傳法正宗記 4.24

4.24

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.