佛說腹中女聽經

At one time, the Buddha was dwelling at Rājagṛha together with the bodhisattvas, the assembly of bhikṣus, the bhikṣuṇīs, the upāsikās, and the devas, along with countless people, all gathered together to hear the Buddha expound the sūtra.

At that time, among the assembly seated there was a Kāla woman who was pregnant, with the child in her womb joining its palms together and listening to the sūtra. The Buddha, wishing the assembly to behold this, emitted a great radiance that shone upon the Kāla woman. Everyone in the assembly saw the baby girl within her womb joining her palms together and listening to the sūtra, just as in a mirror that reflects without difference. The Buddha, using the eight kinds of sounds, asked the baby girl within the womb:

– Why do you join your palms together and listen to the sūtra?

The baby girl, relying upon the majestic spiritual power of the Buddha, addressed the Buddha: Reverently I address the World-Honored One! Because the people of the world commit the ten evil deeds, I wish them to practice the ten good deeds, and so I join my palms together and listen to the sūtra. Because the people of the world are greedy, hateful, lustful, and deluded, and their cycle of birth and death does not cease, I join my palms together and listen to the sūtra. Furthermore, because the people of the world are not filial to their fathers and mothers, and do not make offerings to the śramaṇas, the brāhmaṇas, and the men of the Way, I join my palms together and listen to the sūtra.

As soon as the baby girl had finished speaking, she was born from her mother's right side, just as the Crown Prince (Siddhārtha) was, and the earth quaked in six ways. In the empty sky there were realms of the heavens from which music spontaneously arose. The heavens rained down many kinds of flowers, and there spontaneously appeared a thousand-petaled lotus flower as large as a cartwheel, with a stalk made of precious jewels, its form like vaiḍūrya. The baby girl sat upon the lotus flower. From the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven above, the Heavenly King Śakra took up a heavenly garment and flew down from the sky, presenting the robe to the baby girl, saying:

– To be naked is most unseemly, so take this robe and put it on.

The baby girl replied:

I will not wear this robe. Do you wish to clothe me? You are an arhat; I am a bodhisattva. You are not of our kind, nor are you like me. Spontaneously there will be a robe brought to me.

The Buddha said to Kauśika:

– That is not the attire of a bodhisattva; rather, it is the arousing of the mind that makes one a bodhisattva. To attain of oneself the thirty-two marks and the eighty noble characteristics—that indeed is the attire of a bodhisattva.

Śāriputra addressed the Buddha:

– From what land has this baby girl come, that a robe must be brought to her?

The Buddha said:

– This baby girl has come from a Buddha-land in the southeast. That land is named Pure, and it is one hundred thousand Buddha-lands away. The baby girl has come from that land to this place, wishing to behold Me, and therefore there must of itself be someone to bring a robe to her.

At that time, the robe came flying from that land, and descending in the midst of the sky it produced a gentle, soothing sound. The baby girl received it and put it on, and immediately attained the five supernatural powers. Indeed, all the women of that land had attained the five supernatural powers. Having put on the robe, the baby girl stepped down from the lotus flower and came before the Buddha, and with each step the baby girl took the earth quaked in six ways. The baby girl prostrated to the Buddha, her head to the ground, and said three times: "Namo Buddha." After circumambulating the Buddha, she knelt down and addressed him:

– Reverently I address the World-Honored One! Now within this assembly there are many Kāla women. I pray that the World-Honored One may expound the sūtra so that they may become men.

The Buddha said:

– I cannot cause you to become men or women; rather, it is by your own selves that you attain realization. There is one thing by which one may swiftly become a man. What thing is it? It is the arousing of the mind set upon the bodhisattva path—that is the one thing. Furthermore, the human body must be inwardly contemplated by oneself: it is like a framework of bones, joined together, and on the outside it is wrapped in skin and sinew; therefore a woman should fear this body. Just as the hawk, the snake, and the toad dare not appear in the daytime and constantly fear people, just as a maidservant always dwells in filthy and foul-smelling places—even a queen of a nation must fear this one (the female body). The female body is full of filth and ugliness such as this.

At that time, from their seats, seventy-five Kāla women, having heard the Buddha expound the sūtra, were joyful and elated, and prostrating with their heads to the ground they said to the Buddha:

– Reverently we address the World-Honored One! We vow to arouse the bodhisattva mind and to become men; if we cannot become men, we vow not to rise up.

During that time, there were seventy-five lay devotees who came from the land of Śrāvastī to the place where the Buddha was. Seeing the women standing before the Buddha, they thought: "We have lost our wives," and then they went and asked Śāriputra:

Venerable One! These women are our wives—why are they here?

Śāriputra replied:

They wish to become bhikṣuṇīs. Do you permit it?

The lay devotees replied:

If they wish to become bhikṣuṇīs, then let us become bhikṣus first.

Śāriputra again addressed the Buddha:

– World-Honored One! There are seventy-five lay devotees who wish to become bhikṣus.

The Buddha said:

Good sons! Let all of them become bhikṣus.

Their hair fell away of itself, their bodies were clothed in kāṣāya robes, and holding alms bowls in their hands they stood before the Buddha and paid homage. At that time, the seventy-five laywomen took off their jeweled necklaces and scattered them over the Buddha, and then spontaneously, in the midst of the empty sky, these were transformed into seventy-five canopies woven and strung together with pearls and necklaces of jewels.

Within the canopies were jeweled beds, and upon the jeweled beds were seats for sitting, and beside the Buddha there were countless bodhisattvas listening to the sūtra. The seventy-five women, seeing that they themselves had been transformed, were joyful and elated. Relying upon the spiritual power of the Buddha, they flew up into the empty sky, and in the sky there spontaneously rained flowers that fell down upon the Buddha.

They flew down from the sky, all of them now men, and standing before the Buddha they said:

– We pray to become bhikṣus.

The Buddha said to the Bodhisattva Maitreya:

– Confer the precepts upon them.

The Bodhisattva Maitreya conferred the precepts upon them, so that they became bhikṣus.

At that time, there spontaneously appeared a flower canopy of the seven treasures, its stalk like the stalk of a lotus flower. The baby girl took it and presented it to her mother, saying:

The Buddha is the teacher of devas and humans, who liberates all sentient beings. Mother, take this flower canopy and offer it to the Buddha, the teacher of devas and humans. After offering the canopy, you must make the vow to be a canopy for the world. Now you must arouse the bodhisattva mind.

The mother said to her daughter:

When I was carrying you in my womb, in my dreams I constantly saw the Buddha, the Dharma, and the assembly of bhikṣus, and my mind was free of greed, lust, hatred, and delusion, and my body was at peace. I knew that the one within my womb was a great bodhisattva, and that this was what made me so at peace.

After the mother had offered the flower canopy to the Buddha and aroused the bodhisattva mind, the earth quaked in six ways.

The Buddha said to Śāriputra:

The stars in the sky can be counted, but this baby girl has liberated so many fathers and mothers that they cannot be counted.

The baby girl said:

– People say that I am a girl; I must prove it to them. And immediately she transformed herself into an eight-year-old śrāmaṇera.

When the Buddha expounded the sūtra for this transformed baby girl, countless beings aroused the mind set upon Supreme, Perfect, True Enlightenment, and when the Buddha had finished expounding the sūtra, all rejoiced greatly.