法苑珠林 11.37

11.37

Also, the Guan Fo sanmei jing says: The Buddha told his father, the king: 'When I leapt over the palace walls and went to the aśvattha tree not far from the city of Gayā, hundreds of thousands of devaputras such as Devaputra Jīvaka all had this thought: "If the Bodhisattva sits here, he will certainly require a seat; we should now offer heavenly grass." They then took heavenly grass, pure and soft, named Śvastika. When the Bodhisattva received it, he spread it upon the ground and sat down. At that time, the devas further saw the white curl [between his brows], measuring three inches around, turning to the right, possessing hundreds of thousands of colours that flowed into all his marks. Each of these devaputras thought: "The Bodhisattva has now accepted only my grass, not yours." At that time, within the white curl, there were ten thousand kotis of bodhisattvas sitting cross-legged, each taking their grass and sitting under this tree. Each and every devaputra saw such marks within the white curl. At that time there was a devaputra named Yueti (Pramodya), who saw the grass growing from the ground piercing the Bodhisattva's flesh and growing up to his elbows. He said to the devaputras: "How extraordinary this man is! Such is his ascetic practice: not eating for a long time, not hearing shouts, unaware of the grass growing [through him]!" He then extended the white hair with his right hand. The white hair was straight, exactly one zhang, four chi, and five cun long; like a heavenly white jewel, both its interior and exterior were empty. The devas saw hundreds of kotis of rays of light within the hair, subtle and marvelous beyond description. Having seen it, the devas praised it as unprecedented. He then released the white hair, which turned to the right and returned to its original place. At this time the māras were subdued, and Māra returned to his heavenly palace. The white hair followed him straight up to the six heavens. Countless devaputras and devakanyās saw the pores of the white hair, all hollow through the middle, rounded and lovely like the banner of Brahmā. The Tathāgata has immeasurable major marks, and within each mark are eighty-four thousand minor marks. Yet all such marks do not equal a fraction of the merit of the white curl.'