Brahmins, Part 2
This page carries Ru-Yi's complete translation of fascicle 41 of the Jīng Lǜ Yì Xiàng (經律異相): "Brahmins" (婆羅門部) — sixteen entries, following the fascicle on the 梵志 with a second set drawn chiefly from the vinayas and the parable collections. It opens with the celebrated story of Dhanika: five innocent accidents in a single day, five plaintiffs, and a king who finds both parties at fault every time and prescribes mutilations for each until every prosecution collapses — followed by the two-mother test and three riddles carried in from the roadside. Among the rest: a brahmin too poor to buy into a collective offering who pledges himself and his wife for a hundred coins and ends by having Vaiśravaṇa and Viśvakarman cater his feast; an old man turned out by the son he had signed everything over to, taught a verse in praise of his walking-staff; a nāga king whose hail would sink four feet into the ground, and who had been a teacher whose disciples left him; a servant who offers the Buddha the rice-washings she was on her way to throw out; and the potter's son who takes hold of a reluctant brahmin youth's head — a capital offense — to make him go and see the Buddha Kāśyapa.
Translation Method
Fascicle 41 is the second of the compendium's two fascicles on brahmins, following fascicle 40's 梵志 with the term 婆羅門. The sources shift accordingly: where fascicle 40 drew heavily on the Arthapada and Dharmapada material, this one draws on the vinayas of three schools, the Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, the Lalitavistara, and a scatter of short parable collections that survive only in Chinese.
Two entries in this fascicle come from the Sūtra of the Arising of Practices, a collection devoted to the Buddha's own past misdeeds and the residual retributions he underwent after awakening. Entry 15 is one of them; the other, in which the Buddha names himself as a fratricide, is fascicle 36's entry 17. We note the connection in the reading note rather than leave the source unexplained.
On names: Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja, Ānanda, Śāriputra, Śakra, Vaiśravaṇa, Kubera, Viśvakarman, Bimbisāra, Sudatta, Vipaśyin, the Buddha Kāśyapa, Śuddhodana, Agnidatta, Sañjaya, Nandīpāla, Pāṭaliputra, Rājagṛha, Śrāvastī, Gṛdhrakūṭa, the Bamboo Grove, Jambudvīpa, and the Akaniṣṭha heaven are given in their standard forms; so are Dhanika in entry 1 and Bandhumat and Puṣyamitra where they occur. Where a transliteration has no confident correspondence — Āpōluótímùqū, Bádǐ, the town of Many-Beasts, the kingdom of Uttara — we keep the Chinese in pinyin, with the compendium's own bracketed glosses preserved. Names transparently descriptive in Chinese (Cock-Head, Fire-Garland, Protect-Joy) are translated, with the Chinese kept in the contents list.
Entry 4 is almost entirely a single long verse and entry 15 closes with one. We set both off in italics with slashes for the line breaks of the Chinese; the Chinese column keeps them running on within the paragraph, as the source has them.
Entry 1 contains a sequence of proposed judicial mutilations, entry 5 the killing of five hundred men, and entry 16 a wife beaten and driven to attempt drowning. All are translated as they stand.
Fascicle Contents
- 1. Dhanika Incurs Every Kind of Charge Against Himself 檀膩䩭身獲諸罪一
- 2. Agnidatta, Still in the Womb, Made His Mother Able to Debate 阿耆尼達多在胎令母能論議二
- 3. Cock-Head Pledges His Own Body for a Loan to Feed the Buddha and the Saṅgha, and Śakra Helps Him, and It Reaches the King 鷄頭以身質錢欲飯佛僧帝釋所助乃及於王三
- 4. An Old Begging Brahmin Recites One Verse of the Buddha's and His Son Provides for Him Again 老乞婆羅門誦佛一偈兒子還相供養四
- 5. Sañjaya Studies Archery and Wins a Wife 散若學射得妻五
- 6. A Brahmin Gives the Buddha a Patch and Receives a Prediction 婆羅門以納施佛得聞記別六
- 7. A Brahmin Offers the Buddha Cakes, Hears the Dharma, and Attains the Path 婆羅門以餅奉佛聞法得道七
- 8. The Brahmin Bádǐ, Angered at Losing His Disciples, Is Born Among Evil Nāgas and Is Subdued by the Buddha 拔抵婆羅門瞋失弟子生惡龍中為佛所降八
- 9. A Brahmin in Meditative Concentration for More Than Three Hundred Years 婆羅門入定三百餘年九
- 10. A Brahmin's Son and Daughter-in-Law Come to Faith and Their Later Reward Is Seen 婆羅門兒婦信向見其後報十
- 11. A Brahmin's Understanding Is Released by the Buddha 婆羅門從佛意解十一
- 12. A Brahmin Who Kept One Fast Incompletely Is Born a Tree-Spirit Who Can Produce Food and Give It to the Starving 婆羅門持一齋不全生為樹神能出飲食施諸餓者十二
- 13. A Brahmin Couple Swallow Gold Coins for Provisions; Their Bodies Decay, Someone Takes the Coins and Makes Merit, and They Attain the Path 婆羅門夫婦吞金錢為糧身壞人取為福即得道迹十三
- 14. A Brahmin Has Beautiful Daughters and the Buddha Says They Are Not Good 婆羅門生美女佛言不好十四
- 15. Fire-Garland and the Potter's Son Are Good Friends and Urge One Another to Faith 火鬘與瓦師子為善知識共相勸信十五
- 16. A Brahmin's Wife Serves the Buddha and Is Persecuted by Her Husband; She Throws Herself into a River, the Water Dries Up, and Her Husband Wakes 婆羅門婦事佛為婿所患投河水竭婿方醒悟十六
1. Dhanika Incurs Every Kind of Charge Against Himself
A destitute brahmin's single unlucky day: an ox not handed back in words, a stone that breaks a royal horse's leg, an adze dropped from a carpenter's teeth, a crushed infant, and a weaver killed by a man jumping a wall. Then the king starts giving judgments.
舍衛國內。有婆羅門賓頭盧埵闍。其婦醜惡兩眼洞青。七女無男。己貧女窮婦弊好罵。女來求須瞋目涕泣。田有熟穀從他借牛。將往踐之於澤亡失。時婆羅門坐自思惟。我種何罪。婦女所切復失他牛。推覓形疲偶到林中。值見如來。觀之生念。瞿曇沙門今最安樂。無我諸惱。佛知其心。便語之曰。如汝所念。佛告之曰。欲出家不。即白佛言。世尊。聽者甚適鄙願佛曰。善來比丘。鬚髮自墮。身所著衣變成袈裟。佛為說法。成阿羅漢。佛告阿難。過去有國王。名阿波羅提目佉(梁言端正)。以道化物。時有婆羅門。名檀膩䩭。家裏空貧有少熟穀。借牛踐治驅還其主。忘不囑付。牛主雖見謂用未竟。復不收攝二家詳棄。牛主將檀膩䩭詣王決了。出值王家馬走。喚檀膩䩭為我遮馬。下手得石持用擲之。值脚即折。次行到水不知渡處。值一木工。口銜斵斤褰衣垂越。時檀膩䩭問彼人曰。何處可渡。應聲答處。其口已開斵斤墮水。債主所摧加復飢渴。從沽酒家乞少白酒。上床飲之。不意被下有小兒臥。押兒腹潰。往一牆邊。思惟懼罪。自擲跳牆。下有織工。墮上即死。時織工兒復捉得之。便與眾人共將詣王。公殺我父。時諸債主將至王前。爾時牛主前白王言。此人從我借牛。不還見付。失去不償。王問何緣。檀膩䩭言。我實借牛用訖馳還。主亦見之。雖不口付牛在其門。王語彼人。俱為不是。由檀膩䩭口不付汝。當截其舌。由卿見牛不自收攝。當挑汝眼。彼人白王。請棄此牛不樂剜眼截他舌也。即聽和解。馬吏復言。彼之無道折我馬脚。王便問言。此王家馬汝輒折脚。跪白王言。債主將我從道而來。彼人喚我令遮王馬。下手得石擲之。誤折馬脚。王言。由汝喚他當截汝舌。由彼打馬當截其手。馬吏白王。乞各和解。木工前云。檀膩䩭失我斵斤。王語木工。由喚汝故當截其舌。擔物之法禮當用手。由卿口銜。當折兩齒。木工白王。寧棄斵斤莫行此罰。時沽酒母復牽白王枉殺我兒。跪白王言。我飢渴逼。乞少酒飲。不意被下有臥小兒。王當見察。王告母人。汝舍沽酒眾客猥多。何以臥兒置於坐處。二俱有過。汝兒已死。以檀膩䩭與汝作婿。令還有兒乃放使去。母人叩頭曰。聽各和解。我不用夫。時織工兒復前。此人狂暴躡殺我父。王問言曰。汝殺他父。檀膩䩭曰。眾逼責我。惶怖跳牆偶墮其上。實非所樂。王語彼人。二俱不是。卿父已死。以檀膩䩭與汝作父。其人白王。父今已死。我終不用此婆羅門以為父也。聽各共和。王便聽之。時檀膩䩭身事都了故在王前。見二母人共諍一兒。時王明黠以智權計。今唯一兒。二母爭之。聽汝二人各挽一手。誰能得者。其非母者於兒無慈盡力頓牽。所生母者於兒慈深。不忍抴挽。王鑒真偽。詰出非者強摸他兒。即向王首兒還其母。各爾放去。時檀膩䩭便白王言。我時於彼道邊。有一毒蛇請我白王。不知何故從穴出時柔軟變易。還入穴時妨礙苦痛。王答之言。從穴出時無有眾惱。心情和柔身亦如之。在外鳥獸諸事觸嬈。瞋恚隆盛身便麁大。卿可語之。持心不瞋則無此患。次見女人。請我白王。我在夫家念父母舍。在父母舍復念夫家。王言。卿可語之。由汝邪心。於父母舍更畜傍婿。汝在夫家念彼傍人。至彼小厭還念正婿。是以爾耳。持心捨邪則無此患。次復樹上見有一雉。請我白王。我在餘樹鳴聲不好。若在此樹鳴聲哀和。不知其故。王告彼人。由彼樹下有大釜金。是以於上鳴聲哀好。餘處無金。音聲不好。王告檀膩䩭。卿之多過吾已釋汝。窮困苦持樹下釜金。我用與卿。奉受王教掘地取金。貿易所須快樂無乏。時大王我身是。檀膩䩭者。今婆羅門賓頭盧埵闍是(出賢愚經第十一卷)。
In the kingdom of Śrāvastī there was a brahmin, Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja. His wife was ugly, with hollow blue eyes; he had seven daughters and no son; he was poor, the daughters destitute, and his wife shrewish and given to scolding. When the daughters came asking for what they needed he glared at them and wept.
There was ripe grain in his field, and he borrowed an ox from someone else and took it to tread the grain, and lost it in a marsh. Then the brahmin sat and thought to himself: what offense have I sown, that I am pressed by wife and daughters and have lost another’s ox besides?
Wearied with searching, he happened to come into a forest and met the Tathāgata, and, looking at him, the thought arose: the śramaṇa Gautama is the most at ease of all now; he has none of the troubles I have. The Buddha knew his mind and said to him: it is as you think. And the Buddha said to him: do you wish to go forth? He said to the Buddha at once: World-Honored One, if you permit it, it suits my humble wish exactly. The Buddha said: come, monk — and his hair and beard fell away of themselves and the clothing on his body turned into the kāṣāya. The Buddha taught the Dharma for him and he became an arhat.
The Buddha told Ānanda: in the past there was a king named Āpōluótímùqū (which in the language of Liang is “Upright”), who transformed things by the way. At that time there was a brahmin named Dhanika, whose household was empty and poor and who had a little ripe grain. He borrowed an ox to tread and dress it and drove it back to its owner, but forgot to hand it over in words. The owner, though he saw it, supposed he had not finished with it, and did not take it in either, and both households let it go; and the ox’s owner brought Dhanika before the king for a judgment.
Going out, they came upon a horse of the royal household running loose, and someone called to Dhanika: stop that horse for me. He put down his hand and got a stone and threw it at the horse, and it struck its leg and broke it.
Going on, he came to water and did not know where to ford, and there was a carpenter with an adze in his teeth, hitching up his clothes and about to cross. Dhanika asked the man: where can one cross? He answered at the sound of the voice, and, his mouth opening, the adze fell into the water.
Pressed by his creditor and hungry and thirsty besides, he begged a little clear liquor from a wine-seller’s and got up on the bed to drink it; and he did not know that under the coverlet there was a small child lying, and he crushed the child’s belly and it burst.
He came to a wall, and, thinking of it and afraid of punishment, he threw himself over the wall; and below it there was a weaver, and he fell on him and killed him. Then the weaver’s son seized him, and together with the crowd took him before the king: this man has killed my father.
Then all the creditors brought him before the king. The ox’s owner came forward and said to the king: this man borrowed my ox from me and did not return it or hand it over, and it is lost and he has not made it good. The king asked how it had come about. Dhanika said: I truly borrowed the ox, and when I had used it I drove it back at speed, and its owner saw it; and though I did not hand it over in words, the ox was at his gate. The king said to the man: you are both in the wrong. Because Dhanika did not hand it over with his mouth, his tongue should be cut out; because you saw the ox and did not take it in yourself, your eyes should be gouged out. The man said to the king: I would rather give up this ox than have my eyes gouged out and another’s tongue cut out — and the king allowed them to be reconciled.
The horse official then said: this lawless man broke my horse’s leg. The king asked: this is a royal horse, and you broke its leg? He knelt and said to the king: my creditor was bringing me along the road, and that man called to me to stop the king’s horse; I put down my hand and got a stone and threw it and broke the horse’s leg by accident. The king said: because you called to him, your tongue should be cut out; because he struck the horse, his hand should be cut off. The horse official said to the king: we beg to be reconciled instead.
The carpenter then came forward: Dhanika lost my adze. The king said to the carpenter: because you called out to him, his tongue should be cut out. But the proper way to carry a thing is with the hands; because you held it in your teeth, your two front teeth should be broken. The carpenter said to the king: I would rather give up the adze than have this punishment carried out.
Then the woman who sold liquor also brought him before the king: he wrongly killed my child. He knelt and said to the king: pressed by hunger and thirst, I begged a little liquor to drink, and did not know there was a child lying under the coverlet. Let the king examine it. The king told the woman: your house sells liquor and there are many guests crowded in it — why did you lay your child in a seat? You are both in the wrong. Your child is dead; I give you Dhanika for a husband, and when you have another child you may let him go. The woman knocked her head on the ground: let us be reconciled; I have no use for a husband.
Then the weaver’s son came forward: this man is violent and mad and trampled my father to death. The king asked: did you kill his father? Dhanika said: the crowd pressed and demanded of me, and in terror I jumped over a wall and fell on him by chance; it was truly not what I wanted. The king said to the man: you are both in the wrong. Your father is dead; I give you Dhanika to be your father. The man said to the king: my father is dead now, and I shall never have this brahmin for a father — let us all be reconciled. And the king allowed it.
Then Dhanika’s business being all settled, he was still before the king, and he saw two women contending over one child. The king, being clear-sighted, used a clever stratagem: now there is one child and two mothers contending for him. I shall let the two of you each pull one hand, and whoever can get him shall have him. The one who was not the mother had no tenderness for the child and pulled with all her strength; the one who had borne him had a deep tenderness for the child and could not bear to drag at him. The king discerned the true from the false, questioned the false one out, who had been snatching at another’s child, and she confessed to the king at once; and the child was given back to his mother and each was let go.
Then Dhanika said to the king: at that time, by the roadside, there was a venomous snake who asked me to ask the king. It does not know why, when it comes out of its hole, it is soft and supple, and when it goes back into its hole it is obstructed and in pain. The king answered him: when it comes out of its hole it has no troubles, its heart and feelings are gentle and its body likewise; outside, birds, beasts, and all manner of things provoke it, its anger swells, and its body becomes coarse and large. You may tell it: hold the mind free of anger, and there will be no such trouble.
Next I saw a woman who asked me to ask the king. When I am in my husband’s house I think of my parents’ house, and when I am in my parents’ house I think of my husband’s house. The king said: you may tell her — because of your crooked mind, in your parents’ house you keep another man on the side; and when you are in your husband’s house you think of that other man, and when you go there and tire of him a little, you think again of your proper husband. That is why it is so. Hold the mind free of crookedness, and there will be no such trouble.
Next, in a tree, I saw a pheasant who asked me to ask the king. When I am in another tree my cry is not fine; when I am in this tree my cry is plaintive and harmonious. It does not know why. The king told the man: it is because under that tree there is a great cauldron of gold, and that is why its cry is plaintive and fine when it is on top of it; elsewhere there is no gold and the sound is not fine.
The king said to Dhanika: you have many faults and I have released you from them all. You are destitute and hard pressed — take the cauldron of gold under the tree; I give it to you. He received the king’s instruction and dug up the ground and took the gold, and traded for what he needed and had joy and lacked nothing.
The great king of that time is myself; Dhanika is the brahmin Piṇḍola Bhāradvāja now (Source: Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, fascicle 11).
This is the celebrated Dhanika story from the Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, and it has three movements that a reader should keep separate. The first is a chain of five accidents in a single day, each strictly innocent and each producing a plaintiff. The second is the king's judgments, and their logic is consistent and startling: in every case he finds both parties at fault and prescribes a mutilation for each, whereupon the plaintiff withdraws rather than see the sentence carried out. Five prosecutions collapse in a row without the king ever acquitting anyone.
The third movement is the two-mother case, which Dhanika merely happens to witness because his business has run long. The test — each woman pulls one hand, and whoever gets the child keeps him — is the same test as the one attributed to Solomon, and turns on the same premise: the true mother will not pull.
The three questions Dhanika carries from the road are a separate genre again, and the king answers them as riddles about mind: the snake is comfortable going out and obstructed coming back because outside it has been provoked into anger and swollen; the woman is restless in both houses because she keeps a lover in one of them; and the pheasant's cry is fine only over the tree with gold beneath it. Only the third has a material answer, and it is the one that makes Dhanika rich.
2. Agnidatta, Still in the Womb, Made His Mother Able to Debate
Ninety-five characters: a brahmin's wife conceives and develops an overwhelming urge to debate, and the physiognomist explains why.
巴連弗國有婆羅門。名曰阿耆尼達多。通達經論。納妻之後少時懷妊。懷妊大欲論議。夫問相師。相師答曰。胎中之子善能論議。日月既滿遂產一男。達諸經論。為婆羅門師。兼授人醫術(出雜阿含經第二十五卷)。
In the kingdom of Pāṭaliputra there was a brahmin named Agnidatta, versed in the sūtras and treatises. Not long after he took a wife she conceived, and while pregnant she greatly wanted to debate. Her husband asked a physiognomist, and the physiognomist answered: the child in the womb is well able to debate. When the months were full she bore a boy who mastered all the sūtras and treatises, became a teacher of brahmins, and taught people medicine besides (Source: Saṃyukta Āgama, fascicle 25).
3. Cock-Head Pledges His Own Body for a Loan to Feed the Buddha and the Saṅgha, and Śakra Helps Him, and It Reaches the King
A brahmin too poor to buy into a collective offering borrows a hundred coins against himself and his wife, is told his money is not needed, and goes to the Buddha instead. Vaiśravaṇa and Viśvakarman then take over the catering.
爾時羅閱城人民。隨其種族請佛及僧。時諸婆羅門。四面雲集自作制限。各出一百錢為佛及僧。爾時鷄頭婆羅門知義貧無錢財。不能得物以供彼眾。眾人語言。汝無有錢。鷄頭便還婦所語言。諸人驅我出眾。我無錢故。時婦答曰。汝可入城賒貸一百錢。遍求不得。還向婦說。婦復語言。至弗賒蜜多羅長者舍。從其假貸。便往求告七日當償。若不還者我身及婦當為奴婢。長者便貸金錢一百枚得還語婦。婦報言曰。持詣眾中言。已得錢聽我在次。眾語鷄頭言。已辦不須卿錢。鷄頭便還。夫婦二人往詣世尊。共相問訊。時鷄頭婦禮世尊足。具以白佛。佛告鷄頭言。汝便請世尊及比丘僧。爾時鷄頭婦語夫言。君隨佛教。爾時鷄頭即從坐起偏露右肩。叉手白佛言。願世尊當受我請。及比丘僧。世尊默然。釋提桓因語毘沙門天王曰。拘鞞羅汝佐此婆羅門。辦第三食。答曰受教。時毘沙門天王自隱其形。化作人身勅五百羅剎曰。汝速至栴檀林中。取香薪來。當竹園中飯佛僧。化作鐵厨。五百羅剎各負牛頭栴檀香薪至鐵厨內。爾時鷄頭於鐵厨中以用熟食。遍十二由延皆悉聞香。時釋提桓因語毘濕波伽摩天子。汝可化作高廣講堂。使佛及僧得坐飯食。對曰受教。譬如力人屈申臂頃。從三十三天沒至竹園中。在鐵厨側化作講堂。以七寶成。化作千二百五十座。文繡所成。手執香鑪燒眾名香。令多羅樹七寶相成。微風吹動鈴聲遠聞。爾時摩竭國頻毘娑羅王聞之。問於群臣。群臣答言曰。是鷄頭婆羅門。於鐵厨中以牛頭栴檀為佛及僧熟食。有此之香。王即至佛所。告群臣曰。古昔無此講堂。今誰所作。臣白王曰。我等不知。世尊為王廣說如上。王便墮淚不能自勝。念當眾生福少壽短。不識此寶之名況當見耶。今蒙佛恩見此講堂。未曾出現。世尊告曰。當來眾生不聞七寶。況當目見。今蒙佛恩覩如是事。世尊為王說微妙法。使心歡喜。王言。鷄頭婆羅門快得善利。王曰。我欲還宮。佛曰。今正是時。佛告鷄頭曰。汝可請王供一日食。答曰如是。即至王所舉右手。白王曰。願天王。明日受請集此講堂。時王默然。時毘沙門天王明日清旦沐浴。鷄頭與妙衣裳。手執香鑪。向世尊所。頭面著地便作是念。今正是時。飯食已辦。願垂臨赴。佛僧圍繞往詣講堂。即就其座僧次第坐。時王嚴駕群臣圍繞詣鷄頭所。甘饌飲食味各百種。勸助鷄頭飯佛及比丘僧(出羅閱城人民請佛經)。
At that time the people of the city of Rājagṛha, clan by clan, invited the Buddha and the saṅgha. The brahmins gathered from all four sides and set their own limit, each putting up a hundred coins for the Buddha and the saṅgha.
Then the brahmin Cock-Head, though he understood the principle, was poor and had no money and could not get anything to supply that assembly, and the crowd said to him: you have no money. Cock-Head went back to his wife and said: the people have driven me out of the assembly, because I have no money. His wife answered: you may go into the city and borrow a hundred coins on credit. He sought everywhere and could not get it, and came back and told his wife.
His wife said again: go to the house of the elder Puṣyamitra and borrow from him. So he went and asked, promising to repay in seven days: and if I do not repay it, my own body and my wife shall be his slaves. The elder then lent him a hundred gold coins, and he came back and told his wife.
His wife said: take it to the assembly and tell them you have the money and to let you take your turn. The assembly said to Cock-Head: it is all arranged and your money is not needed. Cock-Head went back.
Husband and wife then went to the World-Honored One and exchanged greetings, and Cock-Head’s wife bowed at the World-Honored One’s feet and told the Buddha everything. The Buddha told Cock-Head: then invite the World-Honored One and the community of monks yourself. And Cock-Head’s wife said to her husband: follow the Buddha’s instruction. Then Cock-Head rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, joined his palms and said to the Buddha: I ask that the World-Honored One accept my invitation, and the community of monks. And the World-Honored One was silent.
Śakra said to Vaiśravaṇa, the heavenly king: Kubera, help this brahmin and arrange the third meal. He answered: I receive the instruction. Then Vaiśravaṇa hid his own form and transformed himself into a human body and ordered five hundred rākṣasas: go quickly to the sandalwood grove and bring fragrant firewood; we shall feed the Buddha and the saṅgha in the Bamboo Grove. And he conjured up an iron kitchen, and the five hundred rākṣasas each carried gośīrṣa sandalwood firewood into the iron kitchen.
Then Cock-Head cooked the food in the iron kitchen, and for twelve yojanas around the fragrance was smelled.
Then Śakra said to the god Viśvakarman: you may conjure up a high and broad lecture hall, so that the Buddha and the saṅgha may sit and eat. He answered: I receive the instruction. And, as a strong man bends and stretches his arm, he vanished from the Trāyastriṃśa heaven and appeared in the Bamboo Grove, and beside the iron kitchen conjured up a lecture hall made of the seven treasures, with twelve hundred and fifty seats worked in figured embroidery, and hands holding censers burning fragrant incense of every kind, and tāla trees made of the seven treasures, which a light wind moved so that the sound of their bells was heard far off.
Then King Bimbisāra of Magadha heard of it and asked his ministers, and the ministers answered: it is the brahmin Cock-Head, cooking food for the Buddha and the saṅgha in an iron kitchen with gośīrṣa sandalwood; that is the source of this fragrance.
The king came at once to where the Buddha was and said to his ministers: there was never such a lecture hall as this before; who has made it now? The ministers said to the king: we do not know. The World-Honored One explained it to the king at length as above. The king then wept and could not contain himself, thinking: beings’ merit is scant and their lives short, and they do not know the names of these treasures, much less see them. Today, by the Buddha’s grace, I have seen this lecture hall which never appeared before.
The World-Honored One said: beings to come will not hear of the seven treasures, much less see them with their eyes; and today, by the Buddha’s grace, you look upon such a thing. And the World-Honored One taught the king the subtle Dharma and made his heart glad. The king said: the brahmin Cock-Head has quickly obtained a good gain. And the king said: I wish to return to the palace. The Buddha said: now is the proper time.
The Buddha told Cock-Head: you may invite the king to a day’s meal. He answered: just so. And going to the king he raised his right hand and said: I ask the heavenly king to accept the invitation tomorrow and to assemble at this lecture hall. And the king was silent.
Then Vaiśravaṇa, the heavenly king, at first light the next morning, bathed and gave Cock-Head fine clothing; and holding a censer he went toward the World-Honored One and put his head and face to the ground and thought: now is the proper time; the food is prepared; I ask you to come down and attend.
The Buddha, surrounded by the saṅgha, went to the lecture hall and took his seat, and the monks sat in order. Then the king had his carriage made ready and, surrounded by his ministers, came to Cock-Head’s place; and with sweet dishes of food and drink of a hundred flavors each, he helped Cock-Head to feed the Buddha and the community of monks (Source: Sūtra of the People of Rājagṛha Inviting the Buddha).
The economics of the entry are worth following, because they are the point. Cock-Head cannot afford the hundred-coin buy-in, borrows the hundred against his own body and his wife's as security for seven days, and is then told the collection is closed and his money is not needed. His wife's instruction at each stage is what moves the story: borrow it, take it to the assembly, and — when that fails — follow the Buddha's instruction and invite him yourself.
What the Buddha's silence sets in motion is out of all proportion: Śakra assigns Vaiśravaṇa to the catering, five hundred rākṣasas fetch gośīrṣa sandalwood, an iron kitchen is conjured, the smell carries twelve yojanas, Viśvakarman builds a seven-jewelled lecture hall with twelve hundred and fifty embroidered seats, and King Bimbisāra comes to find out what is going on and weeps. Nobody in the story ever repays the hundred coins.
4. An Old Begging Brahmin Recites One Verse of the Buddha's and His Son Provides for Him Again
An old man who signed everything over to his son and was turned out is taught a verse and told to recite it — first announcing to the neighbours that they should listen.
爾時世尊入舍衛城。時有異婆羅門。年老根熟。執杖持鉢家家乞食。世尊告曰。汝何以爾。答言。瞿曇。我有財物悉已付子。為其取妻然後捨是。持鉢乞食。佛復告曰。汝能於我法受誦一偈。還為兒說。答佛能受。爾時世尊即說偈言。生子心歡喜 為子聚財物復為娉娶妻 而自捨出家邊鄙田宅兒 違負於其父人形羅剎心 棄捨於尊老老馬無復用 則奪其麫麥子少而父老 家家行乞食其杖為最勝 非子離恩愛為我防惡牛 危險地得安能却凶暴狗 扶我暗處行避深坑空井 草木棘刺林憑杖威力故 跱立不墮落時婆羅門從佛受偈。還家至門。先白大眾。聽我所說。然後誦偈如上。其子愧怖。即抱其父還將入家。摩身洗浴覆以衣被。立為家主。時婆羅門作是念。我今得勝族姓是沙門恩。我經所說。若為師者如師供養。我今持上妙衣。至世尊所面前問訊白佛言。願受此衣。哀愍我故。世尊即受。更說種種法。示教照喜(出佛為老婆羅門說偈經)。
Then the World-Honored One went into the city of Śrāvastī. There was a certain brahmin, old and with his faculties ripe, who went from house to house begging food with a staff and a bowl. The World-Honored One said to him: why are you like this? He answered: Gautama, I had property and gave it all to my son, and took a wife for him, and after that I was cast off, and I take a bowl and beg for food.
The Buddha said to him: can you receive and recite one verse from my Dharma and go back and say it to your son? He answered the Buddha that he could. Then the World-Honored One spoke this verse:
“When a son is born the heart rejoices; / for the son one gathers goods; / and one betroths and marries him a wife besides, / and then oneself is cast out and goes forth. / At the frontier of house and field the son / turns his back on his own father. / A man in form, a rākṣasa at heart, / he casts off the honored and the old. / When an old horse is of no more use / they take away its wheat and barley. / The son is young and the father old, / and goes from house to house begging food. / This staff is the best of all — / better than a son parted from love and kindness. / It guards me against evil oxen; / in dangerous ground I come safe. / It can drive off a fierce dog; / it supports me walking in the dark; / it avoids deep pits and empty wells, / grass, trees, and thorn thickets. / By the power of leaning on this staff / I stand upright and do not fall.”
Then the brahmin received the verse from the Buddha and went home; and at his gate he first announced it to the crowd: hear what I have to say. And then he recited the verse as above. His son, ashamed and afraid, embraced his father at once and brought him back into the house, rubbed his body and washed him and covered him with clothing and bedding, and set him up as head of the household.
Then the brahmin thought: that I have now got the better of my clan is the śramaṇa’s kindness; and my own scriptures say that one who acts as a teacher is to be provided for as a teacher. So he took a robe of the finest kind to where the World-Honored One was, greeted him face to face, and said to the Buddha: I ask you to accept this robe, out of pity for me. And the World-Honored One accepted it and expounded the Dharma of many kinds for him, instructing, teaching, illuminating, and delighting him (Source: Sūtra of the Buddha Speaking a Verse for an Old Brahmin).
The verse is the whole of this entry and it is unusually bitter for a canonical text — a man in form, a rākṣasa at heart; an old horse of no more use has its wheat taken away; the staff is better than a son parted from love and kindness. The last six lines turn entirely to the staff and what it does: guards against oxen, drives off dogs, supports him in the dark, keeps him out of pits and wells and thorn thickets. The praise of the object is the accusation.
Note the staging. The Buddha does not tell him to speak to his son; he tells him to go home and recite the verse — and the old man, before reciting it, calls the neighbours together to listen. The son's reaction is immediate and the text names it precisely: ashamed and afraid.
5. Sañjaya Studies Archery and Wins a Wife
An archery pupil looses one arrow while his teacher is out, and is told that this single arrow has cost him first place in Jambudvīpa. Then the teacher gives him his daughter, five hundred arrows, and a road through bandit country.
過去世時。有少婆羅門。名散若。往詣射師求學射術。師曰可學。散若於七年中常學此業。後問師曰。何時可罷。答曰。即索弓著箭。我暫入村待還後放。師即入村。散若待師良久而由不反。射前大樹箭經傷蛇。師還問曰。汝未放箭耶。答曰已放。師曰。汝若不放。於閻浮提為第一大師。既已放箭。若我死後次當汝。時師即莊嚴其女。以五百竿箭并一馬車與之。時散若受之。當度曠野。時有五百賊。於曠野中食。散若遣婦從賊乞食。賊曰。觀其所使非是常人。宜其與食。一賊曰。我曹猶活而聽此人將婦乘車而去耶。散若射之。應一箭而死。隨起隨射莫不皆殞。唯賊師在語於婦言。汝脫衣置地。即脫衣。見復射之應箭而死。五百賊者即五百比丘。散若舍利弗也(出四分律三分第九卷)。
In a past age there was a young brahmin named Sañjaya who went to an archery master to learn the art of the bow. The master said he might learn it, and Sañjaya practiced this occupation constantly for seven years.
Afterward he asked his master: when may I stop? He answered: take up the bow and set an arrow to it. I am going into the village for a moment; wait until I return and then loose it. The master then went into the village.
Sañjaya waited for his master a long while and he did not come back, and he shot at a great tree in front of him, and the arrow passing through wounded a snake. The master came back and asked: have you not yet loosed the arrow? He answered: I have loosed it. The master said: if you had not loosed it you would have been the greatest master in Jambudvīpa. Since you have loosed it, you will come next after me when I die.
The master then adorned his own daughter and gave her to him, with five hundred arrow shafts and a horse and carriage. Sañjaya accepted them, and had to cross a wilderness; and there were five hundred bandits eating in that wilderness.
Sañjaya sent his wife to beg food from the bandits. The bandits said: to look at the one she serves, he is no ordinary man; we had better give her food. One bandit said: are we still alive and going to let this man take his wife and drive off in a carriage? Sañjaya shot at him and he died at a single arrow; and as each rose he shot him, and every one of them fell.
Only the bandit chief was left, and he said to the wife: take off your clothes and put them on the ground. She took them off; and seeing this, he shot him too, and he died at the arrow. The five hundred bandits are the five hundred monks; Sañjaya is Śāriputra (Source: Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, third division, fascicle 9).
A grim little piece whose morality is left entirely unstated. The master's judgment on the loosed arrow is not that the pupil has done wrong but that he has forfeited first place — and he immediately gives him his daughter and five hundred arrows. The road through the bandits then demonstrates exactly what the training was for: the bandits are inclined to feed them, one man objects, and Sañjaya kills all five hundred, shooting each as he rises.
The identification at the end is what makes the entry worth including and is left without comment: Sañjaya is Śāriputra, and the five hundred bandits are the five hundred monks.
6. A Brahmin Gives the Buddha a Patch and Receives a Prediction
A brahmin gives the Buddha enough cloth to patch a hole and is told he will become a buddha. The rich men of the kingdom immediately begin cutting up good cloth.
佛入舍衛城分衛。身衣有少穿壞。有一婆羅門。見佛衣壞。即其家中得少白㲲。持用施佛。唯願如來當持此納以用補衣。佛即受之。佛與授記。便於當來世。兩阿僧祇百劫之中當得作佛。歡喜而去。國中豪賢長者居士曰。云何世尊小施大報。各為如來破損好㲲作種種衣。過去有佛。名毘鉢尸。時王名曰槃頭。有一大臣。請佛及僧三月供養。佛即許可。時槃頭王白佛言。貪得佛僧三月供養。佛告槃頭。吾先已受彼大臣請。王告臣曰。佛處我國。云卿已請今可讓我。臣答王言。若使大王保我身命。復保如來常住於此。國土常安隱者我乃息意。王更曉曰。卿請一日我復一日。臣便可之。各滿所願。王為如來辦具三衣。復為九萬比丘各作七條衣。時大臣以衣食施佛及僧。則我身是(出賢愚經第十三卷)。
The Buddha went into the city of Śrāvastī for alms, and the robe on his body had a small hole worn in it. A brahmin, seeing that the Buddha’s robe was worn, got a little white cotton in his house and gave it to the Buddha: I ask that the Tathāgata take this patch and use it to mend the robe. The Buddha accepted it, and gave him a prediction: in an age to come, after two asaṃkhyas and a hundred kalpas, you shall become a buddha. And he went away rejoicing.
The eminent men, elders, and householders of the kingdom said: how is it that the World-Honored One gives so great a reward for a small gift? And each of them cut up fine cotton for the Tathāgata and made robes of every kind for him.
In the past there was a buddha named Vipaśyin, and at that time there was a king named Bandhumat. A great minister invited the Buddha and the saṅgha to a three-month offering, and the Buddha assented. Then King Bandhumat said to the Buddha: I covet a three-month offering to the Buddha and the saṅgha. The Buddha told Bandhumat: I have already accepted that great minister’s invitation.
The king told the minister: the Buddha is in my kingdom, and though you have already invited him you may now give way to me. The minister answered the king: if the great king will guarantee my life, and guarantee that the Tathāgata will stay here always, and that the country will be always at peace, then I shall set my mind at rest. The king reasoned with him again: you invite him for one day and I the next. The minister agreed, and each of them had his wish fulfilled.
The king prepared the three robes for the Tathāgata, and made seven-strip robes for each of ninety thousand monks; and the great minister who gave robes and food to the Buddha and the saṅgha at that time is myself (Source: Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, fascicle 13).
7. A Brahmin Offers the Buddha Cakes, Hears the Dharma, and Attains the Path
A brahmin brings cakes to a gathering full of kings and nobles and is too shy to come forward. The Buddha calls him from across the room.
有婆羅門。問婦言。家中有䴵具。不欲隨伴供養瞿曇沙門。婦言有。即作持往。遇國王大臣剎利婆羅門十八大聚落主在座。婆羅門不敢前。念言。佛是一切智者應知我心。佛遙喚來問。器中何等。答曰是餅。佛言。可行與眾僧。答少不能遍。佛言。但與人行。一番猶故不減。乃至三遍尚不損耗。佛知其心。隨從說法得須陀洹道(出僧祇律第二十九卷又出第六卷)。
There was a brahmin who asked his wife: have we the makings of cakes in the house? I wish to go with the others and make an offering to the śramaṇa Gautama. His wife said they had, and she made them and he took them along.
He arrived to find the king, the great ministers, kṣatriyas, brahmins, and the chiefs of the eighteen great settlements all seated, and the brahmin did not dare to come forward, and thought: the Buddha is the all-knowing one and must know my mind.
The Buddha called him from a distance and asked: what is in the vessel? He answered: cakes. The Buddha said: you may go round with them and give them to the community of monks. He answered: they are too few to go round. The Buddha said: only go round with them. One round and they were not diminished, and even after three rounds there was no lessening. The Buddha knew his mind and taught the Dharma to suit him, and he attained the fruit of stream-entry (Source: Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya, fascicle 29; also fascicle 6).
8. The Brahmin Bádǐ, Angered at Losing His Disciples, Is Born Among Evil Nāgas and Is Subdued by the Buddha
A nāga king whose hail, forty fathoms square, would sink four feet into the ground, and who tries to crush the Buddha with his own coiled body. He had been a brahmin teacher whose ten thousand disciples left him.
昔有龍王。名曰拔抵。志性暴虐。數為風雨霹靂雹殺人民。鳥獸蠕動死無央數。有尊羅漢萬人共議。若殺一人墮地獄一劫罪猶不畢。今者此龍殘害眾生。前後不訾。轉恐難度。幸當共往諫止之耳。時佛知之。讚言善哉。時諸羅漢萬人俱行。龍放風雨雷電霹靂。萬人驚怖頓伏來還。是時佛在耆闍崛山。與萬菩薩萬羅漢俱到龍所。龍便瞋恚。暴風疾雨雷雹霹靂。其放一雹令壁。方四十丈。若至地者入地四尺。欲以害佛及菩薩僧。時諸羅漢見龍災變。各懷恐怖前依近佛。龍自見雹石化為華蓋。復自念言。我當以身堅自盤結令四十丈。欲以撲佛及眾僧上。即時自撲無所能中。舉頭開目諦視見佛。疑是尊妙無上神人。於是小龍而皆自撲無所動搖。龍王是時即便命盡上生為天。諸餘小龍亦皆併命得作天子。皆悉來下住於佛邊。佛告阿難。汝知是天所從生不。對曰不及。佛言。屬者諸龍興惡意者。自撲在地發一善心知佛為尊。命盡為天此者是也。天聞佛言。及諸天子皆發無上平等度意。佛言。昔龍王拔抵與釋迦文佛共為婆羅門。拔抵弟子。時有萬人。捨其師事釋迦文。拔抵懷恚為龍。佛德既成多度一切。弟子萬人皆得羅漢。龍懷毒惡故欲為害。萬人四道雖備。猶受其辱。若為菩薩龍不敢也(出舊雜譬喻經下卷)。
Long ago there was a nāga king named Bádǐ, violent and cruel by nature, who repeatedly made wind, rain, thunderbolts, and hail and killed people, and birds, beasts, and crawling creatures died beyond number.
Ten thousand venerable arhats conferred together: if one kills a single person one falls into hell for a kalpa and the offense is still not exhausted. Now this nāga is destroying beings without reckoning, before and after, and he grows harder and harder to deliver. We had better go together and remonstrate with him and stop him. The Buddha knew of it and praised them: excellent.
Then the ten thousand arhats went together, and the nāga let loose wind, rain, thunder, lightning, and thunderbolts; and the ten thousand, terrified, prostrated themselves and came back.
At that time the Buddha was on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, and with ten thousand bodhisattvas and ten thousand arhats he came to the nāga’s place. The nāga grew angry and made violent wind, driving rain, thunder, hail, and thunderbolts; and he loosed one hailstone the size of a wall, forty fathoms square, which, if it reached the ground, would sink four feet into it — meaning by it to harm the Buddha and the bodhisattva saṅgha.
Then the arhats, seeing the nāga’s disasters and transformations, were each filled with fear and came close to the Buddha; and the nāga himself saw the hailstone turn into a canopy of flowers.
He thought again: I shall coil my own body up firmly to forty fathoms and strike down on the Buddha and the community of monks. And he struck himself down at once and could hit nothing at all; and raising his head and opening his eyes he looked carefully and saw the Buddha, and suspected that this was an honored and marvellous divine man beyond all others. At this the lesser nāgas all struck themselves down and could not move anything either.
Then the nāga king’s life ended at once and he was born above as a god; and all the other lesser nāgas ended their lives too and became sons of gods, and all came down and stood beside the Buddha.
The Buddha told Ānanda: do you know where these gods have come from? He answered: I do not. The Buddha said: these are the nāgas who a moment ago raised evil intent, struck themselves upon the ground, gave rise to one good thought in knowing the Buddha to be honored, and, their lives ending, became gods. The gods heard the Buddha’s words, and they and the other sons of gods all gave rise to the resolve for unsurpassed, even deliverance.
The Buddha said: long ago the nāga king Bádǐ and the Buddha Śākyamuni were brahmins together, and Bádǐ had ten thousand disciples at that time; and they abandoned their teacher and served Śākyamuni, and Bádǐ, harbouring resentment, became a nāga. The Buddha’s virtue being accomplished, he delivered many, and the ten thousand disciples all attained arhatship; and because the nāga harboured venom and evil he wished to harm them. Though the ten thousand were complete in the four fruits, they were still put to shame by him; whereas with a bodhisattva the nāga would not have dared (Source: Old Miscellaneous Parables Sūtra, lower fascicle).
The origin given at the end reframes the whole entry: the nāga king was a brahmin teacher in a former life whose ten thousand disciples left him for Śākyamuni, and the resentment is what made him a nāga. He is not attacking the Buddha's followers at random; he is attacking the men who left him, and they are the ten thousand arhats who came first and fled.
The Buddha's closing remark is the sharpest thing in it and is easy to miss: though the ten thousand were complete in the four fruits, they were still put to shame by him — whereas with a bodhisattva the nāga would not have dared. The arhats' attainment was real and was not the relevant kind.
9. A Brahmin in Meditative Concentration for More Than Three Hundred Years
A brahmin three hundred years in concentration, buried in dust with trees growing on him, is woken by woodcutters and asks who they are.
昔有婆羅門。不樂世務。潛隱山間一心思道。即入禪定三百餘年。塵土沒身草木生其體上。山下有諸畜養妻子婆羅門數百家。大小相共採薪上樹。折取枯枝樹根。連婆羅門額樹既動搖。覺婆羅門禪從地中出。見採薪者問之。汝是何人。答曰。是婆羅門。餘人是誰。答曰。是妻子。婆羅門笑曰。我入禪三百餘歲。尚未敢稱婆羅門。汝等何忍自稱婆羅門乎(出十卷譬喻經第五卷)。
Long ago there was a brahmin who took no pleasure in worldly affairs, and hid himself in the mountains with a single-pointed mind on the path, and entered meditative concentration for more than three hundred years. Dust and earth buried his body and grass and trees grew upon it.
At the foot of the mountain there were several hundred households of brahmins who kept wives and children, and great and small they went up together to gather firewood, breaking off dead branches and tree roots from the trees; and one of them caught the brahmin’s forehead, and the tree moved and roused him. He came out of meditation and out of the earth, and, seeing the woodcutters, asked them: who are you? They answered: we are brahmins. He said: and who are these others? They answered: our wives and children.
The brahmin laughed and said: I have been in meditation more than three hundred years and still do not dare to call myself a brahmin. How do you bring yourselves to call yourselves brahmins? (Source: Ten-Fascicle Parables Sūtra, fascicle 5)
10. A Brahmin's Son and Daughter-in-Law Come to Faith and Their Later Reward Is Seen
A gift that has to pass from a wife to her husband to a maid to a gatekeeper before it can reach a temple, and a vow that it be visible to everyone. On the third day of the third month it is.
昔者舍衛城東。有一婆羅門大富。其子娶妻。得事佛家女。奉五戒持六齋。常好布施沙門道士。勸夫修施。夫即開解。白其父母。父母大恚。謂破吾門戶。婦持錢絹與夫。夫持與守閤婢。婢持與守門奴。奴持往佛寺中。布施沙門燒香燃燈。夫婦共誓言。假令布施無福自己。又假令有福者。當使天下人皆共見之。時國俗三月三日。舉國人民皆至水上作樂歌戲。時東南角有一天人。騎一白馬乘空而過。眾人仰問是何神靈。答曰。問後來者。須臾復有七寶殿舍。有玉女獨坐其上。四大天神接殿飛行。眾人又問。君何功德。玉女亦云。問後來者。俄而後有四柱寶殿。有一天人有一玉女共坐其中。前後左右四部妓樂。十二天神共接其殿。眾人又問。有何功德。亦答。問後來者。須臾復有二薜荔鬼。身長三丈。黑瘦醜陋飢渴苦痛。身中燋然。各捉大棒更相撾打。眾人又問。答曰。諸君聞舍衛城東大富婆羅門不。騎白馬者是守門奴。小殿玉女者是守閤婢。大殿二人是我兒我兒婦。二鬼是婆羅門夫婦。前世愚癡不信正法。今當厄禍可復奈何(出十卷譬喻經第一卷)。
Long ago, east of the city of Śrāvastī, there was a very rich brahmin whose son took a wife; and he got a daughter of a Buddhist household, who kept the five precepts and the six fast days and constantly delighted in giving to śramaṇas and religious men, and she urged her husband to cultivate giving, and her husband’s understanding opened.
He told his father and mother, and his parents were furious and said he was ruining their household. So the wife took money and silk and gave it to her husband, and her husband gave it to the maid who kept the inner door, and the maid gave it to the slave who kept the outer gate, and the slave took it to a Buddhist temple and gave alms to the śramaṇas and burned incense and lit lamps.
Husband and wife made a vow together: if this giving has no merit, so be it; but if it has merit, let all the people under heaven see it together.
At that time it was the custom of the country, on the third day of the third month, for all the people of the kingdom to go to the water and make music and sing and play. Then in the southeast corner there was a god riding a white horse, passing through the air; and the crowd looked up and asked what divine being this was. He answered: ask the one who comes after me.
In a moment there came a palace hall of the seven treasures with a jade maiden sitting alone above it, and four great divine spirits carrying the hall through the air. The crowd asked again: what merit have you? The jade maiden also said: ask the one who comes after.
Presently there came a jeweled hall of four pillars, with a god and a jade maiden seated together within it, and musicians of the four kinds before and behind and to left and right, and twelve divine spirits carrying the hall together. The crowd asked again: what merit have you? And they too answered: ask the one who comes after.
In a moment there came two preta ghosts, three fathoms tall, black, thin, and hideous, in the pain of hunger and thirst, scorched within, each holding a great staff and beating the other. The crowd asked again, and they answered: gentlemen, have you not heard of the very rich brahmin east of the city of Śrāvastī? The one riding the white horse is the slave who kept the gate; the jade maiden on the small hall is the maid who kept the inner door; the two on the great hall are my son and my son’s wife; and the two ghosts are the brahmin and his wife. In a former life we were foolish and did not believe the right Dharma, and now we meet with this calamity — and what is to be done about it? (Source: Ten-Fascicle Parables Sūtra, fascicle 1)
The chain by which the gift travels is the substance of this entry: the wife gives money and silk to her husband, the husband to the maid who keeps the inner door, the maid to the slave who keeps the outer gate, and the slave carries it to the temple. Four people handle it, and the parents-in-law who forbade it never see it leave the house.
The procession on the third day of the third month then pays each of them out in exact order of how far they carried it — the gatekeeper on a white horse, the inner-door maid alone on a small hall borne by four spirits, the son and his wife together on a four-pillared hall borne by twelve — and the two who forbade the gift come last as pretas beating each other with staves. The compendium lets the brahmin do the explaining himself, and gives him the closing line: and what is to be done about it?
11. A Brahmin's Understanding Is Released by the Buddha
A city where giving the Buddha food carries a five-hundred-coin fine. A servant on her way to throw out the rice-washings offers him those instead, and the Buddha predicts fifteen kalpas of heaven and eventual buddhahood for it.
佛遊婆羅門城。諸婆羅門王。知如來神德能感動群心。一食其化誰受我語。因共立制。若與佛食聽佛語者罰金錢五百。時佛入城乞食。人皆閉門空鉢而出。有一使人。以破瓦器盛臭潘淀出門棄之。見佛空鉢信心清淨。欲興供養無由如願。云今此弊食須者可取。佛知其意即受其施而說。女人施食十五劫。天上人間受福快樂不墮惡道。後得男身出家學道成辟支佛。邊有一婆羅門。以偈說佛為食妄語。如此臭食果報乃重。佛即出舌覆面上至髮際。語婆羅門。汝見經書頗有此舌而作妄語者不。婆羅門言。如此舌者必不妄言。未解小施而獲大報耳。佛曰。汝曾見尼拘陀樹蔭覆賈客五百乘車猶不盡不。答曰見。又問。此樹種子大小。答曰。如芥子三分之一。又問。誰當信此。答曰。眼所現見。又問。我亦如是。此老女人得大果報。如來福田良美所致。時婆羅門心開意解五體投地向佛悔過。佛為說法得初道果。即發大聲告眾人曰。甘露門開如何不出。諸婆羅門乞輸金錢。迎佛供養。婆羅門王亦共臣民歸命佛法。城中男女皆得淨信(出普曜經第五卷)。
The Buddha was travelling in a brahmin city, and the brahmin kings, knowing that the Tathāgata’s divine virtue could move the hearts of the crowd, thought: if he eats once here, his transforming influence will take hold, and who will listen to us? So they made a rule together: whoever gives the Buddha food or listens to the Buddha’s words shall be fined five hundred gold coins.
Then the Buddha went into the city for alms, and everyone shut their doors, and he came out with an empty bowl. There was a servant woman who had foul rice-washings in a broken earthen vessel and was going out of the gate to throw them away; and, seeing the Buddha’s empty bowl, her faith was pure and she wished to make an offering and had no way to accomplish her wish, and said: this is poor food now; if you need it, you may take it.
The Buddha knew her mind and accepted her gift and said: for giving food, this woman shall for fifteen kalpas receive blessing and joy in heaven and among humans and shall not fall into the evil destinies; and afterward she shall obtain a male body, go forth and study the path, and become a solitary buddha.
A brahmin standing near spoke a verse saying that the Buddha spoke falsely for the sake of food: how should such foul food have so heavy a reward? The Buddha then put out his tongue and covered his face with it up to the hairline, and said to the brahmin: in the scriptures you have seen, is there any who has such a tongue and yet speaks falsely? The brahmin said: one with such a tongue certainly does not speak falsely. But I do not understand how a small gift obtains a great reward.
The Buddha said: have you ever seen a nyagrodha tree whose shade covered five hundred carts of merchants and was not used up? He answered: I have seen it. He asked again: how large is that tree’s seed? He answered: about a third of a mustard seed. He asked again: who would believe that? He answered: it is seen with the eyes. He asked again: I too am like that. This old woman obtains a great reward because the Tathāgata’s field of merit is fine and good.
Then the brahmin’s mind opened and his thought was released, and he threw himself full length before the Buddha and repented; and the Buddha taught the Dharma for him and he attained the first fruit of the path. And he raised a great cry and told the crowd: the gate of nectar is open — why do you not come out? The brahmins begged leave to pay over the gold coins, and received the Buddha and made offerings; and the brahmin kings too, with their ministers and people, took refuge in the Buddha’s Dharma, and the men and women of the city all obtained pure faith (Source: Lalitavistara, fascicle 5).
The transaction here is the smallest in the fascicle: a servant on her way to throw out foul rice-washings offers them because she has nothing else and the Buddha's bowl is empty. Her own words are worth noting for their honesty — this is poor food; if you need it, you may take it.
The brahmin's objection is a reasonable one and the Buddha answers it in two stages. The first is not an argument at all but a demonstration of the mark of the broad, long tongue, which the brahmin's own scriptures identify as incompatible with lying; the brahmin concedes that the speaker is not lying and says plainly that he still does not understand. Only then comes the argument, and it is empirical: the nyagrodha seed a third the size of a mustard seed, and the tree whose shade covers five hundred carts. What makes the reward large is not the gift but the field it is given in.
12. A Brahmin Who Kept One Fast Incompletely Is Born a Tree-Spirit Who Can Produce Food and Give It to the Starving
A man who kept the eight-precept fast until his wife forced him to eat at dusk. What he became instead of a god turns five hundred would-be immortals from their quest.
昔有長者名須達。請佛及僧廣設大會。道逢一人奉酪一瓶。見一婆羅門請令提歸。既到見佛及僧歡喜便住。聽經持齋至暮乃還。其家婦甚怪之。亦不食至暮踧迫令食。不終齋法後命盡。其神乃在欝多羅國作大澤樹神。時有五百學士。欲至三祠神池澡浴望仙。資糧乏盡又無水漿。遂已困乏。遙望彼樹想為泉水。皆到樹下了無水泉。將成大困。便共舉聲求哀樹神救我等命。樹神即現半身。舉右手指頭。自然出百味之食。手奉蜜漿種種具足。皆得盈飽。時五百人自共議曰。我等欲至神池澡浴望仙。此之巍巍仙道豈能勝乎。復問樹神。作何功德聖德如此。樹神答言。吾昔見佛在舍衛精舍。持八關齋。為婦所敗不終齋法。神應生天。時五百人即共奉持齋法戒。後得須陀洹道(出諸經中要事)。
Long ago there was an elder named Sudatta who invited the Buddha and the saṅgha and set out a great gathering on a large scale. On the road he met a man who offered a jar of curds, and, seeing a brahmin, he asked him to carry it back for him. Arriving, he saw the Buddha and the saṅgha and was glad and stayed, and heard the sūtras and kept the fast, and went back only at dusk.
His wife at home thought it very strange, and would not eat either, and at dusk pressed and forced him to eat, so that he did not complete the rule of the fast. Afterward his life ended, and his spirit became a great marsh tree-spirit in the kingdom of Uttara.
At that time five hundred students wished to reach the sacred pool of the three shrines and bathe in hope of becoming immortals. Their provisions ran out and they had no water or drink, and they came to exhaustion. Looking off into the distance at that tree they supposed there was a spring, and all came to the tree and there was no spring at all; and being about to fall into great distress, they raised their voices together and begged the tree-spirit in pity to save their lives.
The tree-spirit then showed half its body, raised its right hand, and from the fingertips food of a hundred flavors came forth of itself; and with its hand it presented honey-drink and everything else in full, and they all had their fill.
Then the five hundred conferred among themselves: we wished to reach the sacred pool and bathe in hope of becoming immortals. How should the way of the immortals surpass a majesty like this? And they asked the tree-spirit again: what merit did you make, that your holy virtue is like this?
The tree-spirit answered: long ago I saw the Buddha at the monastery in Śrāvastī and kept the eightfold fast, and was defeated by my wife and did not complete the rule of the fast. My spirit should have been born in heaven.
Then the five hundred took up and kept the rule of the fast and the precepts together, and afterward attained the fruit of stream-entry (Source: Essential Matters from the Sūtras).
13. A Brahmin Couple Swallow Gold Coins for Provisions; Their Bodies Decay, Someone Takes the Coins and Makes Merit, and They Attain the Path
A childless couple who swallow fifty gold coins each so as to take their money with them. A stranger finds the coins in their rotted bodies and spends them on their behalf.
昔有婆羅門。夫婦二人無有兒子。財富無數。臨壽終時自相謂言。各當吞錢以為資糧。其國俗法。死者不埋但著樹下。各吞五十金錢死。身爛錢出。國中有一賢者行見之。愍然流淚傷其慳貪。取為設福。請佛及僧盡心供辦。擎飯佛前稱名呪願。時慳人夫婦。受餓鬼苦即生天上。為設福廣請四輩。時生天者即得天眼知為作福。從天來下化作年少佐助檀越。佛言。此厨間年少是真檀越。至便說法即得道迹。賢者亦得道迹。眾會歡喜皆得生天(出宿願果報經)。
Long ago there was a brahmin, and the two of them, husband and wife, had no children and their wealth was beyond number. When their lives were about to end they said to one another: let each of us swallow money to be our provisions. It is the custom of that country that the dead are not buried but only set beneath a tree. So each swallowed fifty gold coins and died, and their bodies rotted and the money came out.
A worthy man of that country, walking by, saw it and wept in pity and grieved at their miserliness, and took it and used it to make merit for them, inviting the Buddha and the saṅgha and preparing everything with all his heart; and holding the food up before the Buddha he named them and made the prayer.
Then the miserly husband and wife, who were suffering as hungry ghosts, were at once born in heaven; and, the merit being made for them and set out broadly for the four assemblies, the ones who had been born in heaven obtained the heavenly eye and knew that merit was being made for them, and came down from heaven and transformed themselves into young men and helped the donor.
The Buddha said: these young men in the kitchen are the true donors. When they came forward he taught the Dharma and they attained the traces of the path; and the worthy man attained the traces of the path too, and the whole assembly rejoiced and were all born in heaven (Source: Sūtra of the Fruit of Former Vows).
14. A Brahmin Has Beautiful Daughters and the Buddha Says They Are Not Good
A brahmin offers gold to anyone who can call his daughters ugly, and gets no takers for ninety days. Then he takes them to the Buddha.
佛在世時有一婆羅門。生兩女皆端正。乃故懸金。九十日內募索有能訶女醜者。便當與金。竟無應募者。將至佛所。佛便訶言。此女皆醜無有一好。阿難白佛言。此女好而佛言惡。有何不好。佛言。人眼不視色是為好。眼耳鼻口亦爾。身不著細滑是為好。身手不盜他財是為好手。不犯此事是乃為好。眼視色耳聽音鼻嗅香。身喜細滑。手喜盜他財。如此者皆非好也(出雜譬喻經)。
When the Buddha was in the world there was a brahmin who had two daughters, both beautiful. He hung up gold on purpose and for ninety days sought and called for anyone who could fault the girls as ugly, and would give him the gold; and in the end no one answered the call.
He took them to where the Buddha was, and the Buddha found fault with them at once: these girls are all ugly and there is not one good thing about them. Ānanda said to the Buddha: these girls are fine, and the Buddha calls them bad. What is not good about them?
The Buddha said: an eye that does not look at forms is good, and so with the ear, the nose, and the mouth. A body not attached to soft touch is good. A hand that does not steal another’s goods is a good hand. Not to offend in these matters is what is good. An eye that looks at forms, an ear that listens to sounds, a nose that smells scents, a body that delights in soft touch, a hand that delights in stealing another’s goods — such things are none of them good (Source: Miscellaneous Parables Sūtra).
15. Fire-Garland and the Potter's Son Are Good Friends and Urge One Another to Faith
A potter's son drags an unwilling brahmin youth to see the Buddha Kāśyapa — literally, by the head, an offense punishable by beheading. The brahmin youth is the Buddha; the words he had used are the reason for the six years of austerity.
往昔多狩邑。有婆羅門。為王太史。國中第一。有一子。頭上有自然火鬘。因以為名。姿首端正有三十相。有一瓦師子。名難提婆羅。與火鬘少小親交心相敬念。瓦師子精進勇猛慈仁孝從。其父母俱盲供養無乏。雖為瓦師手不掘地。唯取破牆崩岸及以鼠壤和用為器。若有買者。以穀麥麻豆置地取器。初不爭價。亦復不取金銀財帛。唯取穀米供養而已。迦葉如來所住精舍。去多狩邑不遠。與大比丘有二萬人。皆是羅漢。護喜語火鬘曰。共見迦葉如來。火鬘答曰。用見此道人。為直是髠頭人耳。有何道哉。佛道難得。如是至三。護喜復語火鬘。共至水上澡浴乎。火鬘答曰可爾。便共詣水澡浴。護喜舉右手遙指示曰。迦葉精舍去是不遠。可共暫見。火鬘答曰。用見此為。護喜便捉火鬘衣牽。火鬘脫衣捨走。護喜便捉頭牽曰。為一過共見佛去來。國俗諱捉人頭法皆斬刑。火鬘代其驚怖心念曰。瓦師子分死捉我頭耶。護喜曰。我死。死終不相置。要當使卿見佛。火鬘心念。必當有好事耳。乃使此人分死相捉。火鬘曰。放我頭我隨子去。便還結頭著衣。相隨詣迦葉佛。護喜白佛言。此火鬘者是我少小親友。然其不識信三尊。願世尊開化。火鬘童子覩佛相好。心念曰。書記所載相好盡有。唯無二事。時迦葉如來。便出廣長舌以覆面上。及肉髻并覆兩耳七過。舐頭縮舌入口。光色出照大千世界。蔽日月明乃至阿迦膩吒天。光還繞身七匝從頂上入。以神足力現陰馬藏。令火鬘獨見。餘人不覩。火鬘童子具足見佛三十二相。踊躍歡喜不能自勝。迦葉如來。為火鬘童子說菩薩斷功德。何等為斷菩薩功德。法身不可行而行。口不可言而言。意不可念而念。是為菩薩三惡行。於是火鬘前禮佛足言。我今懺悔願佛許受。從今已往不復敢犯。如此至三。迦葉如來默然受之。火鬘童子護喜童子。俱禮佛足辭退而還。火鬘曰。卿為失利不為得利。我不喜見卿面。不喜聞卿名。護喜答曰。何以故爾。火鬘曰。卿早從佛聞深法。何能在家。護喜答曰。我父母年老又復俱盲。供養二親何由出家。若我出家父母便終。以是故不得出家耳。火鬘語護喜曰。我從迦葉佛聞菩薩行三惡緣對。不復樂在家。我欲從此還至佛所求為比丘。護喜報曰。善哉火鬘。得思惟力耶。便可時還。所以然者佛世難值。火鬘童子即抱護喜。便繞三匝叉手謝曰。我設有身口意過於卿者。願見原恕。若卿指授正真大道。於是火鬘說頌讚曰。仁為我善友 法友無所貪導我以正道 是友佛所譽說是偈已。繞護喜三匝還詣精舍。而白佛言。寧可入道受具戒不。即度火鬘受具足戒。佛語舍利弗。時火鬘童子則我身是。火鬘父者今父王真淨是。護喜者頻勸我出家。則是作道善知識也。我前向護喜惡語道。迦葉佛禿頭沙門有何道。故六年受日食一麻一米大豆小豆如是(出興起行經下卷)。
Long ago in the town of Many-Beasts there was a brahmin who was the king’s grand astrologer and first in the kingdom. He had a son with a natural garland of fire on his head, and he was named Fire-Garland for it; his form and features were handsome and he had thirty of the marks.
There was a potter’s son named Nandīpāla, who from childhood had been an intimate friend of Fire-Garland and cherished him in his heart. The potter’s son was diligent and brave, kind, humane, and filial; both his parents were blind and he provided for them without stint. Though he was a potter he did not dig the ground with his hands, but took only broken walls, collapsed banks, and the earth turned up by rats, and mixed it and made his vessels. If anyone bought them, they set grain, wheat, hemp, or beans on the ground and took the vessel, and he never haggled over the price and never took gold, silver, goods, or silk, but only grain and rice to provide for his parents.
The monastery where the Tathāgata Kāśyapa was staying was not far from the town of Many-Beasts, and with him were twenty thousand great monks, all arhats.
Protect-Joy said to Fire-Garland: let us go together and see the Tathāgata Kāśyapa. Fire-Garland answered: what is the use of seeing this religious? He is only a shaven-headed man — what path is there in him? The buddha-path is hard to obtain. And so it went three times.
Protect-Joy said to Fire-Garland again: shall we go to the water and bathe? Fire-Garland answered: very well. And they went together to the water and bathed.
Protect-Joy raised his right hand and pointed into the distance: Kāśyapa’s monastery is not far from here; let us go and see him for a moment. Fire-Garland answered: what use is there in seeing it? Protect-Joy then took hold of Fire-Garland’s clothing and pulled, and Fire-Garland slipped out of his clothes and ran off. Protect-Joy then took hold of his head and pulled: come and see the Buddha just this once.
It is a custom of the country that to take hold of a person’s head is punishable by beheading. Fire-Garland was terrified on his behalf and thought: the potter’s son takes hold of my head at the risk of his life? Protect-Joy said: let me die; I shall not let go of you at all, and I shall make you see the Buddha.
Fire-Garland thought: there must surely be something good in it, that this man should take hold of me at the risk of his life. Fire-Garland said: let go of my head and I shall go with you. And he tied his hair up again and put on his clothes, and they went together to the Buddha Kāśyapa.
Protect-Joy said to the Buddha: this Fire-Garland is a close friend of mine from childhood, but he does not know or believe in the Three Honored Ones. I ask the World-Honored One to open and transform him.
The boy Fire-Garland, looking at the Buddha’s marks and features, thought: everything the books record of the marks is here, only two things are missing. Then the Tathāgata Kāśyapa put out his broad, long tongue and covered his face with it, and covered his cranial protuberance and both ears seven times over, and licked his own head and drew the tongue back into his mouth; and the light of its color shone over the great thousand-world and outshone the brightness of sun and moon up to the Akaniṣṭha heaven, and the light came back and circled his body seven times and entered at the crown of his head. And by his power of supernormal transformation he manifested the sheathed male organ, letting Fire-Garland alone see it and no one else.
The boy Fire-Garland, having now seen all thirty-two of the Buddha’s marks, leapt with a joy he could not contain. The Tathāgata Kāśyapa taught the boy Fire-Garland the bodhisattva’s severed merit. And what is the bodhisattva’s severed merit? In Dharma, the body acting where it should not act; the mouth speaking what should not be spoken; the mind thinking what should not be thought — these are the bodhisattva’s three evil practices.
Then Fire-Garland came forward and bowed at the Buddha’s feet and said: I now repent, and ask the Buddha to permit and accept it. From now on I shall not dare to offend again. And so three times; and the Tathāgata Kāśyapa accepted it in silence.
The boy Fire-Garland and the boy Protect-Joy both bowed at the Buddha’s feet and took their leave and went back. Fire-Garland said: you have lost me my gain and not gained me anything. I do not like to see your face and do not like to hear your name. Protect-Joy answered: why so? Fire-Garland said: you heard the deep Dharma from the Buddha long ago — how can you remain a householder?
Protect-Joy answered: my father and mother are old and both blind, and how am I to provide for them if I go forth? If I go forth my parents will die; and it is for this reason that I cannot go forth.
Fire-Garland said to Protect-Joy: I have heard from the Buddha Kāśyapa about the retribution of the three evils of the bodhisattva’s conduct, and I no longer take pleasure in being a householder. I mean to go back from here to the Buddha and ask to be a monk. Protect-Joy answered: excellent, Fire-Garland — you have obtained the power of reflection. Go back at once. For a buddha in the world is hard to meet with.
The boy Fire-Garland then embraced Protect-Joy and circled him three times and with joined palms took his leave: if I have offended you in body, speech, or mind, I ask you to forgive me. You have pointed me to the true and great path. And Fire-Garland spoke this verse of praise:
“You are my good friend, / a friend in the Dharma with no greed at all; / you have led me by the right road — / such a friend the Buddha praises.”
Having spoken this verse he circled Protect-Joy three times and went back to the monastery and said to the Buddha: may I enter the path and receive the full precepts? And Fire-Garland was ordained and received the full precepts.
The Buddha told Śāriputra: the boy Fire-Garland of that time is myself. Fire-Garland’s father is my father King Śuddhodana now. Protect-Joy, who repeatedly urged me to go forth, is the good friend in the path. And because I earlier spoke evil words to Protect-Joy, saying that the Buddha Kāśyapa was a bald-headed śramaṇa and what path was there in him — for that reason I underwent six years of eating one sesame seed and one grain of rice, one large bean and one small bean, a day (Source: Sūtra of the Arising of Practices, lower fascicle).
This is the story known in the Pali canon as the Ghaṭīkāra Sutta, in which the potter Ghaṭīkāra brings the reluctant brahmin youth Jotipāla to the Buddha Kassapa; here the youth is Fire-Garland and the potter is Nandīpāla, also called by the Chinese translation Protect-Joy. The details that make the Pali version famous are all here: the potter who will not dig the earth and takes only broken walls and rat-turned soil for his clay, who never haggles and takes no money, and who cannot go forth because both his parents are blind.
The scene the entry is built around is the seizing of the head. It is a capital offense in that country and both of them know it, and the potter says so explicitly — let me die; I shall not let go of you at all. Fire-Garland's reasoning is what changes his mind, and it is not religious: there must surely be something good in it, that this man should take hold of me at the risk of his life.
The identification at the close is the reason the compendium prints this rather than a shorter version. Fire-Garland is the Buddha; and the words he had used — that Kāśyapa was a bald-headed śramaṇa with no path in him — are given as the cause of the six years of austerity on one sesame seed and one grain of rice a day. The source is the Sūtra of the Arising of Practices, which collects the Buddha's own past evil deeds and their residual retributions; fascicle 36's entry 17, in which the Buddha names himself as a fratricide, comes from the same text. This closes fascicle 41.
16. A Brahmin's Wife Serves the Buddha and Is Persecuted by Her Husband; She Throws Herself into a River, the Water Dries Up, and Her Husband Wakes
A wife allowed no banner but one hung indoors, a husband who beats her for it, a river that dries up, and a canopy of the seven treasures.
昔有婆羅門。奉事外道。其婦事佛。語其婿言。聽我與佛作婢。懸幡蓋燒香然燈。婿不聽之。便作一幡懸於屋內。晨夕向禮。婿殺牛羊呼師解事。師到其門語言。卿舍有佛幡蓋。我不敢進。即入問婦。推覓得幡。婿瞋打婦。婦即投河。心至感神河水為竭。自然有七寶華蓋其上。婿見斯瑞知佛可尊。即捨外道奉事大法(出譬喻經)。
Long ago there was a brahmin who served the heterodox teachings, and his wife served the Buddha. She said to her husband: allow me to be a servant to the Buddha, to hang banners and canopies, burn incense, and light lamps. Her husband would not allow it, and she made a single banner and hung it inside the house and bowed toward it morning and evening.
Her husband killed an ox and a sheep and summoned a master to conduct a rite. The master came to the gate and said: there is a banner and canopy of the Buddha in your house, and I dare not come in. He went in at once and questioned his wife, and searched and found the banner; and her husband in anger beat her, and she threw herself into the river.
Her heart being wholly sincere it moved the spirits, and the river water dried up, and there was a canopy of flowers of the seven treasures, of itself, above her. Her husband, seeing this omen, knew that the Buddha was worthy of honor, and gave up the heterodox teachings and served the great Dharma (Source: Parables Sūtra).