第四段
Passage 4
Translation and Explanatory Notes
Embedded Files
Original Classical Japanese Texts
仏、答へて曰く、「汝、飲食を儲けて、自恣の僧を供養して、その残りをもて母に与へば、自ら得ることもありなむ」。目連、仏の御教へのままにして、食物を持て行きて、母に進むるに、炎になることなくして、心のままに食することを得たり。
Note: The initial transcription is 飲物を持て行きて, but the original scroll wrote 食物 when examined closely. Therefore, 飲物 is replaced with 食物 in this site.
English Translation
The Buddha answered and said, “thou shalt get some food and drink, dedicate it to the monks on the last day of the Vassa festival, and if thou take the remainder to thy mother and give it to her, she too will probably get some herself.” Maudgalyayana, doing just as the Buddha’s honorable teachings say, took the remainder and went to where his mother was. By the time he offered the food and drink to her, they didn’t turn into flames, and she was able to take and consume them to her heart’s content.
Explanatory Notes
自恣（じし）
自恣 is the Last day of Vassa (also known as rain retreat), which is a 3-month retreat observed by Theravada practitioners, popular in South and Southeast Asia.
Information and Image derived from LivesInAsia Website. Accessible here: livesinasia.com/vassa/
Please see this high resolution image depicting the moment when 目連's mother, the one sitting in the middle (assumed due to the appearance of a female Gaki) was able to consume the food 目連 brought to her from Vassa.
Notable Grammar Structures and Vocabularies
汝 なんじ- "Thou", same as あなた in Modern Japanese, means "you".
曰く- Means ...said, often seen in ancient Chinese Literature and Classical Japanese Texts.
ありなむ- Same as あるでしょう in Modern Japanese. The な here is the 未然形 (Imperfect form) of ぬ, meaning certainly; while the む is in 終止形, meaning speculation. Both of them are auxiliary verbs.
進むる- 連体形 of 進む；to give, to offer.
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