法苑珠林 56.45

56.45

Furthermore, the Sutra Preached by the Buddha on Mahākāśyapa Delivering the Poor Woman states: The Buddha was in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, Mahākāśyapa went alone to teach and transform beings, arriving at the city of Rājagṛha. He constantly practiced great compassion to bring merit to sentient beings, passing over the wealthy and begging from the poor. When he was about to go on almsround, he first entered samādhi, contemplating: 'Which poor person should I bring merit to?' He then entered the great city of Rājagṛha and saw a solitary woman who was utterly destitute, living inside a large dung heap in an alley. Beside it, she had hollowed out the dung heap into a cavern; emaciated and sickly, she always lay within it. Alone and forlorn, she had neither clothes nor food, and had set up a small fence at the cavern to cover her physical body. Through samādhi, Kāśyapa knew that in her past she had not planted merit, and therefore was poor in this life; he also knew that the woman's life was near its end, and that if he did not deliver her, she would forever lose the hall of merit. At that time, the woman was starving and exhausted. An elder's maidservant had discarded rice water that was foul beyond description. The woman begged for it, received it in a broken tile, and placed it beside her. Kāśyapa arrived at her dwelling, pronounced a blessing, and begged from her, saying, 'If you give me even a little, you can attain great merit.' At that time, the old woman spoke a verse: