佛說報恩奉盆經 1
English (machine translation) 1
- Language
- English
1.1
Translator lost; appended to the Eastern Jin catalogue.
1.2
Thus have I heard:
1.3
At one time, the Buddha was staying in Śrāvastī, in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada's park. Mahāmaudgalyāyana had just attained the six supernormal knowledges. Desiring to deliver his parents in order to repay the kindness of nurturing and milk, he immediately surveyed the world with his eye of the Way. He saw that his deceased mother had been born among the hungry ghosts, without sight of food or drink, with skin and bones clinging together like pillars. Maudgalyāyana was filled with grief and sorrow; he immediately filled a bowl with cooked rice and went to present it to his mother. Having received the bowl of rice, his mother used her left hand to cover the rice and her right hand to take a handful of food. Before the food entered her mouth, it transformed into burning charcoal, and in the end she could not eat it.
1.4
Maudgalyāyana hurried back and reported this to the Buddha, detailing everything as it happened. The Buddha told Maudgalyāyana: "The root of your mother's sins is deeply entrenched; it is not something that your single strength can overcome. It requires the awe-inspiring spiritual power of the monastic Saṅgha for her to obtain liberation. I will now explain the method of salvation, so that all who are in distress may be freed from grief and suffering."
1.5
The Buddha told Maudgalyāyana: "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, for the sake of the parents of seven lifetimes who are in adversity and distress, one should prepare dried cooked grain, the five kinds of fruits, vessels for drawing and pouring water, fragrant oil, lamps and torches, beds, couches, and bedding, exhausting all the world's sweet delicacies to make offerings to the monastic Saṅgha. On this day, all the noble assembly—whether meditating in the mountains, attaining the four fruits of the path, walking beneath the trees, or having attained the six supernormal knowledges and flying through the air to teach and transform the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, while great bodhisattvas expediently manifest as monks within the great assembly—all united with a single mind, receive the food bowls (pātra). Their way of the noble assembly is complete with pure precepts, and their virtue is vast as the ocean. If anyone makes offerings to such an assembly, their parents of seven lifetimes and five kinds of kin will be freed from the three wretched paths, immediately liberated, with clothing and food coming spontaneously."
1.6
The Buddha instructed the monks: "You should focus your minds in meditative concentration for the sake of the donor's parents of seven lifetimes, and only then consume this offering."
1.7
Maudgalyāyana, the monks, and the entire assembly rejoiced and put it into practice.
1.8
Sūtra on Repaying Kindness by Offering Bowls, Spoken by the Buddha
Linked texts (1)
- 佛說報恩奉盆經 — Classical Chinese