佛祖統紀 9.17

9.17

Dhyāna Master Xuanguang was a native of Silla in the Eastern Sea. Crossing the vast ocean from afar to seek the Dharma in China, he first visited Nanyue, who transmitted to him the gate of the peaceful and joyful practices of the Lotus [Sūtra]. He received and diligently practiced them, and shortly realized the Lotus Samādhi. Nanyue said to him: 'When you return to your native country, you should use skillful means to transform and deliver [sentient beings], like a potter wasp carrying off a caterpillar to make it its own.' (The *Odes* says: 'The caterpillar has young; the potter wasp carries them away. Teach and instruct your children, so they may be good like them.' Yangzi says: 'When the caterpillar's young once encounter the potter wasp, it invokes them, saying: "Be like me, be like me!" The caterpillar is the green insect on mulberry trees; the potter wasp is the slender-waisted wasp.') The master then bowed and took leave of Nanyue, returning with his staff to the region south of the Yangtze. Meeting an ocean vessel from his home country, he was able to take passage. Just as they reached the high seas, he suddenly beheld colorful clouds dazzling the eyes, elegant music filling the sky, and crimson tallies and rainbow banners calling out as they approached. A voice in the sky said: 'The Heavenly Emperor summons Dhyāna Master Xuanguang of Silla.' The master cupped his hands in modesty and declined. Thereupon he saw blue-robed youths reverently come forward. In a short while, he entered a great palace and saw feathered guards lined up, aquatic creatures densely intermingling with ghosts and spirits. They all looked up in reverence and said: 'The Heavenly Emperor has descended to our Dragon Palace to invite the Dharma Master to expound the Dharma-door you have realized; our group will benefit not a little!' Having ascended the hall, he was invited to mount a high dais. The Heavenly Emperor questioned him, and the master expounded the sūtra for him, concluding after seven days. The Emperor bid farewell to him in person. The vessel he had boarded before was bobbing along without having advanced. When the master boarded the ship again, the boatmen said that only half a day had elapsed. (Vasubandhu ascended to Tuṣita and circled Maitreya's seat once; when he reported back to Asaṅga, six months had already passed. This shows that the time in heavenly realms is always long. Now, Master Guang's preaching of the Dharma in the Dragon Palace for seven days took only half a day when he returned to the ocean vessel. This is proof that day and night in the Dragon Palace are always short. Or, if one wishes to compare it to the 'Emergence from the Earth' chapter where sixty minor kalpas seemed like a mealtime: according to the *Commentary and Subcommentary*, sixty kalpas is not unreal; under the influence of the Buddha's spiritual power, they forgot that it was long. Thus we know that since the Dragon Palace here is neither a Buddha land nor under a Buddha's spiritual power, it should be regarded as the Dragon Palace itself feeling it was seven days while the boatmen felt it was half a day, each holding to subjective perceptions and taking them as real. Just as Jingxi said that the sixty kalpas like a mealtime was merely subjective perception, not actually short.) After the master returned to his country, he built a thatched hut at Mount Ong in Ungju and gathered an assembly to preach the Dharma. Over time, it became a precious monastery. The assembly who received the Way all attained awakening. One person ascended the hall and received a prophecy (The *Sentence-by-Sentence Commentary* says: 'Receiving a prediction is also called receiving a prophecy. *Shou* has the meaning of obtaining; *bie* means clear distinction.'); one person entered the fire-light samādhi; and two persons entered the water-light samādhi. In the memorial hall of Nanyue, twenty-eight persons were depicted in portraits, and the master was one of them.