法苑珠林 40.16

40.16

As the Mahākāruṇika-sūtra says: At that time the World-Honoured One told Ānanda, "After my parinirvāṇa, if someone were even to make an offering to my śarīra as small as a mustard seed, revering, honouring, humbling oneself, and making offerings to it, I say that through these roots of good this person will completely attain the realm of nirvāṇa and reach the ultimate limit of nirvāṇa. If someone were to construct images, stūpas, and temples, or faithfully contemplate the merits of the Buddha, or even scatter a single flower into the air, I say that through these roots of good this person will certainly attain the realm of nirvāṇa and reach the ultimate limit of nirvāṇa." The Buddha told Ānanda, "If any sentient being, out of mindfulness of the Buddha, scatters even a single flower into the air, the fruition and retribution obtained from such merit are inexhaustible. If any sentient being with utmost sincerity contemplates the merits of the Buddha and scatters even a single flower into the air, he will in future ages become the king of the Śakra gods, the king of the Brahmā gods, or a holy wheel-turning king (cakravartin), and even then the retribution of his merit will not be exhausted. The field of merit (puṇyakṣetra) of making offerings to the Buddha cannot have its limits exhausted by conditioned fruitions and retributions. I say that such a person will definitely attain nirvāṇa and reach the ultimate limit of nirvāṇa. Even if there is an animal that can give rise to mindfulness of the Buddha, the World-Honoured One, I also say that through the retribution of its roots of good it will attain nirvāṇa and reach the ultimate limit of nirvāṇa. If there were a great trichiliocosm completely filled with the four fruits of a śramaṇa and with pratyekabuddhas as numerous as sugarcanes, bamboos, and reeds; and if someone, whether in their present life or after their parinirvāṇa, were to erect stūpas and make offerings to them for an entire kalpa or for less than a kalpa, revering, honouring, humbling oneself, and making offerings with all desirable pleasing things and instruments of pleasure; and if another person, before the Buddhas, merely joins their palms once or recites the Buddha's name once: this [latter] merit, compared to the former merit, does not equal a hundredth part, a thousandth part, a hundred-thousand-millionth part, or even a kalā part. Why is this? Because the Buddha, the Tathāgata, is the most supreme among all fields of merit. Therefore, offering to the Buddha accomplishes great merit, supernormal power, and majestic potency."