法苑珠林 98.30

98.30

That light will further reach all hells, also proclaiming this verse; the emitted light will also reach the worlds of the ten directions, and within the light this verse will likewise be spoken. The Buddha said to Ānanda: When the light emitted by my bowl and my śarīra has performed Buddha-work in the worlds of the ten directions, it will return to its original place, abiding in empty space as a canopy of great radiant clouds. When the śarīra and the bowl display this spiritual power, eighty hundred million beings will attain the fruit of arhatship, one hundred billion beings will shave their hair to go forth with pure faith, and ten thousand beings will arouse the aspiration for anuttara-saṃyak-saṃbodhi, all becoming non-retrogressing. Maitreya, holding the bowl and the Buddha's śarīra with both hands, will address all the devas, humans, and the entire assembly: 'You should know that this bowl and śarīra belong to Śākyamuni Tathāgata, the heroic great being, who can cause measureless hundreds of thousands of nayutas of kotis of sentient beings to dwell in the city of nirvāṇa, surpassing an udumbara blossom by hundreds of thousands of kotis of times; therefore the bowl and śarīra have come here.' Then Maitreya Buddha will erect a stupa of four jewels for this bowl of mine and my śarīra, placing the śarīra and bowl inside this stupa, setting forth great offerings and reverently prostrating before them. According to the Account of the Sympathetic Resonance in the Maintenance of the Dharma by Vinaya Master Daoxuan: A question was asked regarding the cause and conditions for the devas and humans holding the bowl. A celestial being replied: In the thirty-eighth year after the Tathāgata attained awakening, in the multistoried lecture hall of the Jetavana hermitage, the Buddha said to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva: 'Go to the ordination platform and strike the bell, summoning the devas, dragons, bhikṣus, and assemblies of great bodhisattvas of the ten directions to assemble completely at Jetavana.' Mañjuśrī gathered them according to the teaching, and all came to Jetavana. By spiritual power, the World-Honoured One transformed the Jetavana hermitage to resemble the Land of Wondrous Joy; from between his eyebrows he emitted light that illuminated the ten directions everywhere, and the earth quaked in six ways. A hundred billion Śākyamunis came together in assembly, and ten billion Wondrous Light Buddhas also gathered at Jetavana. The World-Honoured One sat cross-legged and entered the vajra-samādhi; the earth quaked greatly again. Arising from samādhi, he emitted a great voice and addressed the entire assembled host from the three thousand worlds: 'When I first crossed over the city walls to the kingdom of King Bimbisāra and entered the mountains to practice the path, celestial Māra confused me on the road, but a mountain deity showed me the path and spoke to me: "Formerly, when the ancient Kāśyapa Buddha entered parinirvāṇa, he left behind an old earthenware bowl and entrusted it to me to protect and uphold, waiting until the Tathāgata descends to be born, so that I might deliver it to the World-Honoured One. When the World-Honoured One attains awakening, he must first receive this bowl of mine, and only after that the bowls of the Four Heavenly Kings." I told the mountain deity: "If I attain Buddhahood, it shall be as you say." Later, when I entered the river to bathe and received the milk-gruel from the two maidens, the mountain deity then presented the bowl to me. I then accepted and used it to hold the milk-gruel and eat, and the earth quaked in six ways. I have held this bowl for thirty-eight years without any damage. When I entered Rājagṛha to accept the king's invitation, after I finished eating, I ordered Rāhula to take my bowl back to that dragon pool to wash it. Rāhula washed the bowl and broke it into five pieces. I then joined the broken bowl with lead and tin. This was not Rāhula's fault; it was meant to signify the evil bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs of future ages who will lightly desecrate the Dharma vessels. In the first five hundred years, my Vinayapiṭaka will divide into five schools; my sūtras will divide into eighteen schools; and by the time the saddharma completely disappears, my tripiṭaka will divide further into five hundred schools. Those unintelligent bhikṣus originally lack compassionate hearts; they do not generate vast vows to deliver sentient beings, but merely stir up disputes and elevate the banner of conceit, swiftly destroying the saddharma. When a thousand years have passed, the saddharma will be completely extinguished. Evil bhikṣus will fill Jambudvīpa and the other continents, not upholding the prohibitions and precepts. Evil bhikṣuṇīs will be like courtesans, not practicing the eight rules of respect. They will take my vessels of measured capacity (pātra) and wander into taverns, or enter brothels to store wine and meat. How painful! How bitter! How could the Dharma not disappear?'"