釋氏稽古略 1.486

1.486

十九祖鳩摩羅多大士　大月氏國婆羅門子。既得法眼。至中天竺國。有大士名闍夜多。問曰。我家父母素信三寶。而常縈疾瘵。凡所營作皆不如意。而我隣家久為旃陀羅行。而身常勇健所作和合。彼何幸而我何辜。祖曰。何足疑乎。且善惡之報有三時焉。凡人但見仁夭暴壽逆吉義凶。便謂無因果虛罪福。殊不知影響相通。毫釐靡忒。縱經百千萬劫亦不磨滅。佛說業通三世者。蓋以前世所作善業而報在此生。此生苟為不善。則應在來世。故人有此生雖為善而不得其福者。前惡之報勝也。今世雖作惡而不受其殃者。前善之勝也。苟以今生非得福報復務為惡。而來世益墮惡趣也。苟以此世得其福報。復務為善。而來世益得善趣也。又前世為善。其德方半。而改志為惡。及此生也。先福而後禍。此生為惡。其事方半。而變行為善。及來世也。先禍而後福。今汝父與汝之隣。其善惡之應不以類至蓋先業而致然也。豈可以一世求之耶。時闍夜多聞是語已。頓釋所疑祖曰。汝雖以信三業。而未明業從惑生。惑因識有。識依不覺。不覺依心。心本清淨。無生滅無造作。無報應無勝負。寂寂然靈靈然。汝若入此法門。可與諸佛同矣。一切善惡有為無為皆如夢幻。闍夜多承言領旨。即發宿慧懇求出家。既受具。祖曰。汝當紹行化迹。乃付法眼偈曰。性上本無生。為對求人說。於法既無得。何懷決不決。又云。此是妙音如來見性清淨之句。汝宜傳布後學。言訖即於座上以指爪𭄮面如紅蓮華。出大光明照耀四眾而入寂滅。闍夜多起塔供養。當此王莽新室之世也（正宗記）。

The Nineteenth Patriarch, Mahāsattva Kumāralata. He was the son of a brāhmaṇa in the kingdom of the Great Yuezhi. After attaining the Dharma-eye, he arrived in Central India. There was a mahāsattva named Jayata who asked him, saying, "My parents have always had faith in the Three Jewels, yet they are constantly entangled in sickness and decline, and whatever enterprises they undertake turn out contrary to their wishes. My neighbour, on the contrary, has long engaged in the actions of a caṇḍāla, yet his body is always robust and healthy, and whatever he undertakes is harmonious and successful. Why are they so fortunate, while I am so blameless yet afflicted?" The Patriarch said, "Why should there be any doubt? The retribution for good and evil spans three periods of time. Worldly people only see that the benevolent die young while the cruel enjoy long life, or the rebellious meet good fortune while the righteous suffer calamity, and so they claim that there is no cause and effect, that sin and blessing are baseless. Little do they know that retribution follows deed like an echo or shadow, without an error of a hair's breadth; even after hundreds of thousands of ten thousands of kalpas, it is never obliterated. When the Buddha spoke of karma spanning the three periods, it is because good karma created in a past life yields its retribution in this present life; if one does what is not good in this life, the response will appear in a future life. Therefore, when people in this life do good yet do not obtain its blessing, it is because the retribution for prior evil outweighs it; when in the present life they do evil yet do not suffer its calamity, it is because the good of prior lives outweighs it. If, because one does not receive a blessed reward in this life, one turns again to doing evil, in the future life one will sink all the more into the evil realms. If, because one receives a blessed reward in this life, one applies oneself further to doing good, in the future life one will gain all the more an auspicious realm. Furthermore, if in a past life one did good, but when the merit was only halfway accomplished one changed one's mind to do evil, then upon reaching this life, one will first experience blessing and later misfortune; if in this life one does evil, but when the deed is only halfway done one alters one's conduct to do good, then upon reaching the next life, one will first experience misfortune and later blessing. Now as for your father and your neighbour, the response to their good and evil does not arrive according to their present deeds because it is brought about by prior karma. How could you evaluate it on the basis of a single life?" When Jayata heard these words, his doubts were instantly dispelled. The Patriarch said, "Although you have faith in the three modes of karma, you have not yet realized that karma arises from delusion, delusion exists on account of consciousness, consciousness relies on non-enlightenment, and non-enlightenment relies on mind. The mind is fundamentally pure: it has neither arising nor ceasing, neither creation nor action, neither retribution nor outcome, neither superiority nor inferiority; it is tranquil and luminous. If you enter this Dharma gate, you can be equal with all the Buddhas. All good and evil, conditioned and unconditioned, are like dreams and illusions." Jayata received these words and grasped their import; his past wisdom immediately awakened, and he earnestly requested to leave the household. After he received the full precepts, the Patriarch said, "You must carry on the traces of conversion." He then transmitted the Dharma-eye to him with a verse: "In the nature itself there is originally no arising; / For the sake of those seeking, it is spoken of. / Since in phenomena nothing is ever attained, / Why harbor doubts over whether it is determined or undetermined?" He also said, "These are the words of the Tathāgata Wonderful Sound regarding seeing the nature as pure. You should propagate them to future learners." Having spoken, he sat upon his seat, scratched his face with his fingernails until it resembled a red lotus flower, emitted great brilliant light that illuminated the four assemblies, and entered cessation. Jayata erected a stūpa to make offerings to him. This was in the era of the House of Xin under Wang Mang. (Zhengzong ji).