佛祖統紀 2.44

2.44

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.)