法華傳記 1.7

1.7

According to the Mañjuśrīparinirvāṇa-sūtra, four hundred and fifty years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, Mañjuśrī was still in the world. According to the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, the various Mahāyāna sūtras were compiled by Mañjuśrī. According to the Account of the Compilation of the Dharma, there are three Ānandas: Ānanda, which here translates as 'Joy', who upheld the Śrāvaka Piṭaka; Ānandabhadra, which here translates as 'Joyous Sage', who upheld the Pratyekabuddha Piṭaka; and Ānandasāgara, which here translates as 'Ocean of Joy'. When Ānanda ascended the high seat, the assembly gave rise to three doubts: first, they doubted that the Buddha, out of great compassion, had arisen from nirvāṇa to preach the sublime Dharma; second, they doubted that another Buddha had arrived from another world and dwelt here to preach the Dharma; third, they doubted that Ānanda had transformed his body and become a Buddha to preach the Dharma for the assembly. Now, to show that the Dharma thus spoken was what I personally heard in the past when attending the Buddha for twenty-five years—not that the Buddha had arisen, nor that a Buddha from another realm had arrived, nor that [Ānanda] had transformed his body into a Buddha—all sūtras begin by stating 'Thus have I heard' in order to dispel these doubts. Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha said: 'The Vinayasūtra clarifies that when Ānanda ascended the high seat to compile the Dharma treasure, his body was like that of the Buddhas, endowed with all the marks and signs; when he stepped down from the seat, he returned to his original form. This was truly because his provisional practice was replete with the three virtues, transmitting together both the Great and Small [Vehicles]. This sūtra was indeed compiled by Ānandasāgara.' If according to the Fohua jing, Mañjuśrī was in the assembly and first proclaimed the title, and Ānanda ascended the high seat to reiterate and compile it. The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa relies on this to say that Mañjuśrī compiled the various Mahāyāna sūtras. Having fully completed the compilation, they then wrote it upon leaf-fibres and stored it in the cave of precious leaves. Devas, humans, nāgas, spirits, kings, ministers, and the great assembly vied to make offerings. After the Buddha departed the world, the worthy and holy sequentially withdrew into concealment, like elephant calves following the departure of the great elephant. The ninety-five non-Buddhist paths arose in confusion, and the eighteen heterodox teachers exclusively revered the Lesser Canon, so that the Mahāyāna sūtras were for the most part concealed and lost, no longer circulating in the world. After this sūtra was compiled, it was kept hidden and did not circulate. According to Western tradition, there is a precious stūpa in the Great Snow Mountains that houses Sanskrit pothis of the Lotus Sūtra. As Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha fully stated, the records of the Western Regions recount: 'At the end of the five hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, there was a monk who deeply understood the Mahāyāna, attained the unproduced [dharma-kṣānti], and sought profound sūtras everywhere. He went to the Snow Mountains, opened the door of the precious stūpa, opened and read the Sanskrit pothis, and remained within to guard, receive, and uphold them. At the beginning of the six hundredth year, in South India, there was a man of brāhmaṇa stock who thoroughly understood the four Vedas, the great meanings of the five sciences, and the eighteen heterodox treatises; his fame galloped through the five Indias and he strode uniquely through all kingdoms, named Nāgārjuna. Renouncing the heterodox and taking refuge in the correct, he went forth from household life and received the complete precepts. In ninety days he debated and recited the Tripiṭaka, but seeking the profound Dharma he found nowhere to attain it. Thereupon he entered the stūpa in the Snow Mountains. The monk conferred the Sanskrit manuscript of this sūtra upon Nāgārjuna, who received, recited, delighted in, and quite understood its true meaning. He traveled through the various kingdoms seeking other sūtras widely, but searching everywhere in Jambudvīpa, he could not obtain them fully. While dwelling alone in a quiet room, within a chamber of crystal, reflecting upon this matter, the Great Ocean Dragon King saw him, took pity on him, and welcomed him into the eight great oceans. In his palace, opening seven-jeweled cases, he conferred upon him immeasurable sublime Dharma: the Avataṃsaka, Lotus, and various Mahāyāna cloud sūtras, the Mahāmegha, Hastikakṣya, Pratyutpanna, and various profound and esoteric Vaipulya sūtras. Nāgārjuna received and recited them for ninety days; his mind penetrated deeply and he personally realized the true benefit. The Dragon King, knowing his thoughts, asked: 'Have you finished reading the sūtras?' He answered: 'The sūtras in your cases are immeasurably many; they cannot be exhausted across kalpas. What I have read is already ten times the sūtras in Jambudvīpa.' The Dragon King said: 'Compared with the scriptures in my palace, those in other places are incalculable; each is as numerous as dust motes, unimpeded and unhindered, inconceivable.' Nāgārjuna said: 'I wish to obtain the profound sūtras and take them back to Jambudvīpa to greatly propagate the Buddha's teachings and subdue the non-Buddhists.' The Dragon King said: 'My palace has three versions of the Avataṃsaka Inconceivable Liberation Sūtra: the upper version contains verses as numerous as the dust motes of thirteen worlds and chapters as numerous as the dust motes of the four continents; the middle version contains four hundred and ninety-eight thousand eight hundred verses and one thousand two hundred chapters; the lower version contains one hundred thousand verses and thirty chapters. The Lotus Sūtra on the Great Assembly of Universal Equality contains verses as numerous as the dust motes of ten worlds and unspeakable chapters. The remaining scriptures are exceedingly vast.' Nāgārjuna said: 'I have seen that these sublime scriptures are inconceivable. How shall they be transmitted?' The Dragon King said: 'The upper and middle versions of the Inconceivable Liberation Sūtra are by no means within the human capacity of Jambudvīpa to receive and uphold; they cannot be transmitted. The abridged version of the profound Lotus Sūtra is in Jambudvīpa, while the expanded versions are entirely kept secret in my palace.' He then conferred upon him the lower version of the Avataṃsaka along with a case of various sūtras. Having obtained the single case, Nāgārjuna deeply entered into the unproduced [dharma-kṣānti]. Nāgārjuna emerged back in South India, greatly propagated the Buddha's teachings, subdued the non-Buddhists, expanded the Mahāyāna, and composed three great treatises and a thousand separate treatises. In the great treatises, he extensively cited the Avataṃsaka, Lotus, and so forth, explaining their profound and subtle purports (and so on).' According to these records, since there were expanded versions, they were entirely kept secret in the dragon palace, hidden and not transmitted. The Western Regions Gazetteer states: 'Anciently, in the royal palace of Khotan, there was a Sanskrit text of the Lotus Sūtra consisting of six thousand five hundred verses. Over two thousand li to the southeast, there was a kingdom named Cokkuka. Its kings through successive generations revered the Mahāyāna. When eminent monks from various kingdoms entered its borders, they were all tested on their understanding: if they studied the Hīnayāna, they were dismissed and not permitted to stay; if they were Mahāyāna practitioners, they were invited and given splendid offerings. The royal palace also possessed five great scriptures: the Avataṃsaka, Mahāsaṃnipāta, Mahāprajñāpāramitā, Lotus, and Mahāparinirvāṇa, all of one hundred thousand verses. The king personally received and upheld them, holding the key to the doors with his own hands; when he would turn and read them, he opened them, making offerings of incense and flowers. Further, over twenty li to the southeast, there was an exceedingly rugged mountain. On the summit was a rock cave, narrow at the entrance and spacious within. Inside were the Avataṃsaka, Mahāsaṃnipāta, Vaipulya, Ratnakūṭa, Laṅkāvatāra, Fangguang, Śāriputradhāraṇī, Huaju dhāraṇī, Dousaluo, Mahāprajñāpāramitā, Mahāmegha, and Lotus—altogether twelve works, all of one hundred thousand verses. By state law, they were successively guarded and kept. It is also said: In the royal palace of the kingdom of Jibin, there was a Lotus Sūtra of six thousand verses (and so on).' Now calculating the time of its arising in the world: it corresponds in this land to the forty-fifth year of King Mu of Zhou, the yichou year, continuing until the fifty-second year, renshen, when [the Buddha] entered nirvāṇa after preaching it. For more than one thousand years after the parinirvāṇa, it was not cultivated or practiced at all. One thousand two hundred and thirty years later, in the Zhengyuan jiaxu year of the deposed emperor of the Wei, five thousand verses were first transmitted and placed in the Jiaozhou lodge. During the Western Jin and Yao Qin, they were brought and arrived here, as clarified in the transmission and translation records. One should know that depending on whether capacities are immature or ripe, the times of concealment and manifestation differ. According to the Record on the Abiding of the Dharma, when the Buddha, the Bhagavān, entered parinirvāṇa, he entrusted the unsurpassed Dharma to the sixteen great arhats and their retinues, commanding them to protect and uphold it so that it would not perish. The sixteen arhats protect and uphold the correct Dharma to benefit sentient beings. When the human lifespan in this continent declines to a minimum of ten years, the Buddha-Dharma will temporarily perish. Later, when the human lifespan gradually increases to the stage of forty thousand years, the arhats will together come among humans to openly preach the correct Dharma; up until the time of sixty thousand years, the unsurpassed correct Dharma will circulate in the world, flourishing without pause; at the time of seventy thousand years, the unsurpassed correct Dharma will permanently perish. However, the propagation of this sūtra mostly addresses the age of the final Dharma; the text repeatedly mentions the 'final Dharma' and the 'later five hundred years'. If one encounters it, one should forget sleep and food, and never let the time pass in vain.