菩薩從兜術天降神母胎說廣普經 6.13

6.13

"Throughout countless asaṃkhyeya kalpas, I was at times a king of the sun and moon, and at times a ministering counselor. Circling around in transmigration, my corporeal frame decayed and perished, without the real path. Later, arriving in the human realm, I was at times a wheel-turning sage king, or a minor regional king, or an elder or householder, seeking the pure path and presuming it to be the truth; yet these were all vain practices that did not accord with the real path. In the past, once entering the mountains to seek the path, I saw five thousand ascetics pursuing their studies, all gathered together in one place. Some balanced on one leg with palms joined, turning their bodies along with the sun. Some worshipped the moon with palms joined, turning their bodies along with the moon. Some lay upon thorns or consumed sand and stones. Some maintained the precepts of owls, oxen, horses, or deer. Some hurled themselves from mountaintops into deep chasms. Some clasped rocks and sank themselves into deep waters. Some scorched themselves with five fires, seeking birth in the Brahmā Heaven. Some dismembered their limbs to seek where the spirit resided. Some uncovered the crowns of their heads to light lamps with their brains to make offerings to the gods. Some cast their bodies into boiling oil and butter. Some slaughtered immeasurable sentient beings on the right bank of a river, while on the left bank burning incense so that the deceased beings might all attain rebirth in heaven. Some thought to themselves, 'While I am still alive, let me first deliver my parents,' whereupon they threw their parents into fire, chanting that they be born in the Brahmā Heaven. Some ate cow dung or wild fruits; some ate once every seven days; and some at times did not eat at all, their corporeal frames dried and shriveled. Some wove tree leaves into clothing; some strung together human skulls for clothing, or used skulls as eating vessels. Some swallowed sharp needles, or pierced their hearts to hold the mind and make it abide. Some assembled in one place, cutting open one another's bellies to wash the intestines and remove impurities, chanting that they be born in the Brahmā Heaven. In the past, my austerities were beyond count. Practicing the path for six years beneath the king of trees, I ate a single hemp seed and a single grain of rice each day. Blue doves and flying sparrows nested upon the crown of my head; vipers and serpents wound about my body; cowherds and hunters pelted me with tiles and stones; at times they struck and pierced me, harming my physical body; and at times they prodded my abdomen, even to the navel, with a staff. Suffering these hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands of agonies, I did not consider them suffering. Why is that? Because at that time I presumed this was the path, yet it was truly not the real path.