佛說觀佛三昧海經 3.41

3.41

At that time, the Tathāgata addressed the Śākya sons with a Brahmā voice and instructed the great assembly: "Brothers, do not wail anymore. In the past, there was a Buddha named Vipaśyin, Tathāgata, Arhat, Samyaksambuddha, who appeared in the world and taught and transformed sentient beings. After he had completed crossing people over and entered parinirvāṇa, during the Semblance Dharma period there was an elder named Candrasūryaguṇa, who had five hundred sons, intelligent and deeply wise, extensively learned in all worldly arts, asterisms, and calendar calculations, versed in them all. Their father, the elder, faithfully revered the Buddha's Dharma, and constantly spoke to his sons about the contemplation of the Buddha's mind, and also taught the profound twelve links of dependent origination. Having heard it, the sons harbored doubt and did not believe, saying: 'Our father is old and decrepit, deceived and confused by those śramaṇas. None of our books have such meaning; where has father sought and found this now?' At that time, because the father, the elder, pitied his sons, he concealed the Buddha's Dharma and did not expound it for them. Then all the sons simultaneously contracted a severe illness. Seeing that his sons' lives would not last long, the father went to his sons' quarters, wept and joined his palms before each child, and said: 'You held wrong views and did not believe the correct Dharma. Now the knife of impermanence is slicing through your bodies; in your minds' anguish, what will you rely on? There is a Buddha, a Bhagavat named Vipaśyin; you should recite his name.' Having heard this, out of respect for their father, the sons recited, 'Homage to the Buddha.' The father further told them: 'You should recite the Dharma, you should recite the Saṅgha.' Before they could recite three times, the sons' lives came to an end. Because they had recited the Buddha's name, they were born in heaven among the Four Heavenly Kings. When their heavenly lifespans ended, due to their former karma of wrong views, they fell into the great hells. Suffering torments in the hells, the warden rākṣasas gouged out their eyes with hot iron forks. While undergoing this suffering, they remembered the instructions their father, the elder, had given them. Because of recollecting the Buddha, they emerged from the hells and were reborn among humans, poor and base. When Śikhin Buddha appeared, they also encountered him, yet only heard the Buddha's name without seeing the Buddha's form; when Viśvabhū Buddha appeared, they also heard the Buddha's name; when Krakucchanda Buddha appeared, they also heard his name; when Kanakamuni Buddha appeared, they also heard his name; when Kāśyapa Buddha appeared, they also heard his name. By the cause and condition of hearing the names of the six Buddhas, they were born together with me. Although born here, while my bodily marks now are so dignified and adornment-filled, you see my body as like an emaciated brāhmaṇa; my body is golden, such that Jambūnada gold cannot compare, yet you see my form as like a person made of charcoal."