法苑珠林 62.13

62.13

Question: According to the Short Basin Sūtra: 'The Buddha told Maudgalyāyana: "The monks of the ten directions, at the time of the pravāraṇā on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, should prepare food for parents of seven lifetimes and present parents in adversity: vessels and basins with a hundred delicacies and the five fruits, ladles and pitchers, fragrant oil and burning lamps, beds, bedding, and all requisites, providing all sweet fruits and placing them inside the basins, to offer to the venerable monks of the ten directions. When first receiving the basins, one should first place them before the Buddha's stupa; after the assembly of monks has completed the recitation of mantras and vows, they may then partake of the food themselves."' It does not mention offerings of sundry flowers. Nowadays, the capable and wealthy in various monasteries extensively make sundry flowers, using either various jewels, various silks, rice and flour, various types of wax, lead and tin, or various colors. There are also monks and laypeople of noble status who criticize this, saying: 'Maudgalyāyana's mother was reborn as a hungry ghost, and the Buddha instructed him to prepare food and drink of a hundred delicacies to offer to the Buddha and the Saṅgha. For what reason are these jeweled flowers and sundry items offered to the Buddha and Saṅgha? Can they eat these jeweled flowers and sundry colors?' Answer: One must not let one's own narrow pettiness obstruct the great merit of others. Thus the Great Basin Sūtra states: 'King Bimbisāra made five hundred golden bowls, filled to the brim with flowers of a thousand colors; five hundred silver bowls, filled to the brim with white agallochum incense of a thousand colors; five hundred lapis lazuli bowls, filled to the brim with purple gold incense of a thousand colors; five hundred tridacna bowls, filled to the brim with yellow lotus flowers of a thousand colors; five hundred agate bowls, filled to the brim with red lotus flowers of a thousand colors; five hundred coral bowls, filled to the brim with green agallochum incense of a thousand colors; and five hundred amber bowls, filled to the brim with white lotus flowers of a thousand colors. When the king saw that all was done according to the Dharma, he immediately commanded his military ministers to array an escort of one hundred and forty thousand people, and they went together to the Jetavana Temple to pay homage to the Buddha and present the basins to him and the Saṅgha. Having donated all the basins and bowls of the seven treasures to the Buddha and the Saṅgha, and after they had received and made use of them, he returned with his retinue to his kingdom. His parents of seven lifetimes transcended the sins of birth and death spanning seventy-two kalpas.' Next, the householder Sudatta, Mother Viśākhā, two hundred upāsikās, King Prasenajit, Queen Mallikā, and others proclaimed throughout their realms: 'According to Maudgalyāyana's basin ritual, make basins for us!' They each used five hundred purple-gold basins and yellow-gold basins, filled to the brim with food and drink of a hundred and one flavours. Then, with five hundred purple-gold palanquins and five hundred yellow-gold palanquins, filled to the brim with a hundred and one items, everything was fully provided. They proceeded before the king and queen, who saw that it was done according to the Dharma. Thereupon the king arrayed an escort, and together with one hundred and eighty thousand people went before the Buddha. After presenting the thousand golden basins, thousand golden palanquins, and so forth, they paid reverent homage and returned. Their parents of seven lifetimes transcended the sins of birth and death spanning seventy-two kalpas.