法苑珠林 35.56

35.56

As the Sūtra on King Ajātaśatru's Receiving Prediction states: At that time, after King Ajātaśatru had invited the Buddha to a meal, the Buddha returned to Jetavana. The king consulted with Jīvaka, saying, 'The Buddha has finished his meal. What further would be fitting?' Jīvaka said, 'Only burning many lamps.' Thereupon the king ordered the provision of a hundred piculs of sesame oil, lighting lamps from the palace gate all the way to the Jetavana vihāra. At that time there was an impoverished old woman who, seeing the king perform this meritorious deed, was deeply moved. Going begging, she obtained two coins, with which she went to an oil merchant to buy oil. The oil merchant said, 'Old woman, you are exceedingly poor. Having begged and obtained two coins, why do you not buy food to sustain your life? What will you use this oil for?' The woman said, 'I have heard that a Buddha's appearance in the world is difficult to encounter; it happens but once in a hundred kalpas. I am fortunate to have met the Buddha, yet I have no offerings to make. Today I saw the king perform great merit. Although I am truly poor, I wish to burn a single lamp to serve as the foundation for future lives.' Thereupon the oil merchant, admiring her sincere intention, added three he to the two he of oil that two coins should have bought, so that she received five he in total. The woman then went before the Buddha and lit it. Calculating that this was insufficient for half the night, she made a vow, saying, 'If in a future life I attain the Way like the Buddha, may this oil keep its bright light burning through the whole night without extinguishing.' She bowed in reverence and departed. The lamps that the king had lit were either extinguished or had burnt out, but the lamp lit by the woman had a light exceptionally bright, far surpassing all the other lamps, remaining unextinguished through the night, its oil remaining unspent. When morning came, the Buddha addressed Maudgalyāyana, 'Dawn has now broken; you may extinguish the lamps.' Maudgalyāyana, receiving the instruction, proceeded to extinguish the lamps in sequence. All the lamps were extinguished, but only the woman's single lamp would not go out even after three attempts to quench it. He then raised his kāṣāya to fan it, but the light of the lamp grew brighter. He then used his supernatural power to summon the Vairambha wind to blow against the lamp in turn, but the lamp flared even more brilliantly, shining upward to the Brahmā heaven and outward across the trichiliocosm, its light seen everywhere. The Buddha addressed Maudgalyāyana, 'Stop, stop! This is the radiant light and merit of a future Buddha; it is not something your supernatural powers can extinguish. In past lives this woman made offerings to one hundred and eighty billion Buddhas, and she has already received prediction from previous Buddhas. Because she devoted herself to the scriptural teachings and had no leisure to cultivate dāna, she is poor in her present life and possesses no wealth. Thirty kalpas from now, she will become a Buddha named Sumerupradīpa Tathāgata, Arhat, Samyaksaṃbuddha. Her world will have no sun or moon; the bodies of the people will all possess great radiance, their light illuminating one another like that of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven.' Hearing this, the woman rejoiced, bowed in reverence, and departed. The king asked Jīvaka, 'The merit I performed was towering like this, yet the Buddha gave me no prediction. For this woman's single lamp, he bestowed a prediction!' Jīvaka said, 'Though what the king did was vast, your mind was not focused; it was not like this woman, who concentrated her whole mind upon the Buddha.' Thereupon, in later times, King Ajātaśatru, because he offered oil and flowers to make offerings to the Buddha with utmost sincerity, was given a prediction by the Buddha, who said: 'Eighty thousand kalpas from now, during a kalpa named Pleasing to Behold, the king shall become a Buddha. The Buddha's name will be Śuddha.' King Ajātaśatru's crown prince, named Candravardhana, was eight years old at the time. Seeing his father receive the prediction, he rejoiced exceedingly; he immediately took off all the jewels on his body, scattered them over the Buddha, and said, 'I vow that in the realm of the Buddha Śuddha, I will become a gold-wheel-turning king and be able to make offerings to the Buddha; and when that Buddha enters parinirvāṇa, I shall succeed him as Buddha.' The Buddha said, 'It shall surely be as you vow. The Buddha's name will be Candana.'