佛說觀佛三昧海經 8.25

8.25

"At that time, a voice in the sky said to the nirgranthas: 'The Buddha has done one; you may now do two.' Then the nirgranthas leaped and hurled themselves up, grasping tree branches with their hands and clinging to the tree, but exhausting all the nirgrantha arts, they were unable to stand inverted. The tree spirit manifested its form, boxed their ears, and scolded them: 'Madmen! You are like tiny insects daring to do battle with the lion, king of beasts! A moment ago you shouted loudly: "If the Buddha does one, I will do two." Now that the Buddha has demonstrated great supernatural power, why do you not do it?' When the tree spirit had scolded them, the earth spirit Dṛḍhā emerged from the earth, stood suspended in the empty sky, shackled the nirgranthas' feet with large iron chains, and hung them upside down in the sky. Five yakṣas beat them with staves. In acute agony, the nirgranthas wrenched themselves free and fell toward the earth. Before they reached the ground, one nirgrantha called out: 'Namo Buddhāya!' The Bhagavat caught the nirgrantha with his hand so that his body felt no pain. When the nirgranthas were back on the ground, their jealous minds had not abated; they said to the earth spirit: 'You have no compassion; you are biased toward Gautama! Because of your past sins, you took the body of a yakṣa beneath this earth. Today, once again, you lack universal compassion, and only torment us on behalf of Gautama.' At that time, the spirit of the Ganges River flew and stood suspended in the sky, holding a great stone in its hand, and declared: 'Nirgranthas! You foolish people, who eat cow dung, smear lime on your heads to make your hair fall out, and go naked without shame—you are like donkeys and horses, or like impoverished dragons unable to bring moisture and benefit! The Buddha-sun of the Tathāgata shines everywhere upon all things. How can you now take your bodies of darkness and contend for light with the sun?' When the water spirit had spoken these words, it exhorted the Bhagavat to subdue the nirgranthas."