Back to the library

Sīmavisodhanīpāṭha -(Realm Purification Text)(English | 中文 | བོད་ཡིག)

English

thinking, "We will go to the far sea." On the day of boarding the ship, the Elder's younger brother, after feeding the Elder, taking the precepts from him, said, as he was leaving, "Venerable Sir, the great ocean is untrustworthy and full of dangers, please remember us," and boarded the ship. The ship, going with the force of the waves, reached a certain island. The people disembarked on the island, thinking, "We will have breakfast." On that island there was nothing else, only a sandalwood forest. Then one, perhaps, striking a tree, knowing it was red sandalwood, said, "Friends, we are going to the far sea for profit, but there is no greater profit than this. Even a four-finger-sized piece is worth a hundred thousand. Let us leave behind the goods that are not worth keeping, and gather this." They did so. The non-human beings dwelling in the sandalwood forest, angered, thinking, "These people have destroyed our sandalwood forest, we will kill them," thought, "If we kill them here, everything will become a single corpse. We will sink their ship in the middle of the ocean." Then, boarding their ship, after a moment, creating a sudden storm, themselves, those non-human beings, showed terrifying forms. The frightened people worshipped their own deities. The Elder's younger brother, Cūḷapuṇṇakuṭumbika, thinking, "May my brother be my refuge," He stood paying homage. The Elder, in that very moment, having reflected, knowing their misfortune, rose into the sky and stood facing them. The non-humans, seeing the Elder, "Ayyapunna Elder is coming!" and fled. The storm subsided. The Elder, reassuring them, "Fear not!" asked, "Where do you wish to go?" "Venerable sir, we are going to our own trading place." The Elder stepped onto the ship's plank, "Let it go to their desired place!" he resolved. The merchants, reaching their trading place, told their wives and children of that event, "Come, let us go to the Elder for refuge!" Five hundred, along with their five hundred mothers, established in the three refuges, declared themselves lay followers. Then, unloading the goods from the ship, making one share for the Elder, "Venerable sir, this is your share," they said. The Elder said, "I have no need for a separate share." "But has the Teacher been seen by you before?" "Never seen before, venerable sir." "Then with this, make a pavilion for the Teacher. Thus you will see the Teacher." They replied, "Very well, venerable sir!" And with that share and their own share, they began to make a pavilion. The Teacher, from the time it was begun, did not refuse its use. Then people, seeing the light at night, assumed, "There are deities of great power." The lay followers, having completed the pavilion and lodgings for the Sangha of monks, preparing the requisites for giving, "Venerable sir, we have done our part, invite the Teacher!" they informed the Elder. The Elder, in the evening, through his power, reached Savatthi, "Venerable sir, the residents of the trading village wish to see you, have compassion on them!" The Blessed One accepted. The Elder, knowing the Blessed One's acceptance, returned to his own trading place. The Blessed One addressed the Elder Ananda, "Ananda, tomorrow in Sunaparanta, in the trading village, we will go for alms, you inform four hundred and ninety-nine monks "Give me a ticket." The Elder said, "Good, venerable sir," and having announced the matter to the Sangha, said, "Let those going on tour take a ticket." On that day, Kuṇḍadhāna Thera was the first to take a ticket. The residents of Vāṇijagāma, thinking, "Tomorrow the Teacher will come," erected a pavilion in the middle of the village and prepared the alms-giving. The Blessed One, early in the morning, having attended to his bodily needs, entered the Perfumed Chamber, attained the fruition attainment, and sat down. Sakka's Paṇḍukambala stone seat grew hot. He, reflecting, "What is this?" saw the Teacher's journey to the border country and addressed Vissakamma, "Friend, today the Blessed One will go three hundred yojanas for alms; build five hundred peaked houses and place them ready for travel at the top of the Jetavana gate." He did so. The Blessed One's peaked house had four faces, those of the two chief disciples had two faces, the rest had one face each. The Teacher, emerging from the Perfumed Chamber, entered the peaked house placed in order, the foremost one. The five hundred monks, beginning with the two chief disciples, went to the peaked houses and sat down; one peaked house was empty. All five hundred peaked houses rose into the sky. The Teacher, having reached a mountain called Saccabandha, kept the peaked houses in the sky. On that mountain lived Saccabandha, a wrong-believer, who, teaching wrong views to the great multitude, lived having attained the height of gain and honor. Within him, in his inner bowl, like a lamp, the potential for arahantship was burning. Seeing this, thinking, "I will teach him the Dhamma," he went and taught the Dhamma. At the end of the discourse, the ascetic attained arahantship. Immediately, the higher knowledges came to him. Having become an "ehi bhikkhu" with bowl and robes created by psychic power, he entered the peaked house. The Blessed One, with the five hundred monks in the peaked houses, went to Vāṇijagāma, made the peaked houses invisible, and entered Vāṇijagāma. The merchants gave a great alms-giving to the Sangha with the Buddha at its head. Having given alms, they led the Teacher to the Mango Grove Monastery. The Teacher entered the pavilion. While the multitude waited for the Teacher to finish the meal, they had their breakfast, undertook the Uposatha vows, and taking incense and flowers, returned to the monastery to hear the Dhamma. The Teacher preached the Dhamma. Liberation from bonds arose for the multitude, and there was a great roar of joy for the Buddha. The Teacher, for the sake of the multitude, stayed there for a few days, but awakened Aruṇa in the Great Perfumed Chamber itself. Having stayed there for a few days, after going for alms in Vāṇijagāma, having sent back Puṇṇa Thera, saying, "You stay here," he went to the bank of the Nammadā River, which was in between. The Nāga king Nammadā went to meet the Teacher, led him into the Nāga palace, and paid homage to the three jewels. The Teacher, having spoken the Dhamma to him, departed from the Nāga palace. He begged, "Give me something to serve, O Blessed One." The Blessed One showed a footprint shrine on the bank of the Nammadā River. It was covered when the waves came, and uncovered when the waves went away, and it received great honor. The Teacher, departing from there, went to Saccabandha Mountain and said to Saccabandha, "You have led the multitude down the path to misery. You, staying here, having dispelled their beliefs, establish them on the path to Nibbāna." He too begged for something to serve. The Teacher showed a footprint shrine on a solid rock slab, like a mark on a lump of wet clay. Thus, in the region of Sūnāparanta itself, he established two wheel-treasure shrines until the disappearance of the Teaching. In the seventh year, while crushing the heretics at the foot of the Kaṇḍamba tree in Sāvatthi, having performed the Twin Miracle, having made his mother, who was a witness with her body, among the deities who came from ten thousand world-systems, he spent the rainy season in Tāvatiṃsa heaven, at the foot of the Pāricchatta tree, on the Paṇḍukambala stone. In the eighth year, he spent one rainy season in Saṃsumāragara. In the ninth year, he spent one rainy season in Kosambī. Then Bhaddiya, Kimila, Bhagu, Ānanda, Anuruddha, and Devadatta, these six nobles went forth. Their story is told in the Dhammapada. In the tenth year, in Pārileyyaka village, in the Dakkhinavana grove, at the foot of a Bhaddasāla tree, being attended to by the elephant Pārileyyaka, he spent the rains comfortably. In the eleventh year, he spent one rains residence in the Nālandā brahmin village. In the twelfth year, he spent one rains residence in Verañjā, experiencing the result of wrong conduct. It is said that in the time of the Buddha Phussa, due to verbal misconduct towards his disciples, the unwholesome karma accumulated, then, having found an opportunity, arose. Even though invited by the brahmin of Verañjā, due to the trickery of Māra, not realizing it, he ate only barley groats, worth a pattha each, the fixed allowance for horse traders, for three months. This was said in the Apadāna: "In the dispensation of Phussa, I will revile the disciples; Eat barley, consume it, do not eat rice." "By the result of that karma, barley was eaten for three months; Invited by a brahmin, I lived in Verañjā then." Therefore it was said, "In the twelfth year, he spent one rains residence in Verañjā, experiencing the result of wrong conduct." In the thirteenth year, he spent one rains residence on Jāliya mountain. In the fourteenth year, having spent the first rains residence in Sāvatthī, in Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery, Jetavana Vihāra, in the fifteenth year, to benefit his relatives, he went to Kapilavatthu and spent only one rains residence. In the sixteenth year, to tame the Āḷavaka Yaksha, he spent one rains residence in Aggāḷavī city. In the seventeenth year, having returned to Rājagaha, he spent the rains residence. In the eighteenth year, having returned to Jāliya mountain, he resided there. In the nineteenth year also, he resided there on Jāliya mountain. In the twentieth year, not far from Rājagaha, in the frightening Bhesakala forest grove, he spent the rains residence. These twenty years should be known as the first of enlightenment. During this time, ordination was only by the Ehi-bhikkhu formula. It is said that mostly, referring to the Blessed One, making him the teacher and preceptor, it was spoken concerning worthy individuals who attained the state of "Come, Bhikkhu." Also, concerning others who had not attained the noble state,