過去世佛分衛經

The Buddha taught:

In a past age there was a Buddha who, together with a great multitude of his venerable disciples and Bodhisattvas, entered a city to beg for alms. These disciples and Bodhisattvas all bore marks of beauty, upright and dignified, loving-kind and forbearing, and each of them practiced the Way according to his own original vow.

There was a mother who had been with child for several months. Seeing the Buddha and the assembly of monks living a holy and saintly life, she made a wish that the child she was about to bear would also become a śramaṇa, a disciple of the Buddha.

In time the day of birth arrived. Both mother and child fared well, and the infant was exceedingly beautiful, bearing marks unlike those of other people. That mother loved her child so dearly that she no longer wished to let him go forth to become a śramaṇa. At the very moment she came to her senses, she said to herself: "Formerly I made a vow that, if I gave birth to a child, I would let him study the Way. Now the infant has been born, bearing marks unlike those of other people; he makes me feel at peace and free from impurity. I cannot, out of excessive love for my child, go against my former heartfelt vow."

When the child reached the age of seven, the family had grown poor; so the mother prepared vessels for holding food for two persons and three Dharma robes, and, holding a water vessel for washing in her hand, she led her child to the place where the Buddha was. She bowed her head at his feet and addressed the Buddha:

"I beg you to have compassion on my child and allow him to become a śramaṇa, so that one day he may attain the Way and obtain a body like that of a Buddha."

The Buddha consented to let the child become a śramaṇa. The mother took the vessel of pure water to wash her child's hands. At that moment nine dragons came forth from the mouth of the vessel, spouting water that poured over the boy's hands. When the washing was done, the remaining water was poured over the boy's head, and a drop of water that lingered upon his head at once transformed into a jeweled canopy, with garlands of flowers spreading as a covering, within which was a lion throne, and upon the throne sat a Buddha. The Buddha smiled, and from within his mouth there shone light of five colors that illumined ten koṭis of buddha-lands; the light then returned, circled around the Buddha's body, and entered the crown of the boy's head.

The mother took a bowl of rice, first offering it to the Buddha and then giving food to her son, and at once gave rise to the mind of Supreme Equanimity. At that very moment the ten koṭis of buddha-lands quaked in six ways, and the alms-bowls of the buddha-lands all appeared spontaneously. Then the Buddha used the bowl of rice that the boy's mother had offered to him to invite the Buddhas and the assembly of bhikṣus there present; all were filled to satisfaction, yet that bowl of rice remained whole as before.

The boy's mother was filled with boundless joy, and innumerable gods and humans all attained the stage of Non-retrogression. At that time the boy's hair fell away of itself, and the boy became a śramaṇa, attaining on that very spot the stage of Non-retrogression. The mother came and addressed the Buddha:

"Today I have witnessed three wondrous things:

When I washed my son's hands, there were nine dragons spouting water.

When the washing was done, the remaining water poured over my son's head at once transformed into a jeweled curtain and a lion throne upon which sat a Buddha.

When the Buddha smiled, light shone forth from within his mouth and then entered the crown of the boy's head.

I humbly beg the Buddha to explain these things so that I may understand."

The Buddha taught:

"This boy, fourteen kalpas hence, shall become a Buddha. All of these are the signs thereof: the nine dragons spouting water, the lion throne, the floral canopy and jeweled curtain, and the Buddha's smile with its light entering the crown of the boy's head—all of these manifest that very matter."

When the boy's mother heard the Buddha's teaching, she rejoiced beyond measure. Thereafter she became the mother of a Wheel-turning Sacred King. Passing through seven hundred lifetimes, when the span of her life was ended, she was reborn as a mother and realized the stage of Non-retrogression.

The Buddha taught:

"At that time the boy was none other than my own body; this is why today I have obtained merit such as this."

All the devas, dragon-spirits, and the people, having heard the Buddha's teaching, all realized the stage of Non-retrogression.

Buddha Anavatapta, Buddha Śūnyatā-svabhāva, Buddha Devarāja, Buddha Hiraṇya-puruṣa.