景德傳燈錄 2.43

2.43

The twenty-sixth patriarch, Punyamitra, was the crown prince of King Desheng of Southern India. Having been ordained and obtained the Dharma, he went to Eastern India. That king was named Jiangu (Dṛḍha), who revered the non-Buddhist master Dīrghanakha the Brahmacārin. When the Venerable One was about to arrive, the king and the Brahmacārin together saw a white vapor piercing through above and below. The king said, “What omen is this?” The Brahmacārin, knowing in advance that the Venerable One was entering the borders and fearing that the king would turn to goodness, said, “This is merely an omen of Mara's coming; what good omen is there?” He immediately gathered his disciples and deliberated, saying, “Punyamitra is about to enter the capital; who can defeat him?” The disciples said, “We each possess magical incantations with which we can move heaven and earth and enter water and fire. What worry is there?” When the Venerable One arrived, he first saw black vapor over the palace wall, and said, “A minor difficulty.” He went straight to the king's place. The king said, “Why has the master come?” The Venerable One said, “To deliver sentient beings.” The king said, “By what Dharma will you deliver them?” The Venerable One said, “I deliver each according to their kind.” At that time, hearing these words, the Brahmacārin could not contain his rage; he immediately used illusory arts to conjure a great mountain above the Venerable One's head. The Venerable One pointed at it, and it suddenly appeared above their assembly's heads. The Brahmacārin and the others were terrified and threw themselves before the Venerable One. The Venerable One, pitying their ignorance and confusion, pointed at it again, and the conjured mountain vanished accordingly. He then expounded the essentials of the Dharma for the king, causing him to incline toward the true vehicle. He also told the king, “In this country there shall be a holy person who will succeed me.” At that time, there was the son of a Brahmin, about twenty years old, who had lost his parents in childhood and did not know his family or personal name. Sometimes he referred to himself as Muktāhāra (Yingluo, ‘Necklace’), so people called him the Necklace Boy. He wandered the villages begging for food to pass the days, like the kind of Sadāparibhūta (Never-Disparaging). When people asked, “Why are you walking so fast?” he would reply, “Why are you walking so slowly?” When asked what his surname was, he said, “The same surname as you.” No one knew the reason. Later, the king went out in a carriage together with the Venerable One, and saw the Necklace Boy bow before them. The Venerable One said, “Do you remember past events?” He said, “I recall that in a distant kalpa, I lived together with the Master; the Master expounded the Mahāprajñā, and I recited the profound sūtras. Today's event indeed accords with former causes.” The Venerable One further told the king, “This boy is none other than the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta. After this holy one, two more persons will emerge: one will transform Southern India, and one's conditions will be in Cīnasthāna (Zhendan). Within four or five years, he will return to this realm.” He then, on account of past causes, named him Prajñātāra and transmitted to him the Treasury of the Dharma Eye. The verse said: