釋迦方志 2.112

2.112

Now, classifying them according to universal and specific categories: first, by past kalpas; second, by the Auspicious Kalpa; third, taking the single Buddha Śākya[muni] as the index. First, regarding the past kalpas to distinguish what passes through and what is obstructed: as with the deeds of past kalpas enumerated above, the flowing blood where sattva sacrificed his body still remains, as does the blood left from the whipping when Sudāna gave away his children; the place where [he] spread his hair to cover the mud; the place where [he] gave up his life seeking a verse; [where King] Candraprabha severed his head; [and where] Śibi fed the hawk. These traces all belong only to ancient kalpas; given the reckoning of destructions by disasters, how could they still exist? Renowned monks of India have also resolved this principle: according to what was asked, they ought not remain uniquely. Yet past events and past lives are fully distributed throughout the Five Indias. Some say: this is due to the Tathāgata's spiritual power and the bodhisattvas' supreme practices; though there are the three disasters, they cannot be annihilated, and when worlds form later, they coalesce according to them. Others say: under the transformation of the three disasters, there is nothing that is not eradicated; yet so that later generations might have models to look up to, when a world first forms, it manifests in resemblance based on ancient traces. These are all transformation traces of the Buddha, effected through spiritual response; hence among the five inconceivables, one is the power of the Buddha. Therefore the events of past kalpas are set forth sequentially. Second, explaining them with reference to the same kalpa: for example, the single alms bowl shared in common by a thousand buddhas. Thus the tradition says: when Śākyamuni received food, the Four [Heavenly] Kings offered the bowl. After his parinirvāṇa, it circulated to Vaiśālī; after hundreds or thousands of years it went to Gandhāra, then to the Yuezhi, Khotan, and Kucha; it shall reach China, return to the Lion Kingdom (Siṃhala), come back to India, and ascend to Tuṣita Heaven. Maitreya, upon seeing it, will say: 'The Buddha Śākyamuni's bowl has now arrived here.' After seven days of offerings, it will descend again to the Dragon Palace. When Maitreya attains the Way, the Four Kings will offer it again. Second, the Buddha's shadow in the Dragon Palace is left behind in common by a thousand buddhas. Third, the square stone where it is said the thousand buddhas sit in common—namely, the one beneath the Gandhabhadra tree. Fourth, the stone stupas whose spiritual response declines, serving as indexes for a thousand buddhas in common. In the above records, traces of the four buddhas walking and sitting were often clarified; based on this, the future can also be discerned. Third, explaining that the universal and specific aspects during the single era of Śākyamuni are not uniform: for instance, the jewelled stairway from the celestial realm has vanished without a trace; of King Kaniṣka's great stupa, three of the seven transformations [have already occurred]; the Bodhi tree dies and is reborn; the Buddha's footprints are damaged and reappear; the willow branch was snapped and sprouted anew; the relics when tested became all the more miraculous. In cases like these, they do not pass through to later buddhas. As for Kāśyapa preserving his transformed [body] on Mount Kukkuṭapāda; Maitreya's mountain palace preserving the body while waiting for the sage; the companions of Juqu in the cessation trance; and the host of arhats worthy of offerings—these matters are restricted to the future, their spirits roaming remote realms, all to illuminate the Way, reveal [it] to the dust-obscured, compassionately guide sentient beings, and purify the spirit across all realms of existence.