諸經要集 3.57

3.57

Furthermore, the Sūtra on the Bodhisattva's Past Practices states: 'Formerly, when the Buddha was in the world, he addressed five hundred arhats: "Let each of you recount the merits generated by your past actions in previous lives, through which you now meet me and attain the causes and conditions for realizing the Way." At that time, an arhat named Bhagatali arose from his seat and said to the Buddha: "Bhagavat, I recall that immeasurable kalpas ago, a Buddha appeared in the world named Dīpaṅkara. After he entered nirvāṇa, his relics were distributed and stūpas were erected to make offerings. When the Dharma was about to end, there was a poor man with no means of supporting himself whose trade was selling firewood, and he went toward a marsh to gather wood. From afar, he saw a stūpa monastery in the marsh, extremely towering. He went up to the stūpa, beheld the images, and rejoiced and made obeisance. He saw only the lodging places of foxes, wolves, flying birds, and running beasts, completely filled with weeds, trees, thorns, and filth, utterly deserted with no people, with no footprints, and with none making offerings. Seeing this, the poor man felt grief in his heart; though he did not comprehend the divine virtue of the Tathāgata, merely out of joy he cut down the weeds and trees and swept away the filth. Having finished sweeping, he circumambulated it eight times in joy, made obeisance, and departed. Due to this merit, after his life ended he was born in the Ābhāsvara Heaven, in palaces of many jewels where the radiance blazed forth, towering and supreme among all the devas beyond measure. When his heavenly life ended, he returned a hundred times as a wheel-turning king, ruling the four continents with the seven treasures appearing spontaneously. Afterward, when that lifespan was exhausted, he was always born into the families of kings and grand householders of high clan, with immeasurable wealth and resources, handsome and upright in countenance, and matchlessly wondrous. Those who saw him rejoiced, and none failed to love and revere him. When his feet walked, the roads became naturally clean; from mid-air, a rain of diverse flowers was scattered. Bhagata said: "That poor man of the past is my present self. Because of formerly sweeping the stūpa, my places of birth were spontaneous; for one asaṃkhyeya and ninety kalpas I did not fall into the evil destinies. In the heavens and the human realm I enjoyed wealth, noble rank, and high honor; my emoluments were spontaneous and my happiness knew no bounds. Now in this final body, I met Śākyamuni Buddha, abandoned nobility to leave home, and attained arhatship, possessing the three knowledges, the six supernatural powers, and the eight liberations. If someone is able to perform the slightest good, even the size of a hair, toward the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, the reward received in the places of rebirth will be vast and grand, without end."'