諸經要集 19.56

19.56

Furthermore, the Sūtra on King Śuddhodana's Nirvāṇa states: King Śuddhodana was in the country of Kapilavastu. Critically ill and nearing his end, he longed to see the Bhagavat, Nanda, and the others. The Bhagavat was in the city of Rājagṛha on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, fifty yojanas away from there. On Vulture Peak, the Bhagavat heard with the divine ear from afar the sound of his father's longing thoughts, and immediately together with Ānanda and others arrived by flying through the air. Stroking the king's forehead with his hand, having comforted the king, he preached for him the Mahāpāla Jātaka. Hearing it, the king attained the fruit of anāgāmin. The king took the Buddha's hand and held it against his heart. The Buddha again preached the Dharma, and he attained the fruit of arhat. Impermanence having arrived, his life ended, his breath ceased, and he suddenly passed to the next world. When it came time for the cremation (jhāpita), the Buddha together with Nanda and others stood respectfully at the head of the bier. Ānanda and Rāhula stood behind the feet of the bier. Ānandada knelt upright and addressed the Buddha, saying: 'We only pray that you will permit me to carry my uncle's coffin.' Rāhula also said: 'We only pray that you will permit me to carry my royal grandfather's coffin.' The Bhagavat comforted them, saying: 'People of future generations will all be fierce and cruel, failing to repay the kindness of their parents' upbringing. For the sake of these unfilial sentient beings, I establish a method of transformation; therefore, the Tathāgata personally wishes to carry the coffin of his royal father.' At that moment, the trichiliocosm quaked in six ways, and all the mountains rose and sank as though ships on water. At that time, all the devas, dragons, and spirits all came to attend the funeral, raising their voices in weeping. The Four Heavenly Kings, leading hundreds of thousands of millions of ghosts and spirits, all came to bear the bier. They addressed the Buddha, saying: 'For the sake of all who in future generations are unfilial to their parents, the Buddha with great compassion personally wishes to carry the coffin of his royal father. The Four Heavenly Kings all addressed the Buddha, saying: "We are disciples of the Buddha; hearing the Dharma from the Buddha, we attained srotāpanna. For this reason, it is fitting that we carry the coffin of the royal father."' The Buddha permitted the Four Kings to carry his royal father's coffin. They immediately transformed into human beings, and among all the people none did not weep. The Bhagavat personally held an incense burner in his own hand, walking ahead to proceed to the cemetery. He ordered a thousand arhats to go to the islands of the great ocean to fetch gośīrṣa-candana and various kinds of fragrant wood to burn him with fire. The Buddha said: 'Suffering, emptiness, and impermanence are just like an illusion, the moon in the water, or an image in a mirror.' When the burning of the body was completed, at that time the kings each held five hundred vases of milk to extinguish the fire. After extinguishing the fire, they vied with one another to collect the bones, placed them in a vajra casket, and immediately built a stūpa over them, hanging silk banners and canopies to make offerings to the stūpa and temple. The Buddha told the great assembly: 'My royal father Śuddhodana was a pure man; he is born in the Śuddhāvāsa heaven.'