佛說浴像功德經

Thus have I heard. At one time the Bhagavān was dwelling on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa (Vulture Peak), to the northeast of the city of Rājagṛha, together with a great assembly of bhikṣus and with the great bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, all gathered together. At that time, within the assembly there was a bodhisattva named Pure Wisdom, who gave rise to this thought: "By what cause and condition do the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, attain a pure body?" He further thought: "When a Buddha is in the world, one draws near to him and makes offerings;

after a Buddha has entered nirvāṇa, one makes offerings to the relics—do these two kinds of people obtain merit that is equal, or not?" Having given rise to this thought, relying upon the awesome spiritual power of the Buddha, he rose from his seat, bowed his head to the feet of the Buddha, and addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, by what cause and condition do the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, attain a pure body?

If, when a Buddha is in the world, one draws near to him and makes offerings, and after a Buddha has entered nirvāṇa, one makes offerings to the relics—do these two kinds of people obtain merit that is equal, or not?" At that time the World-Honored One said to the bodhisattva Pure Wisdom: "Excellent, excellent! Now, for the sake of the sentient beings of future ages, you have raised such a question. You should listen well, and the Tathāgata will discriminate and explain it for you." At that time, the bodhisattva Pure Wisdom addressed the Buddha, saying: "Yes indeed, World-Honored One.

We joyfully wish to hear it." The Buddha said to the bodhisattva Pure Wisdom: "The Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, in order to seek bodhi, in ages long past cultivated the various samādhis, the precepts, concentration, patient endurance, wisdom, loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity, liberation, the knowledge and vision of liberation, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, all the Buddha-dharmas, the knowledge of all modes—all of which are wholly pure qualities; therefore the Tathāgatas attain a pure body.

Furthermore, using flowers, incense, banners, pennants, and jeweled canopies as offerings; furthermore, using fragrant water to bathe the body of the Tathāgata; furthermore, using jeweled canopies to cover over the body; using various foods and drinks, drums and music, singing and chanting to extol and praise the Tathāgata—dedicating this merit toward the knowledge of all modes, one attains merit that is immeasurable and boundless, even unto the accomplishment of Supreme Bodhi.

Why is this? The wisdom of the Tathāgata is immeasurable and boundless, beyond conception and discussion; and whatever merit the Tathāgata possesses is likewise so. Pure Wisdom, after the Tathāgata has entered nirvāṇa, there are two kinds of relics: the first is the Dharma-body, and the second is the transformation-body.

If good sons, good daughters, and so forth, make offerings to the relics by fashioning images of the Buddha as small as a grain of barley, by building a stūpa shaped like an āmra fruit, with the stūpa-mast shaped like a great needle, and the stūpa-parasol shaped like a duckweed leaf, in order to safeguard the Buddha's relics—relics in quantity like a large mustard seed, enshrined within the stūpa—the merit of making offerings to the relics is equal to the merit of making offerings to the Tathāgata while he is still in the world; there is no difference.

One who makes offerings to the relics attains fifteen kinds of merit: first, one attains a pure mind of recollection; second, one attains a mind that accords with the right Dharma; third, one attains a mind of shame and conscience; fourth, one attains the sight of the Tathāgata; fifth, one gives rise to a mind of pure faith; sixth, one upholds the right Dharma; seventh, one practices in accordance with the Dharma; eighth, one attains intimacy with the Buddhas; ninth, one is reborn at will in those lands where there is a Buddha; tenth, if born among humankind, one is born into a family of noble lineage, with a gentle and yielding disposition, respected by those one meets; eleventh, as soon as one is born as a human, one attains the mind of recollection of the Buddha;

twelfth, the hosts of Māra's armies cannot vex or disturb one; thirteenth, in the age of the Dharma's decline, one is able to protect and uphold the right Dharma; fourteenth, one is ever sheltered and protected by the mindful favor of the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas of the ten directions; fifteenth, one swiftly accomplishes the fivefold Dharma-body." At that time the World-Honored One spoke these verses, saying:

If, with a pure mind,

After the Tathāgata has entered nirvāṇa,

One makes offerings to the relics,

Or builds stūpas and shrines,

And images of the Tathāgata;

Before those stūpas and images,

One sweeps and adorns a maṇḍala,

And taking the various flowers and incense,

Scatters them upon the stūpas and images;

Taking the various wondrous fragrant waters,

One sprinkles and bathes the image of the Buddha;

With the most excellent and wondrous foods and drinks,

Kept pure, one makes offerings;

Extolling and venerating the merit of the Buddha—

Immeasurable, beyond conception—

In wisdom and spiritual penetrations,

And the various skillful means,

One altogether reaches the other shore.

At that time, the bodhisattva Pure Wisdom, having heard the World-Honored One speak these verses, addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, while the Buddha is in the world and after he has entered nirvāṇa, how should the sentient beings of future ages bathe the image? I humbly beg the World-Honored One, for the sake of sentient beings, to reveal and explain it at length." The Buddha said: "Pure Wisdom, while the Buddha is in the world, sentient beings give rise to a pure mind; after the Buddha has entered nirvāṇa, they should likewise give rise to such a pure mind.

They should not hold to the conceptions of there being a Buddha or there being no Buddha; toward the fine and excellent qualities of the Tathāgata they should harbor a heart of yearning aspiration, giving rise to no weariness. Why is this? Because to do so is to accomplish the Dharma-body and the reward-body of the Tathāgata.

The Tathāgata has already, for your sake, expounded the Dharma of the Four Firm and True Truths, the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, and the Six Pāramitās; now the Tathāgata, for your sake, expounds the Dharma of bathing the image, which is the most surpassing of all forms of offering.

Good son, if you wish to bathe the image, you should take gośīrṣa, candana, red sandalwood, tamāla fragrance, spikenard, lovage, white sandalwood, turmeric (kuṅkuma), camphor, aloeswood, musk, clove, and so forth—taking such various wondrous fragrances as these, and according to whatever kinds are available, prepare bathing water and hold it in a clean vessel. First, make an altar in the shape of a square, set up a fine seat upon it, and atop that enshrine the image of the Buddha; then, using the various fragrant waters, bathe the image in turn.

Having bathed the entire image with the various fragrant waters, again take pure water and pour it over the image that has been bathed with the fragrant water. Each person takes a little of the water used to bathe the image and anoints it upon his own head; then one burns the various kinds of incense as an act of offering.

When the water first begins to flow down from the body of the image, one should recite this verse:

Now I sprinkle and bathe the Tathāgatas,

Whose pure wisdom and merit are arrayed in adornment;

May the sentient beings of the five turbidities depart from defilement,

And vow to realize the Tathāgata's pure Dharma-body.

When burning the incense, one should recite this verse:

The fragrance of precepts, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation

Is ever fragrant throughout the realms of the ten directions;

May the smoke of this incense be likewise,

Returning to form the fivefold body for self and others.

At that time, when the World-Honored One had expounded this Dharma, within the assembly there were immeasurable great bodhisattvas who realized the samādhi of Pure and Undefiled, and they then rose up from their seats; immeasurable gods and humans attained non-retrogression with regard to Supreme Bodhi. At that time, the Venerable Ānanda addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, what is this sūtra called, and how should we receive and reverently uphold it?" The World-Honored One said to the Venerable Ānanda: "This sūtra is called 'Sprinkling and Bathing the Buddhas to Attain a Pure Body';

the venerable one should receive it and reverently uphold it thus." When the World-Honored One had finished expounding this sūtra, the entire great assembly within the Dharma-assembly were all greatly delighted; they believed, received, and reverently put it into practice.

Notes:
1/ Sūtra Collection division, the Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on the Merit of Bathing the Image, Tripiṭaka no. 697. Ratnamati (Bảo Tư Duy, 693–706): one of the twenty-four translation masters of the Tang dynasty (618–907). His translated works are: the Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on the Merit of Bathing the Image (Tripiṭaka 697), the Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on the Comparative Merit of the Rosary (Tripiṭaka 788), the Sūtra of the Great Dhāraṇī, the One-Syllable Mind-Mantra Within the Final Dharma Age (Tripiṭaka 956), the Sūtra of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara's Cintāmaṇi Dhāraṇī (Tripiṭaka 1083), the Method of Reciting the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara's Cintāmaṇi-Wheel Dhāraṇī (Tripiṭaka 1084), the Amoghapāśa Dhāraṇī Īśvara-rāja Mantra Sūtra (Tripiṭaka 1097),

the Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha of the Divine Mantra of the Great Sovereign Dhāraṇī by Which One's Wishes Are Immediately Fulfilled (Tripiṭaka 1154), the Sūtra of the Root One-Syllable Dhāraṇī of Mañjuśrī Within the Mahāvaipulya Bodhisattva-Piṭaka Sūtra (Tripiṭaka 1181), and the Sūtra of the Battle Between Nārāyaṇa-deva Together with the Asura King (Tripiṭaka 1281).

2/ Am la = am một la (Āmra): the Samantapāsādikā (Vinaya Commentary of Excellent Views) calls the mango fruit the āmra fruit.