法苑珠林 12.8

12.8

Furthermore, the Bodhisattva Garbhastha Sūtra says: At midnight on the eighth day of the second month, the Tathāgata personally folded the saṅghāṭī, uttarāsaṅga, and antarvāsas robes into three layers each. He laid them in the golden coffin directly over his body. With his hands, he entrusted the bowl and tin staff to Ānanda. Entering the vajra samādhi, he fragmented his body into śarīra. The Buddha extended his adamantine arm from the golden coffin and sought after the two persons, Kāśyapa and Gavāmpati. Ānanda answered, saying: "The arhat Gavāmpati has already entered nirvāṇa." The Buddha said: "I now attain final parinirvāṇa." He then withdrew into the golden coffin, silent and wordless. Again and again he extended his hand, asking Ānanda: "I have preached the Mahāyāna sūtras for the eight classes of beings; did you hear them all, or not?" [Ānanda] replied, saying: "Only the Buddha knows this." [The Buddha] asked again: "When I preached the Dharma for my mother in Trāyastriṃśa, did you know of it, or not?" [Ānanda] answered, saying: "I did not know." [The Buddha said:] "Moreover, when I preached the Dharma in the dragon palace, the dragon prince attained the Way and left a full-body relic one hundred and thirty zhang tall. Did you know of this, or not?" [Ānanda] answered, saying: "I did not know." [The Buddha said:] "When I resided in my mother's womb for ten months, I manifested the wheel of the non-retrogressing Dharma for the bodhisattvas. The World-Honoured One, through divine power, then manifested walking, standing, sitting, and lying within the mother's body, and all gathered like clouds into the chamber of the womb. Did you know of this, or not?" [Ānanda] answered, saying: "I did not know." (How could Ānanda, a great sage, not know? He claimed not to know because he wished to venerate the hidden nature of the Tathāgata's transformative deeds, hence he answered that he did not know.) Furthermore, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: "Good son, that I roar the great lion's roar here between these twin śāla trees is called the Great Nirvāṇa. The eastern pair destroys impermanence and attains permanence... up to the northern pair, which destroys impurity and attains purity. The sentient beings here, for the sake of the twin trees, guard the śāla grove and do not permit outsiders to take its branches and leaves, or chop and destroy them. I am also like this: for the sake of the four dharmas, I cause my disciples to guard and uphold the Buddha-Dharma. These four twin trees are governed by the Four Heavenly Kings; for the sake of the Four Heavenly Kings, I guard and uphold my Dharma. It is for this reason that I enter parinirvāṇa in their midst."