法苑珠林 79.14

79.14

又觀佛三昧經云。爾時世尊告父王言。舍衛城中須達長者。有一老母名毘低羅。謹勤家業。長者勅使手。執庫鑰。出內取與一切委之。須達請佛及僧供給所須。時病比丘多所求索。老母慳惜瞋嫌佛法及與眾僧。而作是言。我長者愚癡迷惑受沙門術。是諸乞士多求無厭。何道之有。作是語已復發惡願。何時當得不聞佛名不聞僧名。如是惡聲展轉遍舍衛城。末利夫人聞此語已。而作是言。須達長者。如好蓮華。人所樂見。云何復有毒蛇護之。喚須達婦而語之言。汝家老婢惡口誹謗何不擯出。時須達婦跪白夫人。央掘魔等弊惡之人。佛尚能伏何況老婢。末利聞之歡喜語言。我明請佛汝遣婢來。到明食時。長者遣婢。持滿瓶金助王供養。末利見來而作是言。此邪見人。佛若化度我必獲利。佛於爾時從正門入。難陀侍左。阿難侍右。羅睺佛後。老婢見佛心驚毛竪。言此惡人隨我後至。即時退走。從狗竇出。狗竇即閉。四門皆塞唯正門開。婢即覆面以扇自障。佛在其前。令扇如鏡無所障礙。迴顧東視東方有佛。南西北方亦皆如是。舉頭仰看上方有佛。低頭伏地。地化為佛。以手覆面。手十指頭皆化為佛。老婢閉目。心眼開見。虛空化佛滿十方界。當時城中有二十五旃陀羅女。復有五十婆羅門女。及諸雜類。并及末利夫人宮中合五百女。不信佛者。見佛如來足步虛空為於老婢現無數身。皆破邪見頭頂禮佛。稱南無佛。稱已尋見化佛如林。即發菩提。老婢邪見仍未生信。由見佛故除却八十萬億劫中生死之罪。得見佛已疾走歸家。白大家言。我於今日遇大惡對。見於瞿曇在王宮門。作諸幻化。身如金山。目逾青蓮。放勝光明。作此語已入木籠中。以百張皮覆木籠上。白㲲纏頭却臥黑處。佛還祇桓。末利白佛。願化邪女莫還精舍。佛告末利。此婢罪重於佛無緣。於羅睺羅有大因緣。佛既還已遣羅睺羅。詣須達家度彼老婢。羅睺變作轉輪聖王。時千二百五十比丘化為千子。到須達家。以彼老婢為玉女寶。爾時聖王即便以如意珠照曜女面。令女自見如玉女寶。倍大歡喜而作是言。諸沙門等高談大語。自言有道無一効驗。聖王出世弘利處多。令我老婢如玉女寶。作是語已五體投地禮於聖王。時典藏臣宣王十善。女聞十善心大歡喜。聖王所說義無不善。為王作禮悔過自責。心既調伏。時羅睺羅及諸比丘還復本形。老婢見已即作是言。佛法清淨不捨眾生。如我弊惡猶尚化度。即受五戒成須陀洹。將詣佛所為佛作禮。懺悔前罪。求佛出家。得阿羅漢。於虛空中作十八變。波斯匿王末利夫人。見白佛言。此婢前世有何罪咎。生為婢使。復有何福。值佛得道。佛告王曰。過去久遠有佛出世。名一寶蓋燈王。入涅槃後。於像法中有王。名曰雜寶華光。子名快見。出家學道。自恃王子。常懷憍慢。和尚為說甚深般若波羅蜜經大空之義。王子聞已謬解邪說。師滅度後即作是言。我大和尚空無智慧。但讚空義。願我後生不樂見也。我阿闍梨智慧辯才。願於生生為善知識。作是語已教諸徒眾皆行邪見。雖持禁戒。由謗般若謬解邪說。命終之後墮阿鼻獄。八十億劫受苦無量。罪畢出獄為貧賤人。五百身中聾癡無目。千二百身常為人婢。佛告大王。時和尚者今我身是。阿闍梨者今羅睺羅是。王子比丘老婢是。徒眾弟子。今邪見女等發菩提心者是。

Furthermore, the Guanfo sanmei jing states: At that time, the World-Honoured One said to his father, the king: In the city of Śrāvastī, the elder Sudatta had an elderly bondwoman named Vetravatī. Diligent in the family affairs, the elder appointed her to hold the storehouse keys, fully entrusting to her all incoming and outgoing receipts and deliveries. Sudatta invited the Buddha and the Saṃgha, supplying all their needs. At that time, the sick bhikṣus made many requests. The elderly woman, stingy and resentful, loathed the Buddha-Dharma and the assembly of monks, and said: 'My master is foolish and confused, taking up the arts of the śramaṇas. These mendicants seek much without satiety. What Tao do they have?' Having spoken these words, she made an evil vow: 'When will I be able not to hear the Buddha's name and not to hear the Saṃgha's name?' Such evil words spread throughout the city of Śrāvastī. When Queen Mallikā heard these words, she said: 'Elder Sudatta is like a fine lotus flower, delightful for people to see. Why is there a venomous snake guarding him?' She summoned Sudatta's wife and said to her: 'Your household's old maidservant slanders with evil speech; why not cast her out?' At that time, Sudatta's wife knelt and addressed the queen: 'Even base and evil men like Aṅgulimāla the Buddha could subdue; how much more so an old maidservant?' Hearing this, Mallikā said with joy: 'Tomorrow I shall invite the Buddha; send your maidservant to come.' When mealtime arrived the next morning, the elder sent the maidservant carrying a vase full of gold to assist the queen's offering. Mallikā saw her coming and said: 'This person of wrong views—if the Buddha transforms and delivers her, I will surely obtain benefit.' The Buddha then entered through the main gate, with Nanda attending on his left, Ānanda attending on his right, and Rāhula behind the Buddha. Seeing the Buddha, the old maidservant was terrified and her hair stood on end. She said, 'This evil man has followed behind me!' She immediately fled, trying to escape through a dog's hole, but the dog's hole closed at once. The four gates were all blocked, and only the main gate stood open. The maidservant then covered her face, shielding herself with a fan. The Buddha was before her, making the fan like a mirror without obstruction. Looking around to the east, there was a Buddha in the east; the south, west, and north were also like this. Raising her head to look up, there was a Buddha above; bowing her head to the ground, the ground transformed into a Buddha. Covering her face with her hands, the ten fingertips of her hands all transformed into Buddhas. The old maidservant closed her eyes, but her mind's eye opened to see transformed Buddhas filling the worlds of the ten directions in empty space. At that time, there were twenty-five caṇḍāla women, fifty brāhmaṇa women, and various other groups in the city, together with five hundred women in Queen Mallikā's palace who did not believe in the Buddha. Seeing the Tathāgata Buddha walking in empty space and displaying countless bodies for the sake of the old maidservant, they all broke through their wrong views, bowed their heads in homage to the Buddha, and chanted 'Namo Buddhāya.' Having chanted, they immediately saw transformed Buddhas like a forest, and instantly generated the bodhimind. The old maidservant still did not produce faith because of her wrong views. Yet because of seeing the Buddha, she eliminated the sins of birth and death spanning eighty trillion kalpas. Having seen the Buddha, she ran swiftly back home and addressed her master: 'Today I encountered a great evil opponent. I saw Gautama at the royal palace gate performing all manner of illusory transformations, his body like a golden mountain, his eyes surpassing blue lotuses, radiating exquisite light.' Having spoken these words, she entered a wooden cage, covered the cage with a hundred hides, wrapped her head in white cotton, and lay down in a dark place. The Buddha returned to the Jetavana. Mallikā addressed the Buddha: 'May you transform the errant woman; do not return to the monastery.' The Buddha told Mallikā: 'This maidservant's transgressions are grave; she has no karmic affinity with the Buddha, but has great causal conditions with Rāhula.' After the Buddha returned, he dispatched Rāhula to go to Sudatta's house to deliver that old maidservant. Rāhula transformed into a wheel-turning sage king, while twelve hundred and fifty bhikṣus transformed into his thousand sons, arriving at Sudatta's house and taking that old maidservant to be the jewel of a woman. Then the sage king illuminated the woman's face with a wish-fulfilling jewel, causing her to see herself as the jewel of a woman. Doubly joyful, she said: 'The śramaṇas speak tall and boastful words, claiming they have the Way without any verification. The sage king appears in the world and brings extensive benefits in many ways, causing an old maidservant like me to become like the jewel of a woman.' Having spoken these words, she cast her five limbs to the ground in homage to the sage king. Then the minister of the treasury proclaimed the king's ten good deeds. Hearing the ten good deeds, the woman rejoiced greatly: 'None of the meanings spoken by the sage king are not good.' She bowed to the king, repented her faults, and reproached herself. When her mind was subdued, Rāhula and the bhikṣus resumed their original forms. When the old maidservant saw them, she said: 'The Buddha-Dharma is pure and does not abandon sentient beings. Even someone base and evil like me is still transformed and delivered.' She immediately received the five precepts and attained the fruit of srotāpanna. She was led to the Buddha's abode to pay homage to the Buddha, repented her past sins, sought ordination from the Buddha, and attained arhatship, performing eighteen transformations in empty space. King Prasenajit and Queen Mallikā, seeing this, addressed the Buddha: 'What transgression did this maidservant commit in a past life to be born as a bondwoman? What merit did she have to encounter the Buddha and attain the Way?' The Buddha told the king: 'Long ago in the past, a Buddha appeared in the world named Ratnachatrābhyudgata-dīpa-rāja. After he entered nirvāṇa, during the Semblance Dharma there was a king named Nānāratnapuṣpaprabha. His son, named Suvicāra, left home to study the Way. Relying on being a prince, he was constantly arrogant. His upādhyāya explained the profound Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra and the meaning of great emptiness to him. When the prince heard it, he misinterpreted it and propounded evil views. After his teacher passed away, he said: "My great upādhyāya was devoid of wisdom, only praising the meaning of emptiness. I vow that in future births I will not be pleased to see him. My ācārya has wisdom and eloquence; I vow that in life after life he will be my good spiritual friend." Having spoken these words, he taught all his disciples to practice wrong views. Although he kept the prohibitive precepts, because of slandering prajñā and misinterpreting evil doctrines, after his life ended he fell into the Avīci hell, suffering immeasurable torment for eight billion kalpas. When his sins were exhausted, he emerged from hell to become a poor and lowly person, deaf, foolish, and sightless for five hundred lives, and constantly an enslaved bondwoman for twelve hundred lives.' The Buddha told the great king: 'The upādhyāya of that time was my present self. The ācārya was Rāhula. The prince bhikṣu was this old maidservant. His disciples and followers are now these women of wrong views who generated the bodhimind.'