傳法正宗記 4.10

4.10

摩拏羅尊者。那提國人也。姓剎帝利。父曰常自在。其國之王也。拏羅即其次子。生有異迹。父不敢以俗拘之。遂命師盤頭出家。戒已尋得付法。遊化初至西天竺國。其王曰。瞿曇得度。崇佛常自持金蓮花供養。願遇聖人。以知其前後世事。七年行道於宮中。一日俄有佛塔高一尺四寸。出其行道之地。其色青玄。四面皆有像。似前示尸毘王割股救鴿。後示慈力王剜身然燈。左示薩埵太子投崖飼虎。右示月光王捐捨寶首。得度異之。即舉不動。左右助之。至命眾力士。皆不能舉。尋集其國之智者。共辨欲圖遷之。是時大士與會。讓其國善呪者。先之呪者作法。即能起王鎮殿銀山。次以法欲振其塔。方三喝。塔未稍搖。而其體已損。遽狂走。雖力士不能駐。大士出眾謂王曰。此不足驚。徐臨其殿軒。呼狂者曰。汝住。其人即趨大士自悔其過。王見大士即止其狂遂問曰。尊者何法乃能致然。大士曰。佛法也。王曰。願聞佛法其可學乎。曰佛法者。能具七事去三物乃可學之。王曰。事物何者耶。曰一去貪。二去愛。三去癡。一具大慈。二具歡喜。三具無我。四具勇猛。五具饒益。六具降魔。七具無證。人所以得其明了不明了。皆由有無此三七者也。王今苟能去三具七。於前後際如視諸掌。成菩提登佛地豈遠乎哉。王稱善。必求聞佛塔之所以。大士復讓大眾。眾皆曰。唯尊者言之。不必遜也。大士乃曰。是塔蓋昔者阿育王所作八萬四千七寶之塔。以祕我釋迦如來之舍利。此其一也。引阿育為塔之故事云云備如諸經。復謂王曰。初每置一塔。其地必賢聖成道入滅之所也。今之宮苑。蓋昔有比丘波羅迦者。嘗此證果。故塔出之。亦王修德之所致也。王聞其事。遂大感悟。慨聞道之晚。即命太子傳國。乃求師大士出家。大士以其勢不可沮。即度之。炷香祝曰。今西印土天子。從佛出家。願眾聖幽贊。使其速至聖道。空中尋有報曰。汝度是王。不必慮也。更後七日。當得第四果。如期初有風雨暴至。宮殿肅然。人皆恐引去。王端坐。至日停午。恍然若夢。俄見有人引手極長。持異果與之噉。及醒其心大明。已成阿羅漢道。即以三昧將去其宮。乃謂大士曰。我未證時。自大此國。豈信有佛土之廣。今得大觀。却視舊地曷異蟻垤之微。然此閻浮提亦如一食器間耳。雖有三千餘國而其品不等。上國者若干。中國者若干。下國者若干。然其上之國復有三品。而中下者亦如之。若真修行。盡能隨心生之。於是大士告別。得度曰。我將他適訪大法器。得度曰。尊者神通不測。於此自可接之。何必躬往。大士即焚寶香玄語曰。鶴勒那。汝當證道。其時適至。汝知之乎。初鶴勒那比丘。於月支國九白棲一林間。以誦大品般若為業。感群鶴依之。適直其國王寶印。命齋於宮中。方坐。俄有香煙飄然至前。問王。識乎。王曰。天香耶。鶴勒曰。不然。此西印土摩拏羅尊者所示信也。然是尊者乃那提王子。昔為娑羅樹王佛。與釋迦如來所記。於此賢劫當為二十二世法祖。其化人無量。王宜相從西嚮禮之。而大士即以手三點於地。眾羅漢問。其何以然。曰適鶴勒那於月支王宮致禮。此故答之。遂謂眾曰。吾即欲至彼。汝得神通者悉宜從往。遂與其眾乘虛趣月支國。是時鶴勒那率其王。各駕寶象列御仗。遠出迎之。尋與大士俱還其宮。鶴勒先以其弟子龍子者問之曰。此子才辯冠世。我嘗以三昧觀其夙習。而終不能見。尊者以謂何如。大士曰。汝以三昧觀得幾劫。鶴勒曰。我止三世。曰此子功德非唯三世。第五減劫已於妙喜國生婆羅門家。時會其國有佛伽藍新成大鍾。是子曾以栴檀為梃。助其聲擊。彼為鍾者已得菩提。而此報之聰明。鶴勒敬其說。即欲事之。復問曰。我雖感群鶴相依。未始識其何緣。大士曰。汝昔第四劫時嘗為比丘。道德已充。凡有五百弟子。每遇龍宮命汝供養。汝以其皆未勝龍食。常不與俱往。彼弟子怪曰。師說法則曰。於食若等於法亦等。今乃獨往食耶。及後命必從汝赴。當時以汝德蔭無患。及汝滅彼亦漸終。坐是濫食。皆報為羽族。然已五劫。乃今轉受此鶴。蓋昔師弟子緣之所牽故復此會。鶴勒那大感。遂曰。此宜修何法資其復於人耶。大士因告之曰。我有無上法寶。是如來藏。世尊昔付大迦葉。展轉至我。我今付汝。汝能傳之不絕。彼鶴之眾亦資以解脫。汝受吾教。聽其偈曰。

The Venerable Manorhita was a native of the kingdom of Nadi and of kṣatriya stock. His father was named Nityasvatantra, the king of that realm. Manorhita was his second son. At his birth there were extraordinary signs. His father did not dare bind him with secular conventions, so he ordered him to take monastic ordination under Master Vasubandhu. After receiving the precepts, he soon received the transmission of the Dharma. When he began his travels converting beings and arrived in Western India, the king there was Gautama-labdha. Revering the Buddha, he constantly held golden lotuses in offering himself, wishing to meet a holy one so as to know the matters of his past and future lives. For seven years he practiced the Path in his palace. One day, there suddenly appeared a Buddhist stūpa one foot and four inches high, emerging from the ground where he practiced the Path. Its color was dark blue, and on its four sides there were images: the front appeared to show King Śibi cutting his thigh to save the pigeon; the back showed King Maitrībala carving his flesh to light lamps; the left showed Prince Mahāsattva throwing himself off a cliff to feed the tigress; the right showed King Candraprabha abandoning his precious head. Labdha was amazed by it. He tried to lift it, but it did not move. His attendants assisted him, and he even ordered a host of strongmen, yet none could lift it. He soon gathered the wise of the realm to deliberate together on plans to move it. At this time, the Great Being was present at the gathering. He deferred to a man of that realm skilled in incantations to go first. The incantation-master performed his ritual and was able to lift the silver mountain that guarded the palace hall of the king. Next he wished to move the stūpa with his techniques. Just as he shouted thrice, before the stūpa had shaken even slightly, his own body was already harmed; he abruptly ran wild, and even the strongmen could not restrain him. The Great Being came forward from the assembly and said to the king, "This is not cause for alarm." He slowly approached the palace veranda and called out to the madman, saying, "Halt!" The man immediately ran toward the Great Being, repenting of his fault. Seeing that the Great Being had stopped his madness, the king then asked, "Venerable One, what dharma enables this to happen?" The Great Being replied, "The Buddha-Dharma." The king said, "I wish to hear of the Buddha-Dharma. May it be studied?" He replied, "As for the Buddha-Dharma, one who is capable of possessing seven things and removing three things may then study it." The king asked, "What are these things?" He said, "First, remove greed; second, remove craving; third, remove delusion. First, possess great compassion; second, possess joyfulness; third, possess non-self; fourth, possess valor; fifth, possess benefiting others; sixth, possess subduing Māra; seventh, possess non-attainment. The reason people attain clarity or lack clarity is entirely due to the presence or absence of these three and seven. If Your Majesty can now remove the three and possess the seven, you will view past and future as if gazing at your palm. How far could it be to accomplish bodhi and ascend to the stage of Buddhahood?" The king praised this as wonderful and insisted on asking to hear the reason for the Buddhist stūpa. The Great Being again deferred to the great assembly. The assembly all said, "Only let the Venerable One speak of it; there is no need to be modest." The Great Being then said, "This stūpa is one of the eighty-four thousand stūpas of seven jewels made in the past by King Aśoka to enshrine the relics of our Śākyamuni Tathāgata; this is one of them." He cited the past tale of Aśoka building the stūpas and so forth, fully as related in the sūtras. He further said to the king, "Originally, wherever each stūpa was placed, the site had to be where a noble sage achieved the Path or entered extinction. In the palace gardens of today, a monk named Pālaka once attained the fruit here in the past; therefore the stūpa has emerged. It is also brought about by Your Majesty's cultivation of virtue." When the king heard these matters, he was deeply awakened. Lamenting that he had heard the Path late in life, he at once ordered the crown prince to take over the realm, and requested to take monastic ordination with the Great Being as his teacher. Seeing that his resolve could not be checked, the Great Being immediately ordained him. Lighting incense, he prayed, "Now the Son of Heaven of Western India has renounced household life following the Buddha. May the host of sages secretly assist him, causing him quickly to arrive at the holy path." In the air there was soon a proclamation, saying, "Having ordained this king, you need not worry. After another seven days, he will attain the fourth fruit." As foretold, at first wind and rain arrived violently; the palace was eerie and silent, and all the people retreated in fear. The king sat upright. When the sun reached noon, he was in a trance as if in a dream, and suddenly saw someone extend an extremely long arm, holding an extraordinary fruit and giving it to him to eat. When he awoke, his mind was exceedingly clear, having already accomplished the path of the arhat. He was about to leave his palace using samādhi, and thereupon said to the Great Being, "When I had not yet realized [the truth], I took pride in this realm; how could I have believed that the Buddha-lands were so vast? Now having attained the Great Vision, looking back at my former domain, how is it different from the minuteness of an anthill? Indeed, even this Jambudvīpa is merely like a dining vessel. Although there are more than three thousand kingdoms, their grades are not equal: so many superior kingdoms, so many middling kingdoms, and so many inferior kingdoms. Yet among the superior kingdoms there are again three grades, and the middling and inferior are likewise so. If one truly cultivates the practice, one is entirely able to be reborn according to one's mind." Thereupon the Great Being took his leave. Gautama-labdha said, "Where will you go next?" Manorhita said, "I will go elsewhere to seek a great vessel of the Dharma." Gautama-labdha said, "The Venerable One's spiritual powers are unfathomable. You may naturally contact him from here; why must you go in person?" The Great Being immediately burned precious incense and said with deep intent, "Haklenayaśas, you are to realize the Path; the time has arrived. Do you know it?" Earlier, the monk Haklenayaśas was dwelling in a forest at Jiubai in the kingdom of the Yuezhi, taking the chanting of the *Large Prajñāpāramitā* as his practice; this moved a flock of cranes to stay close to him. It happened to coincide with the king of that realm, Ratnamudrā, commanding a vegetarian feast in the palace. Just as Haklenayaśas sat down, suddenly fragrant smoke drifted before him. He asked the king, "Do you recognize it?" The king said, "Is it heavenly incense?" Haklenayaśas said, "It is not so. This is a token of faith shown by the Venerable Manorhita of Western India. Now, this Venerable One was a prince of Nadi; formerly, he received a prophecy from Sālendrarāja Buddha and Śākyamuni Tathāgata that in this Fortunate Kalpa he would be the twenty-second patriarchal ancestor of the Dharma, and the people he transforms would be immeasurable. Your Majesty should follow me in facing west and paying homage to him." Then the Great Being touched the ground three times with his hand. The host of arhats asked why he did so. He replied, "Just now Haklenayaśas in the palace of the king of the Yuezhi paid homage; therefore I answered him." He then told the assembly, "I now wish to go there; those among you who have attained spiritual powers should all follow along." Thereupon, with his assembly, he mounted the void and headed toward the Yuezhi kingdom. At that time, Haklenayaśas led his king, each riding a precious elephant and arraying the royal retinue, to go far out and welcome him, and soon returned with the Great Being to the palace. Haklenayaśas first asked him about his disciple Nāgaputra, saying, "This boy's talents and eloquence surpass the world. I have previously used samādhi to observe his past habits, but in the end I could not perceive them. What does the Venerable One think?" The Great Being said, "For how many kalpas were you able to observe with samādhi?" Haklenayaśas said, "I was limited to three lifetimes." Manorhita said, "This boy's merit is not merely from three lifetimes. In the fifth decreasing kalpa he was already born into a brāhmaṇa family in the kingdom of Abhirati. At that time, a Buddhist saṅghārāma in that realm had newly completed a great bell, and this boy once used sandalwood to make a mallet to assist in striking it. The one who made the bell has already attained bodhi, and this one's reward is intelligence." Haklenayaśas revered his explanation and wished to serve him. He asked again, "Although I have moved a flock of cranes to keep close to me, I have never known through what condition this came to be." The Great Being said, "In the fourth kalpa of the past, you were once a monk. Your virtue was already abundant, and you had five hundred disciples. Whenever you were invited to offerings in the nāga palace, because they were not yet able to withstand nāga food, you regularly did not go together with them. Those disciples questioned it, saying, 'When the master expounds the Dharma, he says, "Regarding food it is equal, regarding Dharma it is also equal"; why does he now go alone to eat?' Later when there was an invitation, they insisted on following you. At that time, protected by your virtue, they were without trouble. But when you passed into extinction, they too gradually came to an end. Because of this improper eating, they were all reborn as winged creatures. Yet five kalpas having passed, they are only now transformed to receive these cranes. It is because of the pull of former conditions as master and disciples that you meet again like this." Haklenayaśas was deeply moved and then said, "What dharma should be cultivated to help them return to human form?" The Great Being thereupon told him, "I have an unsurpassed Dharma-treasure; it is the tathāgatagarbha. Formerly the World-Honoured One entrusted it to Mahākāśyapa, and transmitted from one to another, it has reached me. I now entrust it to you. If you can transmit it without interruption, that flock of cranes will also rely on it for liberation. Receive my teaching and listen to the verse:"