..续本文上一页n the Noble Caste. As your ministers, we cannot even bear to hear of it, for this indeed is the act of an outcaste. We cannot stay here any longer." Having spoken these words, the two ministers began to withdraw, each with his hand grasping on his sword.

　　Ajatasatru, astounded and fearful, called out to Jivaka and said, "Are you going to desert me

　　" Jivaka replied, "Great King, please restrain yourself; do not harm your mother." Hearing this, the king repented and begged their forgiveness. Thereupon he immediately put away his sword and gave up all thought of killing his mother. Instead he ordered that she be detained in her quarters and kept in the palace so that she could not leave again.

　　Having thus been detained, Vaidehi was stricken with sorrow and grief. Facing faraway Vulture Peak, she prostrated herself towards the Buddha and said, "O Tathagata, World-Honored One, in former times you never failed to send Ananda to come and comfort me. Now I am greatly distressed and have no way to look upon World-Honored One”s majesty. I pray, send the Venerable Maudgalyayana and the Venerable Ananda to come and meet with me." Having said this, she wept sorrowful tears that fell like rain as she bowed to the Buddha.

　　But even before she raised her head, the World-Honored one, who was then staying on Vulture Peak and knew the thoughts in Vaidehi”s mind, ordered Great Maudgalyayana and Ananda to go to her through the sky. The Buddha also disappeared from Vulture Peak and reappeared in the inner chamber of the royal palace.

　　When Vaidehi finished her prayer and raised her head, she saw the World-Honored One, the Buddha Shakyamuni. His body was the color of purple-gold and he was seated on a hundred-jeweled lotus flower, attended by Maudgalyayana on his left side and Ananda on his right. Indra and Brahma, along with the other heavenly beings guarding the world, hovered in the sky about him; scattering heavenly blossoms like rain, they paid homage to the Buddha.

　　When Vaidehi saw the Buddha, the World-Honored One, she tore off her ornaments, rose and prostrated herself on the ground. Weeping bitterly, she faced the Buddha and said, "O World-Honored One, what evil karma did I commit in a previous life that should cause the birth of such an evil son

　　 World-Honored One, what were the causes and conditions of his association with Devadatta and his kind

　　 My only wish is for the World-Honored One to reveal to me a place where I might be reborn that is without distress, for unhappy is this impure world in this evil kasaya era. This defiled and evil place is full of hell-beings, hungry spirits and beasts, and there is an accumulation of much evil. I pray that in the future I may hear no evil worlds and may see no evil beings. Now, World-Honored One, prostrating before you, I ask for your compassion. My only wish is for you to teach me to visualize a place where one can be born by performing pure and undefiled acts."

　　At that time, the World-Honored One emitted a golden light from between his eyebrows. It illuminated all the countless worlds of the Ten Directions, and upon returning rested atop the Buddha”s head, forming a golden tower resembling Mount Sumeru. Upon the tower were revealed the pure and wondrous worlds of all the Buddhas of the Ten Directions. Some of these lands were made of the seven kinds of jewels, others consisted entirely of lotus flowers; some resembled the heavenly palace of Isvara, and others were like crystal mirrors in which all the lands of the Ten Directions were reflected. These countless lands of the Buddhas could be seen by Vaidehi in all their majesty.

　　Then Vaidehi said to the Buddha, "O World-Honored One, all these Buddha Lands are pure, free of defilement and brilliant, but I would prefer to be born in the Realm of Ul…

《观无量寿佛经 The Sutra of Visualization of the Buddha of Infinite Life》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…