法苑珠林 79.14

79.14

Furthermore, the Guanfo sanmei jing states: At that time, the World-Honoured One said to his father, the king: In the city of Śrāvastī, the elder Sudatta had an elderly bondwoman named Vetravatī. Diligent in the family affairs, the elder appointed her to hold the storehouse keys, fully entrusting to her all incoming and outgoing receipts and deliveries. Sudatta invited the Buddha and the Saṃgha, supplying all their needs. At that time, the sick bhikṣus made many requests. The elderly woman, stingy and resentful, loathed the Buddha-Dharma and the assembly of monks, and said: 'My master is foolish and confused, taking up the arts of the śramaṇas. These mendicants seek much without satiety. What Tao do they have?' Having spoken these words, she made an evil vow: 'When will I be able not to hear the Buddha's name and not to hear the Saṃgha's name?' Such evil words spread throughout the city of Śrāvastī. When Queen Mallikā heard these words, she said: 'Elder Sudatta is like a fine lotus flower, delightful for people to see. Why is there a venomous snake guarding him?' She summoned Sudatta's wife and said to her: 'Your household's old maidservant slanders with evil speech; why not cast her out?' At that time, Sudatta's wife knelt and addressed the queen: 'Even base and evil men like Aṅgulimāla the Buddha could subdue; how much more so an old maidservant?' Hearing this, Mallikā said with joy: 'Tomorrow I shall invite the Buddha; send your maidservant to come.' When mealtime arrived the next morning, the elder sent the maidservant carrying a vase full of gold to assist the queen's offering. Mallikā saw her coming and said: 'This person of wrong views—if the Buddha transforms and delivers her, I will surely obtain benefit.' The Buddha then entered through the main gate, with Nanda attending on his left, Ānanda attending on his right, and Rāhula behind the Buddha. Seeing the Buddha, the old maidservant was terrified and her hair stood on end. She said, 'This evil man has followed behind me!' She immediately fled, trying to escape through a dog's hole, but the dog's hole closed at once. The four gates were all blocked, and only the main gate stood open. The maidservant then covered her face, shielding herself with a fan. The Buddha was before her, making the fan like a mirror without obstruction. Looking around to the east, there was a Buddha in the east; the south, west, and north were also like this. Raising her head to look up, there was a Buddha above; bowing her head to the ground, the ground transformed into a Buddha. Covering her face with her hands, the ten fingertips of her hands all transformed into Buddhas. The old maidservant closed her eyes, but her mind's eye opened to see transformed Buddhas filling the worlds of the ten directions in empty space. At that time, there were twenty-five caṇḍāla women, fifty brāhmaṇa women, and various other groups in the city, together with five hundred women in Queen Mallikā's palace who did not believe in the Buddha. Seeing the Tathāgata Buddha walking in empty space and displaying countless bodies for the sake of the old maidservant, they all broke through their wrong views, bowed their heads in homage to the Buddha, and chanted 'Namo Buddhāya.' Having chanted, they immediately saw transformed Buddhas like a forest, and instantly generated the bodhimind. The old maidservant still did not produce faith because of her wrong views. Yet because of seeing the Buddha, she eliminated the sins of birth and death spanning eighty trillion kalpas. Having seen the Buddha, she ran swiftly back home and addressed her master: 'Today I encountered a great evil opponent. I saw Gautama at the royal palace gate performing all manner of illusory transformations, his body like a golden mountain, his eyes surpassing blue lotuses, radiating exquisite light.' Having spoken these words, she entered a wooden cage, covered the cage with a hundred hides, wrapped her head in white cotton, and lay down in a dark place. The Buddha returned to the Jetavana. Mallikā addressed the Buddha: 'May you transform the errant woman; do not return to the monastery.' The Buddha told Mallikā: 'This maidservant's transgressions are grave; she has no karmic affinity with the Buddha, but has great causal conditions with Rāhula.' After the Buddha returned, he dispatched Rāhula to go to Sudatta's house to deliver that old maidservant. Rāhula transformed into a wheel-turning sage king, while twelve hundred and fifty bhikṣus transformed into his thousand sons, arriving at Sudatta's house and taking that old maidservant to be the jewel of a woman. Then the sage king illuminated the woman's face with a wish-fulfilling jewel, causing her to see herself as the jewel of a woman. Doubly joyful, she said: 'The śramaṇas speak tall and boastful words, claiming they have the Way without any verification. The sage king appears in the world and brings extensive benefits in many ways, causing an old maidservant like me to become like the jewel of a woman.' Having spoken these words, she cast her five limbs to the ground in homage to the sage king. Then the minister of the treasury proclaimed the king's ten good deeds. Hearing the ten good deeds, the woman rejoiced greatly: 'None of the meanings spoken by the sage king are not good.' She bowed to the king, repented her faults, and reproached herself. When her mind was subdued, Rāhula and the bhikṣus resumed their original forms. When the old maidservant saw them, she said: 'The Buddha-Dharma is pure and does not abandon sentient beings. Even someone base and evil like me is still transformed and delivered.' She immediately received the five precepts and attained the fruit of srotāpanna. She was led to the Buddha's abode to pay homage to the Buddha, repented her past sins, sought ordination from the Buddha, and attained arhatship, performing eighteen transformations in empty space. King Prasenajit and Queen Mallikā, seeing this, addressed the Buddha: 'What transgression did this maidservant commit in a past life to be born as a bondwoman? What merit did she have to encounter the Buddha and attain the Way?' The Buddha told the king: 'Long ago in the past, a Buddha appeared in the world named Ratnachatrābhyudgata-dīpa-rāja. After he entered nirvāṇa, during the Semblance Dharma there was a king named Nānāratnapuṣpaprabha. His son, named Suvicāra, left home to study the Way. Relying on being a prince, he was constantly arrogant. His upādhyāya explained the profound Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra and the meaning of great emptiness to him. When the prince heard it, he misinterpreted it and propounded evil views. After his teacher passed away, he said: "My great upādhyāya was devoid of wisdom, only praising the meaning of emptiness. I vow that in future births I will not be pleased to see him. My ācārya has wisdom and eloquence; I vow that in life after life he will be my good spiritual friend." Having spoken these words, he taught all his disciples to practice wrong views. Although he kept the prohibitive precepts, because of slandering prajñā and misinterpreting evil doctrines, after his life ended he fell into the Avīci hell, suffering immeasurable torment for eight billion kalpas. When his sins were exhausted, he emerged from hell to become a poor and lowly person, deaf, foolish, and sightless for five hundred lives, and constantly an enslaved bondwoman for twelve hundred lives.' The Buddha told the great king: 'The upādhyāya of that time was my present self. The ācārya was Rāhula. The prince bhikṣu was this old maidservant. His disciples and followers are now these women of wrong views who generated the bodhimind.'