釋氏稽古略 2.62

2.62

The Twenty-Sixth Patriarch, the Venerable Puṇyamitra: He was the second son of King Tiande of Southern India. Having been ordained and received the Dharma, he went to Eastern India. The king there was named Jiangu (Dṛḍha), who followed a non-Buddhist master, the Long-Nailed Brahmacārin. The king saw a white vapor piercing above and below. The king asked, "What auspicious sign is this?" The Brahmacārin said, "It is an omen of a demon coming." He then gathered his disciples and said, "Puṇyamitra is about to enter the capital city. Who can defeat him?" His disciples said, "We each possess incantations that can shake heaven and earth and enter water and fire; what need is there to worry?" When the Patriarch arrived, the king asked, "Why has the Master come?" The Patriarch said, "To deliver sentient beings." The king asked, "By what Dharma will you deliver them?" The Patriarch said, "I deliver them each according to their kind." At that time, the Brahmacārin used illusory arts to conjure a great mountain above the Patriarch. The Patriarch pointed at it, and it turned back to press down upon his disciples. The Brahmacārin, terrified, took refuge in the Patriarch. The Patriarch took pity on him and pointed at the conjured mountain again; the mountain vanished following his finger. The Patriarch expounded the essentials of the Dharma for the king, enabling him to turn toward the True Vehicle. At that time, there was a Brahman youth of about twenty years old whose name and clan were unknown; sometimes he called himself "Yingluo" (Necklace), so people called him the Youth Yingluo. The king and the Patriarch rode out in the same carriage and saw Yingluo. The Patriarch pointed and said to the king, "This youth is Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta. After this sage, one more person will appear: one will transform Southern India, and one has his affinity in Cīnasthāna. Due to past causes, he is named Prajñātāra. I now entrust to him the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye." He recited a verse: "The treasury of the ground of mind of true nature / Has neither beginning nor end. / Responding to conditions, it transforms beings; / Through skillful means, it is called wisdom." Having transmitted the Dharma, he bade farewell to the king, saying, "I return to quiescence. May the king not forget his external protection of the Supreme Vehicle." Thereupon he sat cross-legged and passed away, his body transforming into fire and cremating itself. The king collected his relics and built a stupa to enshrine them. This occurred during the era of Emperor Wu of the Eastern Jin (from the Record of the Orthodox Lineage).