佛祖歷代通載 7.26

7.26

(7) The Twenty-sixth Patriarch, Punyamitra, was the crown prince of King Devasiddhi (Desheng) of Southern India. Having received ordination and obtained the Dharma, he went to Eastern India. The king of that land was named Dṛḍha (Jiangu). He revered the non-Buddhist master, the long-nailed brahmacārin (Dīrghanakha). When the Patriarch was about to arrive, the king and the brahmacārin both saw a white vapor piercing above and below. The king asked, 'What auspicious omen is this?' The brahmacārin, knowing in advance that the Venerable One was entering the border and fearing that the king would turn toward goodness, replied, 'This is merely an omen of the coming of Māra. What auspiciousness is there?' He immediately gathered his disciples and conferred with them, saying, 'Punyamitra is about to enter the capital city. Who can defeat him?' The disciples said, 'We each possess incantations and arts capable of shaking heaven and earth and entering water and fire. What cause is there for worry?' When the Venerable One arrived, he first saw a dark vapor on the palace walls and said, 'It is merely a minor difficulty.' He went directly to the king's quarters. The king asked, 'For what purpose has the Master come?' The Patriarch said, 'I intend to deliver sentient beings.' The king asked, 'By what teaching will you deliver them?' The Patriarch replied, 'I deliver each according to their kind.' At that time, hearing these words, the brahmacārin could not contain his rage and used magical arts to conjure a great mountain above the Venerable One's head. The Venerable One pointed at it, and it suddenly appeared above the heads of that multitude. The brahmacārin and the others were terrified and threw themselves before the Venerable One. The Venerable One pitied their foolish confusion, pointed at it again, and the conjured mountain vanished accordingly. He then expounded the essentials of the Dharma for the king, causing him to tend toward the True Vehicle. He further said to the king, 'In this country there shall be a sage who will succeed me.' At that time there was the son of a brāhmaṇa, about twenty years of age, who had lost his parents in his youth. His name and surname were unknown. He sometimes called himself 'Yingluo' (Necklace), and so people called him the 'Necklace Youth' (Yingluo Tongzi). He wandered through the villages and lanes, begging for alms to pass the days, like one of the kind of Sadāparibhūta. When people asked, 'Why do you walk so fast?', he would answer, 'Why do you walk so slowly?' Or when they asked his surname, he would say, 'I have the same surname as you.' None knew the reason. Later, when the king and the Patriarch went out riding in the same carriage, they saw Yingluo bowing his head before them. The Venerable One asked, 'Do you recall past matters?' He replied, 'I remember dwelling together with the Master in a distant kalpa. The Master expounded the Mahāprajñā, and I turned the profound sūtras. Today's event indeed accords with those past causes.' The Venerable One again said to the king, 'This youth is none other than Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva. After this sage, two persons will again emerge: one will transform Southern India, and one has karmic affinity in Cīnasthāna (Zhendan). Within four or five years, he will return to this region.' Thereupon, on account of past causes, he named him Prajñātāra and entrusted to him the Eye and Treasury of the True Dharma. The verse said: / 'The treasury of the ground of mind of true nature / Has neither head nor tail. / Responding to conditions, it transforms beings; / By expedient means it is called wisdom.' / Having transmitted the Dharma, the Venerable One took leave of the king, saying, 'My conditions for transforming [beings] have ended; I must return to quiescent extinction. I pray that the king, regarding the Supreme Vehicle, will not forget to be an external protector.' He then returned to his seat, crossed his legs, and passed away. Emanating fire, he incinerated himself. The king collected the relics, built a stupa, and entombed them. This was in the wuzi year, the thirteenth year of the Taiyuan era of Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin.