法苑珠林 26.19

26.19

When the arhat had finished speaking this verse, he became silent. The monkey devaputra said: 'Venerable One, what sinful karma did I commit in my past life to be born among monkeys? And what merit do I have that I met the Venerable One and was freed from being an animal to be born in heaven?' The arhat answered, saying: 'Far in the past, a Buddha appeared in this Jambudvīpa named Ratnamati Tathāgata. After his nirvāṇa, during the Semblance Dharma, there was a bhikṣu named Padmagarbha. He made friends with many kings, elders, and householders, lived by wrong livelihood, was flattering and crooked, and did not uphold the precepts and conduct. When his body broke up and life ended, he fell into the Avīci hell like a lotus opening. Filling the eighteen compartments, he experienced all sufferings fully, with a lifespan of one kalpa. When the kalpa ended, he was reborn again, thus passing through all the great hells for a full eighty-four thousand kalpas. Emerging from the hells, he fell among hungry ghosts, swallowing and drinking molten copper for eighty-four thousand years. Emerging from the hungry ghosts, he again fell among cattle, pigs, dogs, and monkeys, for five hundred lifetimes each. Because of having previously made offerings to a precept-holding bhikṣu and making serious vows, now you have met me again and were born in heaven. The precept-holding bhikṣu was my very body; the negligent bhikṣu was your very body.' Hearing these words, the monkey devaputra's heart was terrified and his hair stood on end. Repenting his former sins, he returned to heaven.