佛祖統紀 2.44

2.44

五十年（戊寅）太子年二十五歲（妙樂云。若十九出家。則二十四成道。若三十成道。則二十五出家○據寶藏經。二十五出家。三十成道。荊溪之言。有合於此）往父王所作禮白言。恩愛集會必有別離。唯願聽我出家學道。王執其手流淚言曰。國未有嗣宜息此意。時相師白王。太子若不出家。過七日後當得轉輪王位。王聞益喜。於城四門各置千人以為防護。王語太子。我昔曾聞阿私陀仙說汝畢定不樂處世。若生一子不復相違。太子即以右手。指其妃腹。便覺有娠（按瑞應經云。指妃腹曰。却後六年汝當生男）二月七日思求出家。身放光明照諸天宮。諸天皆知太子出家時至。即來禮足白言。無量劫來所修行願今正成熟。太子答言。如汝等語。然父王勅內外官屬。嚴見防衛欲去無從。諸天即以神力令諸官屬悉皆淳臥使無知者。耶輸臥中即得三夢。一月墮。二牙齒落。三失右臂。覺已具述。太子語云。月猶在天。齒又不落。臂復尚存。當知此夢虛假非實。至於後夜諸天白言。內外眷屬皆悉睡臥。今正是時。太子即令車匿被犍陟來。車匿流淚而言曰。今非遊觀之時。云何中夜而忽索馬。即舉聲號泣欲令王宮眷屬覺知。以天神力昏臥如故。車匿牽馬既至。諸天捧馬四足。并接車匿。帝釋執蓋從北門出。其門無聲自然而開。行至天曉已三踰闍那（三由旬也）諸天事畢忽然不見。行至跋伽仙人苦行林中。即便下馬語車匿言。我既捨國至間靜處。汝與犍陟俱可還宮車匿悲泣不能自勝。犍陟舐太子足。淚落如雨。太子即就車匿。取七寶劍自剃鬚髮。而發願言。願共一切斷除煩惱及以習障。帝釋接髮而去。讚言善哉。時淨居天化作獵師身被袈裟。太子見已而語之曰。汝所著衣是寂靜服。云何著此而為罪行。我今持此七寶之衣。與汝貿易。答言善哉。即脫寶衣而與獵者。自被袈裟（大論云。所貿得衣。粗布僧伽梨也）時淨居天還復梵身。上升虛空。於是車匿即牽犍陟。嗚噎悲哽緣路而還。跋伽仙人遙見太子。謂是天神。與眾請坐即問。問仙人。汝等苦行欲何所求。答言。為欲生天。太子又問。汝等修諸苦因以求苦報。終不離苦。言論往復。明旦辭去。車匿牽犍陟還入宮城。具白父王。王愛念情深。即遣王師大臣。尋至仙所仙云。已過中路。遙見樹下端坐思惟。大臣具告王意。太子答曰。豈不知恩。但以生老病死四患為苦耳。我今終無返步。大臣即留憍陳如等五人。密令伺察。時太子北度（按西域記應云南度）恒河。路經王舍城中。頻婆娑羅王（按瑞應經作瓶沙王）聞太子至。願捨國相奉。太子答王。今可於身命財修三堅法。不應以不堅之法勸獎餘人。遂即別去。時王告曰。若道成日願先見度。太子前行至阿羅邏仙人處。聞說從得初禪。乃至入非想非非想處名為解脫。太子知非究竟。即與仙別。次至迦蘭住處。論議問答。亦復如是。太子調伏二仙人已至伽闍山苦行林中憍陳如等五人住處。於泥連禪河側。靜坐思惟。宜應六年苦行以度眾生（因果經）天神進食一不肯受。天令左右自生麻米。日食一麻一米以續精氣。端坐六年。形體羸瘦。寂默一心。內思安般（將思安住般涅槃故。修此六妙門禪。故法界次第云。前三是定。後三是惠。愛惠察。能發真明。出離生死。妙門者。涅槃為妙。門謂能通。六法相通能至真妙泥洹。故云妙門）一數（攝心在息。從一至十。名之為數）二隨（細心依息。知入知出。故名為隨）三止（息心靜慮名之為止）四觀（分別所證名之為觀）五還（轉心反照名之為還）六淨（心無所依。妄波不起。名之為淨）遊止三四（止觀二門）出入二門。微妙神通。無分散意（瑞應經）太子日食一麻一米。或七日一食。陳如五人供奉太子。遣人白王。具說苦相。王與姨母及耶輸。各嚴五百車資生之物。令車匿領送皆悉不受（因果經○已上並小機所見出家相）。

Fiftieth year (wuyin): The crown prince was twenty-five years of age. (Miaole states: "If he left home at nineteen, he attained the Way at twenty-four; if he attained the Way at thirty, he left home at twenty-five." According to the Baozang jing, he left home at twenty-five and attained the Way at thirty; Jingxi's words agree with this.) He went to the place of the king, his father, made prostrations, and addressed him: "When loving attachments gather, there must surely come separation. I only wish that you permit me to leave home to train in the Way." Taking his hand with flowing tears, the king said: "The state does not yet have an heir; you should put an end to this intent." At that time a physiognomist addressed the king: "If the crown prince does not leave home, after seven days have passed he will attain the station of a wheel-turning king." Hearing this, the king was exceedingly pleased, and placed a thousand men at each of the four city gates to mount a guard. The king told the crown prince: "In the past I heard the sage Asita say that you were definitively destined not to delight in worldly life. If you give birth to a son, I will no longer oppose you." The crown prince then pointed with his right hand at his consort's belly, and she immediately felt herself to be pregnant. (According to the Ruiying jing, he pointed at the consort's belly and said: "Six years from now, you will give birth to a boy.") On the seventh day of the second month, contemplating the desire to leave home, his body radiated light illuminating the heavenly palaces. The devas all knew that the time for the crown prince to leave home had arrived; they forthwith came, bowed at his feet, and said: "The vows and practices you have cultivated for immeasurable kalpas are now just coming to maturity." The crown prince answered them: "It is as you say. However, my father the king has ordered his inner and outer officials to maintain a strict guard; having the wish to leave, there is no way forth." The devas then used their spiritual powers to cause all the officials to fall fast asleep, leaving none with awareness. While asleep, Yaśodharā had three dreams: first, the moon falling; second, her teeth falling out; third, losing her right arm. Upon waking, she recounted them in full. The crown prince said to her: "The moon is still in the sky, your teeth have not fallen out, and your arm remains intact. You should know that these dreams are false and unreal." When it reached the latter part of the night, the devas addressed him: "The inner and outer attendants are all asleep; now is precisely the time." The crown prince then ordered Chandaka to bridle Kaṇṭhaka and bring him. Chandaka said with flowing tears: "Now is not the time for sightseeing. Why do you suddenly demand the horse in the middle of the night?" He immediately wept aloud, intending to awaken the royal court and attendants, but by the power of the devas they remained deeply asleep as before. When Chandaka led the horse forward, the devas supported the horse's four hooves and carried Chandaka along as well. Śakra Devānām Indra held the parasol, and they went out through the north gate. The gate opened naturally without a sound. When they had traveled until daybreak, they had covered three yojanas. The devas, their task complete, suddenly vanished. Reaching the forest of austerities of the sage Bhārgava, he dismounted from the horse and addressed Chandaka: "Now that I have renounced the kingdom and reached a secluded, quiet place, you and Kaṇṭhaka may both return to the palace." Chandaka wept with grief, unable to contain himself. Kaṇṭhaka licked the crown prince's feet, his tears falling like rain. The crown prince then took the seven-jeweled sword from Chandaka and shaved his own hair and beard, making the vow: "May I, together with all beings, sever afflictions and residual habit-obstacles!" Śakra caught the hair and departed, praising him: "Excellent!" At that time, a Śuddhāvāsa deity transformed into a hunter wearing a kāṣāya. Seeing him, the crown prince addressed him: "The garment you wear is the clothing of tranquility. Why do you wear this while committing sinful deeds? I now offer these garments of the seven jewels to trade with you." He answered: "Excellent!" He then stripped off his jeweled garments and gave them to the hunter, putting on the kāṣāya himself. (The Da zhidu lun states: "The clothing acquired in trade was a coarse-cloth saṅghāṭī.") The Śuddhāvāsa deity then resumed his Brahmā form and ascended into the sky. Thereupon Chandaka led Kaṇṭhaka, sobbing and choking with grief, and returned along the road. The sage Bhārgava saw the crown prince from afar, took him to be a god, and together with his assembly invited him to sit and questioned him. [The prince] asked the sage: "What are you seeking through your tapas?" He answered: "To be born in heaven." The crown prince asked again: "You cultivate painful causes to seek a painful reward; in the end you will never escape suffering." After alternating discussions, he bade farewell the next morning and departed. Chandaka led Kaṇṭhaka back into the palace city and reported everything to the king his father. With deep affection and longing, the king immediately dispatched the royal preceptor and high ministers, who followed his trail to the sage's dwelling. The sage said: "He has already passed midway." Seeing him from afar sitting upright in contemplation under a tree, the ministers recounted the king's intentions in full. The crown prince answered: "How could I not recognize his kindness? But I consider only the four perils of birth, aging, illness, and death to be suffering. Now I will never turn my steps back." The ministers then left Koṇḍañña and the other four men behind, secretly ordering them to keep watch. At that time, the crown prince crossed the Ganges to the north (according to the Xiyu ji, it should be south) and passed along the road into Rājagṛha. King Bimbisāra (written as King Pingsha in the Ruiying jing) heard that the crown prince had arrived and offered to renounce his kingdom and give it to him. The crown prince answered the king: "One should now cultivate the three firm dharmas regarding body, life, and wealth; one should not encourage others with impermanent dharmas." He then took his leave. At that time the king said: "On the day you accomplish the Way, I pray that you deliver me first." The crown prince proceeded forward to the place of the sage Ārāḍa, and heard it taught that from attaining the first dhyāna up to entering the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is called liberation. The crown prince knew this was not ultimate, and bid farewell to the sage. Next he went to the dwelling of Udraka, and the debate and inquiries were likewise the same. Having subdued the two sages, the crown prince arrived at the forest of austerities on Mount Gayā, the dwelling place of Koṇḍañña and the other four men. By the banks of the Nairañjanā River, he sat quietly in contemplation: "I should undertake six years of tapas to deliver sentient beings." (Yinguo jing) When deities offered food, he refused to accept any of it. The gods caused hemp and rice to grow naturally around him, and he ate one grain of hemp and one grain of rice each day to sustain his vital energy. Sitting upright for six years, his body became emaciated, silent and one-pointed in mind, inwardly contemplating ānāpāna. (Because he intended to abide peacefully in parinirvāṇa, he cultivated this dhyāna of the six wondrous gates. Thus the Fajie cidi says: "The first three are samādhi; the latter three are wisdom. With love and wisdom observing, one can give rise to true illumination and transcend birth and death. As for 'wondrous gates,' nirvāṇa is wondrous, and 'gates' means they provide passage; the six dharmas mutually interconnect and lead to true, wondrous nirvāṇa, hence they are called wondrous gates.") 1. Counting (focusing the mind on the breath, counting from one to ten, called counting); 2. Following (the subtle mind follows the breath, knowing inhalation and exhalation, hence called following); 3. Stopping (resting the mind and quieting thoughts, called stopping); 4. Contemplation (discriminating what is realized, called contemplation); 5. Turning (turning the mind back to reflect inward, called turning); 6. Purification (the mind having nothing to rely upon, with no waves of delusion arising, called purification). He roamed and abided in the three and the four (the two gates of stopping and contemplation), entering and exiting the two gates, with subtle and wondrous spiritual powers, his intent never distracted. (Ruiying jing) The crown prince ate one grain of hemp and one grain of rice a day, or ate once every seven days. Koṇḍañña and the four men attended upon the crown prince, and sent someone to report to the king, describing in detail his marks of austerity. The king, along with his maternal aunt and Yaśodharā, each prepared five hundred carts of life-sustaining supplies and ordered Chandaka to deliver them, but none of them was accepted. (Yinguo jing; the above are all the marks of leaving home as seen by those of lesser capacity.)