佛說報恩奉盆經

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was dwelling in the Garden of Anāthapiṇḍada in the Grove of Jeta (Jeṭavaṇe'nāthapiṇḍadasyārāma) in the land of Śrāvasti (Śrāvastya). Mahāmaudgalyāyana (Mahā-Māudgalyāyana), having newly attained the six superknowledges (ṣaḍabhijñāḥ), wished to deliver his father and mother and to repay the kindness of their having reared and nursed him.

He thereupon used the eye of the Way (that is, the superknowledge of the divine eye) to contemplate and behold the worlds. He then saw that his deceased mother had been reborn among the hungry ghosts, where she saw neither food nor drink and was but skin clinging to bone. Maudgalyāyana, grieved and full of pity, at once took a bowl filled with rice and went to offer it to his mother.

His mother, having received the bowl of rice, covered the rice with her left hand and gathered it up with her right hand. But before the food could enter her mouth it turned into burning coals, and so she was unable to eat. Maudgalyāyana hurried back and reported this to the Buddha, setting forth the whole matter in full.

The Buddha said to Maudgalyāyana: "The roots of your mother's offenses are deeply bound. How could this be within the power of a single person such as yourself? It is necessary to have the awesome spiritual power of the assembled Saṅgha before deliverance can be attained. Now I shall expound the Dharma of Rescue and Relief, which causes all who are in distress to part from their cares and sufferings."

The Buddha said to Maudgalyāyana: "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, for the sake of fathers and mothers of seven generations who are caught in the snare of distress, you should gather provisions of dried food, cooked rice, the five kinds of fruit, water for sprinkling, an earthenware basin, fragrant oil, ingots (tin foil made to imitate silver, burnt for the dead), candles, and bedding and furnishings for resting… Bring forth every delicious and sweet thing in the world… and offer them to the assembled Saṅgha.

On this very day, all the host of sages—whether absorbed in meditative concentration upon the mountainsides, or having attained the four fruits of the Way, or walking in meditation beneath the trees, or possessing the six superknowledges and flying forth to teach and transform others, śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas and great beings who provisionally manifest as bhikṣus—all in the midst of the great assembly, with one and the same mind, receive the rice of Pravāraṇā (Bát Hòa La—meaning full and joyful).

The Way of these sages is complete with pure precepts, and their virtue is deep, vast, and boundless. Whoever makes offerings to this gathering will cause their present fathers and mothers, their fathers and mothers of seven generations, and their five kinds of kin… to come forth from the three evil paths. In accordance with the season they attain deliverance; clothing and food come to them of their own accord."

The Buddha enjoined the assembled Saṅgha that, for the sake of the fathers and mothers of seven generations of the donor's household, they should practice meditation and settle the mind… and only afterward partake of these offerings.

The bhikṣu Maudgalyāyana, together with all the assembly, joyfully received and put this into practice.

THE BUDDHA SPEAKS THE SUTRA ON REPAYING KINDNESS BY OFFERING THE BOWL

The End