法苑珠林 76.13

76.13

The *Avadāna-śataka* also states: In the past, when the Buddha was in the world, Mallikā, the queen of King Prasenajit, gave birth to a daughter named Vajrā. Her features were extremely ugly; her body was rough and coarse like snake skin, and her hair was stiff and coarse like a horse's tail. The king was displeased upon seeing her, and ordered her confined deep within the palace, not allowing her to go outside. As she grew older, reaching marriageable age, he dispatched a minister: 'Seek out a man who was originally of noble clan but is now poor and destitute, and bring him here.' Having received the royal command, the minister found one and presented him to the king. The king took him to a secluded place and spoke to him privately: 'I hear that you come from a noble clan but are now impoverished. I have a daughter whose features are extremely ugly. If you are willing to accept her, I will provide for you.' At that time, the poor man knelt and addressed the king, saying, 'Even if the Great King were to bestow a dog upon me, I would not dare refuse, let alone the king's daughter born of Mallikā!' The king then gave her to him as his wife and built a house for them with sevenfold gates. The king instructed the son-in-law: 'Hold the door bolts yourself; lock them securely when going in or out, and do not let anyone see her.' The king provided wealth to his son-in-law so that he lacked nothing, and appointed him a grand minister. Later, when gathering in an association with noblemen, the pact of the assembly required that everyone bring their wives. All the other men brought their wives along; only this grand minister did not bring his. The crowd was suspicious and thought it strange: 'That man's wife may be upright and beautiful, or she may be extremely ugly and unable to be seen in public; that is why she does not come.' Later, at another gathering, they secretly urged wine on him, making him drunk until he fell asleep. They untied and took his door bolt, and sent five men to go to his house to look. Arriving at the house, they opened the door. Suspecting it was not her husband, the wife reproached herself within and said in distress, 'What sin did I commit in a past life that I am locked away by my husband, never seeing the sun or moon?' She then sincerely paid homage to the World-Honoured One from afar: 'May the Buddha, with compassion, come before me and briefly save me from my misery and distress.' Knowing her thought, the Buddha immediately welled forth from the earth before the woman, revealing the mark of his dark blue hair. The woman raised her head, saw the mark of the Buddha's hair, and felt reverent joy in her heart; her own hair naturally became dark blue in color. As the Buddha gradually revealed his face, the woman's joy redoubled, and her face became upright and beautiful, while her foul marks and coarse skin vanished naturally. When the Buddha fully revealed his body so that she could see it all, her joy grew even greater; her body became upright and beautiful, just like that of a celestial maiden. The Buddha then preached various essentials of the Dharma for her, and she attained the fruit of srotāpanna. After the Buddha departed, the five men entered and saw that her beauty was almost without peer. Having finished observing, they locked the doors again and tied the bolt back in its original place. When the husband returned home and saw his wife's beauty, he asked with delight, 'Who are you?' The wife answered her husband, saying, 'I am your wife.' The husband said to her, 'Previously you were extremely ugly; by what cause are you so beautiful now?' The wife then addressed her husband, relating the above events in full. The wife further said to her husband, 'I wish to see the king; you must deliver the message for me.' The husband went and reported to the king, 'The young lady wishes to come and see you now.' The king answered the son-in-law, 'Do not speak of this! Lock her away securely at once, and take care not to let her come out.' The son-in-law told the king, 'By the Buddha's divine power, the young lady has now become upright and beautiful, no different from a celestial maiden.' When the king heard this, he immediately sent for her to be welcomed. Seeing the woman's beauty, his joy was boundless. He led her to the Buddha's presence and addressed the Buddha, saying, 'I do not know what merit this woman planted in the past that she was born into a noble clan, yet was born ugly.' The Buddha told the king: Long ago in the past, in the kingdom of Vārāṇasī, there was an elder who daily made offerings to a pratyekabuddha whose body was ugly. At that time, there was a young girl in the elder's household who, upon seeing the pratyekabuddha, spoke with malicious intent, reviling him: 'His features are ugly, and the skin of his body is coarse and foul; how detestable he is!' When the pratyekabuddha was about to enter nirvāṇa, he manifested divine powers and performed the eighteen transformations. Seeing this, the girl immediately reproached herself, pleaded for mercy, and repented. Because she reviled the pratyekabuddha in the past, she was always born ugly; because she then repented, she has now attained beauty; and because of her offerings, wherever she was born, she was noble, revered, wealthy, and had boundless joy.