過去世佛分衛經

The Buddha taught:

In a past age there was a Buddha who entered a city to beg for alms together with a great multitude of his venerable disciples and Bodhisattvas. These disciples and Bodhisattvas all bore the marks of upright and dignified appearance, and were loving, kind, and forbearing; each of them practiced the Way according to his own original vow.

There was a mother who had been pregnant for several months. Seeing the Buddha and the assembly of monks living a saintly and holy life, she made a wish that the child she was about to bear would also become a śramaṇa, a disciple of the Buddha.

Time passed swiftly, and the day of delivery arrived. Both mother and child were safe and well, and the infant was exceedingly beautiful, bearing marks unlike those of others. That mother loved her child beyond measure, and no longer wished to let him go forth as a śramaṇa. At the very moment she came to her senses, she said to herself: “Before, I made a vow that, if I should give birth to a child, I would let him study the Way. Now the child has been born, and moreover he bears a countenance unlike that of others; he makes me feel at peace and free of all impurity. I must not, out of excessive love for my child, go against the heart’s vow I made before.”

When the child reached the age of seven, the family had again fallen into poverty, so the mother prepared an eating-vessel for the two of them and three Dharma robes, and, holding a water-pot for washing in her hand, she led her child to the place where the Buddha was. She bowed at his feet and addressed the Buddha:

“I beg you, out of compassion for my child, to let him become a śramaṇa, so that hereafter, attaining the Way, he may obtain a body like that of a Buddha.”

The Buddha consented to let the child become a śramaṇa. The mother took the pot of pure water to wash her son’s hands. At that moment nine dragons came forth from the mouth of the pot and spouted water, pouring it over the child’s hands. When the washing was finished, the water that remained was poured over the child’s head, and the last drop of water left upon the child’s head straightway transformed into a jeweled parasol with a garland of flowers covering it; within it was a lion throne, and upon the throne sat a Buddha. The Buddha smiled, and from within his mouth there came forth light of five colors that shone upon ten koṭis of buddha-lands, then circled back around the Buddha’s body and entered the crown of the child’s head.

The mother took up a bowl of rice, first offering it to the Buddha and then handing food to her son, and at once she gave rise to the mind of Supreme Equality. At that very moment ten koṭis of buddha-lands were shaken in six ways, and all the buddha-lands of those realms naturally appeared. Then the Buddha took the bowl of rice that the child’s mother had offered to him, and invited the Buddhas and the assembly of bhikṣus then present; all of them were filled to satisfaction, yet that bowl of rice remained whole as before.

The child’s mother was filled with boundless joy, and countless gods and humans all attained the stage of Non-retrogression. Then the child’s hair fell away of itself, and the child became a śramaṇa, attaining on that very spot the stage of Non-retrogression. The mother came and addressed the Buddha:

“Today I have witnessed three wondrous things:

When I washed my child’s hands, nine dragons spouted water.

When the washing was finished, the remaining water was poured over my child’s head, and it straightway transformed into a jeweled canopy and a lion throne upon which a Buddha sat.

When the Buddha smiled, light came forth from within his mouth and then entered the crown of the child’s head.

I humbly beg the Buddha to explain this so that I may understand.”

The Buddha taught:

“This child, fourteen kalpas hence, shall become a Buddha; that is why all these signs have appeared—the nine dragons spouting water, the lion throne, the floral parasol and jeweled canopy, the Buddha smiling and the light entering the crown of the child’s head—all of them are manifestations responding to that.”

When the child’s mother heard the Buddha’s teaching, her joy knew no bounds. Thereafter she became the mother of a Wheel-turning Sage King. Through seven hundred lifetimes, when each lifespan came to its end, she was reborn as a mother, and she realized the stage of Non-retrogression.

The Buddha taught:

“At that time, the child was none other than my own self; therefore today I have obtained merit such as this.”

All the devas, dragon-spirits, and human beings, hearing the Buddha’s teaching, all realized the stage of Non-retrogression.

The Buddha of No Heat, the Buddha of the Nature of Emptiness, the Buddha King of Heaven, the Buddha Golden Man.