佛祖統紀 36.19

36.19

In the fourth year of the Yongjia era, the Western Indian monk Fotudeng arrived in Luoyang. At that time, Shi Le was garrisoning troops at Gebi, and many monks were harmed. He summoned Deng to test his arts. Deng chanted mantras over a bowl of water, causing blue lotus blossoms to grow forth, whence [Shi Le] revered him as divine. When Shi Le was about to battle Liu Yao, he consulted Deng. Deng said, 'The sound of the stupa bells says: Xiu-zhi ti-li-gang pu-gu tu-qu-dang. Xiu-zhi means army; ti-li-gang means to set out; pu-gu is Liu Yao’s Hu official title; tu-qu-dang means to capture. These are all Jie words, meaning that the army will set out and capture Liu Yao' (Liu Yao's dynastic title was Former Zhao; he illegitimately declared himself emperor in Chang'an. Xiu-zhi ti-li-gang and the like are words of the northern vernacular Hu tongue. Jie has the phonetic spelling ju-ye fan. The northern barbarians are all of the stock of dogs and sheep, hence called Jie; Jie means a ram. Fotudeng is a Sanskrit word meaning a sage of the four fruits). Moreover, Deng smeared sesame oil and rouge on his palm to show a young boy, who saw a man riding a horse with his ribs bound by red thread. Deng said, 'This is Liu Yao.' They then marched out to battle and indeed captured Yao alive. Shi Le thereupon assumed the royal throne, naming his state Zhao. When Le's beloved son Bin died suddenly, Le sighed and said, 'I have heard of Bian Que reviving the Crown Prince of Guo,' and ordered that Deng be informed. Deng took a willow branch, enchanted water with mantras, and sprinkled it over him, whereupon he revived. After Le passed away, his younger brother Jilong succeeded him and served Deng wholeheartedly. Whenever [Deng] rode in a carriage into the hall, [officials] would herald him as 'Great Preceptor'. When Jin troops invaded the Huai region, Jilong was enraged and said, 'I have served the Buddha, yet on the contrary this has brought about bandits. The Buddha has no divine power!' Deng said, 'In your previous life, Your Majesty was a merchant who passed through a monastic temple in Kaśmīra and held a vegetarian feast. There were six arhats present, and I was one of them. At that time, an enlightened sage prophesied: "When the karmic reward of this dānapati is exhausted, he shall rule as king in the land of Jin." Now that you are the Son of Heaven, is this not attained through serving the Buddha? Border incursions and disturbances are ordinary occurrences for a state; why give rise to resentment and slander?' Jilong then repented and apologized. When Deng was about to depart [this life], he entered to bid farewell, saying, 'The state has harbored its mind in the principles of the Buddha, yet its governance has been harsh and fierce, bringing it about that the state's mandate will not be prolonged.' He then sat peacefully and passed away. Later, a monk returning from Yongzhou saw Deng passing through the passes. Jilong opened his grave and inspected it, finding only a block of stone. Jilong was disgusted and said, 'Stone (Shi) is my surname. To bury me and leave—how could [my state] endure long?' Soon after, he indeed died (Bin has the phonetic spelling yu-lun fan. Bian has the phonetic spelling bu-dian fan; he was a famous physician and a man of Lu. Kaśmīra is the name of a western country. 'Yingzhen' means arhat, one who is worthy of attaining the true path; it is pronounced ying. Yong has the phonetic spelling yu-yong fan).