師子月佛本生經

Thus have I heard:

At one time the Buddha was dwelling in the Kalandaka Bamboo Grove near the city of Rājagṛha, together with one thousand two hundred and fifty bhikṣus and one hundred Bodhisattvas.

At that time, among the assembly there was a bhikṣu-bodhisattva named Vasumitra. This bhikṣu roamed about in the bamboo grove, climbing up and down the branches of the trees, uttering cries like a monkey, or holding three bells and performing the nāṭa shows. The elders and passersby vied with one another to come and watch. When the people had gathered, the bhikṣu soared up into empty space, climbed to the top of a treetop, and gave forth the cries of monkeys.

In the Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain there were eighty-four thousand monkeys with golden, shining fur who surrounded the place where the Bodhisattva was. The Bodhisattva again manifested all manner of tricks to delight them. Seeing this, everyone said: "A śramaṇa, a son of the Śākya, yet he plays like a child, deluding everyone, doing evil deeds that none can trust, and moreover keeping company with birds and beasts in unlawful conduct." Such an evil report spread to the city of Rājagṛha. A brahmacārin reported to the great king Bimbisāra:

"Great king, a śramaṇa, a son of the Śākya, performs unlawful deeds, and together with birds and beasts performs the nāṭa shows."

When the king heard these things, he reproached the disciples of the Buddha. The king said to the elder Kalandaka:

"Those sons of the Śākya gather a troop of monkeys—what are they doing in your grove? Does the Tathāgata know of it or not?"

The elder reported:

"Vasumitra performs transformations that delight the troop of monkeys; the devas rain down flowers as offerings; they do things that I cannot comprehend."

Then the great king Bimbisāra, riding a fine elephant carriage together with his retinue, went to the place where the Buddha was. Arriving at the Kalandaka Bamboo Grove, the king at once descended from his carriage. From afar he beheld the World-Honored One upon the pavilion, seated upon a throne of the seven jewels, his body golden in hue, sixteen cubits in height, possessed of the thirty-two marks and the eighty graces, all of which emitted radiant light bright as a mountain of pure gold. He dwelt amid resplendent light, and golden radiance surrounded him on every side, so that the great assembly was all enveloped in gold. The Venerable Vasumitra and the eighty-four thousand monkeys also became golden in body.

Then, when the troop of monkeys saw the great king arrive, they performed all manner of things: singing, dancing, beating drums, blowing horns; and one monkey plucked flowers and offered them to the great king. Seeing this, the great king led the people to the place where the Buddha was, paid homage to the Buddha, circumambulated him three times, then sat to one side and addressed him:

"World-Honored One, what merit did this troop of monkeys have in former lives that their bodies are golden? And what offense did they commit that they were born among the beasts? What root of merit did the Venerable Vasumitra plant that he was born in the house of an elder, trusting that the household life is not the household life, leaving home to study the Way? What offense did he have that, though born in the human realm with all faculties complete, he does not uphold the precepts and conduct, but befriends a troop of monkeys, singing and speaking all like a monkey, causing the followers of other paths to mock us? I beseech the World-Honored One out of compassion to analyze and explain this clearly, that we may understand."

The Buddha said:

"Great king, listen carefully and reflect well upon this matter. I will explain it to you clearly. In immeasurable koṭis of kalpas in the past, a Buddha appeared in the world named Dīpaṃkara, complete in the ten epithets. After the Buddha Dīpaṃkara entered nirvāṇa, there were bhikṣus dwelling in the mountains, lakes, and marshes, cultivating the Way according to the Buddha's teaching. Dwelling in solitary places, they cultivated the twelve dhūta practices, keeping the precepts as firmly as one guards one's own eyes. By this they realized the fruit of arhatship, complete in the eight liberations, the three knowledges, and the six superknowledges.

At that time, in a solitary marsh there was a monkey who came to the place of the arhat.

Seeing the arhat seated in meditation absorbed in concentration, it at once took his sitting-cloth and draped it as a kāṣāya in the proper manner of a śramaṇa; it also bared its right shoulder, and holding an incense burner in its hands, circumambulated that bhikṣu. When the bhikṣu rose from his meditative absorption and saw that this monkey had a good and wholesome mind, he at once snapped his fingers and said to the monkey:

"Son of the Dharma, now you should give rise to the supreme mind of the Way."

When the monkey heard this, it leapt about with joy, prostrated itself to the ground with its five limbs in reverence to the bhikṣu, then rose, plucked flowers, and scattered them upon the bhikṣu. Then the bhikṣu expounded the Three Refuges:

"Son of the Dharma, now you follow me to study the Buddha-Dharma of the three periods of time; you must request to receive the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts."

The monkey joined its palms and said:

"Venerable one, I beseech you to regard me with favor; I now wish to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha."

The bhikṣu taught:

"You now take refuge in the Buddha, take refuge in the Dharma, take refuge in the Saṅgha."

A second and a third time he spoke likewise: "You have taken refuge in the Buddha, taken refuge in the Dharma, taken refuge in the Saṅgha." A second and a third time he spoke likewise. Next came the repentance. The bhikṣu said to the monkey:

"From immeasurable kalpas until now, you have practiced greed, hatred, delusion, false views, jealousy, arrogance, slander, breaking of the precepts; you have committed all ten evil deeds, committed the five heinous offenses, despised the Vaipulya scriptures, engaged in lust with a bhikṣuṇī, stolen the property of the Saṅgha, and committed grave offenses immeasurable and boundless. I have now cut off birth-and-death, will not receive a body in a future life, and have become an arhat, able to eliminate immeasurable grave offenses for sentient beings. Why is this so? When I was born, it was together with the mind of great compassion; the Dharma of the noble sages of the three periods of time is ever thus—they too are born into the world together with the mind of great compassion."

The bhikṣu earnestly spoke the repentance of offenses for the monkey three times. When the repentance was done, the bhikṣu said:

"Son of the Dharma, now you are pure; this is called poṣadha. From this day until the end of your life you receive the precept not to kill living beings. The Buddhas of the three periods of time, the arhats, are pure in body, speech, and mind, and utterly do not kill living beings. You too are thus."

Then the monkey said to the arhat:

"I vow to become a Buddha. According to the Venerable one's teaching, from this day until the day I attain Buddhahood, I will not kill living beings."

When the arhat heard the monkey's words, his mind was greatly delighted, and he conferred the Five Precepts upon it:

"Son of the Dharma, from this day until the end of your life you follow and study the Buddha-Dharma; the Buddhas of the three periods of time and the śrāvakas are all pure in bodily karma, ever refraining from killing and keeping the precept of non-killing. You too are thus: throughout your life you shall not violate the precept against killing. Can you keep it?"

The monkey said:

"I can keep it."

Next, the monkey received the precepts not to steal, not to engage in sexual misconduct, not to lie, and not to drink intoxicants, just as in the manner of receiving the precepts above.

The arhat bhikṣu taught:

"You must make a vow. You manifest the body of an animal, which is an obstacle to the Way, yet you must be diligent and seek the Way of Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment."

When the monkey had made its vow, it leapt about with joy and ran up a high mountain; swinging from branch to branch and frolicking, it fell to the ground and died at once. Because the monkey received the transmission of the Five Precepts from the arhat, it severed the karma of the animal realm. After it died, the monkey was born in the Tuṣita Heaven, where it met the Bodhisattva who is one birth away from Buddhahood. The Bodhisattva spoke to it of the supreme mind of the Way, whereupon it took heavenly flowers down to the solitary marsh to make offerings to the arhat. When the arhat saw it, he smiled and said:

"O King of the Devas, the karmic retribution of good and evil is like the shadow following the form; it can never be abandoned."

Then he spoke a verse:

The hindrance of karma adorns the body,

The realm of rebirth follows one's karma;

It is exactly so, the Dharma never errs—

Karma is like a debtor owing a debt.

Now you are born up into the heavens

Because you received the five precepts;

In a former life you were made a monkey

Through transgressing the precepts of nature.

Keeping the precepts, one is born in the heavens;

Breaking the precepts, one drinks molten copper.

I see those who uphold the precepts:

Light adorns and dignifies their bodies,

Towers and pavilions of the seven jewels, beautiful,

And the devas make offerings to them—

Jewels and gems for their beds and curtains,

Maṇi flowers and necklaces of beads.

In the future they will meet a Buddha

And joyfully expound the supreme Dharma.

I see those who break the precepts:

They fall down into the hells,

Plowed across the face, plowed across the tongue,

Lying upon beds of iron,

Molten copper flowing on every side,

Burning and boiling, dissolving their bodies—

Or upon mountains of swords,

Forests of swords and boiling filth,

Hells of river-ash and freezing ice,

Swallowing iron, drinking molten copper.

So many sufferings such as these

Are worn upon the body like necklaces.

If you would escape all these calamities,

Avoid falling into the three evil paths,

And roam upon the paths of heavens and humans,

Transcending to realize nirvāṇa,

You must diligently keep the pure precepts,

Practice giving, and live in purity.

When the arhat had spoken this verse, he fell silent and said no more. The deva said:

"Venerable one, by what offense and karma was my former self born among the monkeys? And by what merit and reward did I meet the Venerable one, escape the rebirth of an animal, and be born up into the heavens?"

The arhat said:

"You should listen attentively and reflect well upon this: In a past life, in the land of Jambudvīpa, a Buddha appeared in the world named Mahāprajñā Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Universally Enlightened One... complete in the ten epithets. After he had appeared in the world, this Buddha manifested nirvāṇa three times. By the time of the Counterfeit Dharma, there was a bhikṣu named Padmagarbha, who constantly made friends with kings, elders, and laypeople, did not keep the precepts and conduct, but lived perversely, deceitful and crooked.

Because of his deceit and beguiling, after he died he fell within a single instant into the Avīci Hell. Like a lotus flower opening, his body filled all the eighteen hells. Hot iron pellets rained down from on high; hundreds of thousands of fierce flames and countless hot iron wheels fell from the sky.

In the Avīci Hell the offender suffered for one kalpa; when the kalpa was exhausted, he was born again into another. Thus the offender passed through the great hells for a full eighty-four thousand kalpas. Coming out of the hells, he fell into the realm of hungry ghosts, drinking molten copper and eating hot iron pellets, for eighty-four thousand years.

Coming out of the realm of hungry ghosts, for five hundred lifetimes he was an ox. Again, for five hundred lifetimes he was a camel; for five hundred lifetimes he was born among pigs; for five hundred lifetimes he was born among dogs; for five hundred lifetimes he was born among monkeys. Because of the earlier conditions of having made offerings, kept the bhikṣu's precepts, and uttered a great vow, you have now met me again, been bathed in the Dharma teaching, and, made pure, been born up into the heavens.

The bhikṣu who kept the precepts was I; the bhikṣu who was negligent was you."

Then, when the deva-monkey had heard the arhat speak these words, his mind was terrified, his hair stood on end; he repented his former offenses and returned to the heavens.

The Buddha said to the great king:

"That monkey, though an animal, met an arhat just once and received the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts. By this merit it surpassed a thousand kalpas of deep and grave offenses and was born up into the heavens, where it met the Bodhisattva who is one birth away from Buddhahood. Thereafter it met innumerable Buddhas, purely cultivated the holy practices, became complete in the six pāramitās, abided in the Śūraṅgama samādhi, and dwelt in the stage of non-retrogression.

In its final body, succeeding the Buddha Maitreya, it will attain Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment. The king will be named Ratnaprabha; his land will be pure as the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, and the sentient beings in this land will practice the ten wholesome deeds and keep the precepts wholly without flaw. The Buddha of that land will be named Siṃhacandra Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Universally Enlightened One.

If any sentient being hears the name of that Buddha, then in whatever place they are born, life after life, they will be far removed from the body of an animal and will cut off the karma of birth-and-death for immeasurable kalpas."

The Buddha said:

"Great king, you should know that the Buddha Siṃhacandra in that land is now the bhikṣu Vasumitra in this assembly."

Then, when King Bimbisāra had heard the Buddha's teaching, he rose, joined his palms, and his whole body broke out in sweat; weeping with grief, his tears falling like rain, repenting and reproaching himself, he turned toward Vasumitra, prostrated himself to the ground, and repented his former offenses.

The Buddha said:

"Great king, you should know that these eighty-four thousand golden-bodied monkeys, in a past kalpa in the time of the Buddha Krakucchanda, in the land of Vārāṇasī and the land of Kauśāmbī—between these two lands there were likewise eighty-four thousand bhikṣuṇīs who performed all manner of unlawful deeds, exceedingly intimate with worldly people, violating the grave prohibitions, adorning their bodies like gandharva-women without any sense of shame.

They made of their lewdness a necklace of beads, made of their precept-breaking a garland of flowers, raised the banner of arrogance, beat the drum of self-exaltation as a drum, strummed instruments in negligence, praised evil sounds, and were wildly mad and witless like a troop of foolish monkeys. When they saw a bhikṣuṇī endowed with virtue and compassion, it was as if they saw a bandit.

At that time, there was a bhikṣuṇī named Suvyavasthitā, who had realized the fruit of arhatship, complete in the three knowledges, the six superknowledges, and the eight liberations. She came to the place of those bhikṣuṇīs and said to them:

"Sisters, while the World-Honored One was in the world, he often spoke this verse:

If there is a bhikṣuṇī

Who does not cultivate the eight rules of reverence,

She is not of the lineage of the Śākyas

But is like a caṇḍāla.

If there is a bhikṣuṇī

Who is negligent and violates the eight grave precepts,

She is regarded as having violated them all,

A great bandit among devas and humans.

She will dwell ever in the Avīci Hell,

Passing through the eighteen places;

Besides these, the three evil paths

Are the playground where she roams.

For hundreds of thousands of countless kalpas

She will not hear the name of the Three Jewels,

And will further swallow hot iron pellets

And embrace pillars of copper-ice frozen cold.

When such offenses have been exhausted,

She will be born as a cuckoo bird,

A venomous snake, a rat, a wolf,

A scorpion, a centipede;

All such kinds of karma as these

She must pass through in her own body.""

When the bhikṣuṇīs heard the arhat bhikṣuṇī speak this verse, their minds harbored anger; they hurled forth evil words of abuse:

"From where has this old monkey come here? Speaking such cruel and deceitful words, talking perversely about the hells!"

The arhat saw that these evil people had given rise to unwholesome minds, and so, arousing the mind of loving-kindness, she flew up into the sky and manifested the eighteen transformations. When the evil people saw such transformations, they all flung up their golden bracelets. The arhat bhikṣuṇī said:

"We vow that life after life our bodies shall bear the shining golden hue; for the evil deeds we formerly committed, we all beg to repent. We beseech you out of compassion for us to accept this offering."

The arhat bhikṣuṇī descended from empty space and accepted the various offerings of those evil women.

When the evil people died, they fell into the Avīci Hell. Like lotus flowers spread out filling the whole hell, their bodies in turn passed through more than eighteen great hells. Within the hells, their lifespans were equal, each one great kalpa, continuing thus, so that they dwelt constantly in the hells for ninety-two kalpas. Coming out of the hells, for five hundred lifetimes they were ever hungry ghosts; coming out of the realm of hungry ghosts, for one thousand lifetimes they were ever golden-bodied monkeys.

Great king, you should know that long ago the eighty-four thousand bhikṣuṇīs who broke the precepts and abused the arhat bhikṣuṇī are now precisely the eighty-four thousand golden monkeys in this assembly. The one who made offerings to those evil bhikṣuṇīs at that time is now the great king. Because of the causes of former lives, the troop of monkeys now bring flowers and incense to offer reverently to the great king. The bhikṣuṇīs who humiliated the precept-keeping bhikṣuṇī at that time are now precisely Kokālika and the five hundred eunuchs of the king."

The Buddha said to the great king:

"You should be careful to guard your body, speech, and mind."

The World-Honored One spoke a verse:

The precepts are the medicine of sweet dew;

One who drinks it grows neither old nor dies.

You should rely upon the virtue of the precepts,

And merit and reward will ever follow at your heels.

Keeping the precepts, one gains peace and security,

Born in a place free of misfortune and calamity,

And one will behold the Buddhas

And hear the wondrous Dharma of liberation.

Breaking the precepts, one falls into the hells,

Just like this troop of monkeys,

Ever born in lowly and base conditions,

With the suffering of the hells for a companion.

Great king, you should listen attentively:

Cut off evil and cultivate wholesome conduct.

When King Bimbisāra had heard the Buddha speak this verse, before the Buddha he begged to repent, repenting and reproaching himself; suddenly his mind became wholly penetrating, and he realized the fruit of anāgāmin. Eight thousand people who followed the king also begged to be allowed to leave home, and the king consented.

The Buddha said:

"Welcome, bhikṣus."

Their beards and hair fell off at once and they were robed in the kāṣāya, becoming śramaṇas. They paid homage at the feet of the Buddha, and in the interval before they could raise their heads, they realized the fruit of arhatship, complete in the three knowledges, the six superknowledges, and the eight liberations. The remaining more than sixteen thousand people who followed the king all gave rise to the mind of Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment.

Eighty thousand devas also all gave rise to that mind. The eighty-four thousand golden-furred monkeys, hearing the causes and conditions of their former lives, were ashamed and reproached themselves; they circumambulated a thousand times, turned toward the Buddha and repented, and all gave rise to the mind of Supreme Bodhi. According to the length or brevity of their lifespans, they came to the end of their lives of their own accord.

After their lives ended, they were born up into the Tuṣita Heaven, where they met the Buddha Maitreya and grew ever more diligent, attaining non-retrogression.

Then the Venerable Mahākāśyapa, seeing these events, said to the great assembly:

"A Bodhisattva who practices pure conduct can even cause animals to give rise to the mind of the Way. Vasumitra can yet accomplish so great a Buddha-deed as this—how much more the other Bodhisattvas of immeasurable majesty and virtue!"

The deva-sons, the mountain spirits, the earth spirits, the devas, the nāgas... the eightfold assembly, seeing the troop of monkeys give rise to the mind of Bodhi, be born up into the heavens, and attain non-retrogression, gave rise to joy in their hearts and addressed the Buddha:

"When will this troop of monkeys realize and attain the fruit of Buddhahood?"

The Buddha said to the great assembly:

"After a hundred koṭis of niyutas of asaṃkhyeyas of kalpas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, there will be a kalpa named Mahāprabha, and the people in that kalpa will attain Buddhahood. There will be eighty-four thousand Buddhas appearing in the world in succession, all within one and the same kalpa, all bearing the same name: Samantakanakaprabhāsarāja Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly and Universally Enlightened One, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, the Well-Gone One, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed One, the Tamer of People, the Teacher of Devas and Humans, the Buddha, the World-Honored One." When the people in the assembly heard the World-Honored One bestow upon the troop of monkeys the prophecy of the Bodhisattva Way,

they at once took off their most precious necklaces of beads to make offerings to the Tathāgata and the bhikṣu Saṅgha.

The people with one voice praised the immeasurable virtue of the World-Honored One:

"The Tathāgata appeared in the world precisely for the sake of this troop of monkeys. Excellent, World-Honored One! The troop of monkeys, hearing the Dharma, can yet become Buddhas—how then could we, in future ages, fail to become Buddhas?"

Then, when the great assembly had heard the Buddha's teaching, they joyfully received and undertook it; they paid homage to the Buddha and withdrew.