法苑珠林 42.5

42.5

In the past, the elder Jyotiṣka fashioned a sandalwood bowl, placed it in a netted bag, and hung it high on an ivory peg, saying, 'If any śramaṇa or brāhmaṇa can reach it without using a ladder or staff, I will give it to them.' Knowing this, various non-Buddhists wished to manifest supernormal powers, but lacking wisdom, they only turned their heads and left. Pindola-bhāradvāja heard of this and asked Maudgalyāyana, 'Is this true or not?' Maudgalyāyana answered, 'It is true. You are foremost among those who roar the lion's roar; go and take it.' Maudgalyāyana himself feared the Buddha's admonition and was unwilling to take it. Pindola immediately went to the house, entered meditative absorption, and simply stretched out his hand from his seat to take the bowl. According to the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya, he was sitting at that time upon a square boulder of immense proportions, which flew through the air following his body; having obtained the bowl, he returned. When the Buddha heard of this, he reproached him: 'How can a bhikṣu manifest supernormal powers before unordained people for the sake of a non-Buddhist's bowl? From now on, for the rest of your life, you are expelled and may not dwell in Jambudvīpa.' Thereupon, Pindola followed the Buddha's instructions and went to Aparagodānīya, converting the fourfold assembly and broadly proclaiming the Buddha's Dharma. When the disciples of the four assemblies in Jambudvīpa longed to see Pindola, they addressed the Buddha, and the Buddha permitted him to return to his seat. Because he had manifested his supernormal feet, he was not permitted to enter nirvāṇa, and was commanded to serve as a field of merit for the fourfold assembly of the final age. He also vowed that wherever he was invited across the three continents, he would go. Furthermore, the Aśoka-avadāna records that the bhikṣu Samudramati, riding through the air out of a boiling cauldron, spoke a verse to the king, saying: