一切智光明仙人慈心因緣不食肉經

Thus have I heard:

At one time the Buddha was dwelling at the Maheśvara monastery, in the village of Mityaṇṇu, at the place of awakening called Nirvāṇa, in the country of Magadha.

At that time there was a son of the Brahmin Kapāli, named Maitreya. Maitreya bound up his body of golden hue, complete with the thirty-two marks of excellence and the eighty noble characteristics; his body radiated a silvery light and was adorned with golden rings, his majestic splendor immeasurable, like a mountain of white silver. He came to the place where the Buddha was.

At that time the World-Honored One, together with one thousand two hundred and fifty bhikṣus, was practicing walking meditation in the forest; there were also five hundred Brahmacārins with topknots of hair. From afar everyone beheld Maitreya, whose excellent marks were pure and serene, whose dignified bearing was upright and composed. He prostrated his five limbs to the earth like a silver mountain pouring down, forming a precious expanse of space like a blossom of gold—golden flower and golden dais, with the seven treasures as its fruit. Within the dais and pavilion, a subtle and wondrous sound spoke this verse:

At that time the Brahmacārins, seeing and hearing this event, addressed the Buddha:

"World-Honored One, this youth's dignified bearing is upright and composed, his light immeasurable, no different from the Buddha. Through which Buddha did he first arouse the mind of the Way, and which scriptures did he uphold and observe? We beg the World-Honored One to explain and teach us, that we may know."

The Buddha said to the Brahmacārin Śikhin:

"Listen attentively and reflect well. I shall analyze and explain it for you to your satisfaction.

In the past, immeasurable, boundless asaṃkhya kalpas ago, there was a land named Splendid Flower Adornment, where the Buddha was titled Maitreya, who constantly used the teaching of the Four Immeasurable Minds to transform all sentient beings. The Buddha Maitreya expounded the Scripture of the Cloud-Ocean of Great Compassion, the Light of the Samādhi of Loving-Kindness. If anyone is able to hear this scripture, they can transcend the suffering of birth and death of a hundred koṭi myriad kalpas of transgressions, and will surely attain the fruit of Buddhahood without doubt.

In that land there was a great Brahmin named Sarvajña-Prabhāsa, whose wisdom was penetrating and who understood many scriptures. He was skilled in all sixty-four arts and crafts of the world. Hearing that a Buddha had appeared in the world expounding the Scripture of the Cloud-Ocean of Great Compassion, the Light of the Samādhi of Loving-Kindness, this Brahmin then took up all the topics of debate in the world and questioned that Buddha. He exhausted all his powers of argument, yet was unable to defeat the Buddha. Therefore he came to deeply trust and revere the Buddha, asked to become His disciple, and aroused the mind of Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. He addressed the Buddha:

"I now, within the Buddha's teaching, uphold and recite the Scripture of the Cloud-Ocean of Great Compassion, the Light of the Samādhi of Great Loving-Kindness. I vow, by this merit, in a future age, after innumerable kalpas have passed, to attain Buddhahood titled Maitreya."

From then on Sarvajña-Prabhāsa renounced his household, entered the deep mountains, let his hair grow long as the mark of one cultivating the practice of Brahmacarya. For a full eight thousand years he sustained his body only by begging for alms, living a life of few desires and free from concerns, single-mindedly and exclusively reciting this scripture.

At that time there was heavy rain in the land and a comet appeared. Because the king was given to dissolute lust, the comet swept across the heavens, and the rain fell ceaselessly so that the great waters surged and overflowed. The Sage sat silently and still for seven full days, unable to go out to beg for alms. At that time, in the forest there were five hundred white hares, with one hare-king. The hare-king, mother and child, seeing that the Sage had not eaten for seven days, said:

"Now this Sage, for the sake of the Buddha's Way, has gone hungry for many days, and it is feared his life may not survive. The banner of the Dharma is about to break and fall, the ocean of the teaching is about to dry up. I now, for the sake of the survival of the unsurpassed great Dharma, must not begrudge my body and life."

Then she said to the hares:

"All conditioned dharmas are impermanent. Sentient beings have never, for the sake of the Dharma, cherished this empty body of birth and death. I now wish to be, for all sentient beings, a great bridge offering reverence to the Dharma master, causing the True Dharma to long endure."

At that time the hare-king spoke to the company of hares with this verse:

When the hare-king had spoken this verse, she announced to the company of hares:

"I now wish to offer my body in reverence to the Dharma. All of you should rejoice in sympathy. Why is this? Through many kalpas I have lost countless bodies. Because of the three poisons I have had to become bird and beast, my births and deaths false and empty, never for the sake of the Dharma. I now wish, for the sake of the unsurpassed Dharma, to relinquish my body and life as an offering to the Dharma master."

At that time the spirits of the mountains and forests piled up fragrant grasses for the hare-king to burn her body. The hare-king, mother and child, circumambulated the Sage seven times and then said:

"Great Master, I beg, for the sake of the Dharma, to make an offering to the Venerable One."

The Sage asked:

"You are an animal; though you have a heart of loving-kindness, tell me, why is there this cause and condition?"

The hare-king replied:

"I myself offer my body to the benevolent one, so that the Dharma may endure long, and cause sentient beings to gain abundant benefit."

The mother hare then said to the young hare:

"You may go as you wish to seek water and grass; remember to fix your mind in contemplation, in right mindfulness of the Three Jewels."

The young hare, hearing his mother's words, knelt down and said to his mother:

"As you have said: you wish to make an offering to the unsurpassed great Dharma. I too wish to make an offering."

Having spoken these words, the young hare leapt of his own accord into the fire. The mother hare leapt in after him.

At the moment the Bodhisattva relinquished her body, heaven and earth quaked greatly. Even up to the heavens of the Form Realm, the devas rained down flowers as an offering.

After the flesh of the two hares, mother and child, was cooked, the spirits of the mountains and forests addressed the Sage:

"The hare-king, mother and child, wishing to make an offering, have leapt into the fire. Now the flesh is cooked; you may partake of it."

When the Sage heard the words of that spirit, his heart was choked with sorrow and compassion. He placed the scripture upon the leaves of a tree and spoke this verse:

Rather would I burn my body and destroy my eyes
Than bear to kill and devour sentient beings.
The Buddhas have expounded the scriptures of compassion,
Teaching people ever to live by the practice of loving-kindness.

Rather would I shatter my head, bones, marrow, and brain
Than be willing in heart to eat the flesh of sentient beings.
The Buddhas have taught: Whoever eats flesh,
This person is lacking in the practice of loving-kindness and compassion,
Living a short and fleeting life, the body prone to sickness,
Sunk in birth and death, never attaining Buddhahood.

When the Sage had spoken this verse, he made this vow:

"I vow that life after life I shall have no thought of killing, and shall never eat flesh."

The Sage then entered the samādhi of the White Radiant Loving-Kindness and vowed:

"I vow that when I attain Buddhahood, I shall establish the precept of not eating flesh."

Having made this vow, the Sage himself leapt into the pit of fire and died together with the two hares. At that time heaven and earth quaked in six ways. Through the divine power of the devas, the trees emitted a brilliant golden light that shone throughout a thousand lands. The people of the land all saw the golden light issuing forth from the mountains and forests, and so they went to seek that light. When they arrived, they saw the Sage and the two hares, mother and child, had died within the mass of fire. They also found the Buddhist scripture and the verse, which they brought back and presented to the king. The king, having heard this Dharma, spread it abroad so that all might know it, causing whoever learned this Dharma to arouse the mind of the supreme, true, and right Way.

The Buddha said to Śikhin:

"You should know that the white hare-king at that time is now none other than the Buddha Śākyamuni. The young hare is Rāhula. The Sage who recited the scripture at that time is now, within this assembly, the Brahmin Great Bodhisattva Maitreya.

After I enter Nirvāṇa, fifty-six koṭi myriad years hence, at that time, beneath the Dragon-Flower Bodhi tree, upon the Vajra seat, in the flower garden in the land of the Wheel-Turning Sage King Saṅkha, he will attain the Buddha Way and turn the subtle and wondrous Dharma wheel. The five hundred hares at that time are now the five hundred bhikṣus such as Mahākāśyapa and the rest. The two hundred and fifty spirits of the forests and mountains are now Śāriputra, Maudgalyāyana, and the two hundred and fifty bhikṣus.

The one thousand kings are now the one thousand Bodhisattvas such as Bhadrapāla and the rest.

The kings, ministers, and people of that land, having heard the scripture from the time of My appearance in the world up until the Buddha Rucika, during that time become disciples who receive and study the teaching and attain the Way."

The Buddha said to Śikhin:

"A Bodhisattva seeking the Dharma must, through many kalpas, exert diligence and undergo hardship, never begrudging body and life. Though, in accord with the retribution of karma, he takes on the body of an animal, yet he ever, for the sake of the teaching, forgets his own body, leaping of his own accord into the pit of fire as an offering, and so will escape the transgressions of birth and death for nine million koṭi kalpas. Thereafter he ever dwells within the light of immeasurable Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, and first, before Maitreya, will attain the Buddha Way. Why, then, do you not diligently practice the Dharma?"

When the Buddha spoke thus, Śikhin and the five hundred Brahmacārins begged the Buddha to allow them to go forth into the homeless life.

The Buddha said:

"Welcome."

Thereupon the beards and hair of the five hundred Brahmacārins fell away of themselves, and they became śramaṇas. The Buddha expounded the Dharma for them to hear, and their minds suddenly opened forth, and they realized the fruit of arhatship. Eighty thousand devas also aroused the mind of Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. In the assembly that heard the Buddha expound the Dharma, each and every one praised the vows and practice of the Bodhisattva.

The Venerable Śāriputra addressed the Buddha:

"When that Sage leapt into the pit of fire, where was he reborn?"

The Buddha said to Śāriputra:

"When the Sage leapt into the pit of fire, he was at once reborn in the realm of the Brahma Heaven, and there, for the sake of all sentient beings, expounded the great Brahma Dharma, and so on until he attained Buddhahood and turned the great Brahma wheel, expounding a scripture also named the Cloud-Ocean of Great Compassion, the Light of the Samādhi of Loving-Kindness. This Buddha established the precepts: Whoever does not practice the conduct of loving-kindness and compassion is called one who violates the prohibition. If a person eats flesh, he violates a grave precept, and in a later life is born where he must ever swallow hot iron balls—until the time when that Sage attains Buddhahood, as told in the Scripture of the Descent and Birth of Maitreya Bodhisattva."

The Venerable Ānanda, hearing the Buddha's teaching, rose from his seat, drew his robe to bare his right shoulder, knelt down, joined his palms, and facing the Buddha, addressed Him:

"World-Honored One, when Maitreya Bodhisattva attains Buddhahood and expounds the precepts of the Dharma, it is precisely because of the heart of loving-kindness and compassion that He establishes the precept of not eating flesh, and whoever violates it incurs grave transgression. How rare and wondrous this is!" In the great assembly everyone gave assent and praise. "The sentient beings in that land observe the precept of not eating flesh; we vow to be born in that land. We beg the World-Honored One to bestow upon us the prediction."

The Venerable Ānanda again addressed the World-Honored One:

"What shall this scripture be named? How shall it be upheld and observed?"

The Buddha said to Ānanda:

"This teaching is named The Hare Bodhisattva Who Did Not Begrudge Body and Life for the Sake of the Unsurpassed Way (the Hare Bodhisattva who did not begrudge body and life for the unsurpassed Way). It is also named The Causes and Conditions of the Sage Sarvajña-Prabhāsa Who, Through the Heart of Loving-Kindness, Did Not Eat Flesh (the causes and conditions of the Sage Sarvajña-Prabhāsa who, through the heart of loving-kindness, did not eat flesh). Uphold and observe it thus."

The Venerable Ānanda and the bhikṣus, hearing the Buddha's teaching, all rejoiced and reverently practiced it.