神僧傳 8.8

8.8

Shi Bukong (Amoghavajra). His Sanskrit name was Amoghavajra; in the language of China this means 'Infallible Diamond' (Bukong jingang), the two characters being an abbreviation. He was originally of a brahman clan from North Tianzhu. Having lost his father in his youth, he accompanied his uncle on a tour of the Eastern Lands. At the age of fifteen, he served the Tripiṭaka master Vajrabodhi (Jingangzhi) as his teacher. At first [Vajrabodhi] instructed him in the Sanskrit Siddham script and the treatise on phonology (Śabdavidyā); in ten days he had already mastered them. Later, together with twenty-one disciples including Sheguang and Huibian, he boarded a Kunlun merchant ship and departed from the Southern Sea. Reaching the borders of the kingdom of Ho-ling, they encountered a great black gale. The merchants were terrified and each performed the rites of their native lands, but exorcising it proved of no avail. They all prostrated themselves, imploring mercy and begging for deliverance. When Huibian and the others wept bitterly, Bukong said: 'I now have a method; do not worry.' Thereupon, holding a five-pronged bodhicitta vajra in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñāpāramitā-mātṛkā Sūtra in his left hand, he performed the rite and recited the Mahāpratisarā [dhāraṇī] once; instantly the wind subsided and the sea became calm. Again, they encountered a great whale emerging from the water, spouting waves like mountains, worse than the previous peril. The merchants resigned themselves to death. Bukong performed the rite as before and ordered Huibian to recite the Sāgara-nāgarāja Sūtra; in a moment the perils all ceased. After arriving in the Lion Kingdom (Siṃhala), the king sent an envoy to welcome him and provided offerings most abundantly. One day, the king held a sport of taming elephants; people all climbed to high places to watch, none daring to approach. Bukong, reciting with his mouth and forming hand seals (mudrās), dwelt in the samādhi of loving-kindness and stood facing the thoroughfare. Several wild elephants all suddenly knelt down; the entire country marvelled at him. Next he traveled through the regions of the Five Indias, repeatedly manifesting auspicious responses. In the fifth year of the Tianbao era, he returned to the capital. In that year, the end of summer suffered from drought; an imperial decree ordered him to pray for rain, stating: 'The time must not be delayed, and the rain must not be violent.' Bukong submitted a memorial requesting the establishment of a Mahāmāyūrī-vidyārājñī altar; before three days had passed, copious rain fell everywhere. The emperor was greatly pleased. Later, one day a great wind suddenly arose, and a decree ordered Bukong to avert it. He requested a silver bottle, performed the rite, and empowered it; in a moment it became calm and quiet. Suddenly, a pond goose accidentally knocked the bottle over, and the wind arose again, violent and urgent beyond before. An imperial decree ordered him to stop it again; wherever he stopped it, the effect followed. The emperor thereupon bestowed on him the title 'Zhizang' (Treasury of Wisdom). In the eighth year of the Tianbao era, he was permitted to return to his home country. Riding five postal relay horses, he reached the commandery of Nanhai, where an imperial decree detained him once more. At the beginning of the Zhide era, the imperial carriage was at Lingwu and Fengxiang. Bukong constantly sent secret memorials to inquire after the emperor's health; Emperor Suzong also secretly dispatched envoys to seek the secret Dharmas. When the capital was retaken and the dynasty restored, matters were just as he had anticipated. At the end of the Shangyuan era, when the emperor was indisposed, Bukong cleansed [the illness] with the Mahāpratisarā dhāraṇī up to seven times; the next day [the emperor] recovered, and the emperor accorded him even more extraordinary etiquette. When Suzong passed away, Daizong ascended the throne, and the imperial favors grew even deeper. Furthermore, because no rain had fallen in the capital during spring and summer, an imperial decree ordered Bukong to pray for it, [stating]: 'If it rains within three days, it is the venerable's Dharma power; if it pours after three days, it is not Dharma power.' Bukong received the decree and erected an altar; on the second day, abundant rain fell in sufficiency. In another year there was a great drought again. The Mayor of Jingzhao, Xiao Xin, went to the monastery and asked him to establish an altar to bring rain. Bukong ordered his disciple to take a piece of birch bark just over a foot long and paint a small dragon upon it, placing an incense burner and a bowl of water before it; turning and vibrating his tongue, he blew and summoned it with incantations. In the space of a meal, he handed the painted dragon to Xin, saying: 'You may cast this into the Qujiang River. Once you have cast it, return quickly; do not get caught in the wind and rain.' Xin cast it as instructed. Soon, a white dragon just over a foot long, shaking its mane and fluttering its scales, emerged from the water. In a short while the dragon grew several tens of feet long, resembling drawn plain silk, and instantaneously spanned the sky. Xin whipped his horse and galloped swiftly, but before he had gone several tens of paces, the clouds turned dark and murky, and a violent rain poured down. By the time he reached his residence in the Yongchong Ward, the water in the street had already overflowed the ditches. In the Yongtai era, having bathed in scented water, he lay down with his head to the east. Facing toward the palace courtyard, he passed into quiescence in samādhi with the Great Seal posture. After the cremation fires went out, several hundred grains of relics (śarīra) were collected. His cranial bone did not burn, and inside it was a relic, half hidden and half visible. By imperial decree, a separate stūpa was erected for him in his own courtyard. Earlier, Xuanzang had summoned the occultist Luo Gongyuan to contest methods with Bukong, being together in an informal hall. Luo repeatedly reached behind his back to scratch it. Bukong said: 'Lend this venerable master your ruyi sceptre.' At that time there was a variegated stone in the hall; Bukong swung the ruyi sceptre and smashed it to pieces before him. Luo tried repeatedly to retrieve the ruyi sceptre but could not get it. When the emperor intended to rise and take it, Bukong said: 'Your Majesty, do not rise; this is merely a shadow.' He then raised his hand to show Luo: the ruyi sceptre was once again intact in his hand. Furthermore, on Mount Beimang there was a giant serpent that woodcutters often saw; it raised its head like a hill, and at night it constantly inhaled the dew. Seeing Bukong, it spoke in human speech, saying: 'This disciple suffers an evil retribution. How can the venerable master deliver me? I constantly wish to overturn the river waters to submerge the city of Luoyang to satisfy my grudge.' Bukong conferred the refuges and precepts on it and explained cause and effect to it, saying: 'Because of an angry mind you received your present retribution; how could you harbor resentment again? How could my power avail? If you follow my words, you will surely cast off this body.' Later, woodcutters saw the serpent dead below a ravine, its stench smelling for several leagues. On another day, the wind and rain did not stop; people in the wards and markets were swept away and drowned, and trees were uprooted and blown over. They hastily summoned Bukong to stop it. In the monastery courtyard, Bukong molded five or six clay old women, washed them with water, and scolded them in Sanskrit; before long the sky cleared. Once, the three kingdoms of Tibet, the Arabs (Dashi), and Kang (Samarkand) led troops to besiege the prefecture of Xiliang. An imperial decree summoned Bukong to enter; the emperor was present in the bodhimanda. Bukong held an incense burner and recited the secret words of the Benevolent Kings [Sūtra] twice seven times. The emperor saw divine troops of about five hundred officers in the palace courtyard, and asked Bukong in astonishment. Bukong said: 'The prince of the Heavenly King Vaiśravaṇa is leading troops to rescue Anxi. Please urgently arrange food and dispatch them.' On the twentieth day of the fourth month, a memorial indeed arrived saying: 'On the eleventh day of the second month, about thirty li northeast of the city, towering divine soldiers were seen amidst the clouds and mists; drums and horns sounded loudly, and the mountain and earth collapsed and shook. The barbarian forces fled in terror. In their camp there was a golden rat that chewed through all the bow and crossbow strings. On the north gate tower of the city, there was the Heavenly King of Clear Light, who glared angrily, causing the barbarian commanders to flee in great rout.' The emperor read the memorial and thanked Bukong; he then decreed that statues of the Heavenly King be placed on the gate towers of all circuits; this was the beginning of it.