北山錄 2.2.1

2.2.1

Subduing Māra beneath the Bodhi tree, he brought serenity and purity to all under heaven (when the Buddha first attained awakening beneath the Bodhi tree on the vajrāsana at the city of Gayā, after subduing Māra with the power of wisdom, the Dharma realm became calm and quiet). He bequeathed [teachings] to the world and established the doctrine for forty-nine years (attaining awakening at thirty, he expounded the Dharma and delivered people for forty-nine years, entering extinction at the age of seventy-nine). He took sūtras, vinaya, and abhidharma as the Tripiṭaka (sūtras being the Sūtrapiṭaka, vinaya being the Vinayapiṭaka, and abhidharma being the Mātṛkāpiṭaka). He took the five precepts, the ten virtues, the four truths, the twelvefold conditioned arising, and the six perfections as the five vehicles (the five precepts are the human vehicle; the ten virtues are the heavenly vehicle; the four truths are the śrāvaka vehicle; the twelvefold conditioned arising is the pratyekabuddha vehicle; and the six pāramitās are the bodhisattva vehicle). He unified them with the twelve divisions (first, sūtra; second, geya; third, vyākaraṇa; fourth, gāthā; fifth, udāna; sixth, nidāna; seventh, avadāna; eighth, itivṛttaka; ninth, jātaka; tenth, vaipulya; eleventh, adbhutadharma; twelfth, upadeśa; also called the twelve divisions of the teaching). He expanded them into four traditions (sūtras, vinaya, abhidharma, and dhāraṇī). The teaching first arose in a single sound, yet it profoundly harmonised with the minds of all beings. It is designated 'sweet dew' (amṛta), and also called the 'poisoned drum' (because it removes the feverish distress of those whose ailments correspond to it, it is called 'sweet dew'; because it arouses afflictions in those whose ailments do not correspond to it, it is called the 'poisoned drum'). After the Utmost Sage had passed away, his subtle words nearly ceased (the Utmost Sage refers to the Tathāgata). Mahākāśyapa promptly summoned a thousand companions who had realised reality, compiling and setting forth the teachings in order that their purport not be lost. The initial council at the royal city was held in the stone cave (the character zhuan 撰 is pronounced xuan 選; after the Buddha passed into extinction and was cremated, Mahākāśyapa summoned one thousand arhats to go to the Pippala Cave to compile the treasury of the Dharma, requesting King Aśoka to serve as the dānapati). The Gui clan presided over the seat (presiding means heading; the Gui clan refers to Kāśyapa). He first called upon Upāli and had him recite the vinaya section (Upāli was the barber to the Śākya princes; when the Śākya princes went forth from household life, they offered him their necklaces, bracelets, and bangles; having received them, Upāli reflected to himself, 'These men are of noble character and eminent status, yet they were able to renounce them; how much more so should I, who am poor and lowly, endure suffering merely to keep treasures?'; he then hung them on a tree for whoever needed them to take freely; he thereupon sought ordination and consistently propagated the vinaya section). Upāli left his seat and was about to ascend the dais (Mahākāśyapa initially established three Dharma seats at Pippala: one for compiling the Vinayapiṭaka, one for compiling the Sūtrapiṭaka, and one for compiling the Abhidharmapiṭaka; hence Upāli rose and went to the seat). He bowed to the feet of the Saṅgha and ascended, holding an ivory fan; just as the former Buddha had spoken, he did not err by a single word (speaking strictly in accordance with what the Buddha had said while present, without missing or mistaking even a single word or character). The one thousand whose taints were exhausted examined and wrote down [the words] in turn; only after verifying his speech twice was it settled. After completing eighty recitations, it was called the Eighty Recitations (Upāli recited from memory as he spoke, and the assembly transcribed and compiled it as he proceeded). Next he instructed Ānanda (Ānanda, being a trainee, was originally not permitted to join the assembly and was expelled outside the cave; he thereupon classified the delusions of the three realms and nine stages into nine categories, aroused the nine uninterrupted paths to sever the nine obstacles, realised the nine paths of liberation, and subsequently obtained the three insights and six superknowledges; using the superknowledge of spiritual faculties, he entered through the keyhole and was thus able to join the assembly; Kāśyapa then ordered him to compile the Sūtrapiṭaka, and Kātyāyana to compile the Abhidharmapiṭaka). Ānanda said, 'Yes,' just as Upāli had done. When three months had passed, Drinker of Light (Kāśyapa) feared that [the teachings] might be scattered and lost, and by the power of his vow-knowledge he observed that there was no negligence (Drinker of Light refers to Kāśyapa; yu 虞 means to worry; yi-wang 逸亡 means scattered and lost; fearing that as time passed they would be scattered and lost, he constantly observed them with knowledge and vows, without any laxity). For about a hundred years the level road broadened, and people were guided thereby (from the Buddha's extinction, Kāśyapa propagated and maintained the Dharma treasury for twenty years and transmitted it to Ānanda; after another twenty years, it was transmitted to Madhyāntika; after twenty years, Madhyāntika transmitted it to Śāṇakavāsa; after twenty years, Śāṇakavāsa transmitted it to Upagupta; these five persons together maintained and propagated the Dharma treasury for a hundred years). A hundred years later, when [Upa]gupta departed this world, the outside steeds of the Dharma chariot broke their axle (departing this world means passing away; the horses outside the team are called can 驂; can 𤘚 means broken; this is a metaphor for the breakdown of the Dharma vehicle after the extinction of Upagupta). Although the Vajjiputtakas violated the rules by presumptuously introducing the ten illicit practices, Revata and seven hundred unattached men eradicated them, like the Jinpugu arrow piercing the thin silk of Lu (one hundred years after the Buddha's extinction, in the country of Vaiśālī, there were Vajjiputtaka monks who claimed that ten matters were pure—such as eating with two fingers, drinking wine, and accepting and storing gold and silver—all ten of which had been forbidden by the Buddha; Elder Revata, along with the elder Sambhūta from Ahogaṅgā, the elder of the village of Sobbha, and others, comprising seven hundred arhats, performed the legal proceedings and eradicated these offenses; this appears in the fifty-fourth fascicle of the Four-Part Vinaya; gao 縞 means plain white silk; Jinpugu is the name of an arrow with which Duke Zhuang of Lu shot Nangong Changwan). Then came the Great Elder Mahādeva (who was Dātian; originally the son of a merchant leader in the country of Tokhārā; because his father was away elsewhere, he defiled his mother; when his father returned, he killed him; later he killed his mother and an arhat; fearing his crimes, he sought ordination; he was clever and thoroughly versed in the Tripiṭaka). He falsely usurped the fame of a sage and relied upon the authority of the king (he claimed, 'I have attained arhatship,' and entered the palace of King Aśoka to constantly serve as the royal teacher; hu 怙 means to rely upon). Harboring a base and contentious mind, he schemed to create division, corrupting and altering the Buddha's words, and throwing the sacred scriptures into confusion (when the Saṅgha expounded the precepts on the fifteenth day, he made arbitrary claims, throwing the sacred words into confusion and causing discord with the Saṅgha). The assembly of sages reproached him for being vulgar, contrary, presumptuous, and non-canonical (the elder holy assembly condemned him for violating and confounding the Buddha's words, which then escalated into a dispute; the king was unable to reconcile them). His followers swarmed like hedgehog quills and severed ties to become bitter enemies (Mahādeva's followers grew fierce like hedgehog quills and became mortal enemies of the holy assembly). The assembly of sages was unable to resist the affront (ke 克 means able; Mahādeva's faction was powerful, and the holy assembly was unable to restrain them). Thereupon they split into two schools (Mahādeva formed the Mahāsāṃghika school, and the holy assembly formed the Sthaviranikāya). The streams of these two schools flowed away, drifting and never returning. Within several hundred years, they gradually split into twenty schools (from within the Mahāsāṃghika, nine schools branched out: first, the Ekavyāvahārika; second, the Lokottaravāda; third, the Gokulika; fourth, the Bahuśrutīya; fifth, the Prajñaptivāda; sixth, the Caityaśaila; seventh, the Aparaśaila; eighth, the Uttaraśaila; together with the root school making nine; the Sthaviranikāya divided into eleven schools: first, the Sarvāstivāda; second, the Haimavata; third, the Vātsīputrīya; fourth, the Dharmottarīya).