佛滅度後棺斂葬送經

Thus indeed have I heard: At one time the Blessed One was traveling and teaching in the land of Pāṭaliputra. At that time, Ānanda said to the Blessed One:

– After the Tathāgata enters parinirvāṇa, what shall be the rites for bathing and shrouding his body?

The Blessed One taught:

– Look after yourselves; do not be concerned for me. After I have entered parinirvāṇa, there will be brahmins who will attend to the funeral rites.

Ānanda said:

– What manner of ceremonial rites?

The Buddha taught:

– They shall be like the funeral rites of the Flying Emperor.[1]

Ānanda said:

– We wish to hear and to carry out such rites!

The Buddha taught further:

– When a holy emperor passes away, according to the proper observance, the people use one thousand lengths of white silk to wrap the body, sprinkle fragrant water to soak it from top to bottom, then heap fragrant firewood around the body, equal on all four sides and above and below, and afterward set it alight for cremation. When the cremation is finished, they gather the bones, wash them clean with fragrant water, and place them in a vessel of gold. Next they use six slabs of stone, each three feet in length and breadth and one foot thick, to make a casket in which to enshrine the urn of relics. At the same time they raise a pillar from which to hang precious silks, and they make offerings in full of all the fitting articles. Finally they break ground and build a stūpa, burn incense, and scatter flowers as offerings. The funeral rites for the Buddha must surpass those for that holy emperor.

Why is this? From innumerable kalpas I have employed the four immeasurable minds of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; I have practiced the six perfections to the utmost in order to rescue beings throughout the ten directions; and by virtue of that lofty and deep merit I became a Buddha, the One Free of Attachment, the True and Right Way, the Most Perfectly Enlightened, the Sovereign of the Dharma, the Teacher of Gods and Humans, supreme and without peer.

If anyone offers earth to build a stūpa, he gains immeasurable merit. In the turbid age of the Dharma's decline, people live in misery and destitution, and their wealth is beset by the calamity of being divided among the five households. For this reason I leave behind relics and the alms-bowl, to rescue beings from the calamities of misery and destitution and to console and aid them.

It is like the image of a holy king enshrined in the ancestral temple for the people to behold and revere. As for the śramaṇas who expound the sūtras and transform those who have not yet heard, they cause the living to be forever far removed from the affliction of imprisonment, and the dead to escape the offenses of the three evil destinies and surely to be born into the heavens. Thus, if a temple is made for the worship of the Buddha, it ought to surpass that of the holy emperor.

Ānanda said:

– Must it be likewise for the bowl, O Blessed One?

The Buddha taught:

– My bowl was offered by the Four Great Heavenly Kings. The bowl from which the Buddha receives food is formed from the four bowls of these four kings joined together. Beings should not use this bowl. After I have entered parinirvāṇa, the nations will contend with one another, the hearts of the people will be perverse, they will hold life cheap and esteem lewdness, turn their backs on filial duty and righteousness, and exalt sorcery and seduction. At that time my bowl will transform and emit light of five colors, flying about, rising and descending, transforming the hearts of beings. The people, seeing this, will seek out the merit of the Buddha. Thereby they will put an end to all delusion and at once gain wisdom, conform to the right teaching, and all will build temples and shrines to proclaim the merit of the Buddha. After this, my bowl will gradually move toward the east; and whatever nations the bowl passes through, evil calamities and plagues will at once cease, the king and his ministers will be healthy and at ease, the grain will yield an abundant harvest, the silks will be fine and beautiful, there will be joy without disaster, and they will be forever far removed from the three evil destinies and born into the heavens. Because that king in the far eastern region is benevolent and possessed of wisdom, the bowl flies toward that direction.

But after that king passes away, the king who succeeds him is given to lewdness, abandons the right and follows the wrong, and the hearts of the people become likewise. When they see the bowl, they do not reverently pay homage to it. The devas and dragons, seeing this, with sorrow invite the bowl to return to the ocean palace, where they reverently make offerings to it.

The king, having lost the precious bowl, is grieved and troubled in heart, and in anger he proclaims throughout all the nations and offers a reward, that whoever finds the bowl shall be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold. The king made this proclamation continually for many years, and his command was sent forth everywhere; the people, coveting the great reward, searched far and wide but could not find it. At that time there was a poor and wretched man named Sūrya who acted as a bhikṣu, fond of eating meat and drinking wine, who had taken a wife and begotten children.

One day, while drunk, he led his small child to the gate of the palace and said: "I know where the precious bowl is hidden!" When the king heard this, his heart rejoiced greatly, and he at once had the śramaṇa summoned in and asked:

– Where is the bowl?

The bhikṣu replied: "First bring the gold." The king then bestowed upon him a thousand catties of gold.

The śramaṇa replied:

– It was those other śramaṇas who stole it away!

Hearing this, the king at once ordered that the śramaṇas be beaten and most cruelly interrogated under torture. The people, seeing this, all bore resentment against the king.

The king asked the false śramaṇa: Whose śramaṇa are you?

He answered: I believe in and worship the Buddha!

He asked: How many precepts does the Buddha have?

He answered: There are two hundred and fifty precepts.

He asked: What are the important precepts?

He answered: The first is that one must reverently keep a heart of loving-kindness, benevolence, and virtue, bestowing grace upon all beings, regarding the lives of beings throughout the world as one's own body. Moreover, one must give rise to a heart of compassion and pity, forgiving others as one forgives oneself, joyfully opening up and transforming beings. One protects them as one protects one's own body, and one's compassion saturates even the grasses and trees, not allowing them to be needlessly cut off and destroyed.

The king said:

– How excellent! The benevolent transforming influence of the Buddha covers heaven and earth; what kind of being does not rely upon it?

The śramaṇa continued:

– The second is that one must keep the mind pure, not hoard ill-gotten treasures, honor the nation, and not seize the throne of the king. Even of small things, if they are not given, one must not take them.

The king said:

– How excellent! Truly a pure person.

The śramaṇa spoke again:

– The third is to preserve chaste conduct, the mind free of lust, the mouth speaking no teasing words; deceitful sounds and lewd, wanton sights are all not to be heard or seen. One regards elderly women as a mother, as an elder sister; one regards young women as a younger sister. One would rather have one's body burned than commit acts of lewdness!

The king said:

– How excellent! When it comes to a true heart and a pure mind, the teaching of the Buddha is foremost.

The śramaṇa spoke again:

– The fourth is that one must be careful of speech, not speaking double-tongued, not speaking harsh and evil words, not lying, not speaking flowery and ornate words, not praising before and slandering after, not falsely accusing the innocent, nor using poisonous insects, ghosts and spirits, seduction, or spells to harm others. One would rather swallow burning coals than dare to speak malicious words!

The king said:

– How excellent! The transforming work of the Buddha is truly awe-inspiring. Must one be so careful even of one's speech?

The śramaṇa spoke again:

– The fifth is not to drink wine, for wine can cause a king to lose his benevolence, cause a minister to become disloyal, cause parents to become unrighteous, cause children and grandchildren to become unfilial, and cause women to become wanton. Drinking wine can lead to committing thirty-six faults; the loss of nations and the ruin of households all arise from wine. One would rather drink poison and die than drink wine, become drunk, and so go on living!

The king said:

– How excellent! The luminous transforming teaching of the Buddha! He causes beings to cultivate virtue, to keep the Way, to eradicate all evils and develop wholesome deeds, the body pure and the will plain and simple. The scriptures teach all people benevolence, yet that man told me to kill. The precepts enjoin keeping purity and not being covetous, yet that man stole the gold. The precepts teach not to indulge in lust, yet he keeps a wife and children. The precepts teach that one should be truthful, yet he falsely accuses others.

The śramaṇa said:

– They stole the bowl; I am innocent!

The king said:

– Among the precepts, the drinking of wine is not permitted, yet you came here dead drunk. Are those other śramaṇas persons of lofty conduct who fully keep these five virtuous precepts?

He answered: They are even more wicked than I!

The king asked the official in charge of this matter:

– What do those śramaṇas take as their occupation?

He answered: They beg for alms without moderation and do deeds yet more wicked than that master!

The king asked:

– The precepts of the Buddha number two hundred and fifty, more benevolent than heaven and earth, clear and still as the sky, chaste as empty space, true as the four seasons, brighter than the sun and moon. How then could there be men of this sort who seize the Dharma robes, secretly steal the alms-bowl, falsely pose as śramaṇas, and throw the right Dharma into disorder! A single precept they cannot keep, and yet they claim two hundred and fifty precepts!

The king then issued an edict to his officials:

– A pure temple for the worship of the Buddha is the dwelling place of the sages and the holy, not the den of birds and beasts. Drive out all those who are filthy, and do not let them dwell within the temple for the worship of the Buddha.

At that time, the noble persons within the country wished to build temples to the Buddha, but only because there were no sages or holy ones dwelling there to set forth and expound the teaching of the Buddha, they could only weep with sorrow, that was all. From this point the great Way declined, and the work of transformation grew weaker by the day.

The Buddha said to Ānanda:

– Although I have entered parinirvāṇa, I still leave behind the bowl and the relics; and if there is any worthy one who with all his heart worships and makes offerings, he will surely be born into the heavens.

Ānanda said to the Buddha:

– After a thousand years, the bowl will manifest divine power and transformations as it does today; how much more so the spiritual transformations of the Supreme One, the True and Right Way, the Most Perfectly Enlightened!

When the Buddha had spoken this sūtra, the devas and dragons, ghosts and spirits, kings, great ministers, and the four assemblies were all choked with emotion, paid homage, and withdrew.

Notes:

[1] The Flying Emperor 飛行皇帝: That is, the Wheel-Turning Sage King (Cakravartin).