三教平心論 2.2

2.2

愈又曰。其身死已久。枯朽之骨凶穢之餘。豈宜以入宮禁。蓋以佛身之舍利。而比凡庶之朽骨。何其無忌憚。一至此哉。涅槃經曰。爾時世尊。以大悲力從心胸中火湧棺外。漸漸闍維碎金體成末舍利。以是知佛骨者。佛之舍利也。吳孫權赤烏四年。康居國三藏康僧會至金陵。詔至問狀。會進曰。如來大師化已千年。然靈骨舍利神應無方。於是齋潔懇求至三七日聞鎗然有聲。起視瓶中五色錯發。權與公卿黎庶聚觀曰。希世之瑞也。使力士鎚之而砧碎。光明自若。於是建塔。其地曰佛陀里。又秀州精嚴院有一舍利。一日行道一日入定。行道者旋轉不息。入定者寂然不動。嵩禪師作行道舍利記。蓋以其道之驗也。九流百家紛然。謂之道則與佛未始異也。稽其驗則天下無有也。競尊其師。謂佛不足與其聖賢校。及其死也不數日而形腐。不百年而骨朽。其神則漠然烏有乎恍惚。豈其道亦有未臻於佛者乎。然舍利之見乎天下者。古今多矣。有盤空而翔者。有無端而至者。發光而並日月者。不可聞者。不可碎者。若此行道晝夜振之而不息。天下未始見也。捧其塔而敬之。則金鐸益轉。若與人意而相應異乎美哉。然則舍利之神奇若此。而以之比凡骨可乎。列子曰。生則堯舜死則腐骨。故雖褒稱嘉美以為大而化聖而不可知者。俱不免乎。腥臊臭穢與草木同腐也。其能若佛骨之更數千載而神奇特異。與世為祥為福者耶。

[Han] Yu also said: 'His body has long been dead; withered, rotten bones, the foul remnants of misfortune—how could they be suited to enter the palace precincts?' He compared the śarīra of the Buddha's body to the rotten bones of ordinary mortals; how could his recklessness reach such an extreme? The Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'At that time, the World-Honoured One, through the power of great compassion, caused fire to burst forth from his chest outside the coffin, gradually cremating (jhāpeti) his golden body and reducing it to powdered śarīra.' From this we know that the Buddha's bone is the Buddha's śarīra. In the fourth year of the Chiwu era of Sun Quan of Wu, Tripiṭaka Master Kang Senghui of Kangju arrived in Jinling. He was summoned by imperial decree and questioned about the circumstances. Senghui stepped forward and said: 'A thousand years have passed since the Great Master Tathāgata entered parinirvāṇa, yet the numinous bone śarīra responds miraculously without limit.' Thereupon he purified himself with fasting and earnestly prayed; on the twenty-first day, a clanging sound was heard. Rising to look into the vase, five colors shone forth in mingled radiance. Quan and his dukes, ministers, and commoners gathered to gaze upon it, saying: 'This is a rare auspicious sign in this world!' He ordered a strongman to strike it with a hammer, and the anvil shattered, while the light remained unchanged. Thereupon a pagoda was erected, and the place was called Fotuoli (Buddha Village). Furthermore, at Jingyan Monastery in Xiuzhou there was a śarīra: one day it would circumambulate (cankama), and one day it would enter samādhi. When circumambulating, it rotated unceasingly; when entering samādhi, it was utterly still and motionless. Chan Master Song wrote the 'Record of the Circumambulating Śarīra,' taking it as proof of its Way. The Nine Schools and Hundred Philosophers are clamorous; if spoken of as the Way, they do not originally differ from the Buddha, yet when examining their verification, none exists under heaven. They compete to honor their masters, claiming that the Buddha is not worthy to be compared to their sages and worthies; yet when they die, within a few days their bodies rot, and within a hundred years their bones decay, their spirits drifting indistinctly into nothingness. Could it be that their Way has not attained that of the Buddha? Now, cases of śarīra manifesting throughout the world have been numerous from ancient times to the present: there are those that soar hovering in the sky, those that arrive without reason, those emitting light rivaling the sun and moon, those that cannot be destroyed, and those that cannot be crushed. But like this circumambulation, vibrating day and night without ceasing—this had never before been seen under heaven. When one held up its stupa in reverent devotion, the golden bells turned all the more, as if resonating in harmony with human intent. How marvelous and exquisite! Such being the miraculous wonder of śarīra, is it permissible to compare it to ordinary bones? Liezi said: 'In life, one is a Yao or a Shun; in death, rotten bones.' Therefore, even those praised and lauded as 'great and transforming' or 'sagely and unfathomable' cannot escape smelling foul and rotting away along with the grass and trees. How could they be like the Buddha's bones, which after several thousand years remain miraculous, extraordinary, and distinct, serving as auspicious omens and blessings for the world?