傳法正宗記 3.8

3.8

She then vanished in a flash. The Mahāsattva said: 'This is Māra coming to contend with me.' Shortly after, violent wind and rain indeed arrived, and heaven and earth suddenly turned dark. He said again: 'Māra's harbinger has arrived; I must eliminate it.' He waved his hand in the air, and there appeared a thousand-foot golden dragon, its awesome spiritual might vast and formidable; though mountains and hills shook and trembled, the demonic disturbance ceased. Seven days later, there was another small insect, in shape resembling a gnat, lurking beneath his seat. The Mahāsattva picked it up, showed it to the assembly, and said: 'This is a transformation of Māra, secretly listening to my Dharma.' He soon released it to let it act as it pleased, but it remained terrified and unable to move. Soon he comforted it, saying: 'I will not harm you; just restore your original form.' Māra then revealed his true body, bowed, and repented. The Mahāsattva asked him: 'What is your name, and how many are in your retinue?' Māra said: 'My name is Kapimala, and my retinue numbers three thousand.' He asked: 'Exerting all your spiritual powers, how much can you transform?' Māra said: 'Transforming the great ocean is not a difficult task for me.' He asked: 'Can you transform the ocean of nature?' Māra, bewildered, said: 'These words are beyond my knowledge.' The Mahāsattva then preached the Dharma for him, saying: 'This ocean of nature is that upon which mountains, rivers, and the great earth are established; samādhi and the six spiritual powers are manifested from this.' Hearing the Dharma, Māra gave rise to great faith, and together with his three thousand disciples sought to leave home. The Mahāsattva shaved their heads and ordained them, summoning five hundred arhats to administer the precepts to them, and told him: 'Hastening toward bodhi, you shall immediately attain the holy path.' Kapimala indeed attained the substance of the precepts and emitted radiance, and an extraordinary fragrance pervaded everywhere. Thereupon the Mahāsattva composed treatises on a grand scale. Shortly thereafter, he instructed him: 'I now entrust you with the Tathāgata's Great Dharma-eye Treasury. Transmit it and do not let it be cut off. Listen to my verse: