佛說樓閣正法甘露鼓經

Thus have I heard:

At one time the World-Honored One was dwelling in the Jeta Grove, the Garden of Anāthapiṇḍika, in the country of Śrāvastī. At that time, the Venerable Ānanda, giving rise to a sincere heart, came to where the World-Honored One was. Having arrived, the Venerable bowed his head to the ground at the Buddha's feet. When he had finished paying reverence, he stood to one side, and then the Venerable Ānanda addressed the Buddha:

"Reverently I beseech the World-Honored One! What is it to plant pure roots of goodness? What is a Maṇḍala? What is it to take refuge and to uphold the precepts of training? What is it to join one's palms in reverent offering to the Tathāgata, and what wholesome karma shall thereby be accomplished?"

"O World-Honored One!

"What is it for the roots of goodness to be undying throughout transmigration? What does it mean that, when one's karma is exhausted, one attains Nirvāṇa? And what merit is gained by making an image of the Tathāgata?"

The Buddha said:

"O Ānanda! At present, with regard to the five virtues, one must cultivate and guard them so as to keep them pure. Moreover, by what means is it called arousing one's own mind and arousing the minds of others, so that the Noble and Worthy Ones attain joy of heart, so that wholesome karma is lofty and sublime, and whatever is sought is obtained—so that, after the body perishes and life comes to an end, one is reborn in the Heaven of the Well-Gone?

"O Ānanda! If there be a person who arouses the mind toward the Buddha and should, with utmost sincerity, make offerings and fashion a four-sided Maṇḍala, then I say that this person, in a future life, shall be a lord of wealth and nobility in Uttarakuru, and after the body perishes and life comes to an end, shall be reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.

"O Ānanda! If there be a person who arouses the mind toward the Buddha and should, with utmost sincerity, make offerings and fashion a Maṇḍala in the shape of a half-moon, then I say that this person, in a future life, shall be a lord of wealth and nobility in Pūrvavideha. After death he shall be reborn in the Yāma Heaven.

"O Ānanda! If there be a person who arouses the mind toward the Buddha and should, with utmost sincerity, make offerings and fashion a round Maṇḍala, then I say that this person, in a future life, shall be a lord of wealth and nobility in Aparagodānīya. After the body perishes and life comes to an end, he shall be reborn in the Tuṣita Heaven. O Ānanda! If there be a person who, for the sake of the Buddha, with utmost sincerity makes offerings and fashions a round Maṇḍala, then I say that this person, in a future life, shall be a lord of wealth and nobility in Jambudvīpa. After the body perishes and life comes to an end, he shall be reborn in the Heaven of Delight in Transformation.

"O Ānanda! If one takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, and protects and upholds the pure precepts, then I say that this person's roots of goodness and merits of blessing are immeasurable and boundless. None among the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas at the limit of their fresh Nirvāṇa could be compared with them."

At that time, the World-Honored One said to the Venerable Ānanda:

"As you please, you should understand that yonder red lotus flower is soft and supple, without stain. The Aśoka tree's leaves are of a marvelous crimson hue. My tongue too is like this: it is long and broad enough to cover the whole of my face, even reaching the hairline, as you have seen.

"O Ānanda! How could one who speaks false words, who speaks ornate and frivolous speech, who utters harsh words and double-tongued speech, ever possess such a thing? Only the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, who speaks solely the truth, possesses such a mark of the tongue.

O Ānanda! If there be a person who takes refuge with body and life, who joins his palms and bows his head in reverence to the World-Honored One, the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, then that sentient being who performs the rite of taking refuge shall be delivered and saved by Me. Why is this so?

Because the Dharma-realm of the Tathāgata is thus determined. If there be a person who, with a resolute and sincere heart, joins his palms in worship and gives in charity; and again if there be a person who, in the brief span of time it takes to wash the hands and cleanse the vessels, arouses the mind to benefit beings and vows that all sentient beings without exception may attain peace and joy, then I say that this person has opened the gate of blessings and shut the path of evil, escaping the three calamities.

What are the three calamities? They are the calamity of weapons and war, the calamity of disease and illness, and the calamity of famine and starvation. O Ānanda!

Again, if there be a person who for a single day keeps the precept of abstaining from the taking of life and stays far from it, then that person shall not be born into the calamity of weapons and war. If one offers to the assembly of the Saṅgha milk-curds—whether raw or cooked—honey, oil, or rock-sugar, then that person shall not be born into the calamity of disease and illness. If one offers to the assembly of the Saṅgha a single bowl of food and drink, then that person shall not be born into the calamity of famine and starvation.

O Ānanda! There are three roots of goodness that are inexhaustible and boundless, which throughout the cycle of transmigration are never extinguished, and which moreover lead all the way to Nirvāṇa. What are the three?

It means that, by planting roots of goodness with regard to the Tathāgata, they are inexhaustible and boundless and throughout the cycle of transmigration are never wholly extinguished, and in the future one shall certainly attain the fruition of Nirvāṇa. By planting roots of goodness with regard to the Dharma and the Saṅgha, they too are inexhaustible and boundless and throughout the realm of transmigration are never wholly extinguished, and in the future one shall certainly attain the fruition of Nirvāṇa."

At that time, the World-Honored One, by means of his own merit, said to Ānanda:

"Do you see yonder Jambudvīpa?"

"Yes, World-Honored One, I have seen it."

"O Ānanda! If there be any good man or faithful woman who takes the seven treasures and fashions Jambudvīpa as a circle seven thousand yojanas long and broad, and bestows it as charity, making offerings to the Saṅgha of the four quarters and to the Stream-Enterers, Once-Returners, Non-Returners, Arhats, and even the Pratyekabuddhas… And if there be a Tathāgata, Worthy One, Perfectly Enlightened One who enters Nirvāṇa, and after his Nirvāṇa one takes a lump of clay and fashions a stūpa as large as an āmalaka fruit (a mango), and atop it makes the spokes of the Dharma-wheel as fine as a needle, fashioning a canopy to shelter it shaped like a jujube;

and within, enshrines an image of the Buddha the size of a barley grain, and inters a relic like a white mustard seed below it—then I say that this person's merit and blessing are vaster and greater than those of the people spoken of before. Ānanda!

This is the Jambudvīpa which you have just come to know.

"O Ānanda! If there be any good man or faithful woman who takes the seven treasures and fashions Pūrvavideha, its four sides all made in the shape of a half-moon, exactly eight thousand yojanas in length and breadth, and bestows it as charity, making offerings to the Saṅgha of the four quarters and to the Stream-Enterers, Once-Returners, Non-Returners, Arhats, and even the Pratyekabuddhas;

and again, if there be a Tathāgata, Worthy One, Perfectly Enlightened One who enters Nirvāṇa, or after his Nirvāṇa, one takes a lump of clay and fashions a stūpa like an āmalaka fruit, atop it forming the spokes of the Dharma-wheel, pointed as fine as a needle, making a canopy to shelter it shaped like a jujube leaf, within enshrining an image of the Buddha made the size of a barley grain, and interring a relic like a white mustard seed below—then I say that this person's merit and blessing are vaster and greater than those of the people spoken of before. Ānanda, this is the Jambudvīpa and the Pūrvavideha which you have just come to know.

"O Ānanda! If there be any good man or faithful woman of faith who takes the seven treasures and fashions Aparagodānīya, round like the moon, exactly nine thousand yojanas long and broad, and offers it to the Saṅgha of the four quarters and to the Stream-Enterers, Once-Returners, Non-Returners, Arhats, and even the Pratyekabuddhas. If there be a Tathāgata, Worthy One, Perfectly Enlightened One who enters Nirvāṇa, or after his Nirvāṇa one takes a lump of clay and fashions a stūpa like an āmalaka fruit, its spire pointed like a needle in the form of the spokes of the Dharma-wheel, above it a canopy to shelter it like a jujube leaf, within enshrining an image of the Buddha made of a barley grain,

and before it interring a relic like a white mustard seed—then I say that this person's merit and blessing are more vast and great than those of the people before. Ānanda, this is the Jambudvīpa, the Pūrvavideha, and the Aparagodānīya which you have come to know.

"O Ānanda! If there be any good man or faithful woman who takes the seven treasures and fashions Uttarakuru, all four sides equal to ten thousand yojanas, and offers it to the Saṅgha of the four quarters and to the Stream-Enterers, Once-Returners, Non-Returners, Arhats, and even the Pratyekabuddhas. If there be a Tathāgata, Worthy One, Perfectly Enlightened One who enters Nirvāṇa, or after his Nirvāṇa one uses a lump of clay to fashion a stūpa like an āmalaka fruit, its spire pointed like a needle in the form of the spokes of the Dharma-wheel, above it a canopy to shelter it like a jujube leaf, within enshrining an image of the Buddha made of a barley grain,

and below interring a relic like a white mustard seed—then I say that this person's merit and blessing are vaster and greater than those of the people before.

"This is the four great continents which you have just come to know. O Ānanda! If there be any good man or faithful woman who takes the seven treasures and fashions the Hall of the Wholesome Dharma of Śakra, Lord of the Devas, and bestows it as charity, making offerings to the Saṅgha of the four quarters and to the Stream-Enterers, Once-Returners, Non-Returners, Arhats, and even the Pratyekabuddhas.

If there be a Tathāgata, Worthy One, Perfectly Enlightened One who enters Nirvāṇa, or after his Nirvāṇa one takes a lump of clay and fashions a stūpa like an āmalaka fruit, adorned with every kind of ornament, making the spire in the form of the spokes of the Dharma-wheel, a canopy sheltering above, fashioning an image of the Buddha and interring a relic just as before without difference—then I say that this person's merit and blessing are vaster and greater than those of the people before.

"Ānanda! This is the four continents and the Hall of the Wholesome Dharma which you have just come to know.

"O Ānanda! If there be any good man or faithful woman of faith who goes so far as to take the seven treasures and fashion the three-thousandfold great-thousandfold world, and bestows it as charity, making offerings to the Saṅgha of the four quarters, to those of the four fruitions, and even to the Pratyekabuddhas. If there be a Worthy One, Perfectly Enlightened One who enters Nirvāṇa, or after his Nirvāṇa, one takes a lump of clay and fashions a stūpa like an āmalaka fruit, adorned with every kind of ornament, bearing the mark of the Dharma-wheel, a canopy sheltering it, enshrining an image of the Buddha and interring a relic just as before without difference—then I say that this person's merit and blessing are vaster and greater than those of the people before.

Why is this so? O Ānanda, because the Tathāgata practices charity, the keeping of precepts, patience, vigorous effort, meditative concentration, and all things immeasurable and boundless, even to the Ten Powers, the Four Knowledges, the Three Dharmas Not Shared in Common, and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness; and even his great compassion is immeasurable and boundless—it is because the Tathāgata possesses merit such as this.

O Ānanda! When the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, expounds the Dharma, the entire three-thousandfold great-thousandfold world trembles and quakes."

At that time, the Venerable Ānanda addressed the Buddha:

"Reverently I beseech the World-Honored One! What is the present True Dharma named? And how is it to be upheld and maintained?"

The Buddha said to Ānanda:

"This sūtra is named 'The Drum of the Sweet Dew of the True Dharma,' and it is also called 'The Never-Before-Existing True Dharma'—thus should it be upheld and maintained."

The Venerable Ānanda, with a rare and wondrous heart, complied with the Buddha's teaching and transformation, faithfully received it and reverently put it into practice, then bowed his head in reverence and withdrew.