佛祖歷代通載 14.54

14.54

（三十八）　是歲九月太尉中書令韋臯薨。臯初生。厥父飯僧祈福。忽有應真尊者至。齋畢乳媼抱兒求呪願。尊者起謂眾曰。此兒諸葛武侯也。他日有美政於蜀。宜以武字之。言訖恍然不見。其後臯游官出處節義功名。大概與武侯相類。治蜀二十有一年。封南康群王。有德在民。四川至今奉祀之。雅好釋氏法。嘉州石像初成。臯為之記。略曰。頭圍千尺目廣二丈。其餘相好一一稱是。世美其簡而雅。又甞訓鸚鵡念佛。鸚鵡斃以桑門故事闍維之。得舍利。臯為之記曰。元精以五氣授萬類。雖鱗介毛羽必有感清英純粹者矣。或炳耀離火。或稟其蒼精。皆應乎人文以奉若時政。則有革彼禽類習乎能言。了空相於不念。留真骨於已斃。殆非元聖示現感於人心。同夫異緣用一真化。前歲有獻鸚鵡鳥者曰。此鳥聲容可觀。音中華夏。有河東裴氏者。志樂金仙之道。聞西方有珍禽。群嬉和鳴演暢法音。以此鳥名載梵經智殊常類。意佛身所化。常狎而敬之。始告以六齋之禁。比及辰後非時之食。終夕不視。固可以矯激流俗端嚴梵倫。或教持佛名號曰。當由有念以至無念。則仰首奮翅若承善聽。其後或俾之念佛。則默然而不答。或謂之不念。即唱言阿彌陀。歷試如一曾無爽異。余謂其以有念為緣生。無念為真際。緣生不答以為緣起也。真際雖言言本空也。每虛室戒曙發和雅音。穆如笙篁靜鼓天風。下上其音念念相續。聞之者莫不洗然而嘉善矣。嗚呼生有辰乎。緣其盡乎。以今年七月悴爾不懌。七日而甚。馴養者知將盡。乃鳴磬而告曰。將西歸乎。為爾擊磬。爾其存念。每一擊磬一稱彌陀佛。洎十擊磬而十念成。斂翼委足不震不仆。揜然而絕。按釋典。十念成往生西方。又云。得佛惠者歿有舍利。知其說者固不隔殊類哉。遂命以闍維之法焚之。餘燼之末果有舍利十餘粒。炯爾耀目瑩然在掌。識者驚視聞者駭聽。咸曰。苟可以誘迷利世。安往而非菩薩之化歟。時有高僧惠觀。甞詣三學山巡禮聖迹。聞說此鳥涕淚悲泣。請以舍利於靈山用陶甓建塔旌異之。余謂此禽存而有道歿而有徵。古之所以通聖賢階至化者。女媧蛇軀以嗣帝中。衍鳥身而建侯。紀乎冊書。其誰曰語怪。而況此鳥有弘於道流聖證昭昭。胡可默已。是用不愧。直書于辭。是歲八月。順宗遜于位。皇太子立。是為憲宗。初順宗甞在東宮。問佛光如滿禪師曰。佛從何方來。滅向何方去。既言常住世。今佛在何處。答曰。佛從無為來。滅向無為去。法身等虛空。常住無心處。有念歸無念。有住歸無住。來為眾生來。去為眾生去。清淨真如海。湛然體常住。智者善思惟。更勿生疑慮。帝又問曰。佛向王宮生。滅向雙林滅。住世四十九。又言無法說。山河及大海。天地及日月。時至皆歸盡。誰言不生滅。疑情猶若斯。智者善分別。滿復答曰。佛體本無為。迷情妄分別。法身等虛空。未曾有生滅。有緣佛出世。無緣佛入滅。處處化眾生。猶如水中月。非常亦非斷。非生亦非滅。生亦未曾生。滅亦未曾滅。了見無心處。自然無法說。帝聞大悅。又甞問心要於清涼國師。國師答之。其略曰。至道本乎其心。心法本乎無住。無住心體靈知不昧。性相寂然包含德用。該攝內外能深能廣。非有非空。不生不滅。無終無始。求之而不得。棄之而不離。迷現量則惑苦紛然。悟真性則空明廓徹。雖即心即佛。唯證者方知。然有證有知。則慧日沈沒於有地。若無照無悟。則昏雲掩蔽於空門。若一念不生。則前後際斷照體獨立。物我皆如直造心源。無智無得。不取不捨。無對無修。然迷悟相依真妄相待。若求真去妄。如棄影勞形。若體妄即真。似處陰影滅。若無心妄照。則萬慮都捐。若任運寂知。則眾行爰啟。放曠任其去住。靜鑑覺其源流。語默不失玄微。動靜未離法界。言止則雙亡知寂。論觀則雙照寂知。語證則不可示人。說理則非證不了。是以悟寂無寂真知無知。以知寂不二之一心。契空有雙亡之中道。

(38) In the ninth month of this year, the Grand Defender and Secretariat Director Wei Gao passed away. When Gao was first born, his father fed monks to pray for blessings, when suddenly an arhat (yingzhen) reverend arrived. When the vegetarian meal was over, the wet nurse held the child and sought incantations and wishes. The reverend stood up and said to the assembly: 'This child is Marquis Zhuge Wu. In the future he will have an excellent administration in Shu; it is fitting to style him with the character Wu.' After speaking, he suddenly vanished from sight. Thereafter, in Gao's official career, service and retirement, integrity and righteousness, achievements and fame, he was generally similar to Marquis Wu. He governed Shu for twenty-one years, was enfeoffed as the Commandery Prince of Nankang, and his virtue rested with the people. Sichuan still worships him to this day. He was deeply fond of the Buddhist Dharma. When the stone statue of Jiazhou was first completed, Gao composed a record for it, which said in brief: 'The head has a circumference of a thousand feet, and the eyes are two zhang wide; the remaining marks and signs correspond to this one by one.' The world praised its brevity and elegance. He also once trained a parrot to recite the Buddha's name. When the parrot died, he cremated it according to the traditional practice for śramaṇas and obtained relics (śarīra). Gao composed a record for it, saying: 'The primordial essence confers upon the myriad kinds [of beings] through the five pneumas; even those with scales, shells, fur, and feathers must include those who resonate with the clear, brilliant, pure, and unadulterated. Some shine brightly with the Fire of Li; some partake of its azure essence; all respond to the human patterns so as to serve the seasonal governance. Thus there are those who transform their avian kind and learn to speak, realizing the mark of emptiness through non-thought and leaving behind true bones after death. Can this not be the primordial sage manifesting to move the minds of men, joining different conditions to apply the one true transformation? In a previous year, someone presented a parrot, saying: "The voice and appearance of this bird are worthy of regard, and its sounds match the Central Splendor." There was a certain Pei of Hedong whose aspiration took delight in the Way of the Golden Immortal. Having heard that there are rare birds in the West who frolic together, harmonize their songs, and expound the Dharma sound, and because this bird's name is recorded in the Sanskrit scriptures and its wisdom is extraordinary compared to ordinary species, he thought it was a manifestation of the Buddha's body, and constantly grew close to and revered it. At first he informed it of the prohibition of the six fasts; when the hour of chen [7–9 a.m.] had passed, it would not look at food out of season through the entire night. It could indeed correct and stimulate popular customs and bring solemn dignity to the Brahma community. Someone also taught it to uphold the Buddha's name, saying: "One should proceed from having thought to reaching non-thought." Thereupon it would raise its head and flap its wings as though receiving and listening well. Later, if someone had it recite the Buddha's name, it remained silent and would not answer; if someone told it not to recite, it would immediately chant the name Amitābha. Tested repeatedly in this way, there was never any discrepancy. I consider that it took having thought as arising from conditions, and non-thought as the true reality. Not answering regarding arising from conditions was because it regarded it as conditioned arising; though it spoke of the true reality, speech is fundamentally empty. Whenever the empty room signaled the dawn, it emitted harmonious and elegant sounds, solemn like reed-pipes and quietly stirring the celestial breeze, raising and lowering its tones with continuous thought after thought. None who heard it failed to be cleansed and full of praise. Alas, does life have its appointed time? Have its conditions been exhausted? In the seventh month of this year, it became withered and unhappy; after seven days it grew worse. The caretaker knew its end was near, so he sounded the stone chime and addressed it: "Are you about to return to the West? I strike the chime for you; maintain your mindfulness." With each strike of the chime, it called once upon the Buddha Amitābha. When the chime had been struck ten times, the ten recitations were completed. Folding its wings and resting its feet, neither trembling nor tumbling over, it quietly expired. According to the Buddhist scriptures, when ten recitations are completed, one is reborn in the West; they also say that those who receive the Buddha's grace leave behind relics upon dying. Those who know these teachings certainly do not exclude different species! Thereupon, orders were given to burn it using the method of cremation (jhāpita); at the end of the remaining ashes, there were indeed more than ten relics, brightly dazzling the eyes and glistening in the palm. Those who understood looked on in astonishment, and those who heard were struck with wonder. All said: "If it can guide the confused and benefit the world, wherever one looks, how can it not be the transformation of a bodhisattva?" At that time, there was an eminent monk named Huiguan who once visited Mount Sanxue to pay homage to the sacred traces; hearing tell of this bird, he wept with tears and sorrow, and requested to use the relics to build a stupa with fired bricks at Ling Shan to make manifest this marvel. I say that this bird possessed the Way while alive and left evidence after death. In ancient times, as for those who connected with the sages and reached supreme transformation, Nüwa with her serpent body succeeded the sovereign, and Zhongyan with his bird body established a marquisate; these are recorded in the historical texts—who would call them tales of the strange? How much more so is this bird, which has greatly promoted the stream of the Way and whose holy proof is clearly evident—how could one remain silent? For this reason I feel no shame, and set it down plainly in words.' In the eighth month of this year, Shunzong abdicated the throne, and the Crown Prince was enthroned; this was Xianzong. Earlier, when Shunzong was in the Eastern Palace, he asked Chan Master Foguang Ruman: 'From what direction does the Buddha come, and toward what direction does he go when extinguished? Since he is said to dwell constantly in the world, where is the Buddha now?' He replied: 'The Buddha comes from the unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) / And goes toward the unconditioned when extinguished. / The Dharma-body is equal to empty space, / Constantly dwelling in the place of no-mind. / Having thought returns to non-thought; / Having dwelling returns to non-dwelling. / Coming, he comes for the sake of sentient beings; / Going, he goes for the sake of sentient beings. / In the pure ocean of True Suchness, / Serene and clear, his substance constantly dwells. / Let the wise contemplate this well, / And give rise to doubts and worries no more.' The Emperor asked again: 'The Buddha was born into the royal palace, / And extinguished in the Twin Trees grove. / He dwelt in the world for forty-nine [years], / Yet also said that no Dharma was preached. / The mountains, rivers, and great oceans, / Heaven and earth, sun and moon, / When the time arrives all come to an end; / Who says there is no birth and death? / My doubts are still like this; / May the wise one distinguish them well.' Ruma again replied: 'The Buddha's substance is fundamentally unconditioned; / Deluded sentiments make false distinctions. / The Dharma-body is equal to empty space, / Never having had birth or death. / When there are conditions, the Buddha appears in the world; / When conditions are absent, the Buddha enters extinction. / Everywhere transforming sentient beings, / He is like the moon in the water. / Neither eternal nor annihilated, / Neither arising nor perishing. / Arising, he has never arisen; / Perishing, he has never perished. / Clearly seeing the place of no-mind, / Naturally there is no Dharma to be spoken.' The Emperor was greatly pleased upon hearing this. He also once inquired about the essentials of mind from National Preceptor Qingliang. The National Preceptor replied to him, saying in brief: 'The supreme Way is rooted in one's mind; the phenomena of mind are rooted in non-dwelling. The non-dwelling substance of mind possesses numinous awareness that is unobscured; its nature and marks are tranquil, containing virtues and functions, comprehending both internal and external, capable of depth and vastness. It is neither existent nor empty, neither arising nor ceasing, without end and without beginning. Seeking it, one cannot obtain it; abandoning it, one cannot part from it. Deluded about direct perception (pratyakṣa), confusion and suffering proliferate; awakened to the true nature, emptiness and clarity open wide. Although the mind itself is the Buddha, only one who realizes it can know it. However, if there is realization and knowledge, the sun of wisdom sinks into the realm of existence; if there is no illumination and no awakening, dark clouds obscure the gate of emptiness. If not a single thought arises, the boundaries of past and future are severed, and the luminous substance stands alone. Objects and self are both as such, directly reaching the mind's source. There is neither wisdom nor attainment, neither grasping nor rejecting, neither opposition nor cultivation. Yet delusion and awakening depend on one another; the true and the false are mutually relative. If one seeks the true and discards the false, it is like fleeing one's shadow and exhausting one's body; if one realizes that the false is itself the true, it is like staying in the shade where the shadow vanishes. If without mind one falsely illuminates, myriad concerns are all discarded; if one lets nature take its course in tranquil awareness, all practices are thereupon initiated. Unfettered, allow it to go and stay; quietly reflecting, perceive its source and flow. Speech and silence do not lose the profound subtlety; movement and stillness never depart from the Dharma realm. Speaking of cessation (śamatha), both knowledge and tranquility are extinguished; discussing contemplation (vipaśyanā), both tranquility and knowledge are illuminated. Speaking of realization, it cannot be shown to others; explaining the principle, without realization it cannot be understood. Therefore, awakening to tranquility, there is no tranquility; true knowledge has no knowledge. With the one mind wherein knowledge and tranquility are not two, one accords with the Middle Way in which both emptiness and existence are extinguished.'