. Only that first child remained in the womb and was unwilling to come out. The mother suffered exceedingly; she prepared various medicines and broths to treat herself, but the ailment did not subside. She instructed her household: "The child in my womb is still alive and not dead. If I should die now, you must cut open my belly, take out the child, and nurture him." At that time, the mother could not escape the illness and thereupon died. Then the relatives loaded her corpse onto a cart and went to the cemetery. They invited the great physician Jīvaka to cut open her belly and inspect it. They obtained a young boy: his form was still small, his hair and beard were completely white, and he walked hunched over. Looking around in all four directions, he spoke to his relatives, saying: "You should know that because in a past life I abused and insulted the Saṃgha with harsh speech, I have dwelt in this digestive tract for sixty years, undergoing such suffering that it is difficult to endure." When the relatives heard this, they wailed and wept bitterly, unable to answer him. At that time, the World-Honoured One knew from afar that this child's roots of goodness had matured. Leading the great assembly, he proceeded to the place of the corpse. He addressed the small child, saying: "Are you an elder monk?" He replied, saying: "Truly, I am." A second and third time [the Buddha] asked likewise, and he still said that he was. At that time, seeing this small child replying to the Buddha, the great assembly each harboured doubts. Stepping forward, they addressed the Buddha, saying: "What karma did this old child create in the past that he has white hair in the womb, walks hunched over, and moreover engages in questions and answers with the Tathāgata?"