三寶感應要略錄 3.9

3.9

Shi Jietuo of Zhaoguo Monastery in Wutai County was secularly surnamed Xing and a native of that place. He regularly recited the Lotus Sūtra and performed visualizations such as the Buddha-light, seeking Mañjuśrī. To the left of the Eastern Hall, he met him repeatedly. At first, after bowing, he would lose sight of him; later, he personally received instructions and teachings. Jietuo asked Mañjuśrī: "How does the Great Being benefit the foolish, ignorant, faithless, and difficult-to-transform sentient beings of this land?" Mañjuśrī replied: "Three times each day, I enter the Three Periods of Shattering the Hordes of Māras to break the māra-karma of the sentient beings of this land. I enter the Samādhi of the Mother of Wisdom to dispel the darkness of ignorance. I go into the hells; in each hell, I manifest as a buddha-body, emitting light and expounding the Dharma. I go to the city of hungry ghosts and can give them food and drink. What other people give turns into burning embers upon entering their mouths; only what I give can benefit their bodies and minds, causing them to be reborn in the heavens and attain liberation. I enter the animal realm, where I can eliminate ignorance, open up their wisdom and understanding, and cause them all to give rise to the mind of awakening (bodhicitta)." Jietuo further asked: "Which sentient beings can be saved and transformed?" Mañjuśrī said: "Those who paint my image or make my image, whether with fingernails or like āmra grass, and orally utter 'Namo'—such sentient beings are easy to save and transform. As for other sentient beings, though I exhaust my compassionate mind, they are difficult to save and transform because of their own karma." Jietuo asked further: "How may Jietuo immediately awaken to non-arising and never regress?" Mañjuśrī said: "In the past, you made an image of me about three inches tall; your roots of goodness have already matured, so why must you now personally bow to me? Through your own self-reproach, you will surely attain awakening." Jietuo respectfully received the holy instruction, looked inward within himself, and awakened to non-arising, additionally increasing in the joy of the Dharma. He then moved the buddhas to manifest their bodies and expound the Dharma.