傳法正宗記 3.24

3.24

Kāṇadeva was a native of South India. His surname was Vaiśāla. By nature he was talented and eloquent; in his youth he studied the customs of his country and took pleasure in cultivating karmic merit. When he set out to see the Great Being Nāgārjuna and had just arrived at his gate, Nāgārjuna tested him by sending a bowl filled with water to be placed in front of him first. The Great Being immediately dropped a needle into it, and then went in to meet him, joyfully in accord. When Nāgārjuna manifested the moon disc to signify the Buddha-nature, the assembly was all baffled, and the Great Being alone understood it and explained it to the crowd. Soon he also took Nāgārjuna as his master and renounced the household life, and Deva indeed became his eminent disciple. When the Great Being Nāgārjuna was about to enter nirvāṇa, he transmitted the great Dharma-eye to him. Afterward, the Great Being widely converted other regions with what he had realised. Prior to this, in the kingdom of Kapilavastu, there was a wealthy man named Brahmacāri Śuddhaguṇa, known in that country as an elder. He had two sons: the elder was named Rāhulabhadra, and the second was named Rāhulata. Śuddhaguṇa liked to cultivate gardens and plant fine trees. One morning, without reason, a fungus suddenly grew on a tree in his garden like an ear, larger than a cartwheel, delicious and edible. It remained like this for a whole year, serving only to feed Śuddhaguṇa and his son Rāhulata. Whenever other members of the family wanted to take and eat it, the fungus would disappear. Śuddhaguṇa suspected something of it and said to his son, "This tree's ear is eaten only by you and me; this must be an extraordinary matter. Who can clarify it for us?" Rāhulata then spoke a verse, wishing to inform others with it: