道宣律師感通錄 1.3

1.3

I once saw the Record of Inquiring into Spirits compiled by Yu Bao, Minister of Ceremonies of the Jin, in which it is related: The late Magistrate of Zhongmu of the Jin, Su Shao, was a man of talent and discernment. Having died unexpectedly in the unseen realms, he manifested his form in broad daylight at his home. When his various relatives and old friends heard of it, they all gathered together. He drank, ate, talked, and laughed no differently from living people. Someone questioned him: "When the magistrate of Zhongmu was alive, he wrote many rhapsodies and treatises. The words came forth so fast that it was difficult to trace their origins." He recited his verses, saying: / "Channeling the refined spirit, I cast off my former form; / The spirit wanders vast and wide, briskly roaming the dark mystery. / Returning to the Northern Emperor, I arrive at the capital of Feng; / Lofty walls rise densely, vast and towering high. / Ascending to the Phoenix Portal, I recite verses in the Imperial Court. / Drawing near to Bu Shang, I share the chamber with Master Yan; / Intimately serving the Great Sage, I chant eulogies of the completed Liang. / Aspiring to the Young Prince of Wu, whose brilliance shines forth bright; / Airing pure discourses, the wind blows fair and fine; / Spreading floral adornments, the patterns shine in glory. / Hoping to raise my body and mount Kunlun and Yingzhou; / To receive good fortune and enjoy a thousand ages." / The rest is voluminous and not recorded in full. When I first saw these words, they seemed both real and illusory. I also saw that at the beginning of the Liang, the daughter of Jiang Mi recited more than thirty sūtras from memory, such as the Great Adornment of the Pure Land. Coming down to the present day, such occurrences are witnessed with one's own eyes. By good fortune born of affinity, recently, in the latter part of the second month of this year, I repeatedly experienced spiritual resonance with devas who appeared as though we had met before. They said to me: "The treatises and compositions you have authored—the Xu gaoseng zhuan and the Guang hongming ji—have aided the holy transformation. The unseen spirits rejoice along with you, and all praise and delight in them. As for the vinaya section, your extracted commentaries and ceremonial manuals have no equal. However, in determining light property and heavy property, there are slight oversights. This is not due to your own negligence; it is merely that the translators [failed to consider]: how could a king's precious robes be equated with the secular garments of white-robed laypersons, so that they are treated accordingly as non-heavy property? Even woolen rugs of matching proportions are also placed in the category of light property. Now, when a king wears precious robes, they are comparable to the three robes of a monk. Being worth a hundred thousand, they are therefore called precious robes; when used as offerings to the Saṃgha, can they be equated with the limit of light property? The garments of white-robed laypersons and non-Buddhists are originally renounced by those who have left the household life. The three robes were instituted solely by the Buddha, and those who wear them are assured of attaining liberation. The secular garments of white-robed laypersons are strictly prohibited by the Buddha's discipline; if a monk dies possessing them, they must all be treated as heavy property. As for woolen rugs, if their measurements match those of the three robes, they are treated as identical to the three robes. In frontier regions, the use of leather bedding is permitted, and these too serve as the three robes, with the strips and leaves on the outside and the soft fur on the inside. In countries of extreme cold, the Buddha permitted them for the practice of the Way, but once one reaches a land of cloth fabrics, they no longer belong to the light limit. You should rectify your earlier misconceptions and follow this later awakening. While the Tathāgata was in the world, there were already later regulations that superseded earlier ones; how much more so nowadays, when the distinction between confusion and awakening is not preserved!" / I asked where they had come from. A deva came forward, made salutations, exchanged greetings about the weather, and then said: "This disciple's surname is Wang, and personal name is Fan. I was an official of the Orchid Platform (Secretariat) of the Great Wu. When Master Kang [Senghui] first arrived in Jianye, the ruler Sun [Quan] gave him permission. Through mutual resonance with rare and wondrous omens, an extraordinary temple was erected for him. At that time, the gods and spirits of heaven and earth all bestowed spiritual aid, and after three weeks of seven days, a śarīra was miraculously obtained. The ruler of Wu held a bronze vase with his own hands and poured it out into a bronze dish; wherever the śarīra struck, the dish cracked and broke. Even when tested with fire and struck with hammers, it suffered no harm at all. People like Kan Ze and Zhang Yu were also assisted and protected by devas, who entered their bodies so that their spirits became lucid and agile, enabling them to respond harmoniously and appropriately. Now they are all in heaven, engaged in propagating and protecting the Buddhadharma. This disciple is an emissary under General Wei of the Southern Heaven. The General's duties are extremely numerous: he protects the Buddhadharma across the three continents, and whenever there are disputes, conflicts, invasions, or perils, there is nowhere he does not personally go to instruct and exhort them, leading them to yield in veneration. Being eager to come, but detained by prior matters, he will arrive before long. For the time being, he has sent us disciples to attend upon you, Master." / Shortly after this conversation concluded, another deva arrived, saying: "My surname is Luo, and I am a man of Shu." Speaking with the accent of Shu, he expounded at length on the characteristics of the vinaya. When we first met, he observed secular etiquette; his narration of origins was methodical, yet parts of it were subsequently forgotten. / Another deva arrived, saying: "My surname is Fei." After paying respects as before, he said: "In the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, this disciple was born in the lowest heaven under General Wei. The devas are intoxicated with greedy desires; this disciple, by the power of past vows, does not cling to celestial desires, practicing pure brahmacarya and paying special reverence to the vinaya. General Wei practices the brahmacarya of a kumārabhūta, not indulging in celestial desires. Beneath each of the four kings are eight generals, making thirty-two generals under the Four Kings, who travel back and forth throughout the four continents to protect and assist all renunciants. Among the four continents, the northern continent has little Buddhadharma, while across the remaining three continents, the Buddhadharma flourishes greatly. However, renunciants frequently break the restrictive precepts, and few act in accordance with the Dharma. The people of the eastern and western continents have little sharp wisdom, and their afflictions are hard to transform. Although the people of the southern continent commit many offenses, when transformed to follow goodness, their minds are easily subdued. When the Buddha was on the verge of nirvāṇa, he personally entrusted [the Dharma] to them and commanded them all to guard and protect it, not allowing demonic disturbances. If we do not guard and protect those who break the precepts in this way, who would practice my teachings? Therefore, in keeping with the Buddha's bequeathed admonitions, we dare not fail to practice them. Even when we see transgressions of the prohibitions, we protect them out of pity. If we see a single good deed, myriad faults are overlooked; this is treated as forgetting flaws, without retaining past failings. Furthermore, the foul stench of human beings wafts upward into the sky for four hundred thousand li; all the pure devas abhor it. Yet solely because we have received the Buddha's entrustment to protect the Dharma, we even reside among humans, and the devas dare not fail to come. Among the thirty-two generals, General Wei is the most committed to broad protection. There are many demonic sons and daughters who mock and harass monks, and those whose power of the Way is weak are bewildered and disordered by them; the General hastily rushes there to eliminate them according to the situation. Thus, when matters arise, he must report to the Four Kings; whenever they see him, the Kings all rise, because General Wei cultivates the conduct of a kumārabhūta and protects the true Dharma. This disciple by nature takes pleasure in the vinaya precepts. During the Tathāgata's entire lifetime, whenever he instituted vinaya rules, I sat in the assembly, listening and receiving the ordination precepts." / Thereupon I questioned him concerning various obscure passages and meanings in the vinaya, and there was none he did not resolve. However, in this Eastern Flower land, the Three Jewels have long possessed marine stone statues that appear in various places. People regard them as miraculous and venerate them, but when seeking their origins, none know where to turn. Therefore, taking advantage of this opportunity, I made inquiries of him. General textual expressions can be gathered by reason; yet without extensive observation, one cannot speak of them. In my youth, I took pleasure in broad learning and in texts rare in the world that transcend the mundane. Thus I had perused records such as Inquiring into Spirits, Investigating the Spirits, Resonances of the Unseen, Retributions of the Unseen, Manifesting the Extraordinary, Narrating Anomalies, Accounts of Marvels, and Records of the Obscure. Hence, I had no doubts or hesitations. How much more so the words spoken by extraordinary persons among the Buddhas, writings of energetic and valiant resolve, protecting the physical and spiritual forms, and guarding cities and stūpas—these matters come from prior hearsay and are not spoken in vain. The subsequent accounts of circumstances are all written out and annotated in accordance with what emerged. / I first asked about Buddhist affairs: "Regarding the stone statue of Duobao (Prabhūtaratna) in Chengdu of Yizhou, in what era did this image well forth from the earth?" He answered: "The original foundation of the Shu capital was on Mount Qingcheng. What is now Chengdu was once the bed of a great sea. Long ago, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, someone carved it by the Xi'er River, fashioning it after the complete body of Prabhūtaratna Buddha. It was placed at the Temple of Gṛdhrakūṭa on the Xi'er River. A man from Chengdu went there to trade, invited the image, and was bringing it back. When he reached the site of the present Duobao Temple, it was overturned and submerged by the sea god treading upon the boat. Earlier, the man who retrieved the image had seen the sea god's son walking on the shore; mistaking him for a mountain mushroom, he killed him. Because of this, the god grew enraged, overturned the boat, and drowned the laborers and the image together in the single vessel. The Prabhūtaratna Buddha was originally at the Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain Temple; its ancient foundation still remains, and there is still a stūpa that constantly emits light. Today, traveling toward that land, the road goes through Langzhou, and only after passing more than three thousand li does one reach the West River. The river is very wide, sometimes a hundred li, sometimes five hundred li across. On islands within the river, there are also ancient temples, sūtras, and statues, but no monks reside there. The sūtras are written in this script, and bells are occasionally heard. The common people are prosperous and make offerings to the ancient stūpas twice a year. The stūpas resemble three-tiered ordination platforms, with stone masonry and inverted bowls on top, and are exceedingly numerous. The people of that land simply call them divine mounds. Whenever they emit light, people offer vegetarian food to sacrifice to them, seeking blessings. That region lies more than two thousand li to the west of Xizhou. When questioned, they say it is not far from India, and people occasionally travel there, and so on."