傳法正宗記 1

English (machine translation) 1

Language: English

1.1

Record of the Orthodox Lineage of the Dharma Transmission

On the […] day of the twelfth month, your subject, the monk Qisong, Dharma-transmitting śramaṇa of Yong'an Hermitage at Lingyin in Hangzhou, recipient of the purple robe, bowing his head in mortal fear, submits this memorial to Your Imperial Majesty: Your subject has heard that those who serve Heaven must rely on mountains, and those who serve Earth must rely on marshes; because that which they rely upon is lofty and profound, that which they serve is easily reached. As for Your Majesty's loftiness, profundity, and brightness, they surpass the mountains and marshes ten-thousandfold. If one engaged in their Dao were to bypass Your Majesty without seeking it directly, even if he worked with utmost diligence his whole life cut off from the world, how could he attain his aspiration? Moreover, he has heard that the Buddhist scriptures say: "My Dharma has been entirely entrusted to the kings and great ministers." This refers precisely to the fact that the waxing and waning, loosening and tightening of the Buddhist teaching rest upon Your Majesty's brilliant sagacity. If so, when followers of the Buddha wish to do or say something with respect to his Dharma, how could it be right not to depend on Your Majesty and instead abandon themselves to the grass and weeds? Unworthy though your subject is as a follower of the Buddha, he truly wishes to support and uphold this Dharma. Now, rising from his mountain caves and not considering a thousand li too far, he holds his writings and rushes to the imperial palace steps, hoping that Your Majesty, in your great benevolence, might grant success to his aspiration. Your subject has often maintained that Śākyamuni's bequeathing of the teaching necessarily took Chan as its lineage and the Buddha as its patriarch. The patriarch is the great model of his teaching; the lineage is the great tradition of his teaching. If the great tradition is not clarified, then students of the Buddha throughout the realm cannot unify the destination to which they attain; if the great model is not rectified, they cannot verify that which they realize. That those of the three trainings past and present vie to overcome one another through their respective learnings has indeed arisen as a calamity because the lineage is not clarified and the patriarchs are not rectified. Yet it is not that the patriarchs and lineage were inherently unclear or unrectified; it is merely that later authors transmitted them erroneously. Furthermore, later students of Buddhism could not thoroughly examine the sūtras and treatises to collate and correct them. Thus, there are those constrained by doctrinal teachings who do not believe that the Buddha's subtle intent lies beyond words, and those speaking of Chan who do not understand that the Buddha's expressive teachings were bequeathed within the doctrinal canon. (When first drafting the text, it said that that which the Buddha expresses is largely seen within the doctrinal teachings. When copying it for submission to the throne, it was changed to say that the Buddha's expressive teachings were bequeathed within the doctrinal teachings, meaning that the Buddha's words skillfully expressing this Dharma are preserved within the doctrinal division. Because students circulated the first draft, it came to differ from the submitted manuscript; nevertheless, both explanations are viable in meaning. Other editions may say that that which is expressed is largely seen within the doctrinal teachings, as both versions were produced.) Although all belong to the same tonsured and squared-robed fellowship, they engage in tumultuous mutual disputes. How has such a state of affairs ever ceased past and present? Not knowing his own limitations, your subject has secretly wished all his life to deduce and unify this lineage and its patriarchs, to end disputes and resolve doubts for students of Buddhism throughout the realm, so that a hundred generations will know that their learning has a single tradition. In the mountains, he formerly devoted his energies to probing the Tripiṭaka, both sūtras and biographies, verifying what is termed the Chan school and deducing and rectifying who are called the Buddhist patriarchs. If a text he saw was truly erroneous, even if an ancient book, he certainly rejected it; if a text he saw was truly detailed, even if an ancient book, he certainly adopted it. Furthermore, where errors occurred in the dates and deeds of the Buddhist patriarchs—such as in works like the Chuandeng lu—he collated and edited them using the biographies of numerous masters and the continuous chronologies across successive eras, compiling them into a book of nearly a hundred thousand words entitled Chuanfa zhengzong ji. That which arranges and depicts the successive likenesses of the Buddhist patriarchs is called the Chuanfa zhengzong dingzu tu. That which deduces and harmonizes the origins and developments of the patriarchs and lineage is called the Chuanfa zhengzong lun. Altogether there are twelve fascicles. In addition, painted upon Wu silk is one scroll of the so-called Dingzu tu. In your subject's shallow and foolish opinion, he considers that barely two thousand years have passed since our Buddha bequeathed his teaching, and that his teaching has covered China for almost a thousand years, while the transmission of the Chan school in the Central Lands has been only five hundred years. Now the deeds, origins, and developments of these lineages and patriarchs are somewhat detailed herein, and can be transmitted to supplement one ten-thousandth of the former sage's teachings. It happens that Your Majesty governs the realm with the ultimate Dao and compassionate virtue: heaven, earth, and all things are harmonious, peaceful, and abundant, and the teachings of the Buddha and Laozi are able to assist in the great transformation. Your Majesty also directs your thoughts to dhyāna joy, penetrating deeply into the wonders of the Dao; indeed, among ancient rulers across a hundred generations, none has ever plumbed principles and exhausted natures to such an extent as Your Majesty. This is also a once-in-ten-thousand-generations encounter for the disciples of the Buddha under Your Majesty. This is why your subject, with utter sincerity and devotion, without avoiding the punishment for presumption and offense, has submitted this text together with the chart, hoping that Your Majesty might deign to place it in the Tripiṭaka to be transmitted alongside the sūtras and vinayas. Your subject's ant-like life has already reached its dusk; in this world, he indeed has nothing left to anticipate. His modest desire is only that the Dharma teachings might not become faint or obscured, but flow and spread without end, so that people may rely upon them to devote themselves to the Dao and practice goodness. Even on the day of your subject's death, it would be as though he were still alive. He does not dare seek fortuitous fortune, but only hopes to share in the rich moisture of Your Majesty's rain and dew. The textual evidence cited is all drawn from the great sūtras and treatises, and is most detailed in the so-called Chuanfa zhengzong lun and its Dingzu tu. If Your Majesty, through your heaven-and-earth-like benevolence, deigns to inspect them and grant a great favor, your subject hopes that, following the precedent of the Jingde chuandeng lu and the Yuying ji, an edict will be issued to the Institute for the Transmission of the Dharma to catalog and enter them into the Tripiṭaka. This would be the greatest fortune in your subject's life and death, as well as the greatest fortune for the doctrinal gates of the entire realm. If Your Majesty, by your sage judgment, grants your subject's petition, I beg that the twelve fascicles of this book be specially dispatched to the Secretariat to implement the Chuanfa zhengzong ji and its Dingzu tu, together with one set in three volumes of the printed edition of your subject's previously composed Fujiao bian. That work also deduces and harmonizes the ways of the sages of the two teachings, showing them to be identical in improving the world and benefiting mankind. With reverence, I submit them along with this memorial, braving the imperial presence. Overwhelmed by anxiety and earnest urgency, in sincere awe and trembling, I respectfully submit this.

1.4

Memorial of Hanlin Reader-in-Waiting Wang, Administrator of Kaifeng Prefecture

1.5

Your subject now has the monk Qisong of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou presenting a petition to your subject, stating that the ancestral lineage transmitting the Dharma in the Chan gate is not yet clearly distinct, and that shallow scholars of the doctrinal gates cling to their respective records, giving rise to much contention past and present. Consequently, he investigated the sūtras and treatises of the Tripiṭaka and obtained a full account of the origins and developments of the Chan lineage's patriarchs. He thereupon excised redundancies and extracted the essentials, composing the Chuanfa zhengzong ji in twelve fascicles, together with a painted ancestral chart in one scroll, to rectify the errors of past records; alongside this, he includes one set in three volumes of the printed edition of his previously composed Fujiao bian and a sealed memorial to Your Majesty, seeking no imperial favors whatsoever, and begging your subject to forward them. Your subject has paid rough attention to the Buddhist teaching; observing his editorial revisions and literary compositions, they are certainly not arbitrary opinions, but rather quite refined and subtle. In the leisure moments amidst Your Majesty's myriad affairs, you deeply attain the joy of the Dharma; I pray that you grant them an imperial glance. If there is anything worthy of adoption, I beg that they be sent down to the Secretariat for examination, so that they may be specially cataloged into the Tripiṭaka; awaiting imperial determination.

1.6

Directive of the Secretariat Permitting Inclusion in the Tripiṭaka

1.7

Wang Su, Provisional Administrator of Kaifeng Prefecture, memorialized: Monk Qisong of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou has composed the Chuanfa zhengzong ji together with a painted chart, begging that they be cataloged into the Tripiṭaka; awaiting imperial determination.

1.8

The Fujiao bian in three volumes. (This was an additional endorsement by the Secretariat. Several days after the directive was issued, an imperial decree was received ordering that the Fujiao [bian] also be included in the canon, hence this endorsement.)

1.9

The above has received an imperial decree: For the Zhengzong ji in twelve fascicles, the Institute for the Transmission of the Dharma shall be ordered to collect it into the canonical scriptures. A directive is forwarded to the Institute for the Transmission of the Dharma to act accordingly.

1.10

Seventeenth day of the third month, seventh year of the Jiayou era (signed by the Grand Councilor).

1.11

Directive of the Secretariat Not Permitting the Resignation of the Master Title

1.12

Petition of Qisong, purple-robed śramaṇa of Yong'an Hermitage at Lingyin in Hangzhou: On the twenty-second day of the present month, I have humbly received an imperial patent conferring the title of Master Mingjiao. Humbly reflecting that previously, because the patriarchs of the lineage of my teaching were not clear and the way of the Dharma was in decline, Qisong, without considering his own limitations, rashly composed the Chuanfa zhengzong ji, Fujiao bian, and other works to submit to the throne, begging that they be included in the Tripiṭaka solely to support and uphold this teaching. Now, bathed in the extraordinary honor and bestowal from the Sagely Court, not only was it contrary to my original wish, but my virtue and Dao are also shallow and thin, truly rendering me incapable of bearing the responsibility. I dare not accept this one yellow patent, and hereby surrender and submit it along with this petition, reporting on this matter.

1.13

The above is forwarded to the Office of the Clerical Registry of the Left Street to notify him that he is not permitted to decline further; act accordingly.

1.14

Fifth day of the fourth month, seventh year of the Jiayou era (signed by the Grand Councilor).

1.15

On the sixth day of the twelfth month in the xinchou year of the Jiayou era, Qisong submitted this Zhengzong ji and Fujiao bian. On the seventeenth day of the third month of the following year, the late Emperor granted their inclusion in the Tripiṭaka so that they might be transmitted alongside the sūtras and vinayas. They were retained in the government administration for seventy-one days, during which the prime minister and various eminent dignitaries personally bent their minds to review them in detail. The radiance and ornament brought to Buddhism in this manner had never occurred since antiquity. How could the disciples of the Buddha, such as Qisong, not feel honored and fortunate? How should they repay this great favor? In the third year after returning to Wu, there was a man of Wu Commandery named Cao Zhongyan and his younger brother Qi Zhongyi, who joyfully heard of this magnificent event; they then recruited artisans at Wanshou Chan Cloister of that prefecture and donated funds to carve the printing blocks, looking up with reverence to assist in the state's vast felicity. Collated by Dharma-transmitters Juechu, Shoujian, Zhiyi, and Xiangseng Shanhui, and checked by Zongyu. Inscribed on the eleventh day of the fourth month in the jiachen year, the first year of the Zhiping era.

1.16

The monk Qisong of Teng Prefecture in Guangyou, styled Zhongling, studied Confucian learning in his youth. Traveling through various regions, he entered Wu, and wrote books by the West Lake of Qiantang. During the Jiayou era, taking his completed works—the Chuanfa zhengzong ji, the Dingzu tu, and the Fujiao bian—he went to the imperial court, and presented his writings as introductory gifts to the Prince of Wei Han [Qi], Duke Ouyang Wenzhong [Xiu], and Duke Wang Jiguo. All the eminent dignitaries of that time fully approved of them. He then memorialized and presented them for Emperor Renzong's imperial inspection. Coming upon the phrase "for the sake of the Dao, not for fame; for the sake of the Dharma, not for oneself," the Emperor praised and sighed with admiration, retaining them in the forbidden palace for a long time. An imperial edict was issued declaring that they be included in the Tripiṭaka. During the Jianyan era, they were scattered and lost in the flames of war. In the autumn of the gengchen year of the Shaoxing era, Elder Zhengyan of Taiping Temple in Fuzhou, while wandering by the Longshou Torrent on Mount Dong, obtained the twelve fascicles of the Zhengzong ji, supplemented them with the three volumes of the Fujiao bian, and re-collated them. He said to Chan Master Jiekong Ming of Kaiyuan: "Our Qisong Fujiao practiced meditation and wisdom, wearing only a single patched robe in winter and summer, constantly sitting without lying down, eating only one meal a day, and walking the Dao at night with an image of Guanyin on his head, chanting the Bodhisattva's name a hundred thousand times as a regular practice. Among the eminent monks of the Song, he was the only one south of the Big Dipper! Even if all the bamboo and silk were exhausted, one could not record his Dao and conduct." Thereupon, leading all the Chan monks to unite their efforts, he carved the printing blocks at Kaiyuan Temple in Fuzhou for inclusion in the Tripiṭaka, bringing endless benefits. Colophon by the Dharma-transmitting patriarchal successor Master Fodeng Fashan, abbot of Guangying Chan Temple on Mount Shoushan; collated by the Dharma-transmitting patriarchal successor monk Daoyin, abbot of Chongbao Chan Temple of Jiaozhong.

1.17

When Song Mingjiao was among the Buddhists, he upheld the orthodox lineage and refuted deviant teachings; in rejecting and condemning them, he always had evidence and authority. This was what is meant by "damming the hundred rivers to send them east, and turning back the wild surge that had already collapsed." That the various elders have put forth their strength to circulate this text widely is entirely the earnest intention of people like Shiji. Could there be any occasion for rejoicing in merit greater than this? Written by Lin Ziqi of Jin'an, Assistant Gentleman for Discussion, former Supervisor of the Maritime Trade Commission of Fujian Circuit, on the day after the full moon of the eleventh month in the jiashan year of the Longxing era.

1.18

Compiled and edited by the śramaṇa monk Qisong of Mount Dong in Tengzhou under the Song.

1.19

Chart of the Initial Patriarch Śākyamuni Tathāgata

1.20

When heaven and earth began anew, on the continent of Jambudvīpa there first arose kings called 'great men'. After the 'great men' passed away, subsequent kings succeeded them continuously in succession; from antiquity to the present, they are scarcely countable. Among them, however, those who were holy and spiritual and possessed extraordinary virtues were called wheel-turning kings (cakravartin). Those whose virtues did not reach this standard were called 'scattered millet' kings. Since their virtues varied in magnitude, the realms they governed were diminished accordingly: reduced from the four continents to three, to two, down to a single continent, and down to the various regional realms. Though those called kings underwent tens of thousands of eons of generations, the single Śākya lineage succeeded one another without interruption. Later there was a king named Mahāsaṃmata (Great Good Birth). Mahāsaṃmata begot Rōza; Rōza begot Vararocana; Vararocana begot Kalyāṇa; Kalyāṇa begot Varakalyāṇa; Varakalyāṇa begot Siṃhahanu; Siṃhahanu begot Śuddhodana (also called White Rice). These seven generations were all kings, but only Rōza and Śuddhodana were titled sage-kings. The Tathāgata was born from this sage-king Śuddhodana. He was born in the land of Central Tianzhu (India); Śākya was his clan name, and Muni was an honorific title. Formerly, in a past age, the Tathāgata met Dīpaṅkara Buddha in the great city of Padmāvatī. Spreading his hair on the ground over which the Buddha walked to express utmost veneration to Dīpaṅkara, he received the prophecy: 'In the future, you will become a Buddha like me; your name will be Śākyamuni.' Later, traversing countless kalpas, as a sage he constantly accumulated and cultivated supreme virtues. When the time of Kāśyapa Buddha arrived, he attained the path as a bodhisattva and ascended to be reborn in Tuṣita Heaven, fulfilling the station of being in the next life to become Buddha, with the title Great Being Bright Protector (Prabhāpāla). Preaching the Dharma in heaven, he delivered the heavenly hosts. When his destined time to respond arrived, he assembled the devas and deliberated on where to descend and be born. While the assembly had not yet decided, the Great Being saw that the kingdom of Kapilavastu was situated in the center of Jambudvīpa, and that King Śuddhodana's family had been emperors and kings for generations, possessing supreme sage-virtues, truly a lineage of wheel-turning monarchs; it was fitting to take birth through them. Thereupon he manifested the five signs of decay of a deva, preparing to descend to transform [the world]. The heavenly assembly all wept, wishing him to remain longer. The Great Being then expounded to them the intention of going to take birth and attain Buddhahood in order to release their attachment. The Great Being then relinquished his heavenly lifespan, manifested riding a white elephant descending from the sun, and entered spiritually into his mother's right side. That evening, King Śuddhodana's queen, Lady Māyā, suddenly addressed the king, saying: 'Please allow me to purify my body and uphold the Eightfold Precepts.' The king consented. Soon she dreamed that the Great Being, on his mount, entered her right side and remained there. Countless devas, longing to become his retinue, simultaneously took birth in the human realm. When he was first in the womb, his mother's body was in supreme tranquility, naturally experiencing the joy of dhyāna. When he was about to be born, Māyā wished to go to the pleasure garden. The palace superintendent immediately adorned a jeweled carriage, and the king further issued a broad decree for guards to accompany her. Arriving under an aśoka tree in the garden, its blossoms were in full splendor. The queen raised her hand wishing to pluck them, and the Holy Child was born from her right side. Spiritual nāgas then showered water to bathe him; the earth produced golden lotuses to receive his feet. The Holy Child took seven steps in each of the four directions, pointed one hand upward and one downward, and said: 'Above, below, and in the four cardinal directions, I alone am the most honored.' The inner palace usher joyfully entered to report to the king. Hearing this, the king, accompanied by his countless noble kin, went to behold him, filled with boundless great celebration. At that time, the heavenly gods and earth spirits all appeared and prayed, saying: 'May the Great Being swiftly attain complete enlightenment.' The king soon took him to visit the temple of the gods; the statues of the devas stood up and paid homage to him. Returning to the palace, a great assembly of wise men was held to name him; the assembly presented the title Sarvārthasiddha. When fortune-tellers were recruited, the hermit Asita answered the summons. Upon seeing the Holy Child, he hastily bowed at his feet and wept, saying: 'This is the most honored one of the three realms. At the age of nineteen, he will become a wheel-turning king; otherwise, he will leave home and become a Buddha, delivering immeasurable people. Alas, I am old and will not live to see it.' The king was troubled by the hermit's words and guarded him even more carefully as a treasure. As he grew older, teachers were appointed to instruct him in worldly texts. The Holy Child questioned them on their principles, and the teachers were unable to respond. As for all the worldly skills—astronomy, geography, archery, charioteering, and the hundred crafts—he mastered them all without needing instruction. Before long, he was installed as the crown prince and entrusted with the realm's treasures. However, the sage was already exceedingly pure; though appearing to take a wife according to worldly custom, he harbored no ordinary desires. By virtue of past karmic conditions, he pointed to his consort's belly and said: 'Six years from now, you will give birth to a son.' One day, he ordered his chariot to go on an excursion; though he went out through the four gates in turn, each time he encountered something. Ultimately moved by the sight of old age, sickness, death, and a śramaṇa, his resolve to leave home became even firmer. Upon returning, he presented his intention to his father, the king. Because the realm lacked another sage heir, the king took the prince's hand and wept, wishing to dissuade his mind. It happened that devas from the Śuddhāvāsa Heaven arrived from above, bowed at the prince's feet, and said: 'Great Being, you have long cultivated supreme virtues; the time to leave home has now arrived. Please depart.' The prince said: 'It is as you say, but the palace guards are very strict; how can I depart?' The devas then used supernatural powers to enchant the guards so that all fell into a deep sleep and could not awaken. The prince then secretly ordered his charioteer Chandaka, who led the divine steed Kaṇṭhaka forward. The horse grieved and the charioteer wept; the prince consoled them. The morning star suddenly appeared, its light illuminating the great trichiliocosm. The prince said: 'The leaving-home of the past Buddhas was likewise thus.' Thereupon, the devas held up the horse's hooves and lifted Chandaka; soaring through the air, they departed from the northern gate of the city. The prince further declared: 'If I do not sever the eight sufferings, do not turn the Dharma wheel, and do not attain unsurpassed bodhi, I will never return.' The heavenly assembly praised him, saying 'Excellent!', and recorded his vow. Arriving at the mountain called Chandaka, he first rested briefly in the forest. He then took off his robes and crown, cut off his beard and hair with his own jeweled sword, and vowed: 'May I, together with all beings, sever these afflictions.' He then handed his hair to Śakra. At that moment, a deva of the Śuddhāvāsa transformed into a person offering a saṅghāṭī of coarse cloth (another edition says deer hair), requesting to exchange it for the prince's precious robes. Thus obtaining the Dharma robes, he wore them and advanced further. At a fine place on the mountain called Mount Meru, dwelling in the hermitage of Ārāḍa Kālāma, the former recluse hermits saw the prince, paid homage, yielded their seats, and discussed the Dharma with him. When Chandaka was sent back, his father the king missed him intensely and insisted on his return; though counselors advised otherwise, he would not listen, ultimately issuing an edict to welcome him back. His ministers and subordinates who came to plead numbered in the tens of thousands; though their persuasion was earnest and deep, his resolve remained steadfast and unswerving. Thereupon, five men including Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya were left behind to serve as his attendants. Here the sage practiced the samādhi of the sphere of nothingness for three years, and then abandoned it because its method was not ultimate. He advanced further to the place of Udraka Rāmaputra and practiced the samādhi of neither perception nor non-perception for three years (this was the place where he subdued the two hermits Ārāḍa and Kālāma); again, because this method was not ultimate, he proceeded to Mount Gayāśīrṣa among non-Buddhists to engage in austerities, eating only a single grain of hemp and wheat each day. Dwelling there for six years, even the non-Buddhists were converted. The sage then reflected: 'These current austerities are not true liberation; I must accept nourishment and only then attain Buddhahood.' He then bathed in the Nairañjanā River. A deva bent down a tree branch for him, and the sage took hold of it and emerged. He accepted the milk-rice porridge offered by the cowherd maiden Sujātā, and soon proceeded to the foot of the Pippala tree. Śakra transformed into a human and gathered auspicious grass to spread for his seat. Auspicious clouds and propitious winds mingled and arrived together. The heavenly māra was alarmed and led his hordes to create obstacles. The sage touched the ground with his finger, and the earth shook violently; the demons all tumbled over, and he thus subdued them. Soon after, on the night of the seventh day of the second month, he entered true samādhi. On the eighth day, at the appearance of the morning star, he manifested vast, great enlightenment and attained equal, complete awakening. At that time, the great earth trembled, and auspicious signs of heaven and earth all appeared in response. Devas, māras, humans, and spirits gathered together to pay homage. When he mounted the vajra seat, Śakra took him as teacher and requested him to turn the Dharma wheel. Prior to this, the five men including Kauṇḍinya had served him in the mountains; now, he delivered them first. Thus he entered the Deer Park to expound the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths. Those who attained the fruits of the path through this also numbered in the hundreds of millions. Afterwards, he addressed the monks, saying: 'All of you can serve as fields of merit for the world; each of you should go forth to transform beings.' The Tathāgata then traveled alone to the kingdom of Magadha. In that land there were previously extraordinary men known as Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa and his two brothers, all of whom had mastered hermit arts, took great pride in their ways, and had several thousand disciples. When the Tathāgata arrived, they surrendered and were converted; he and his disciples all attained the realization of the path. Formerly, King Bimbisāra possessed a bamboo grove park known for its beautiful scenery. The king had once privately resolved: 'If the Tathāgata visits me first, I will renounce this.' The Tathāgata, knowing his intention, went and stayed in that park. The king was overjoyed to hear this, hastily arranged a grand retinue of tens of thousands, and rushed to see him. When they met the Tathāgata, some among the assembly harbored doubts. The Tathāgata then commanded Kāśyapa to preach the Dharma for them to dispel their confusion. The king's assembly and immeasurable devas and humans thereupon attained the Dharma-eye. The king then donated the park as a monastery and invited the Tathāgata to dwell there. Not long after, a monk was receiving alms in Rājagṛha, and Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana heard the Dharma from him; gaining enlightenment through this, they returned with him. The Tathāgata said: 'Those two who are coming shall be my foremost disciples.' Thereupon he ordained them. Earlier, Mahākāśyapa had personally shaved his hair and beard and entered the mountains to practice dhyāna. One day, a spirit in the sky told him: 'A Buddha has now appeared in the world; you should take him as your teacher.' Because of this, he also hastened to the Bamboo Grove Monastery. Upon his arrival, the Tathāgata rose to greet him, looked back, and said to the assembly: 'That my Dharma will spread for sixty thousand years after my parinirvāṇa is through this man's effort.' By this time, six years had passed since the Tathāgata's attainment of enlightenment, yet he had not once met his father, the king. The king longed for him deeply. His minister Udāyin requested permission to convey the king's feelings of long separation and ask him to return to his homeland. When Udāyin arrived, the Tathāgata consoled him; soon he also attained the path and achieved the fourth fruit (arhatship). The Buddha then dispatched him back to the realm to report to his father the king: 'The Buddha will return in seven days.' When the time arrived, the king went out forty li from his realm, setting out an elaborate ceremonial guard to welcome the Tathāgata, with a rejoicing that shook heaven and earth. The king was overjoyed to meet him and issued an edict allowing five hundred noble sons of his clan to follow him into the monastic life. When he returned to the palace, Rāhula bowed to him, took hold of the sage's robes, and told his mother: 'This is indeed the Tathāgata.' Through this, his mother's various doubts were dispelled. In this way, blessings were bestowed boundlessly, sentient beings relied upon him, and families and realms turned in great numbers toward his teachings. From then on, responding to capacities, he expounded the Dharma in the heavens, in the human realm, in the dragon palace, and in other realms; wherever he went, he wrought great benefit. However, the deeds of his holy spiritual presence cannot be fully recorded. Later, as his time of teaching was drawing to a close, he commanded Mahākāśyapa, saying: 'The pure Dharma-eye, the wondrous mind of nirvāṇa, the subtle, correct Dharma of the formless true aspect—I now entrust it to you. You must protect and uphold it, and instruct Ānanda to assist in transmitting and teaching it so that it is never cut off.' He then spoke a gāthā, saying:

1.21

The Dharma fundamentally is a Dharma of no-dharma;
The Dharma of no-dharma is also a Dharma.
Now, when entrusting this no-dharma,
How has the Dharma of dharmas ever been a Dharma?

1.22

Having spoken the verse, he further addressed Mahākāśyapa, saying: "I also entrust to you the gold-threaded saṃghāṭī robe. You shall hand it down to the Maitreya Buddha of the next rank (also called Buddha Maitreya); wait for him to appear in the world, and guard it prudently." Mahākāśyapa, hearing the command, bowed at his feet, praised it as excellent, and reverently upheld the Buddha's edict. One day, [the Buddha] went indeed to the twin śāla trees at Kuśinagara. He told the great assembly that he was about to enter parinirvāṇa. It happened that the elder Cunda earnestly presented an offering, and relying on this, the Tathāgata once more expounded the Dharma at length. After that, he delivered Subhadra; then, passing through various samādhis, he rose from his seat, lifted his saṃghāṭī robe to show his body of purple-gold light, exhorted the great assembly, and then lay down on his right side, passing serenely into great tranquility. At that time, among the four classes of disciples, tens of thousands of millions, gods and humans wept and yearned, shaking the great chiliocosm. A great rain of heavenly flowers fell, and the earth all trembled. When they placed him in the golden coffin to wait for Mahākāśyapa, worldly fire could not burn it. When Kāśyapa finally arrived, the [Buddha's] feet emerged together from the coffin of themselves to comfort his sorrow and longing. Then the golden coffin rose of itself, circumambulated the city of Kuśinagara, came down again, and was burnt to ashes by the fire of samādhi bursting ablaze of itself. When the burning was done, the relics illuminated heaven and earth. Those gathered—gods, humans, spirits, and nāgas—each divided and took [portions] away to build stūpas for them. Examining this: the Tathāgata's birth occurred on the eighth day of the fourth month in the jiayin year, the ninth year of King Zhao of the Zhou; his renunciation occurred on the eighth day of the second month in the renshen year, the twenty-seventh year of King Zhao; his attainment of the Way occurred in the wuyin year, the thirty-third year of King Zhao; and his extinction occurred on the fifteenth day of the second month in the renshen year, the thirty-sixth year of King Mu. From the conclusion of his transformation, altogether 1,017 years passed before, in the dingmao year, the tenth year of the Yongping era of Emperor Xiaoming of the Han, the teaching was spread to China. Alas, the Tathāgata manifested a lifespan identical to the world's: altogether seventy-nine years; maintaining the world with the true Dharma for just forty-nine years. (An older chronicle says: "The World-Honoured One renounced household life at nineteen, practiced austerities on the Snowy Mountains for six years, attained the Way at thirty, dwelt in the world expounding the Dharma for forty-nine years, and entered extinction at seventy-nine years of age." Now calculating by the count of years, if he practiced for only six years, his attainment of the Way would have been at twenty-five years of age; if it is said to be thirty, one must include the six years spent studying the Dharma with the two hermits so that it matches the original number.) Those sentient beings he converted and delivered are countless. The Dharma he preached—sūtras, vinayas, and treatises—is as vast as a hundred thousand great oceans; those who explore it, following their capacity, obtain it whether shallow or deep. Extending to the remote, it reaches the extremes of the beginning and end of heaven and earth; pointing to the near at hand, it fully covers the formation and decay of hair and skin. In obscurity, it exhausts ghosts and spirits; in wonder, it penetrates transformations. In greatness, it certainly encompasses gods and humans; in minuteness, it does not leave behind insects. The origins of calamity and fortune in the world, the foundation of nature and life, are completely present here. Its Way is exceedingly great; its teaching is widely spread! Seeing myself as vulgar and ordinary, insufficient to know it, I do not dare to praise it. Thinking back, since there have been living human beings, none have been more venerated than the sage; since there has been a sage, none have reached the Tathāgata. Long ago Lie Yukou said that Confucius once said to the prime minister of Song: "Among the people of the West there is a sage. He does not govern, yet there is no disorder; he does not speak, yet he is naturally trusted; he does not transform, yet [the Way] is naturally practiced. So vast is he that the people can find no name for him. I, Qiu, suspect he is a sage, but do not know whether he truly is a sage or truly is not." The prime minister remained silent and thought in his heart: "Confucius is deceiving me!" Testing it by this, Master Lie's words were not fabricated. As for the Tathāgata's birth and extinction, along with his renunciation and attainment of the Way, perhaps they corresponded to the years of King Zhao and King Mu of the Zhou. However, from King Wu to King Li of the Zhou, there were no recorded years; only with King Xuan did they begin to exist. The older chronicles nevertheless state: "the ninth, twenty-seventh, and thirty-third years of King Zhao, and the thirty-sixth year of King Mu." Some people have rather disagreed with this. I once examined it; thus, investigating the Grand Historian's Table of the Three Dynasties, looking at his preface, it says: "I have read genealogical records; since the Yellow Emperor there have all been year counts. Examining the beginning and end of their calendar tables and genealogies, the transmissions of the Five Virtues and the ancient scripts all differ. Is it without cause that the Master [Confucius] did not arrange their months and years in order?" Verifying it by this, it is not that there were truly no year counts before the Three Dynasties. Rather, because the Grand Historian took Confucius's purpose in compiling the Book of Documents, he did not record their years, but composed the chronological tables, transmitting doubts where there was doubt. When virtuous scholars of later generations, such as Huangfu Mi and his peers, once again deduced and rectified them, those who made the older chronicles of the Śākya clan accordingly recorded them on that basis. This can be understood in detail; who can say it is not so?

1.23

Evaluation: At what time was the Dharma entrusted to Mahākāśyapa? By what must it be clarified? Answer: Long ago, at the beginning of the assembly of the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra], the Tathāgata told all the monks: "You should not speak such words. The unsurpassed true Dharma I now possess has all been entrusted to Mahākāśyapa. This Kāśyapa shall serve as a great refuge for you." This is clear (seen in the second fascicle of the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra]). However, as for the orthodox lineage, because it is the sages' secret transmission to one another, it is impossible to know its precise place and time with certainty. Deliberating by the scriptures, the Lotus Sūtra comes before and the Nirvāṇa Sūtra comes after. When the Lotus Sūtra was being expounded, Mahākāśyapa was present; when it came to the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, he was not in the assembly. I say that the time of entrusting the Dharma was merely between the two sūtras. Some say that when the Tathāgata held up a flower and showed it to the assembly on Vulture Peak, Kāśyapa smiled, and that this was the entrustment of the Dharma. It is also said that the Tathāgata entrusted the Dharma to Mahākāśyapa in front of the Many-Children Stūpa, and the world all regards these as the reality of the transmission. Yet the origin of these has never been seen. Though I adopt them slightly, I do not dare make them definitive either. Question: At the beginning of other books, the seven Buddhas are necessarily listed, but this one does not have them; could it be that the verses of the seven Buddhas were not in the old translations? Answer: That is not so. The orthodox lineage must take personal transmission from master to disciple as its proof. Therefore, this [work] cuts off from Śākyamuni Tathāgata downwards, which is why I did not list them again. I have investigated: the historical records of various schools, such as the Baolin [zhuan] and the Chuandeng [lu], all trace their patriarchal succession to Zhi Jianglianglou of the former Wei and Narendrayaśas of the Eastern Wei, translated by these two Indian monks. If their beginnings list the verses of the seven Buddhas, it was also derived from the two translations of Zhi Jiang[lianglou] and [Narendra]yaśas. How could one say that it was not an old text? However, the Baolin zhuan does not list the seven Buddhas at its beginning, which aligns with the intention of my book.

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Record of the Orthodox Lineage of the Dharma Transmission, Fascicle One (End)

Linked texts (1)

傳法正宗記 — Classical Chinese