高僧傳 2.7

2.7

By the age of twelve, his mother took him back toward Kucha. The various kingdoms all invited him with high official ranks, but Jīva paid no heed to any of them. At that time, Jīva's mother brought him to the northern mountains of the Yuezhi. An arhat saw him, marveled at him, and said to his mother: "You must constantly guard this novice. If he does not break the precepts by the age of thirty-five, he will greatly cause the Buddhadharma to flourish, delivering countless people, no different from Upagupta. If his precepts are not kept whole, he will achieve nothing great and will merely be a Dharma master of talent and brilliance." Jīva proceeded to the kingdom of Kashgar. Holding the Buddha's alms-bowl on his head, he thought to himself: "The bowl's shape is quite large, so why is it so light?" Immediately it became too heavy to bear, and crying out, he set it down. When his mother asked why, he answered: "My mind formed a distinction, and therefore the bowl became heavy or light." He then stayed in Kashgar for a year. That winter he recited the Abhidharma. For chapters such as "Ten Gates" and "Cultivating Wisdom," he required no instruction yet completely mastered their subtleties; furthermore, regarding the questions of the "Six Pādas," he encountered no obstructions. In Kashgar there was a Tripiṭaka śramaṇa named Xijian (Priyadarśana), who said to the king: "This novice is not to be slighted. Your Majesty should invite him to open the Dharma gates for the first time, which will bring two benefits: first, the śramaṇas of our country, ashamed of their inferiority to him, will certainly exert themselves; second, the king of Kucha will certainly consider that Jīva came from his country, and that your honoring him is an honor to Kucha, and he will surely come to seek friendly relations." The king agreed and arranged a great assembly, inviting Jīva to ascend the seat and preach the *Dharmacakrapravartana-sūtra*. The king of Kucha indeed dispatched an important envoy to return the goodwill. In his leisure from preaching the Dharma, Jīva sought out non-Buddhist scriptures and became skilled in the study of the *Vedas* and treatises. He mastered their composition of literary works, disputations, and so forth; he also read extensively in the texts of the *Four Vedas* and treatises on the five sciences. In yin-yang and astrology, there was nothing he did not master; he had a subtle understanding of good and ill fortune, and his words matched reality like two halves of a tally. By nature he was frank and easygoing, not disciplining himself in minor formalities, so practitioners often doubted him; yet Jīva was self-assured in his own mind and never paid them any heed.