Thus did I hear at one time. While staying in Śrāvastī, in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, the Blessed One was served, honored, venerated, and revered by gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas; by Śakra, Brahmā, and the world protectors; by kings and ministers; and by bodhisattvas, monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. Yet he remained like a lotus unsullied by water.
At that time, in order to venerate the Thus-Gone One, on the full moon day of the last month of autumn, King Prasenajit had a thousand large copper cauldrons filled with grain oil and set them out so that the entire area for four leagues around was illuminated by their flames.
At the same time, in the great city of Śrāvastī, there was a city beggar woman called Maker of Joy. She had bought a tiny amount of oil, as a result of which she had gone without food for four days and had grown weak. She took the oil to Prince Jeta’s Grove and, using it to light a lamp at the edge of the courtyard, she made this wish:
“Blessed One, with this root of virtue, may I too become a teacher in the future. May I teach the Dharma and gather a community, just as the thus-gone, worthy, perfect, and complete Buddha does now. If I am to become a buddha in the future, may this oil lamp continue to burn until I return.” Whereupon she lit the lamp, and returned to the city.
The light of that oil lamp illuminated all of Jambudvīpa and the following day the lamp was still burning. Then Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana tried to put it out with the edge of his robe, but he could not. Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana then tried to extinguish it with gales of wind, but still he could not put it out. Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana then went to the Brahmā realms and caused sheets of rain the size of chariot axles to fall upon this whole trichiliocosm. However, even though he directed the deluge right over the lamp, still he could not douse it.
Then the Blessed One said, “Let it be, Maudgalyāyana! This lamp has been lit with a mind set on awakening, and a mind set on awakening cannot be overcome by a śrāvaka. How so? Because no śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha can ever overcome a mind set on omniscience.”
A while later, as the sun was rising, the woman returned from the city. When she saw that the lamp was still burning brightly, she was filled with tremendous joy.
EN
At that moment, the Blessed One smiled. It is the nature of things that whenever a blessed buddha smiles, rays of light of many colors—blue, yellow, red, white, crimson, and the colors of crystal and silver—stream forth from the blessed buddha’s mouth. These illuminate and pervade worlds without end, reaching as far as the Brahmā realms where they outshine even the sun and the moon. They then return once again, and, after circling the blessed one thrice, descend into the uṣṇīṣa at the crown of that blessed one’s head. So, indeed, did such rays of light, having circled the Blessed One thrice, disappear into the uṣṇīṣa of the Blessed One’s head.
EN
Venerable Ānanda then spoke the following verse to the Blessed One:
EN
“Excellent victor, guide, and best of men, You do not smile without reason, So please, with compassion, for the benefit of the world, Tell us what gives you cause to smile.”
EN
The Blessed One replied, “Ānanda, this city beggar woman will not fall into a lower rebirth for twenty-eight eons. She will experience only the abundance of the human and god realms, and then will become a thus-gone, worthy, perfect, and complete buddha called All-Illuminating.”
EN
Then the Blessed One spoke these verses:
EN
“To venerate the holder of ten powers, Prasenajit lit a thousand fine lamps In huge copper cauldrons, which illuminated everything for four leagues. The city beggar woman lit a lamp with a tiny amount of oil And, by the power of the mind set on awakening, it illuminated the whole world.
EN
“Maudgalyāyana wanted to extinguish the lamp with his vast magical powers, But even powerful gales could not extinguish it. Sending down sheets of rain the size of chariot axles from the Brahmā realms, Still he could not douse that lamp, which shone like the sun.
EN
“After four days with no food, she came to the delightful Jeta Grove And, with joyful heart, paid respects with folded hands to the feet of the Sugata. The peerless one smiled, and Ānanda, thoroughly delighted, asked, ‘What kind of result does this smile foretell, infinitely radiant one?’
EN
“In twenty-eight eons, this Maker of Joy will be a victor, a self-arisen one Known as All-Illuminating, and she will illuminate four great chiliocosms. In the future, she will make offerings to ten million sugatas; She will become a universal monarch and venerate the victors.
EN
“This exemplary tale about a future buddha will delight the faithful And the wise who hear it will also feel joy. In this way, the qualities of innumerable victors with the ten powers are inconceivable. So the matchless result of rejoicing in them will also be inconceivable.”
EN
Thus spoke the Blessed One, and Venerable Ānanda, the city beggar woman, the bodhisattvas and monks, along with the gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas of the world, rejoiced and thoroughly praised what the Blessed One had said.
EN
Translated by the Indian preceptor Jñānagarbha and Lotsawa Bandé Lui Wangpo. Edited and finalized by the Indian preceptor Vidyākarasiṃha and senior editor Lotsawa Bandé Devacandra.
Thus did I hear at one time. While staying in Śrāvastī, in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, the Blessed One was served, honored, venerated, and revered by gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas; by Śakra, Brahmā, and the world protectors; by kings and ministers; and by bodhisattvas, monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. Yet he remained like a lotus unsullied by water.
At that time, in order to venerate the Thus-Gone One, on the full moon day of the last month of autumn, King Prasenajit had a thousand large copper cauldrons filled with grain oil and set them out so that the entire area for four leagues around was illuminated by their flames.
At the same time, in the great city of Śrāvastī, there was a city beggar woman called Maker of Joy. She had bought a tiny amount of oil, as a result of which she had gone without food for four days and had grown weak. She took the oil to Prince Jeta’s Grove and, using it to light a lamp at the edge of the courtyard, she made this wish:
“Blessed One, with this root of virtue, may I too become a teacher in the future. May I teach the Dharma and gather a community, just as the thus-gone, worthy, perfect, and complete Buddha does now. If I am to become a buddha in the future, may this oil lamp continue to burn until I return.” Whereupon she lit the lamp, and returned to the city.
The light of that oil lamp illuminated all of Jambudvīpa and the following day the lamp was still burning. Then Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana tried to put it out with the edge of his robe, but he could not. Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana then tried to extinguish it with gales of wind, but still he could not put it out. Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana then went to the Brahmā realms and caused sheets of rain the size of chariot axles to fall upon this whole trichiliocosm. However, even though he directed the deluge right over the lamp, still he could not douse it.
Then the Blessed One said, “Let it be, Maudgalyāyana! This lamp has been lit with a mind set on awakening, and a mind set on awakening cannot be overcome by a śrāvaka. How so? Because no śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha can ever overcome a mind set on omniscience.”
A while later, as the sun was rising, the woman returned from the city. When she saw that the lamp was still burning brightly, she was filled with tremendous joy.
EN
At that moment, the Blessed One smiled. It is the nature of things that whenever a blessed buddha smiles, rays of light of many colors—blue, yellow, red, white, crimson, and the colors of crystal and silver—stream forth from the blessed buddha’s mouth. These illuminate and pervade worlds without end, reaching as far as the Brahmā realms where they outshine even the sun and the moon. They then return once again, and, after circling the blessed one thrice, descend into the uṣṇīṣa at the crown of that blessed one’s head. So, indeed, did such rays of light, having circled the Blessed One thrice, disappear into the uṣṇīṣa of the Blessed One’s head.
EN
Venerable Ānanda then spoke the following verse to the Blessed One:
EN
“Excellent victor, guide, and best of men, You do not smile without reason, So please, with compassion, for the benefit of the world, Tell us what gives you cause to smile.”
EN
The Blessed One replied, “Ānanda, this city beggar woman will not fall into a lower rebirth for twenty-eight eons. She will experience only the abundance of the human and god realms, and then will become a thus-gone, worthy, perfect, and complete buddha called All-Illuminating.”
EN
Then the Blessed One spoke these verses:
EN
“To venerate the holder of ten powers, Prasenajit lit a thousand fine lamps In huge copper cauldrons, which illuminated everything for four leagues. The city beggar woman lit a lamp with a tiny amount of oil And, by the power of the mind set on awakening, it illuminated the whole world.
EN
“Maudgalyāyana wanted to extinguish the lamp with his vast magical powers, But even powerful gales could not extinguish it. Sending down sheets of rain the size of chariot axles from the Brahmā realms, Still he could not douse that lamp, which shone like the sun.
EN
“After four days with no food, she came to the delightful Jeta Grove And, with joyful heart, paid respects with folded hands to the feet of the Sugata. The peerless one smiled, and Ānanda, thoroughly delighted, asked, ‘What kind of result does this smile foretell, infinitely radiant one?’
EN
“In twenty-eight eons, this Maker of Joy will be a victor, a self-arisen one Known as All-Illuminating, and she will illuminate four great chiliocosms. In the future, she will make offerings to ten million sugatas; She will become a universal monarch and venerate the victors.
EN
“This exemplary tale about a future buddha will delight the faithful And the wise who hear it will also feel joy. In this way, the qualities of innumerable victors with the ten powers are inconceivable. So the matchless result of rejoicing in them will also be inconceivable.”
EN
Thus spoke the Blessed One, and Venerable Ānanda, the city beggar woman, the bodhisattvas and monks, along with the gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas of the world, rejoiced and thoroughly praised what the Blessed One had said.
EN
Translated by the Indian preceptor Jñānagarbha and Lotsawa Bandé Lui Wangpo. Edited and finalized by the Indian preceptor Vidyākarasiṃha and senior editor Lotsawa Bandé Devacandra.
Sutraya