釋迦氏譜 1.8

1.8

First, the account of the bhadrakalpa upon which it relies. Now, the opening of heaven and earth is the common talk of vulgar tradition; as for the Primordial Undivided (Taisu) and Primordial Change (Taiyi), and the covering and bearing of yin and yang, when examined throughout antiquity, nothing definite can be found. Entrusting it to the Hundred Schools is not without fabricated falsehood. Some say that heaven tilted to the northwest and earth sank in the southeast; that the five stones were smelted to mend above, and the turtle's legs were severed to prop below; even that the Heavenly, Earthly, and Human Sovereigns had serpent bodies or bovine heads, and that the Nine Periods and the Four Clans served as shepherds and rulers of men. These ways are tangled and confused, not worth recounting. Now, relying on the correct teaching, I fully set forth the conditions of the kalpas. What is the name kalpa? Here it is called 'time'. According to the western Sanskrit, it is called kalpa; translated in this land, it is named 'great time'. This one great time has countless years; only by using metaphors can it be fully known. The sutras state: suppose there is a great city forty li square, filled to the brim with mustard seeds; a long-lived deity comes every three years and takes one mustard seed—though the city becomes empty, the kalpa is still not exhausted. Suppose there is a stone forty li square; it is brushed once every three years—though the stone is worn away, the time of the kalpa is still not exhausted. Thus kalpas succeed kalpas, revolving without end; sentient beings of the four kinds of birth are constantly submerged, unable to escape. Now, this present kalpa is named 'Bhadra' (Worthy). Because at the beginning of the kalpa, great waters flooded everywhere, and blue lotuses grew, numbering one thousand. The devas of the Fourth Dhyāna Heaven had witnessed past occurrences, and so they informed one another: 'Now in this world there will appear one thousand buddhas; this time may be designated as the bhadrakalpa.' Therefore, the sutra says: these are precisely the thousand buddhas of the bhadrakalpa. Beginning with Krakucchanda as the first, the last to attain buddhahood is named Rocana. Thus one knows: the first is Krakucchanda Tathāgata, the second Kanakamuni, the third Kāśyapa, and the fourth Śākyamuni. He whom we take as our teacher is the fourth Buddha of the bhadrakalpa. As in the Hīnayāna sutras: before the bhadrakalpa, the kalpa was empty with no buddhas; in ninety-one kalpas there was only Vipaśyin; in thirty-four kalpas three buddhas appeared in the world; adding to them the four buddhas of the bhadrakalpa, they make seven, as is commonly said. In the Mahāyāna sutras: in the three periods there are three kalpas, and each kalpa has a thousand buddhas; the past is the Vyūhakalpa, the present is named Bhadra, and the future is the Nakṣatrakalpa; three thousand princes successively attain buddhahood. This is because the brightness or dimness of minds' understanding leads to different paths of responsive perception; transformations displayed in accord with capacities cannot be definitively fixed. For instance, at the single assembly on Vulture Peak, five thousand walked out; the great emptiness of prajñā encompasses realization of lesser fruits; that the pure land is indestructible belongs to those who have ascended to the [bodhisattva] stages; that the great fire burns all away truly pertains to those subject to arising and ceasing. Applying this reasoning, there is no cause for doubt. That this kalpa is named Bhadra signifies the appearance of the thousand buddhas, which one must know.