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為什麼她沒有東西吃？因為業力的感召，無論什麼食物到她口裡，就會變成火燄來燒她。目犍連看見母親墮落到餓鬼道，沒有東西吃，便用缽裝滿吃的東西，到地獄裡想要給他母親吃，想不到他母親的業力重於他的孝念，她用手抓著食物往口裡吞，就變成火燄。目犍連看自己雖有大神通，也無法救母親，於是哀泣跪求於佛。佛說：你母親所犯的罪業不是你一個人的力量可以救得了。因為你母親的罪業深重，必須在七月十五日，設盂蘭盆供上各種的飲食、臥具、湯藥供養十方賢聖僧，以十方賢聖僧為她迴向的力量，便可以超度你母親升天。
從四月十五日至七月十五日之間，修道人不到各處去，這叫結夏安居。結夏就是停止一切的活動，安居就是安然居住，不到外邊去化緣，固定在一個地方居住，當然在道場裡仍然會繼續講經說法。出家人結一個夏才算增加一歲，沒有結夏安居就沒有多活一歲，這又叫僧臘。佛告訴目犍連若要救母親，必須在七月十五日－－佛歡喜日，（佛於這一天生歡喜），僧自咨時，（僧人這個時候互相訴說自己在這三個月期間有什麼境界及經驗，互相檢討一下，僧人都很開放，無拘無束的談話討論問題，所以這叫自咨），目犍連尊者依教奉行，按著這種方法設盂蘭盆供，並仗此功德救母出離地獄。
目犍連尊者降伏毒龍，這個毒龍障礙佛說《地藏經》，因為佛要到忉利天為他母親說法，這個毒龍在須彌山中間噴毒沙擋佛，目犍連和毒龍鬥法，結果牠被降伏，也皈依佛了。目犍連 和舍利弗兩位尊者知道佛快要入涅槃，就先走一步，不願意自己親眼見到佛入涅槃的境界，所以他們兩位先佛而入滅。在佛未入滅以前，他們就先跑了。這是簡略的介紹目犍連，若是詳細的說他的神通妙用，有說不完那麼多，因為現在文字、時間有限，所以簡單地說。
贊 曰
事母至孝 皈佛純真
降伏毒龍 搶救釋親
神通變化 般若甚深
盂蘭法會 請求世尊
「事母至孝」：他侍奉母親非常孝順。至孝就是再沒有比他更孝順的，所以他一得到神通，就想要救他母親。「皈佛純真」：他皈依佛之後，很真心純意，一點也沒有三心兩意，他專一其心學佛法。
「降伏毒龍 」：他又能把毒龍降伏住。他搶救琉璃大王滅釋種。琉璃大王和釋種有互相殘殺的血戰，所以要血債血還。「搶救釋親」：在往昔琉璃大王是在水池裡的一條魚王，率領魚鱉蝦蟹之類的眷屬在河裡生存。住在河邊的村人都歡喜吃魚，所以把魚的種類都吃完了，最後把魚王也捕來吃，這是在很久很久以前的事情，當時釋迦牟尼佛也在那兒玩，看到這麼大一條魚，就用一根棍子，在魚的頭上打了三下。釋迦牟尼佛在因地打過這條魚，這條魚王就生出憎恨心，將來要報仇，因此釋迦牟尼佛成佛之後，頭痛了三天也就因為打魚三棍子，所以才有金槍馬麥之報，因為這個因緣，琉璃大王－－魚王，帶著他的眷屬，把從前吃牠這些人的種族都要殺光。
目犍連當時請求佛救釋族，我相信釋迦牟尼佛當時不會違背因果來救釋種，所以目犍連用他的缽盛釋族五百人送到天上去避難，等災難過去再把他們請回來，這種思想是有道理的，但是他還不明白前因後果。如果當時釋迦牟尼佛和他說明：這是因果，我不能救。我相信目犍連尊者也不會救的，為什麼呢？如果他再救，一、他不聽佛說的法。二、他不信因果。所以我認為當時佛是默然，他就誤會以為佛不自私，不救自己的種族，而等弟子來救，所以他很奮勇的把釋種送到天上，想不到在天上也一樣化為一盆血水，也沒有救成，這是定業不可轉，這是眾生的一種業力，就是阿羅漢也不可不講因果。
「神通變化」：他的神通變化是不可思議的，一般人是不能完全懂。「般若甚深」：他的智慧也是很高的。「盂蘭法會」：盂蘭是梵語，翻譯成中文叫解倒懸，就是人犯罪犯得太大了，就把他倒著吊起來，是很難受的刑法。因為尊者母親受苦，所以他「請求世尊」，佛為他說盂蘭法會能解救他母親倒懸的罪業。「請求世尊」：請求釋迦牟尼佛。
又說偈曰
至孝救母目連僧 眾生離苦願始伸
盛會解除倒懸業 法筵供養聖賢尊
一切有情皆得度 恆沙餓鬼出獄門
神通第一阿羅漢 緬甸靈跡留古今
「至孝救母目連僧」：他是一個很孝順的出家人。「眾生離苦願始伸」：等到眾生都離苦得樂了，他的願力才算伸展，滿他的願。「盛會解除倒懸業」：盂蘭法會是一個盛會，能解除眾生倒懸的罪業。「法筵供養聖賢尊」：設盂蘭盆供養十方的聖賢尊。
「一切有情皆得度」：所有的眾生都因為這個法會而得到度脫。「恆沙餓鬼出獄門 」：恆河沙數那麼多的餓鬼，都離開地獄門，離苦得樂升天去了。「神通第一阿羅漢」：在小乘裡他是神通第一，他和菩薩當然不能相比。阿羅漢也是梵語，翻譯成中文叫應供、殺賊、無生。因為多含不翻，三個意思，所以保留阿羅漢原名。應供，應受人天的供養。殺賊，殺眾生的無明煩惱賊。無生，他已經悟得無生法忍，不生不滅，不垢不淨，不增不減的境界，所以叫阿羅漢。
「緬甸靈跡留古今」：摩訶目犍連尊者曾經在緬甸顯過神通。在緬甸有個地方有兩塊石頭，底下有塊大約幾噸重的大石頭，上面又有一塊像桃子或葫蘆的石頭，這有什麼出奇？怎麼叫顯神通呢？雖然底下這石頭那麼重，可是兩人可在石頭底下用細繩往兩邊拉，一拉可從左邊拉到右邊，從右邊又可拉到左邊，這證明這石頭還在虛空裡懸著，這叫目連尊者顯神通，所以緬甸信佛的人很多，這和目犍連都有關係。因此在緬甸造了一個大金塔，一般佛教徒都不遠千里去朝拜大金塔，這些事情說來都很不可思議。
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Commentary:
Why did she have nothing to eat? Due to her karma, no matter what food she put in her mouth, it would turn into flames and burn her. When Maudgalyayana saw his mother suffering in the path of hungry ghosts with nothing to eat, he filled a bowl with food and went to the hells to give it to her to eat. What he had not counted on was that his mother’s karma was stronger than his filial piety. When his mother grabbed the food with her hand and put it into her mouth to swallow, it turned into flames. Maudgalyayana saw that although he had great spiritual powers, he had no way to save his own mother. Thus, he tearfully knelt before the Buddha to plead for help. The Buddha said, “Your mother’s offenses are such that you alone do not have enough power to save her. Because her karma is so heavy, on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Day of the Buddha’s Rejoicing and also the day of the Sangha’s Pravarana, you must set up Ullambana basins with all kinds of food, drink, bedding, and medicines to offer to the holy Sangha of the ten directions. Relying on the strength of the transference of merit made by the holy Sangha of the ten directions on behalf of your mother, she will be liberated and reborn in the heavens.
From the fifteenth of the fourth lunar month to the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, cultivators refrain from traveling. This is called the summer retreat. During the summer retreat, all activities are stopped and cultivators dwell peacefully in one place. They do not go out on alms rounds, but just stay in a fixed place. Of course in the monastery, they continue to lecture sutras and speak the Dharma. It is only after doing a summer retreat that a monastic gains one year in the Sangha. If one does not do the summer retreat, one does not gain a year. This is one’s age in the Sangha. The Buddha told Maudgalyayana that if he wanted to rescue his mother, he had to do the Ullambana offering on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, which is the day when the Buddha rejoices, and also the day when Sangha members mutually share and discuss their experiences during the past three months, and evaluate their own practice. Sangha members very openly and freely discuss these issues. Maudgalyayana did as the Buddha instructed and established the Ullambana offerings, the merit and virtue of which enabled his mother to leave the hells.
Maudgalyayana subdued a venomous dragon which tried to prevent the Buddha from speaking the
Earth Store Sutra. The Buddha wanted to go to the Trayastrimsha Heaven to speak the Dharma for his mother, but halfway up Mount Sumeru, this venomous dragon spit poisonous sand to block the Buddha. Maudgalyayana engaged in a Dharma battle with the venomous dragon, and in the end the dragon was subdued and took refuge with the Buddha. When Venerable Maudgalyayana and Venerable Shariputra found out that the Buddha was about to enter Nirvana, they entered Nirvana before the Buddha did, because they could not bear to witness the Buddha entering Nirvana. Before the Buddha entered Nirvana, they departed first. This is a brief introduction to Maudgalyayana. If I were to explain the wonderful functions of his spiritual powers in detail, I would not be able to finish. Since language and time are both limited, I will just give this simple explanation.
A verse in praise says:
With utmost filiality, he served his mother.
With true sincerity, he took refuge with the Buddha.
He overcame a venemous dragon
And tried to save the Shakyan people.
Profound were his spiritual transformations,
Exceptionally profound, his prajna wisdom.
The Ullambana Dharma assembly began
Upon his request for the World Honored One’s help.
Commentary:
With utmost filiality, he served his mother. He was extremely filial to his mother, to the point that there could be no one more filial than him. That’s why, as soon as he attained spiritual powers, he wanted to rescue his mother.
With true sincerity, he took refuge with the Buddha. After he took refuge with the Buddha, he very sincerely and wholeheartedly, without any doubt or hesitation, took up the study of the Buddhadharma with single-minded concentration.
He overcame a venemous dragon / And tried to save the Shakyan people. He tried to save the Shakyan clanspeople when King Crystal was seeking to annihilate them. King Crystal and the Shakyan clan had been engaged in a blood feud, and debts of blood had to be repaid with blood. In a past life, King Crystal had been a king of fish in a pond, and his subjects were fish, turtles, shrimp, crabs. He and his retinue of fish lived in the river. The people in the village next to the river loved to eat fish, so they ate all the fish in the river, and finally they even caught the fish king. This happened a long, long time ago, and at that time Shakyamuni Buddha was also there playing. When he saw that huge fish, he took a stick and hit the fish on the head three times. The Buddha hit this fish in the formative stages of his cultivation, and this king of fish gave rise to hatred and vowed to seek revenge. Therefore, after Shakyamuni Buddha became a Buddha, he suffered a three-day headache because he had hit the fish three times. The Buddha also had to undergo the retributions of being injured by a spear and being fed horsefeed. Due to these past circumstances, King Crystal, the former fish king, led his followers to annihilate the clan of people that had eaten him in the past.
At that time, Maudgalyayana begged the Buddha to save the Shakyan clan. I believe Shakyamuni Buddha could not go against the workings of cause and effect to save the Shakyans. Maudgalyayana placed 500 Shakyans in his almsbowl and sent them to the heavens to escape harm. After the calamity was over, he brought them back. Although his idea seemed good, he didn’t understand the law of cause and effect. If Shakyamuni Buddha had explained to him at the time and said, “This is cause and effect. I cannot save them,” I believe that Maudgalyayana would not have tried to save them, either. Why not? Because if he did try, first, he would not be listening to the Buddha’s Dharma, and second, he would not believe cause and effect. Therefore, I think that at the time the Buddha kept silent, and Maudgalyayana mistakenly thought that the Buddha was being unselfish in not saving his own clan and that it was up to his disciple to save them. That’s why Maudgalyayana bravely sent the Shakyans to the heavens. He never expected that in the heavens, they would still turn into a pool of blood and could not be saved. This shows that fixed karma cannot be changed. This is the power of living beings’ karma, and even Arhats cannot ignore cause and effect.
Profound were his spiritual transformations. The transformations of his spiritual powers were inconceivable; ordinary people could not entirely fathom them.
Exceptionally profound, his prajna wisdom was very lofty.
The Ullambana Dharma assembly began / Upon his request for the World Honored One’s help. Ullambana is Sanskrit and is translated as “rescuing those hanging upside-down.” That is, when people’s offenses are too great, they are as if hung upside-down. This is a very uncomfortable punishment. Since the Venerable One’s mother was suffering, he asked the World Honored One, Shakyamuni Buddha, for help, and the Buddha told him that an Ullambana Dharma assembly could rescue his mother from the karmic offenses that made her be as if hanging upside-down.
Another verse says:
The most filial monk, Maudgalyayana, sought to save his mother.
When all beings leave suffering, his vow will then be fulfilled.
The splendid assembly dispels the karma of hanging upside-down.
A Dharma banquet is offered to the venerable sages and worthy ones.
All sentient beings gain liberation, and hungry ghosts, many as
Ganges’ sands, exit the hells.
He was the Arhat with the foremost spiritual powers.
The miracles in Burma are remembered through the ages.
Commentary:
The most filial monk, Maudgalyayana, sought to save his mother. He was a very filial monastic.
When all beings leave suffering, his vow will then be fulfilled. His vow will only be realized when all beings have found happiness.
The splendid assembly dispels the karma of hanging upside-down. The splendid Ullambana Dharma assembly can liberate beings from the karmic offenses that cause them to be as if suspended upside-down.
A Dharma banquet, the Ullambana, is offered to the venerable sages and worthy ones of the ten directions.
By virtue of this Dharma assembly,
all sentient beings gain liberation, and hungry ghosts, many as Ganges’ sands, exit the hells and are reborn in the heavens.
He was the Arhat with the foremost spiritual powers. Although he is foremost in spiritual powers in the Lesser Vehicle, he cannot compare to Bodhisattvas. “Arhat” is Sanskrit and translates as “worthy of offerings,” “slayer of thieves,” and “unborn.” Since it has three meanings, it is kept in Sanskrit and not translated. “Worthy of offerings” means he is deserving of offerings from humans and gods. “Slayer of thieves” means he slays living beings’ thieves of ignorance and afflictions. He is “unborn” because he has already awakened to and attained patience with the nonarising of dharmas or phenomena, wherein he sees that phenomena neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled nor pure, neither increase nor decrease. Thus he is known as an Arhat.
The miracles in Burma are remembered through the ages. Venerable Maudgalyayana displayed his spiritual powers in Burma. In Burma there’s a place with two stones--an enormous stone that probably weighs several tons, on which sits a small stone shaped like peach or a gourd. What’s so special about that? How is this a manifestation of spiritual powers? Although the bottom stone is very heavy, two people standing on either side on the stone could use string to pull the stone from left to right, and from right to left, showing that the stone is suspended in mid-air. This is a manifestation of the Venerable Maudgalyayana’s spiritual powers. The fact that there are so many Buddhists in Burma has to do with Maudgalyayana. A golden pagoda was built in Burma because of this, and Buddhists travel thousands of miles to make a pilgrimage to this pagoda. When we speak of it, this sounds pretty inconceivable.
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