傳法正宗記 5.4

5.4

The Venerable Punyamitra was a native of Southern India. His clan was kṣatriya. His father, named Deśajit, was the king of that country; Mitra was the crown prince of Deśajit. At his birth, an extraordinary fragrance pervaded the palace, and the royal family marveled at it. Moreover, his innate nature was pure and fine, and from youth he revered Buddhist affairs. Earlier, when Vāśasita was converting and transforming that country, the Venerable One met with this circumstance, pleaded illness, begged to be relieved of his position as crown prince, and went forth from home under Vāśasita. The king granted permission. Vāśasita then shaved his head in the palace and assembled eminent monks to confer the full precepts upon him; the matter appears in the biography of Vāśasita. Soon after, he followed Vāśasita out of the palace and thus received the transmission of the Dharma. Later, he traveled and taught until he arrived in Eastern India. Prior to this, the king of that country, Kṣatriya, firmly believed in and honored a brahmacārin of the Long-Nail non-Buddhists. When the Venerable One entered the border, the followers of the non-Buddhists were troubled by it, and reported to their master, saying, "We have just learned that Punyamitra has entered the country. That man's path is superior; we fear our faction is not his equal. We should first plot to expel him." The non-Buddhist then requested to ascend a high place with the king, and looking westward, said to the king, "To the west there is an ominous vapor; a demon must have entered the border. Does the King see it?" The king said, "I do not see it. If so, what should be done?" The non-Buddhist said, "Wherever this demon goes, family and state will surely decline. However, in planning for the King, nothing is better than executing him." The king said, "I have not yet seen his fault; how could I bear to do so?" The non-Buddhist further brought forward a disciple skilled in incantations, saying, "His technique can move heaven and earth; this can ward off the demon." However, the Venerable One already knew of this pretext of observing vapors. He first cautioned his assembly, saying, "When I arrive at this city, there will surely be a minor calamity. Do not be frightened." When he met the king, the king indeed questioned him, saying, "Why have you come, Master?" The Venerable One said, "I have come wishing to deliver sentient beings." The king said, "By what Dharma will you deliver what kind of sentient beings?" He said, "According to their kind, I deliver them with the Dharma." The king said, "If someone possesses arts, does the Master dare to oppose him?" He said, "My Buddha-Dharma is supremely upright. Even heavenly demons are not enough to bring it down; how could there be demonic arts that I would not dare to confront?" Hearing his words, the non-Buddhists became even more infuriated. Performing their rites, they immediately conjured a great mountain congealed in the sky, about to crush the Venerable One. The Venerable One then pressed the ground with his finger; the earth shook, and none of the five hundred non-Buddhists could stand. The moved mountain instead loomed over their heads. The party of non-Buddhists was terrified. The Venerable One pressed the ground again; the earth became still, and the conjured mountain also vanished. The non-Buddhists all lined up, bowed, and repented their faults. The king also apologized to him, saying, "I did not recognize the Great Being, and thus caused fireflies to contend in brilliance with the sun and moon." At that time, the king had newly relocated his capital. On another day, he held a great vegetarian feast to inaugurate it, also to console the non-Buddhists, and wished for the Venerable One to participate in the gathering. The Venerable One at first did not comply. Slowly observing that the ground was about to cave in, he immediately went there with supernatural powers. The king saw him and said, "Has the Master indeed come?" He said, "I have not come to accept the offering; I only wish to save people." The king said, "Save them from what?" He said, "This land already belongs to a dragon. In an instant, it will collapse. If the assembly does not leave immediately, they will surely drown." Frightened, the king hastily arose, and the assembly departed from it. Before they had gone far, they reached a high plateau; looking back, the ground had indeed collapsed into an abyss, turning into a marsh. The king respected Mitra even more, immediately arranged an elephant carriage, and ordered the Venerable One to return with him to the old city. He then said, "Five days ago, I dreamed that a golden chain fell from mid-air and hung down to the ground; I then lifted it up. Is not today's event its verification?" The Venerable One also said to the king, "When I was about to arrive in this country in the past, I dreamed that a wondrous boy holding a jeweled parasol hurried after me. A sage must surely emerge in the King's realm to inherit the transmission of the Dharma successively." The king said, "How could our humble state have a consummate person?" He said, "Do not be modest, King; this will surely be verified." Prior to this, there was a brāhmaṇa's son in that country who had lost his parents in childhood and was solitary and unrestrained. He called himself Yingluo. The neighborhood could not fathom what kind of person he was. One day, he suddenly spoke an enigma, saying, "A divine man's foot treads on the earth; in the assembly one meets dragon and tiger. On this day, urge the king to come; the king will just follow him away." From then on, his comings and goings became even more irregular. When the carriage of the king and the Venerable One arrived at the east of the old city, this boy came especially to welcome them and bowed before the carriage. The Venerable One said to the king, "The so-called sage of the King's realm is this very person." The Venerable One then said to Yingluo, "Do you remember past events?" Yingluo said, "I recall that in the past, in the same Dharma assembly, the Venerable One expounded the Mahāprajñāpāramitā, while I recited the profound sūtras. As our conditions were destined to meet again, I therefore awaited you here." Mitra said to the king, "This child is Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva, who has descended his traces to be my Dharma heir. However, after him, two great beings will emerge again. One will first transform Southern India, and afterward his conditions will lie in Cīnasthāna; yet after nine years, he will return to his original country." The Venerable One then shaved his head and said to Yingluo, "Because formerly I spoke of prajñā and you spoke of sūtras, which brought about our meeting again today, it is fitting to take Prajñātāra as your name." By this time, Punyamitra had been teaching and converting in Eastern India for more than sixty years. One morning, he summoned Prajñātāra and told him, "In the past, the Tathāgata entrusted the Great Dharma-Eye Treasury, which was passed down until reaching me. I now transmit it to you. You should circulate it and not let it be severed. Listen to my gāthā:"