佛祖歷代通載 3.28

3.28

(Jiazi, Xinwei; 29) The Buddha preached such scriptures as the *Suvarṇaprabhāsa* and the *Saddharmapuṇḍarīka* at the Vulture Peak assembly. In this year, the Bhagavān held up a flower to show the assembly; millions of humans and devas were entirely bewildered, and only the Golden Ascetic broke into a subtle smile. The Bhagavān said: 'I have the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, the marvelous mind of nirvāṇa, the formless true form, the subtle and marvelous Dharma gate. I entrust it to you; you must protect and uphold it, and I order Ānanda to assist you in transmitting and transforming [sentient beings]. Listen to my verse: / The Dharma that is the fundamental Dharma is no-dharma; / The no-dharma Dharma is also Dharma. / Now when the no-dharma is entrusted, / How has the Dharma of dharmas ever been a Dharma?' Having spoken this verse, the Bhagavān further said to Kāśyapa: 'I transmit and entrust to you the golden-threaded saṃghāṭī robe, to be passed on in turn to the next in rank, the Benevolent One [Maitreya]; do not let it be broken off.' (Regarding holding up the flower, the Duke of Jingguo, Wang [Anshi], said to Chan Master Fo Hui, Quan Wanjuan, that he personally saw it fully recorded in the *Sūtra of the Brahmā King Inquiring of the Buddha*. However, because this scripture speaks much of the affairs of the state and rulers, it was kept in the secret imperial archives, and therefore the world rarely heard of it.)