傳法正宗記 4.24

4.24

婆舍斯多奉命。即日去之。居無何其國果有兄弟二人者。兄曰魔目多。弟曰都落遮。相與隱山學外道法。一旦都落遮所學先成。謂其兄曰。我將竊入王宮作法殺王以奪其國。兄曰。汝無誤事。致累吾族。及落遮入宮。遂易其徒皆為僧形。計其事集則自顯。不爾則歸罪沙門。既作其法無効。為國擒之。兵者果以沙門奏之。王大怒曰。我素重佛。其人何以為此大逆。遂斥教盡誅沙門。尊者即謂其眾曰王今不利我等。汝宜遠避。其徒欲奉尊者隱之。尊者曰。吾見蘊空。復何逃乎。其王彌羅崛。果仗劍毅然詣尊者而問曰。師得無相法耶。曰得。王曰。既得生死有懼乎。答曰。已離生死。何有懼也。王曰。不懼可施我頭耶。曰身非我有。豈況於頭。王即斬之。尊者首墜。其白乳湧高丈許。然王之右臂即截然自絕。尋病七日而死。方王疾時。其太子曰光首者。憂之。大募方士。圖為父悔謝。俄有仙者自象白山至。謂光首曰。此夙對不必憂也。太子前之曰。願聞夙事。仙者曰。前今數世。汝父嘗生此國為白衣者。然其為人賢善。好重佛道。一日糺眾為無遮齋時師子前身亦為白衣。來與其會。當時師子聰明有辯博。凡與人論未始輒屈。是日乃以佛法發問。汝父白衣。其白衣雖應對中理。而師子白衣心欲勝之。輒橫發難。勢既紛紜。其義遂屈。以故憤恨。尋竊使持毒藥。以斃汝父白衣。雖其先歷多世。而冥數未至。事故不作。金其緣業相會。汝父王所以橫殺師子。太子其憂稍解。後乃塔師子比丘遺骸。其被害時當此前魏廢帝齊王曹芳之世也。

Vāśasīta received the command and departed on that very day. Not long after, there were indeed two brothers in that country: the elder was named Momutuola and the younger was named Duluozhe. Together they hid in the mountains to learn non-Buddhist arts. One day, Duluozhe's study was completed first, and he said to his elder brother: "I will secretly enter the royal palace, perform sorcery to kill the king, and usurp his realm." The elder brother said: "Do not botch the affair and bring calamity upon our clan!" When Luozhe entered the palace, he disguised his followers all in the form of monks, calculating that if their affair succeeded, they would reveal themselves, and if not, they would lay the blame on the śramaṇas. Having performed his sorcery without effect, he was captured by the state. The soldiers indeed reported them as śramaṇas. The king was greatly enraged, saying: "I have always revered the Buddha. How could these people commit such high treason?" He thereupon rejected the teaching and executed all the śramaṇas. The Venerable then told his assembly: "The king is not favorable to us now. You should flee far away." His disciples wanted to take the Venerable into hiding, but the Venerable said: "I see that the aggregates are empty; where else should I flee?" The king, Mihirakula, indeed brandished his sword and resolutely came to the Venerable, asking: "Has the master attained the Dharma of marklessness?" He replied: "I have attained it." The king said: "Having attained it, do you fear life and death?" He answered: "Having already transcended life and death, what fear could there be?" The king said: "If you have no fear, can you give me your head?" He said: "The body is not mine; how much less the head!" The king immediately beheaded him. When the Venerable's head fell, white milk gushed forth to a height of over ten feet. Thereupon the king's right arm was severed on its own. Soon after, he fell ill and died within seven days. When the king was ill, his crown prince, named Guangshou, was grieved and broadly recruited occult practitioners, intending to make repentance and apologies on his father's behalf. Suddenly an immortal arrived from Mount Xiangbai and said to Guangshou: "This was a past karmic adversary; you need not grieve." The crown prince went forward and said: "I wish to hear of the past matter." The immortal said: "Several lifetimes ago, your father was once born in this country as a layman. Yet he was virtuous, good, and deeply fond of the Buddha's Way. One day, he gathered a multitude to hold an unrestricted feast. At that time, Simha's previous incarnation was also a layman and came to join that gathering. At that time, Simha was intelligent, eloquent, and erudite; whenever he debated with others, he had never yielded. On that day, he posed questions based on the Buddha's Dharma to your father as a layman. Although your father as a layman responded reasonably, Simha as a layman wished in his heart to prevail over him and repeatedly posed arbitrary objections. The debate grew heated, and his reasoning was ultimately refuted. Because of this, he harbored resentment and soon secretly sent someone with poison to kill your father as a layman. Although this happened many lifetimes ago, the unseen reckoning had not yet arrived, so the incident did not take place. Now that their karmic conditions have met, your father the king thus brutally killed Simha." The crown prince's grief was somewhat alleviated. Later, they built a stūpa for the remains of the monk Simha. His martyrdom occurred during the reign of Cao Fang, King of Qi and the Deposed Emperor of the former Wei.