釋氏稽古略 1.320

1.320

The Fourth Patriarch, the Venerable Upagupta: A native of the state of Cāritra. His surname was Śūdra; his father was Shanyi. He left home at age seventeen and attained the fruit at twenty. Following the lands to carry out teaching, the demon palaces trembled. The Demon Māra Pāpīyāṃs waited until the Venerable One entered samādhi, and secretly draped a garland around the Patriarch's neck. Emerging from samādhi, the Patriarch knew what the demon had done, so he transformed three corpses—a human, a dog, and a snake—into a floral garland and gave it in return to Pāpīyāṃs. The corpses were maggot-ridden, foul, and putrid. Pāpīyāṃs was revolted, but exhausting all his spiritual powers, he could not remove it. He rushed to the Brahmā King seeking to be rid of the foul corpses. The Brahmā King said, 'This was done by a disciple of the Ten Powers; I cannot undo it. You must take refuge in the Venerable One.' He spoke a verse for him: 'If because of the earth you fall, / Return to the earth to rise. / Seeking to rise apart from the earth / Is never reasonable.' Pāpīyāṃs then wept, laid bare his fault, and repented. The Venerable One said to him, 'You may chant with your own mouth, taking refuge in the Three Jewels.' The Demon King joined his palms and chanted three times: 'I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Saṅgha.' The garland was entirely removed. Pāpīyāṃs was overjoyed, bowed, and spoke a verse: 'I bow my head to the One of Samādhi, / The holy disciple of the Ten Powers. / I now wish to dedicate the merit; / Do not let me be inferior or weak.' He bowed and departed. Whenever the Venerable One liberated a disciple, he placed one tally into a stone chamber. That chamber was eighteen cubits long and twelve cubits wide, and it was filled to capacity. He transmitted the Dharma to Dhitika with a verse: 'Mind is naturally the original mind; / The original mind has no phenomena. / When there are phenomena, there is the original mind; / It is not the mind, nor is it the original phenomena.' Having transmitted the Dharma, he leaped into the empty sky, displayed the eighteen transformations, returned to his original seat, sat in the lotus posture, and passed away. Dhitika used the tallies in the chamber to cremate his master's body, gathered the relics, and built a stupa for worship. This corresponded to the era of King Ping of the Zhou (from the Zhengzong ji). Today, when an abbot's quarters is called a 'Tally Room', it is taken from this.