佛祖歷代通載 8.21

8.21

（六　甲戌）　十一年。天竺三藏求那跋摩。初讓國出家。解四阿含。精貫三藏誦數百萬言。屬國諸王皆從之稟受歸戒。每謂諸王曰。道在精通。遇緣即應但依慈悲。勿故發害意足矣。遊闍婆國。其王欲出家事跋摩。群臣固請不可。乃令國中曰。若率土奉大和尚歸戒。勿殺害賑給貧乏。即從爾請。於是群臣士民稽首遵命。朝廷雅聞其名。沙門惠觀等白於文帝。請遣使致之。有詔交州刺史津遣。沙門道冲等航海邀之。冲至跋摩欣然附舶抵廣。詔聽乘驛詣闕。道由始興。愛其山類靈鷲。為留周朞。寺有寶月殿。跋摩於東壁戲作定光儒童布髮像。極妙。夜輒有光。甞在定累日不出寺僧遣沙彌候之。見白獅子仰躡柱而戲彌空皆青蓮花沙彌驚走大呼。寺僧爭至。豁無所有。至金陵引對。帝迓勞殊勤。因從容問曰。寡人每欲持齋。以身應物不獲所願。法師遠來。陋邦之幸。何以教寡人。對曰。道在心不在事。法由己不由人。且帝王所修與匹夫異。匹夫身賤名微。言今不威。倘不克己苦節。何以為用。帝王以四海為家。萬民為子。出一嘉言則士庶咸悅。布一善政則人臣以和。刑不夭命。役不勞力。則風雨時若寒暑應節。百穀滋繁桑柘欝茂。以此為持齋。不殺亦大矣。安在輒半日之飡全一禽之命。然後為弘濟耶。帝撫几歎曰。俗迷遠理。僧滯近教。如法師之言。可與論天人際矣。命居祇桓寺。講法華并十地品。帝率公卿日集座下。法席之盛前此未聞也。摩即於寺譯菩薩善戒經等十八卷。

(Year 6: Jiaxu) In the eleventh year, Tripiṭaka Master Guṇavarman of Tianzhu initially relinquished his kingdom to enter the monastic order. He understood the four Āgamas, thoroughly mastered the Tripiṭaka, and could recite millions of words. The kings of the subordinate states all received the refuges and precepts from him. He often told the kings, "The Way lies in thorough penetration; when meeting conditions, one simply responds. Merely rely on loving-kindness and compassion, and do not deliberately give rise to murderous intentions—that is enough."
He traveled to the kingdom of Shepo (Java), whose king wished to leave home to serve Varman. The court ministers firmly pleaded against it, so the king proclaimed in the state: "If the entire land upholds the Great Upādhyāya's refuges and precepts, refrains from killing, and gives relief to the poor and destitute, I shall grant your request." Thereupon the ministers, gentry, and commoners bowed their heads and complied with the order.
The imperial court had long heard of his renown. Monk Huiguan and others informed Emperor Wen, requesting that an envoy be dispatched to invite him. An edict instructed the Regional Inspector of Jiaozhou to send him, and monk Daochong and others sailed the sea to invite him. When Chong arrived, Varman gladly boarded the ship and reached Guangzhou. An edict permitted him to use the postal relay to come to the capital. His route passed through Shixing; loving that its mountains resembled Vulture Peak, he stayed there for a full year. The monastery had a Precious Moon Hall; on the eastern wall Varman playfully painted an image of the young Brahmin Sumati spreading his hair before Dīpaṅkara, which was extraordinarily exquisite and emitted light at night. He once remained in samādhi for several days without emerging. A monastery monk sent a novice to look in on him, who saw a white lion stepping upward against a pillar at play, while blue lotus flowers filled the sky. The novice was terrified, ran, and shouted loudly. The monks of the monastery rushed there, but suddenly nothing was there.
When he arrived in Jiankang, he was granted an audience. The Emperor welcomed and comforted him with great diligence, and leisurely asked him: "I constantly wish to keep the vegetarian fast, but fulfilling my secular duties I cannot attain my wish. The Dharma Master has come from afar to the good fortune of my humble state; how will you instruct me?" He replied: "The Way lies in the mind, not in outer acts; the Dharma comes from oneself, not from others. Moreover, what emperors and kings cultivate differs from that of commoners. A commoner's person is humble and their name is slight; their speech carries no authority. If they do not conquer themselves with austere discipline, what can they achieve? An emperor takes the four seas as his home and the myriad people as his children. Uttering a single fine word, the gentry and common people all rejoice; implementing a single good policy, the officials live in harmony. If punishments do not cut short lives and corvée labor does not exhaust physical strength, then the wind and rain will be timely and cold and heat will correspond to the seasons, the hundred grains will flourish, and the mulberry trees will grow lush. Regarding this as keeping the fast, the non-killing is also great indeed! How could it depend on merely skipping half a day's meal or sparing the life of a single fowl before it is considered broad salvation?"
The Emperor patted his armrest and sighed, saying: "Worldly people are blind to distant principles, while monks are mired in immediate teachings. Words such as the Dharma Master's can truly discuss the boundary between Heaven and man!" He ordered him to reside in the Jetavana Monastery, and lecture on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka and the "Ten Grounds" chapter. The Emperor led the dukes and ministers to assemble daily below his seat; such splendor of a Dharma assembly had never been heard of before. In that monastery, Varman translated eighteen fascicles of scriptures including the *Bodhisattva-kuśala-śīla-sūtra*.