菩薩從兜術天降神母胎說廣普經 7.3

7.3

At that time, the Bhagavat entered the samādhi of correct concentration, dividing his body in transformation and emitting a great light—wishing to cause the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and the fourfold assembly of bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās to destroy the realm of Māra and dwell on the correct ground—and addressed those in the assembly: "I recall that ninety-one kalpas ago, north of the city of Śuddhodana, on the southern border of the Snow Mountains, a master led five thousand people in ascetic practice in the mountains. Among that group, I was the youngest disciple, chanting the scriptures, calculating, learning arts and techniques, astronomy, and geography, leaving nothing unmastered. According to the standard custom of that group, whenever a disciple completed what he had learned, he had to repay his master's kindness. At that time, I was alone and had no wealth or treasures to offer to my master, so I knelt and bowed in gratitude, wishing to go down the mountain among people to beg for alms. The master would not permit it. Begging for permission two or three times in this way, the master still would not permit it. Why was this? Because my clarity and understanding of the scriptures were the best in the assembly. The master said to me: 'I have a scripture containing secret essentials and precious treasuries that you have not yet recited. Why would you leave me to go begging among people?' At that time, the master then gave me the secret essentials, five hundred words to a single phrase, and had me recite them. In less than a few days, I had finished reciting and practicing them, whereupon I stepped forward and said to the master: 'Permit me to go down the mountain to beg, wishing to repay the master's kindness.' The master again did not permit it and said to me: 'You must study books of secret prognostications, the sun, moon, stars, constellations, portents, disasters and blessings, the shifting of mountains and shaking of the earth, which you do not yet know. Why would you wish to leave me to go begging among people?' He again produced a scripture of a thousand words to a phrase and instructed me to read and recite it. Again, in less than a few days, I had mastered it. I addressed the master, begging for permission to repay the master's kindness, but the master still would not permit it: 'I have yet another scripture of ten thousand words to a phrase, the jewel of all scriptures, which you have not yet read and recited. On what grounds would you wish to leave me to beg?' He then produced the scripture again and had me read and recite it. In less than a few days I had already penetrated it, and the techniques, portents, and movements of the constellations were all completely understood."