景德傳燈錄 27.5

27.5

When someone stole his beans, wheat, melons, and fruit, the Mahāsattva gave them baskets to carry the haul away. By day he was hired out for labor, and by night he practiced the Way. He saw the three Tathāgatas—Śākyamuni, Jinsu, and Dīpaṃkara—emit light that enveloped his body. The Mahāsattva then said: "I have attained the Śūraṅgama samādhi. I should renounce my fields and residences to hold a great unrestricted assembly." In the second year of Datong, he put his wife and children up for sale and obtained fifty thousand cash to provide for the Dharma assembly. At that time, Dharma Master Huiji heard the Dharma and attained awakening, saying, "My master is indeed an incarnation of Maitreya." Fearing this would confuse the multitudes, the Mahāsattva scolded him. On the twenty-eighth day of the first month of the sixth year, he sent his disciple Fu Wang to deliver a letter to Emperor Gaozu of Liang. The letter read: "The Mahāsattva Shanhui of future liberation beneath the twin trees respectfully addresses the Lord of the Realm, the Bodhisattva who saves the world. I now wish to set forth the superior, intermediate, and inferior goods, hoping you can accept and uphold them. The superior good has, in brief, an open and receptive mind as its root, non-attachment as its core doctrine, the elimination of marks as its cause, and nirvāṇa as its fruit. The intermediate good has, in brief, the cultivation of the personal self as its root and the ordering of the realm as its core doctrine, resulting in peaceful and joyful karmic rewards among devas and humans. The inferior good has, in brief, the sheltering and nurturing of sentient beings, the conquest of cruelty, the renunciation of killing, and the universal observance of the six purification days by all the common people. Having now heard that the Emperor reveres the Dharma, I desire to express discussions on its meaning, but having not yet fulfilled this heartfelt wish, I send my disciple Fu Wang to inform you." Wang went to Director of the Imperial Music Bureau He Chang. Chang said: "Even National Preceptor Huiyue still presents humble petitions; Fu Xi is merely a common subject of the realm, and neither is he an elder monk. He is utterly lacking in humility—how could I dare present this?" Wang burned his own arm on the imperial highway. Chang then rushed to Tongtai Temple to consult Dharma Master Hao. Hao urged him to present it at once. On the twenty-first day of the second month, the letter was presented. When the Emperor read it, he immediately dispatched an imperial edict to welcome him. After he arrived, the Emperor asked, "Whom have you hitherto served as teacher?" He replied, "Following from nowhere, coming from nowhere; so it is with serving a teacher." Crown Prince Zhaoming asked, "Why does the Mahāsattva not discuss doctrines?" He replied, "What the Bodhisattva speaks is neither long nor short, neither broad nor narrow, neither bounded nor boundless. Concerning the correct principle of suchness, what further words could there be?" The Emperor further asked, "What is the absolute truth?" He said, "Ceasing without being annihilated." The Emperor said, "If it ceases without being annihilated, then this possesses form; having form, it is dull and sluggish. If it is like this, the upāsaka cannot escape the vulgar currents." He said, "When facing wealth, do not seek it illicitly; when facing adversity, do not evade it illicitly." The Emperor said, "The upāsaka understands propriety well." He said, "All dharmas are neither existent nor nonexistent." The Emperor said, "I respectfully accept the upāsaka's incoming instruction." He said, "Among all the forms and appearances in the great chiliocosm, there are none that do not return to emptiness. The confluence of a hundred streams does not exceed the sea; the immeasurable wondrous dharmas do not depart from suchness. For what reason is the Tathāgata alone the most exalted among the three realms and ninety-six paths? He views all sentient beings as his infants, as his own self. Under heaven, without the Way there is no peace, and without principle there is no joy." The Emperor remained silent. The Mahāsattva took his leave. On another day, the Emperor invited the Mahāsattva to the Shouguang Hall to lecture on the Diamond Sūtra. The Mahāsattva ascended the seat, held a clapper, and chanted the sūtra, composing forty-nine verses. In the fifth year of Datong, he petitioned to donate his residence at the foot of Songshan and built a temple on the basis of the twin *chou* trees, naming it Shuanglin. The branches of the trees intertwined, auspicious mist encircled them, and a pair of cranes nested there. In the second year of Taiqing, the Mahāsattva vowed to fast, intending to burn his body as an offering on the Buddha's birthday. When the day came, over sixty monastics and laypeople fasted and burned their bodies in his place, and three hundred people pierced their hearts and sprinkled their blood to blend with incense, entreating the Mahāsattva to remain in the world. The Mahāsattva took pity and consented. In the third year of Chengsheng, he once again gave away his household wealth to make offerings to the Three Jewels on behalf of sentient beings, and spoke a gāthā, saying: