法苑珠林 65.47

65.47

As the Suvarṇaprabhāsa-sūtra says: At that time, the elder Jalavāhana treated the ailments of all sentient beings within the kingdom of King Sureśvaraprabha, causing them to recover. At that time, the elder's son had a wife named Jalagarbhā, who bore two sons; one was named Jalamata, and the second was named Jalagarbha. At that time, the elder's son took these two sons and traveled about in turn, arriving at a great empty marsh. He saw various birds and beasts, mostly feeding on blood and flesh, racing uniformly in one direction. The elder thought: "For what reason are these various birds and beasts racing in one direction?" Thereupon, the elder's son followed them and saw that there was a pond whose water had dried up. In that pond there were numerous fish. The elder, seeing the fish, gave rise to great compassion. At that time, a tree spirit manifested half of its body and spoke these words: "Excellent, good man! These fish are pitiable; you should give them water. For this reason you are called by the name Jalavāhana (Flowing Water)." The elder asked the spirit: "What is the number of heads of these fish?" The tree spirit answered, saying: "Their number is completely full, a full ten thousand." At that time, Jalavāhana, having heard this number, redoubled his mind of compassion. At that time, this empty pond was scorched by the sun, and these ten thousand fish were about to enter the gates of death. At that time, the elder sought water in the four directions but could not find any at all. Seeing a large tree, he immediately took branches and leaves, returned to the pond, and provided shade and coolness for them. Having made shade and coolness, he again ran swiftly far off to another place and saw a great river named Jalodbhava. There were evil men who, in order to catch these fish, breached and diverted its water so that it was not allowed to flow down. Yet the place where it was breached was steep, precipitous, and difficult to repair. At that time, the elder's son hurried to the king's place and explained the circumstances: "I only pray, Great King, lend me twenty great elephants so that they may carry water to save the lives of those fish." At that time, the Great King immediately ordered his ministers to supply them swiftly: "Go in person to the stables and select them as you wish." At that time, Jalavāhana and his two sons took the twenty great elephants, borrowed leather water-bags from the people who governed the city, and went to that breached place on the upper stream. They filled the bags with water, had the elephants carry them, and hurried swiftly to the pond in the empty marsh. They emptied them into the pond, and the water thereupon brimmed full. At that time, the elder's son strolled around the four sides of the pond, and the fish also followed him, moving along the bank. At that time, the elder's son again had this thought: "For what reason do these fish follow me? They must be tormented by the fire of hunger and seeking food from me." At that time, Jalavāhana told his sons: "Go home and inform your grandfather: whatever edible things there are in the house, load them all onto elephants and return in haste." At that time, the two sons, as their father had instructed, went home and informed their grandfather, explaining the matters as above. At that time, the two sons gathered food, loaded it onto the elephants, and returned to their father's place. The elder was joyful in his heart, took the food from his sons, and scattered it into the pond. Having given the food to the fish, he caused them to be satisfied. He further reflected on [a passage in] the sūtra: "If there are sentient beings who, when approaching the end of their lives, are able to hear the name of Ratnaśikhin Tathāgata, they will immediately be born in heaven." He then entered the water and spoke these words: "Homage to the past Ratnaśikhin Tathāgata," along with his ten epithets and names. He also explained to these fish such profound and sublime Dharma as the twelve links of dependent origination. At that time, Jalavāhana and his sons returned home. Sometime later, when the guests were lying asleep from drunkenness, the earth suddenly shook violently. At that time, the ten thousand fish died on the same day and were immediately born in Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. Having been born in heaven, they thought of repaying the kindness. At that time, the ten thousand devaputras descended from Trāyastriṃśa Heaven to the elder's house. At that time, the elder's son was asleep in an upper story. These ten thousand devaputras placed ten thousand heavenly wondrous necklaces of real pearls beside his head, placed another ten thousand beside his feet, placed another ten thousand beside his right side, and placed another ten thousand beside his left side. They rained down māndārava flowers and mahāmāndārava flowers, piling up to his knees. Various kinds of heavenly music produced wondrous sounds. Those who were asleep in Jambudvīpa all awoke, and the elder Jalavāhana also awoke from sleep. These ten thousand devaputras traveled through the air and rained down heavenly flowers throughout the kingdom. They also went to the marsh pond and rained down heavenly flowers again, and then disappeared from there and returned to the palace of Trāyastriṃśa.