佛祖歷代通載 5.75

5.75

(14) The Twenty-Third Patriarch, Haklenayaśas (Lena is Sanskrit; Hak [crane] is the Chinese word, so named because when the Venerable One appeared in the world, flocks of cranes were constantly moved to affection and longing for him), was a native of the Yuezhi kingdom. His family name was Brahmin. His father was Qiansheng and his mother was Jinguang. Because they had no son, they prayed to the Golden Banner of the Seven Buddhas, and she immediately dreamed of a divine youth atop Mount Sumeru holding a golden ring, who said, 'I have come.' When she awoke, she was pregnant. At the age of seven, while traveling among villages, he saw the licentious sacrifices of the common people. He entered the shrine and rebuked them, saying, 'You falsely provoke misfortune and fortune, deluding and bewitching people; you waste sacrificial cattle every year, and the harm is severe.' When he finished speaking, the shrine suddenly collapsed. Because of this, his village called him the Holy Child. At the age of twenty-two, he left the household (pravrajyā). At thirty, he met the Venerable Manorhita, who transmitted the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye to him. In his travels converting people, he reached Central India. The king of that country was named Fearless Ocean (Abhayamati), and he reverently believed in the Buddha's path. While the Venerable One was expounding the correct Dharma for him, the king suddenly saw two persons in crimson and white garments bowing to the Venerable One. The king asked, 'Who are these people?' The Master said, 'These are the Devas of the Sun and Moon. I preached the Dharma to them in the past, so they have come to pay homage.' After a short while, they disappeared, and only a rare fragrance was smelled. The king said, 'How many sun and moon realms are there in total?' The Venerable One said, 'In the worlds converted by a thousand Śākyamuni Buddhas, each has its Sumeru and sun and moon; if I were to explain it extensively, I could never finish.' Hearing this, the king was delighted. At that time, the Venerable One expounded the supreme Dao to deliver those with whom he had affinity. Because his senior disciple Longzi died young, he had an elder brother, Siṃha, who was widely learned, had a strong memory, and served as a Brahmin. When his teacher died and his younger brother also passed away, he took refuge in the Venerable One and asked, 'I wish to seek the Dao; how should I apply my mind?' The Venerable One said, 'If you wish to seek the Dao, there is nowhere to apply your mind.' He asked, 'If there is no application of mind, who performs the Buddha's work?' The Venerable One said, 'If you have an application, then it is not merit. If you have no doing, that itself is the Buddha's work. The scripture says: "The merit that I perform is devoid of possessiveness."' Having heard these words, Siṃha immediately entered the Buddha's wisdom. Then the Venerable One suddenly pointed to the northeast and asked, 'What kind of omen is that?' Siṃha said, 'I see an aura like a white rainbow piercing heaven and earth, and there are also five lines of black vapor running horizontally through it.' The Venerable One said, 'What does it presage?' He replied, 'It cannot be known.' The Venerable One said, 'Fifty years after my nirvāṇa, a disaster shall arise in this country of Tianzhu that will fall upon your person. I am about to pass into extinction; I now entrust the Dharma Eye to you; maintain and protect it well.' Then he spoke a verse: 'When you recognize the mind-nature, / It can be called inconceivable. / Clearly, there is nothing to be attained; / When attained, one does not speak of knowing.' The bhikṣu Siṃha was delighted upon hearing the verse, yet he did not understand what calamity he would suffer. The Venerable One then secretly revealed it to him. Having spoken, he manifested eighteen transformations and entered quiescence. When the cremation (jhāpita) was complete, the relics were divided, and each person wished to erect a stupa. The Venerable One reappeared in the air and spoke a verse: 'One Dharma is all dharmas; / All are subsumed by the one Dharma. / My body is neither existent nor non-existent; / Why divide it into all these stupas?' Hearing the verse, the great assembly did not divide them further, and built a stupa at the site of the dhātu (relics). This was the twentieth year, the jichou year [209 CE], of Emperor Xian of the Later Han.