法苑珠林 37.40

37.40

Furthermore, the Avadāna-sūtra of the Dharmapada says: In the past when the Buddha was in the world, he sent an arhat named Sumana to take hair and nail [relics] of the Buddha into the southern mountains of the kingdom of Kaśmīra to construct a Buddha stūpa. In the monastery there were constantly five hundred arhats who morning and evening burned incense, circumambulated the stūpa, and bowed in worship. At that time there were five hundred macaques in the mountains who saw the monks circumambulating the stūpa, bowing and making offerings; they then joined together to carry stones, imitating the monks in building a stūpa, circumambulating it, and bowing. At that time, heavy rain fell and a mountain torrent suddenly surged; the five hundred macaques all drowned and died at once. They were reborn in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, in towering and boundless seven-jewelled palaces, their food and clothing coming naturally, and their joy boundless. Having attained rebirth in heaven, each reflected: "By what cause have we come to be born here?" With the divine eye they immediately observed their previous lives, seeing that they had been macaques who had imitated the saṃgha and playfully built a stūpa, had been swept away by the mountain flood, and upon dying were born here. They then went together, bringing incense and flowers down from heaven to make offerings to their dead corpses. They returned to the Buddha's abode to bow and inquire after his health. The Buddha preached the Dharma for them, and all five hundred sons of heaven attained the fruit of srotāpanna simultaneously. Having attained the fruit, they returned to heaven. If macaques imitating monks playfully building a stūpa could obtain such towering karmic rewards, how much more so for a human being who builds a stūpa with a faithful heart—how could there be no karmic result?