景德傳燈錄 1.39

1.39

Śākyamuni Buddha (the fourth Honoured One of the Bhadrakalpa) was of the Kṣatriya caste. His father was King Śuddhodana, his mother was Māyā. Having attained the stage of succeeding to Buddhahood, he was born in Tuṣita Heaven, where he was named the Supremely Virtuous Deva, and also named the Great Being Prabhāpāla. He delivered the hosts of devas, expounding the practices of succession to Buddhahood, and also manifested bodies throughout the realms of the ten directions to preach the Dharma. The Lalitavistara-sūtra states: When the Buddha was first born into the royal Kṣatriya family, he emitted the light of great wisdom, illuminating the worlds of the ten directions. Golden lotus flowers welled up from the earth, naturally holding up both his feet. He walked seven steps in each direction—east, west, south, and north. Pointing with his hands to heaven and earth, he made the lion's roar: 'Above, below, and in the four cardinal directions, none can surpass me.' This was on the eighth day of the fourth month in the twenty-fourth year of King Zhao of the Zhou, a jiayin year. By the forty-second year, on the eighth day of the second month, when he was nineteen years old, he wished to leave home. He thought to himself: 'What shall I encounter next?' Then, going on an excursion through the four gates, he saw the four kinds of occurrences. With both sorrow and joy in his heart, he reflected: 'This old age, sickness, and death are ultimately to be reviled and abandoned.' At the midnight hour of that night, a deva named Śuddhāvāsa clasped his hands through the window and said to the crown prince: 'The time to leave home has arrived; you may go.' Having heard this, the prince was filled with joy. He immediately leaped over the city wall and departed. He cultivated the Way in Mount Daṇḍaka. He began under Ārāḍa Kālāma, studying for three years the samādhi of nothingness; knowing it was not the truth, he abandoned it. He then went to Udraka Rāmaputra, studying for three years the samādhi of neither perception nor non-perception; knowing it was also not the truth, he abandoned it as well. He then went to Mount Gayāśīrṣa together with various non-Buddhists, eating one hemp seed and one grain of wheat a day for six years. Thus the sūtra says: 'By having no mental intention and no received practice, he completely subdued all non-Buddhists.' He had first tested the heterodox teachings to demonstrate skillful means and evoke diverse views, leading them to bodhi. Thus the Samuccaya-sūtra states: On the eighth day of the second month, when the morning star appeared, the Bodhisattva attained Buddhahood and was called the Teacher of Gods and Humans. He was then thirty years old; this was the third year of King Mu, a guiwei year. Thereafter, in the Deer Park, he turned the Dharma wheel of the Four Noble Truths for Kaundinya and the other five men, discussing the fruits of the path. He preached the Dharma and remained in the world for forty-nine years. Later, he addressed his disciple Mahākāśyapa: 'I now entrust to you the pure Dharma eye, the wondrous mind of nirvāṇa, the subtle and wondrous correct Dharma of the signless true mark. You must protect and uphold it, and also instruct Ānanda to assist as deputy in transmitting and transforming, so that it may never be cut off.' And he spoke this verse: