釋氏稽古略 1.439

1.439

十五祖迦那提婆大士　南天竺國人也。姓毘舍羅。謁龍樹龍樹先以滿鉢盛水置座前。提婆以一針投之。欣然契會。既得法至迦毘羅國。彼有長者曰梵摩淨德。園樹生耳如菌。取而食之。隨取隨長。祖至其家。長者問菌所自。祖曰。汝家曾供養一比丘道眼不明。虛霑信施。報為木菌。乃說偈曰。入道不通理。復身還信施。汝年八十一。其樹不生耳長者年八十一。樹果不生菌。長者捨第二子羅睺羅多隨祖出家。祖度之。至巴連弗城。有諸外道掩抑佛法。祖往化之。有不從者。發百千難問。祖恣其無礙之辯。一皆折之。由是廣造論議。若有百論之類是也。勝事既集。以法付羅睺羅多。偈曰。本對傳法人。為說解脫理。於法實無證。無終亦無始。已而入奮迅三昧。體放八光而趣寂滅。眾興塔葬焉。當此漢文帝之世也（正宗記）。

The Fifteenth Patriarch, the Great Being Kāṇadeva: a man of Southern India, surnamed Vaiśāla. He went to call on Nāgārjuna. Nāgārjuna first placed a bowl full of water before his seat; Deva dropped a needle into it, and they joyfully attained mutual accord. Having received the Dharma, he went to the country of Kapilavastu. There was an elder there named Brahmaśuddha, on whose garden trees grew ear-shaped fungus like mushrooms; when taken and eaten, it grew again as soon as it was taken. The Patriarch came to his house, and the elder asked where the fungus came from. The Patriarch said, 'Your family once made offerings to a monk whose eye of the Way was not bright; having vainly partaken of the gifts of faith, he has received retribution as a tree fungus.' He then spoke a gāthā, saying:
'Entering the Way without comprehending the principle,
One returns in another body to repay the gifts of faith.
When you are eighty-one years of age,
That tree will no longer grow ears.'
When the elder reached the age of eighty-one, the tree indeed no longer grew fungus. The elder renounced his second son, Rāhulata, to follow the Patriarch and leave home; the Patriarch ordained him. Arriving at the city of Pāṭaliputra, there were various non-Buddhists suppressing the Buddha Dharma. The Patriarch went to convert them; those who would not submit raised hundreds of thousands of difficult questions. The Patriarch gave free rein to his unhindered eloquence and refuted them one by one. Because of this, he composed numerous treatises, such as the Śataśāstra and the like. His glorious deeds having been accomplished, he transmitted the Dharma to Rāhulata with the gāthā:
'Originally, face to face with the one who transmits the Dharma,
I explain the principle of liberation.
In phenomena there is truly nothing to be realized;
There is no end and no beginning.'
Soon after, he entered the Lion's Sprint Samādhi (siṃhavikrīḍita), his body emitting eight rays of light, and entered peaceful extinction. The assembly erected a stupa and buried him. This corresponded to the era of Emperor Wen of the Han (Zhengzong ji).