諸經要集 14.90

14.90

Furthermore, the Baiyuan jing says: Long ago, when the Buddha was in the world, King Prasenajit's wife, Queen Mallikā, gave birth to a daughter named Vajrā. Her face was extremely ugly, her body rough and coarse like snakeskin, and her hair bristly and stiff like a horse's tail. The king was displeased when he saw her, and ordered her confined to the deep palace, not allowing her to go outside. When she gradually grew older and reached the age for marriage, he dispatched a minister: 'Seek out a person who was originally of an eminent clan but is now poor and destitute. You may bring him.' Having received the order, the minister found one and presented him to the king. The king took him to a secluded place and spoke to him in secret: 'I hear you are of an eminent clan and are now impoverished. I have a daughter whose face is extremely ugly. If you are fortunate enough to take her, I will supply your needs.' At that time, this poor man knelt and addressed the king: 'Even if the Great King were to bestow a dog, I would not dare disobey, how much less the King's daughter born of Mallikā!' The king then gave her to him in marriage, and built a residence with seven layers of gates for them. The king instructed the daughter's husband: 'Hold the door hooks yourself; lock them securely when entering and leaving, and do not let anyone see her.' The king provided wealth to support his son-in-law so that he lacked nothing, and appointed him as a great minister. Later, [the son-in-law] joined in an association gathering with other nobles. The agreement of the assembly was that their wives should accompany them. All the other men each brought their wives; only this great minister did not bring his to the gathering. The multitude grew suspicious: 'Could that man's wife perhaps be graceful and upright, or could she be extremely ugly and unable to be seen? That is why she does not come.' Later at another gathering, they secretly urged wine upon him, causing him to fall asleep drunk. They unfastened and took his door keys, and sent five men to go to his home to look. When they reached the house and opened the doors, the wife suspected it was not her husband. Inwardly reproaching herself, she said in deep distress: 'What sin did I commit in a past life that I am confined by my husband and cannot see the sun or moon?' Forthwith, with a single mind, she made obeisance to the Bhagavat from afar: 'May the Buddha in his compassion come before me and briefly deliver me from this misery and distress.' The Buddha, knowing her thought, immediately sprang up from the ground before the woman, displaying the mark of dark blue hair. The woman raised her head, and seeing the Buddha's mark of hair, her heart was filled with reverence and joy; her hair naturally became like dark lapis blue. The Buddha gradually revealed his face; the woman's heart was doubly joyful, and her face became graceful and upright, while her rough skin was caused naturally to disappear. The Buddha revealed his entire body, allowing the woman to see it completely, increasing her joy all the more; her body became graceful and upright like a heavenly maiden. The Buddha then expounded various essentials of the Dharma for her, and she attained the fruit of a srotāpanna. After the Buddha had departed, the five men entered and saw that she was graceful, upright, and rarely matched. Having finished looking, they locked the gates again and fastened the hooks back in their original place. When the man returned home and saw his wife was graceful and upright, he asked joyfully, 'Who are you?' The wife answered her husband, 'I am your wife.' The husband said to her, 'You were previously extremely ugly; by what cause have you become so graceful and upright?' The wife then told her husband, explaining the above matters in full. The wife further said to her husband, 'I wish to see the king; you should convey this news for me.' The husband went and reported to the king, 'My lady now wishes to come see you.' The king answered the son-in-law, 'Do not speak of this matter! Lock her up securely at once, and take care not to let her out.' The son-in-law addressed the king, 'My lady has now received the Buddha's spiritual power, and has become graceful and upright, no different from a heavenly maiden.' When the king heard this, he immediately dispatched [attendants] to welcome her. Seeing his daughter graceful and upright, his joy was boundless. He led her to the Buddha's place and said to the Buddha, 'I wonder what merit this daughter planted in past lives, that she was born into an eminent nobility and yet was so ugly?' The Buddha told the king, 'Long ago in the past, in the country of Vārāṇasī, there was a householder who constantly made offerings to a pratyekabuddha whose body was ugly. At that time, the householder's family had a young daughter, who saw the pratyekabuddha and reviled him with an evil heart: "His face is ugly and his skin rough and wretched; how completely detestable!" At that time, the pratyekabuddha wished to enter nirvāṇa, and so displayed his spiritual power, performing the eighteen transformations. Having seen this, the daughter immediately reproached herself, seeking mercy and repenting. Because of reviling the pratyekabuddha in the past, she was always born ugly. Because she repented, she has now obtained a graceful and upright form. Because of her offerings, wherever she is born, she enjoys eminent rank, wealth, and boundless happiness.'