太子瑞應本起經 1.38

1.38

"Having passed through deep mountains, he reached a secluded and quiet place, where he saw a patra tree, all around pristine and pure. He thought to himself: 'I have already abandoned my family. Being in these mountains and marshes, it is not fitting that I still dress my hair according to worldly ways. If thoughts of combs, hot water, and washing arise, I would lose the pure precepts, right concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the view of liberation; this is not the purity of the Way and defiles pure practice. I should become a śramaṇa according to the bodhisattva's method.' A god offered him a razor, his beard and hair fell away on their own, and the god received them and departed. The bodhisattva then gathered withered grass to spread upon the ground, sat upright upon this base, joined his palms, closed his eyes, and single-mindedly vowed: 'Even if my flesh and bones wither and rot here, if I do not become a Buddha, I will never arise!' The god offered him food, but he refused to accept any of it. The god caused wild hemp and grain to grow beside him; each day he ate one hemp seed and one grain of rice to sustain his vital energy. Sitting upright for six years, his body grew emaciated, skin and bone clinging to each other, yet his spirit was profoundly pure, tranquil, and clear, silently concentrated in single-mindedness. Internally he contemplated ānāpāna: first counting, second following, third stopping, fourth observing, fifth returning, and sixth purifying; roaming through the three and the four, issuing forth through the twelve gates, with no dispersed thoughts. His spiritual powers were subtle and wondrous; casting away desires and unwholesome states, he no longer had the five hindrances, and did not receive the five sensory desires. All evils subsided on their own, his discernment was sharp and distinct, and his contemplation attained the unconditioned, just as a valiant warrior triumphs over his enemies; his mind became pure, accomplishing the practice of the first dhyāna. His mind opened in understanding on its own, casting aside passionate and lustful thoughts, with no remaining evil to reform, no longer calculating or viewing, with conceptual thought already extinguished. Just as with a spring atop a mountain, the water issues forth from within and overflows without, while valley rains and floods have no way to enter; tranquil, guarding oneness, joyfully immovable, he accomplished the practice of the second dhyāna. He further cast away thoughts of joy, witnessing only non-desire; external likes and dislikes could not enter at all, nor did any arise within; his mind was upright and his body at ease. Just as the root of a lotus is in the water, its blossom closed and not yet opened, its roots, stems, branches, and leaves soaked in water; seeing truth through purity, he accomplished the practice of the third dhyāna. Casting aside thoughts of pain and pleasure, without notions of sorrow or joy, his mind leaned neither toward good nor toward evil, resting precisely in the middle; like a person who has bathed clean and is covered with fresh, fine white cloth, pure inside and out, without blemish within or without, breathing spontaneously subsided, serene and unchanging, he accomplished the practice of the fourth dhyāna. Just as a potter blends clay smoothly and softly without grit or pebbles, and can fashion whatever vessel he pleases, his vigorous cultivation opened up, leaving nothing impossible; having attained concentrated focus, he did not abandon great compassion, and with wisdom and skillful means thoroughly penetrated the essential subtleties, mastering the practices of the thirty-seven factors of awakening—namely the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of spiritual power, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of awakening, and the eightfold path—cycling through them without end, free from any blemish. His mind was set upon the three directions: first, directed toward emptiness, conceptual thoughts extinguished and undispersed, without grasping or discarding; second, directed toward signlessness, the mind concentrated and unarising, not contemplating likes or dislikes; third, directed toward wishlessness, taking no delight in the three realms, no longer giving rise to suffering. Thereupon he attained the three deliverances: first, detachment from lustful desire; second, detachment from ill will; third, detachment from delusion, no longer obstructed in any way.