勅修百丈清規 2.11

2.11

The Buddha was born in Central India, of the kṣatriya clan and the Gautama family. 'Gautama' in Sanskrit means 'sugarcane' in Chinese. His original ancestor, the Royal Ṛṣi, was shot to death by a hunter; his blood entered the earth and produced two stalks of sugarcane. Baked by the sun, they opened: one gave birth to a male named the Sugarcane King, and one gave birth to a female. Consort Shanxian bore a son who became a wheel-turning king. Because of being baked by the sun, they were also named the Solar Dynasty (Sūryavaṃśa). It was handed down for seven hundred generations until King Śuddhodana. Having perfected his merits and practices over countless kalpas, the Buddha descended in spirit from the Tuṣita Heaven into the womb of Queen Māyā in the royal palace. He was born on the eighth day of the fourth month in the jiayin year, the twenty-sixth year of King Zhao of the Zhou dynasty, and was named Sarvārthasiddha. Seven days later his mother passed away; he relied on his maternal aunt Mahāprajāpatī for nursing and upbringing. At the age of twenty-five, he leaped over the city wall and went into the forest of the ṛṣi Bhārgava, took a sword to cut his hair, took off his body's precious garments, and exchanged them with a hunter for a kāṣāya to become a monk. He then crossed the Ganges northward to Mount Gaya and sat quietly in meditation. For six years he practiced austerities, eating one hemp seed and one grain of rice daily to sustain his vital essence. He then considered to himself: 'If I were to attain the Way with an emaciated body, those non-Buddhists would claim that starving oneself is the cause of nirvāṇa.' Thereupon he bathed in the Nairañjanā River and received the milk-rice from the cowherd girl. Śakra Devānām-Indra spread out auspicious grass (kuśa grass) for a seat, and he sat cross-legged upon it. The Demon King led an army intending to persecute him, but through a hundred stratagems could not perturb him in the least; he then bowed, repented of his offense, and departed. On the eighth day of the second month, when the morning star appeared, he had an open, great awakening, attaining the unsurpassed Way and accomplishing supreme, perfect enlightenment. (Worldly tradition hands down that it was on the eighth day of the twelfth month; some say that the Zhou calendar established the start of the year in the zi month, or there may be other evidence.) He was then thirty years of age. In the wilderness of the bodhimaṇḍa in the kingdom of Magadha, he expounded the Avataṃsaka; those of lesser faculties could not enter it, being as if deaf and mute. For thrice seven days he gazed at the tree and contemplated: 'Better to enter nirvāṇa.' Brahmā and Śakra earnestly besought him thrice, whereupon he went to the Deer Park and turned the great wheel of Dharma with the teaching of the three vehicles. First for the five men including Ājñātakauṇḍinya, he expounded teachings such as the four truths, the twelve links of dependent origination, and the six perfections. Twelve years passed, by which time the Buddha was forty-two years old. Coming to the Vaipulya assemblies, he weeded out and disciplined the disciples, whose minds gradually expanded; thereupon he criticized the partial and struck at the small, praised the great and commended the perfect, preaching Mahāyāna sūtras such as the Vimalakīrti, Laṅkāvatāra, Śūraṅgama, and Prajñāpāramitā. Another thirty years passed, by which time the Buddha was seventy-two years old, and he preached the Lotus Sūtra; because all disciples could undertake great responsibility, he bestowed on them prophecies of making buddhahood, thereby completely fulfilling his original intent. Another eight years passed, being the renshen year, the fifty-third year of King Mu; the Buddha was then seventy-nine years old. The Buddha first went to the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven to preach the Dharma for his mother. King Udayana, yearning for him, cast gold into an image; hearing that the Buddha was descending, the gold image came to welcome the Buddha. His maternal aunt Mahāprajāpatī, together with five hundred bhikṣuṇīs, and Śāriputra, Maudgalyāyana, and seventy thousand arhats, could not bear to witness the Buddha's nirvāṇa, and simultaneously entered extinction. Bodhisattvas, the fourfold assembly, heavenly and human beings, the eight classes of beings, birds, beasts, and all kings gathered together. He received only the final offering of Cunda, and expounded impermanence, suffering, and emptiness for the monks. He further said: 'The unsurpassed true Dharma has all been entrusted to Mahākāśyapa; he shall serve as your great refuge, just like the Tathāgata.' Furthermore, because Ānanda was outside the Śāla Grove being disturbed by demons, he commanded Mañjuśrī, saying: 'Ānanda is my younger brother. He has served me for over twenty years and has heard the Dharma completely, like water poured into a vessel. I wish to command him to receive and hold this Nirvāṇa Sūtra.' Mañjuśrī received the order and summoned Ānanda to return. The Buddha said: 'There is a brāhmaṇa named Subhadra, one hundred and twenty years old, who has not yet abandoned arrogance. You may tell him: "The Tathāgata will enter parinirvāṇa in the middle of the night." He arrived together with him, heard the Buddha preach the Dharma, and attained arhathood. [The Buddha] then addressed the great assembly: 'From my attainment of the Way when I liberated Kauṇḍinya, to the very end when I liberated Subhadra, my work is complete.' In the middle of the night on the fifteenth day of the second month, he again delivered admonitions: 'You monks, after my extinction, should revere the Prātimokṣa; it is your great master, no different from when I abode in the world.' Lying on his right side upon a bed of seven treasures, he serenely and silently entered parinirvāṇa. Aniruddha ascended to the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven to inform Queen Māyā. She descended from heaven, and the World-Honoured One rose to preach the Dharma to soothe and comfort her. He again addressed Ānanda: 'You should know that for the sake of unfilial sentient beings of later ages, I come out of the golden coffin to greet my mother.' At that time, Kāśyapa and five hundred disciples rushed from Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, weeping and sobbing as they bowed. [The Buddha] again manifested his two feet with the signs of thousand-spoked wheels. Heavenly and human beings each held fragrant firewood and went to the cremation site; transformed flames burned spontaneously for seven days before subsiding. The assembly collected relics that filled eight golden urns. King Ajātaśatru, together with the kings of eight kingdoms, Śakra, the devas, and the dragon kings, contested over the relics. The minister Upālin admonished and stopped them: 'It is proper to divide them together.' They were immediately divided into three portions: one for the devas, one for the dragon kings, and one portion for the eight kings. King Ajātaśatru received eighty-four thousand portions; placing them in purple gold caskets, he built stūpas to enshrine them along the five Ganges rivers.