三教平心論 2.2

2.2

[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?