法苑珠林 94.52

94.52

Furthermore, the Sūtra of a Hundred Avadānas states: When the Buddha was at the Kalandaka Bamboo Grove in Rājagṛha, whenever the Venerable Śāriputra and Mahāmaudgalyāyana were about to eat, they would first contemplate the hells, animals, and hungry ghosts, and only then would they eat. Maudgalyāyana saw a hungry ghost whose body was like a charred pillar, whose belly was like Mount Tai, whose throat was like a fine needle, and whose hair was like awls and knives, wrapping around and piercing its body. Fire issued forth from all its joints and limbs. Groaning and screaming loudly, it ran about in all four directions, seeking feces and urine to eat and drink. Weary and tormented throughout the entire day, it could not obtain any. He then asked the ghost: 'What karma did you commit to suffer such torment?' The hungry ghost replied: 'Where the sun shines, one does not trouble with lamps and candles. The Tathāgata, the World-Honoured One, is now present in the world. You may ask him yourself. I am now starving and parched and cannot answer you.' At that time Maudgalyāyana went at once to the Buddha's place and asked the Tathāgata in detail about the karma committed that caused it to suffer such torment, inquiring fully as above. At that time the World-Honoured One told Maudgalyāyana: 'Listen closely now; I will explain it for you. In this Bhadrakalpa, in the city of Śrāvastī, there was an elder whose wealth and treasures were boundless and beyond reckoning. He constantly had his servants press sugarcane juice to present to his household. There was a pratyekabuddha who suffered severely from an illness of thirst. A skilled physician prescribed medicine, instructing him to take sugarcane juice so that the illness could be cured. At that time, the pratyekabuddha went to the elder's house to beg for sugarcane juice. When the elder saw him come, he rejoiced and immediately instructed his wife, Puṇyā: 'I have urgent business and must go out. You stay behind, take sugarcane juice, and give it to the pratyekabuddha.' The wife replied: 'Just go out; I will give it myself later.' When the husband had left, she took the pratyekabuddha's bowl, went to a secluded place, urinated into the bowl, covered the top of the bowl with sugarcane juice, and gave it to the pratyekabuddha. When the pratyekabuddha received it, he immediately knew it was foul, threw it out on the ground, and returned with an empty bowl. Later, when her life ended, she fell among the hungry ghosts, constantly pressed by hunger and thirst. Due to this karmic condition, she suffered such torment.' The Buddha told Maudgalyāyana: 'If you wish to know who the elder's wife was at that time, she is this present hungry ghost Puṇyā.' When the Buddha spoke this, the bhikṣus and others relinquished causes of stinginess and greed and felt revulsion toward birth and death. Some attained the four fruits of a śramaṇa, some gave rise to the aspiration for pratyekabuddhahood, and some gave rise to the aspiration for unsurpassed bodhi. At that time the bhikṣus, hearing what the Buddha spoke, rejoiced and practiced accordingly.