道宣律師感通錄 1.26

1.26

"Gou Bo was a man of Baxi County in Mianzhou who attained the second fruit (sakṛdāgāmin). Traveling as a guest in Xinfan village, he taught students. He did not consume wine or meat. The villagers mostly had faith in non-Buddhists and offered him food, but he would not eat it. The villagers then beat him. He was skilled at calligraphy; the villagers begged [for writings] from him, but they did not treat him with courtesy. He then felt distressed and made a vow. Lying face up in the grass north of the village, he wrote into the empty air with his brush. The villagers asked him in surprise, and he replied: 'I am writing a sūtra text and having the devas read it; I do not allow humans to see it.' The devas of the upper realms took central heavenly paper and lowered it to receive his brush, whereupon he wrote out one scroll of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra. Only after seven days was it finally finished. The devas fashioned a jeweled canopy above to cover it, and no grass grew on that ground. Herdboy children mostly took shelter from the rain beneath it. In the village, people were surprised that their clothes were dry, and they replied: 'We took shelter from the rain at Master Gou's sūtra-writing place.' Because of this, the villagers immediately came to have faith and respect. Now they have made a wooden fence around that place, not permitting people to encroach upon it. On every vegetarian feast day, the villagers hold Dharma assemblies there, and so on. Mount Gu's Zhulin Temple is said to have been built in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha. King Mu of the Zhou rebuilt the temple there. King Mu's Buddha hall together with the clay images still exist today. The mountain spirit requested five hundred arhats from the Buddha to reside at this temple; currently there are two thousand holy monks who can be seen encircling the left side of the temple, and fifty thousand ṛṣis endowed with the five supernormal powers can be seen making offerings to this temple, and so forth." Thereafter they discussed various vinaya characteristics. [The deva] asked me: "Master, you were originally the foremost [scholar] during the Liang dynasty. You had extensive writings and an acclaimed reputation, known to all. Jianchu and Dinglin were both places where you dwelt. But when born you looked upon the Compassionate Honored One (Maitreya) with slight arrogance, and you also extensively decided vinaya characteristics; therefore you were reborn in the human realm in this life. What you understand today does not preserve one in a hundred. Yet the commentaries, notes, and rules you have compiled are all residual habits from what you previously heard. By calculation, your retributive lifespan already expired more than a year ago. Now, because you are perfumed by the compassionate power remaining from your karma of transmitting and recording [the Dharma], and assisted by the devas, day passes into another day. How could you not know, Master? Since last year, there has been no day without decline; it is merely a withered ruin, like a withered tree or a decayed carriage that has no way to become strong again." I asked: "If so, my intention is to read through the canon again and extract essential practices. In view of this situation, can it be fulfilled or not?" He replied: "When you read the sūtras before, it was very rough; you only investigated what matched the vinaya. As for gently pondering the meanings of the texts, your transgressions were not deep or subtle. If you definitely wish to read them again, according to your capacity you should also be able to do so. However, your retributive lifespan has long expired, and the place of your rebirth also desires your arrival. I constantly encourage you not to wish to remain long in the human realm, yet you have the vinaya teachings to propagate. I hope you will understand this completely." He also said: "As for the Rules for Robes and Vestments that you composed, the spiritual beings are all delighted. Since the Dharma was transmitted to the east six or seven hundred years ago, vinaya masters of the north and south have had no such intention. How could one use the wealth of killing living beings to make the robes of compassion? It was entirely contrary [to the principle]. You alone singled out this intention." I replied: "Reading the Dazhidulun, I saw that the Buddha wore a coarse cloth saṃghāṭī; this lodged in my mind: how could one go contrary to this? Later, when listening to the vinaya, I saw silk garments; from this arose the thought to compose the new Rules for Robes and Vestments, surveying past and present comprehensively and integrating the established teachings. Lay sentiments regarding bedding and the three robes are trivial, yet karma from them is especially heavy; of the clothes in contact with the body, none do not harm life. How could one be willing to abandon them and wear Dharma robes? Furthermore, what Dharma robes represent originally manifests a mind of benevolence and compassion; without benevolence there is no way to rescue and deliver, and delivery is certainly obtained through compassion. Therefore, the Buddha's mind is great compassion. To practice compassion while killing living beings—I have never seen that as permissible. Thus Shen Yinhou wrote in his treatise: 'Plant mulberry trees around a five-mu homestead, and those sixty years of age, whose bodily qi is already declining, may rely on silk floss inside while keeping coarse cloth on the outside.' Therefore, garments of coarse cloth were common to the rich, noble, poor, and base alike. Today they are still commonly worn by kings and ministers; the ancient rules have not changed. The secular world distinguishes between old and young, and thus differences in reduction [of materials] are brought about. The Dao admits of no principle of harm; young and old alike wear the single Dharma robe. This is compassionate transformation, [preventing] universal harm, and so forth."