緇門警訓 10.8

10.8

All buddhas possess three bodies: first, the dharmakāya, which is realized by the perfect mind; second, the saṃbhogakāya, which is invoked by the myriad goods; third, the nirmāṇakāya, which appears in accordance with conditions. Now, as for Śākyamuni Buddha, he realized the dharmakāya long ago and perfected the saṃbhogakāya long ago; his appearance at present is merely a nirmāṇakāya. Formerly, in the presence of an ancient Śākya Buddha, he brought forth bodhicitta and vowed to share his name; therefore, upon attaining buddhahood now, he is likewise named Śākya. For three incalculable kalpas he practiced the bodhisattva path, serving immeasurable buddhas in each and every kalpa. Midway, he subsequently encountered Dīpaṃkara Tathāgata, spread his hair in the mud, and offered gold flowers, whereupon he received the prophecy [of buddhahood] and attained the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas. Yet, when all buddhas are about to attain buddhahood, they must pass through a hundred kalpas cultivating the karma for the marks and signs. Śākya brought forth his resolve after Maitreya, but by encountering Puṣya Tathāgata, gazing up at him on one foot for seven days and praising him with fresh verses, he surpassed nine kalpas and attained the Way before him. When he was about to attain it, he was born in the Tuṣita Heaven, named the Bodhisattva Samantaprabha. Having exhausted his lifespan in that heaven, he descended to Jambudvīpa, manifesting himself riding a white elephant to enter his mother's right flank. His mother, Māyā, dreamed of conceiving a white elephant. A brahmacāri divined: "If she dreams of the sun and moon, she will give birth to a king of a country; if she dreams of a white elephant, she will certainly give birth to a holy child." From then on, his mother was tranquil and secure, and her compassionate eloquence grew day by day. When the Bodhisattva was first born, the great earth shook; his body was purple-golden, with the thirty-two marks and eighty minor characteristics, and a halo of one fathom. Having been born, he walked seven steps in each of the four directions, and to subjugate the demons and Brahmās, uttered true words: "In the heavens above and beneath the heavens, I alone am the most honored." When he was carried into the temple of the gods, the statues of the gods all rose up. The ṛṣi Asita joined his palms and sighed: "The marks and signs are distinct; he will certainly be a Dharmarāja. I regret that I must die and will not be able to see the Buddha." He was the crown prince of King Śuddhodana, named Siddhārtha. His grandfather was named Siṃhahanu, his father Śuddhodana, and his mother Māyā. For generations they were wheel-turning kings, of the Gautama clan; furthermore, due to capability, they took the distinct clan name Śākya. His understanding was natural and spontaneous, and arts and skills were naturally complete in him. Although dwelling amid the five desires, he was untainted by the defilements of desire. Touring the four gates of the capital, he saw an old person, a sick person, a dead person, and a śramaṇa; returning to the palace, he gave rise to deep revulsion and renunciation. Suddenly in the middle of the night, heavenly spirits assisted and alerted him; he mounted his precious steed, leaped over the city wall, and renounced the householder life. After practicing austerities for six years, he realized they were not the Way, and thereupon relied on right contemplation to attain bodhi. At that time, a cowherdess boiled milk to make rice gruel; its boiling surged high, which astonished her, and she offered it to the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva ate it, and his physical strength was replenished. He entered the river to bathe; when he was about to climb the bank, a tree lowered its branch on its own to assist him up. From then on, the Bodhisattva received kuśa grass and sat beneath the Bodhi tree. The evil Māra, seeing this, gave rise to anger and distress, saying: "This man intends to empty my realm!" He then led eighteen hundred million of his subordinates, holding instruments of torture to frighten the Bodhisattva, urging him to rise quickly and enjoy the pleasures of the five desires. He also dispatched three daughters of Māra with enchanting intentions to entice the Bodhisattva. At that time, [the Bodhisattva] entered the superior samādhi of loving-kindness and gave rise to pity; the demon army naturally fell away and retreated, and the three enchanting daughters of Māra turned into goiterous hags. Having subjugated the demon army, on the eighth day of the second month when the morning star appeared, he attained complete enlightenment. Having attained buddhahood, he observed the faculties of sentient beings and knew they delighted in the small and were not yet capable of the great Dharma; he then went to the country of Vārāṇasī, delivered the five men including Kauṇḍinya, and turned the wheel of the Dharma of the Four Truths. This was the beginning of the appearance of the Triratna. The number of people delivered by preaching the Dharma thereafter, the great assemblies of bodhisattvas, the profound discourses on signlessness, and the power of miraculous manifestations are all fully recorded in the sūtras. Furthermore, at one time he ascended to the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven and remained in the summer retreat for ninety days to preach the Dharma for his mother. At that time, King Udayana and King Prasenajit, longing for the Buddha's virtue, carved sandalwood and painted fine cloth to depict the Buddha's form. Later, when the Buddha descended from the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, the statues that had been made all arose and left their seats. The Buddha patted their heads and said: "In the future, you will well perform Buddha-work." The arising of Buddha statues began with this. When the conditions for conversion were about to end and the followers at that time grew weary and lax, the Buddha told the assembly: "After three months, I shall enter nirvāṇa." He further prophesied future events, as fully expounded in the sūtras. Yet the Tathāgata's true body is eternal and indestructible; thus the Lotus Sūtra says: "I abide constantly on Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain and in other dwelling places." The birth and extinction now seen are the Buddha's nirmāṇakāya: wishing to guide beings, he manifested as their peer, which is why he took birth; further wishing to make them realize that conditioned phenomena are impermanent, he manifested extinction. Furthermore, when the capacities of sentient beings are ripe, he manifests birth; when sentient beings' receptivity is exhausted, he manifests extinction. After the Buddha's nirvāṇa, humans and devas made offerings and erected precious stūpas. Furthermore, Mahākāśyapa summoned a thousand arhats to compile the Dharma treasury; Ānanda entered through the keyhole and recited the Buddha's sūtras without any omission, like water poured from one vase into another vessel. Over a hundred years later, there was the Iron-Wheel-Turning King named Aśoka, who commanded spirits and ghosts to build eighty-four thousand reliquary stūpas in a single day throughout heaven and earth. The Buddha's relics—robes, bowl, staff, and his śarīra—manifested countless miraculous transformations. Reaching down to the Han Emperor Ming, who was moved by a dream of a golden body that shone like the sun and bore a sixteen-foot form, exactly like the original appearance of Śākya; and again to Sun Quan, the ruler of Wu, who burned and struck the relics without damaging them; down to the stone statues floating up the river, auspicious forms drifting across the sea, the hidden power of Prajñā, and the secret efficacy of Avalokiteśvara—these are fully recorded in separate accounts and are too numerous to record here.