佛祖歷代通載 4.20

4.20

(Ren-chen) The Thirteenth Patriarch was Kapimala, a native of Pāṭaliputra. Originally an outsider with three thousand disciples, he was versed in various heterodox treatises. Later he obtained the Dharma under the Venerable Aśvaghoṣa, and led his disciples to Western India. There was a crown prince there named Yunzizai (Meghasvara) who, admiring the Venerable's name, invited him to receive offerings in the palace. The Patriarch said, "The Tathāgata has instructed that śramaṇas must not associate with kings, ministers, and powerful families." The crown prince said, "Now to the north of our royal city there is a great mountain, in which there is a stone cave. Could the master engage in meditation in solitude here?" The Patriarch agreed. He then entered that mountain; after walking several li, he encountered a great python. The Patriarch proceeded straight without glancing back, and it then coiled around the Patriarch's body. The Patriarch then conferred upon it the Three Refuges. Having heard them, the python departed. When the Patriarch was about to reach the stone cave, an old man in plain clothes came out, joined his palms, and inquired after him. The Patriarch said, "Where do you dwell?" He replied, "Formerly I was a bhikṣu who greatly delighted in tranquility. Beginning bhikṣus frequently came to request instruction, but I grew weary of answering them and gave rise to anger; when my life ended, I fell into a python's body, dwelling in this cave, where a thousand years have now passed. Having just met the Venerable and obtained hearing of the preceptual Dharma, I have come to express my gratitude." The Patriarch asked, "Who else resides in this mountain?" He said, "Ten li to the north there is the shade of a great tree covering five hundred great dragons. The king of that tree is named Nāgārjuna, who constantly preaches the Dharma to the dragon assembly; I also listen and receive it." The Venerable then went with his disciples to that Nāgārjuna, who came out to welcome the Venerable, saying, "Deep mountains are solitary and tranquil, the dwelling place of dragons and pythons. Why has the most venerable one of great virtue bent his divine steps?" The Patriarch said, "I am not the most venerable one; I have come to visit a worthy one." Nāgārjuna secretly reflected, "Has this master obtained the definitive nature and clarified the eye of the Way? Is he a great sage continuing the true vehicle?" The Patriarch said, "Although you spoke in your mind, I knew it through my intent. Just attend to your monastic renunciation; why worry whether I am a sage or not?" Having heard this, Nāgārjuna repented and apologized. The Venerable immediately delivered him, and along with the five hundred dragon members he received the full precepts. He then told Nāgārjuna, "Now I entrust to you the Tathāgata's treasury of the eye of the correct Dharma. Listen attentively to the verse: / The Dharma neither hidden nor manifest / Is declared to be the true reality. / Awakening to this hidden and manifest Dharma, / One is neither foolish nor knowing." Having entrusted the Dharma, he manifested spiritual transformations and transformed into fire to incinerate his body. Nāgārjuna gathered five-colored relics and built a stūpa to bury them. This was the forty-sixth year of King Nan, the year Ren-chen.