釋氏稽古略 1.419

1.419

十四祖龍樹大士　西天竺國人也。亦名龍勝。得法後至南印度。彼國之人多信福業。祖為說法。彼相謂曰。人有福業世間第一。徒言佛性。誰能覩之。祖曰。汝欲見佛性。先須除我慢。彼曰。佛性大小。祖曰。非大非小。非廣非狹。無福無報。不死不生。彼聞理勝。悉回初心。彼眾中有長者子名迦那提婆。并彼眾等咸願出家。祖為剃落。命諸聖與授具戒。其國先有外道五千餘眾。作大幻術。眾皆宗仰。祖悉化之令歸三寶。祖因之造大智度論中論十二門論。垂之於世。不啻其千萬偈。悉皆方便。開釋正法。以應其機宜。於後乃命迦那提婆曰。如來以大法眼付囑迦葉。乃至於我。我今付汝。聽吾偈曰。為明隱顯法。方說解脫理。於法心不證。無瞋亦無喜。付法已入月輪三昧。廣現神變。復就本座。凝然禪寂。迦那提婆與諸四眾共建寶塔以葬焉。當此奏始皇帝之世也（正宗記）。

The Fourteenth Patriarch, the Mahāsattva Nāgārjuna, was a native of Western India. He was also named Nāgajaya (Longsheng, 'Dragon Victory'). After receiving the Dharma, he arrived in Southern India. The people of that country mostly believed in karmic merit. The Patriarch preached the Dharma to them, but they said to one another, 'Human karmic merit is foremost in the world. Speaking in vain of Buddha-nature—who can see it?' The Patriarch said, 'If you wish to see the Buddha-nature, you must first eliminate self-conceit.' They asked, 'What is the size of the Buddha-nature?' The Patriarch said, 'It is neither large nor small, neither broad nor narrow; it has neither merit nor retribution; it neither dies nor is born.' Hearing that his principle was superior, they all reformed their initial minds. Among that assembly was an elder's son named Kāṇadeva, who, together with that assembly, all wished to renounce household life. The Patriarch shaved their heads and commanded the holy assembly to confer upon them the full precepts. In that country there were previously over five thousand non-Buddhists who performed great magical arts, and the multitudes all revered them. The Patriarch transformed them all, leading them to take refuge in the Three Jewels. Because of this, the Patriarch composed the Dazhidulun (Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa), the Madhyamakaśāstra (Zhonglun), and the Dvādaśanikāyaśāstra (Shi'ermen lun), passing them down to the world in no less than tens of millions of verses, all employing skillful means to expound and explain the true Dharma to accord with appropriate capacities. Later, he instructed Kāṇadeva, saying, 'The Tathāgata entrusted the Great Dharma Eye to Kāśyapa, and so forth down to me; I now entrust it to you. Listen to my verse: "To clarify the Dharma of concealment and manifestation, / One only then speaks of the principle of liberation. / Toward phenomena the mind realizes nothing: / It has neither anger nor delight."' Having transmitted the Dharma, he entered the moon-disc samādhi, broadly displaying supernatural transformations, returned to his original seat, and remained motionless in dhyāna solitude. Kāṇadeva together with the four assemblies jointly erected a precious stūpa to inter him. This corresponded to the era of the First Emperor of Qin (Zhengzong ji).