傳法正宗記 4.10

4.10

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:"