法苑珠林 97.26

97.26

Furthermore, the Sūtra on the Nirvāṇa of the Buddha's Mother says: The nun Mahāprajāpatī, who was the Buddha's maternal aunt, could not bear to see the Buddha enter extinction later on and wished to enter extinction first, together with five hundred hunger-dispelling women (that is, nuns; Kang Senghui's Dharma Mirror Sūtra states: "Ordinary beings are greedily tainted by the six dusts, like starving men greedy for food without knowing satisfaction. Now the noble ones sever greed and eliminate the hunger of the six sense-faculties, hence the nuns who leave household life are called 'hunger-dispellers'"). With her hands she caressed the Buddha's feet, circumambulated the Buddha three times, bowed her head, and departed. Manifesting the power of psychic abilities, she disappeared from her seat, arrived from the eastern direction, and performed eighteen transformations in the sky. It was likewise in the eight directions, above, and below. She emitted a great radiance to illuminate all darkness and shone brightly above the heavens. The five hundred hunger-dispellers likewise displayed transformations, and all entered nirvāṇa at the same time. The Buddha urged the householders to make five hundred bier-couches, with sesame oil, fragrant flowers, and timber of camphor, phoebe, and catalpa, five hundred of each item, and to make offerings with authentic dances and proper music. All beings, both ordinary and noble, seeing this, none failed to weep in grief. When the cremation was finished, they carried the relics and went to the Buddha's place. Thereupon, from the four quarters, two hundred and fifty arhats from each quarter flew there through psychic abilities, bowed their heads to the Buddha's feet, and reached the place of the relics. The thousand monks all took their seats. The Buddha told Ānanda: "Take the relics, put them in a bowl, and place them in my hands." Ānanda obeyed the command. He told the monks: "This collection of relics was originally an impure body—fierce, foolish, impetuous, and violent, full of jealousy and insidious schemes, corrupting the Way and ruining virtue. Now my aunt has been able to extricate herself and cultivate the conduct of a noble man, attaining the path of an arhat and swiftly having her spirit pass into the unconditioned. How vigorous she was!" He decreed that a temple be erected to make offerings.