經律異相 4.6

4.6

The Bodhisattva of Ultimate Attainment resided in Tuṣita heaven. The gods deliberated together: "Into which clan should the Bodhisattva be caused to manifest his birth?" The god Zhongying asked, "Into which clan shall the one bound to one more birth descend in spirit?" He answered, "A clan that possesses sixty virtues is the one into which I shall descend (the text is extensive and is not recorded here). Only the Śākya clan has long planted the roots of virtue. The people of Kapilavastu, great and small, are in harmony and concord, and superiors and inferiors carry on from one another. The realm is wealthy, the people are joyful, and they thirst for the One Vehicle. Furthermore, King Śuddhodana's character and conduct are benevolent and worthy, and his queen, whose clan name is Gautama, is gentle, upright, loyal, and good, guarding body, speech, and mind. For five hundred lifetimes she has already been the Bodhisattva's mother." While the queen was resting in slumber, the Bodhisattva transformed himself and rode a white elephant crowned with the essence of the sun, entering into her womb. His body and mind were at ease and joyful, as if in deep dhyāna. She went beneath the aśoka tree and sent a messenger to inform the king. At that time, the aśoka grove displayed ten kinds of auspicious omens: first, it suddenly became vast; second, the earth and stones turned into diamond; third, jewelled trees stood in rows; fourth, it was adorned with aloeswood; fifth, it was filled with flower garlands; sixth, myriad treasures gushed forth; seventh, lotuses sprouted in the ponds; eighth, devas, dragons, and yakṣas stood with palms joined; ninth, heavenly maidens paid reverent homage; tenth, all Buddhas radiated light that universally illumined everywhere. The king was filled with great joy. The queen's body became light and soft, and she had no thoughts of the three poisons. Whenever those afflicted with illnesses were stroked by her hand, they were surely cured. When the ten months were complete and the time of delivery arrived, there were thirty-two auspicious omens: first, the trees of the rear garden bore fruit spontaneously; second, blue lotuses as large as chariot wheels emerged on dry land; third, withered trees blossomed; fourth, chariots of the seven jewels arrived; fifth, subterranean treasuries of gems welled up spontaneously; sixth, famed incense and fine flowers spread far and near; seventh, five hundred lions from the Snow Mountains lined up at the city gate; eighth, five hundred white elephants all stood before the palace; ninth, a fine rain shed fragrant moisture; tenth, foods and drinks of a hundred flavours were provided to the hungry and thirsty (the text is extensive and is not recorded here; it is the same as in the various Benqi texts). On the night of the eighth day of the fourth month, at the time the bright star appeared, the queen was enjoying the view in the garden and strolling beneath the limbī tree. The three-thousandfold world system shook in six ways. As the Pusya constellation set, the tree bent its branch. The mother grasped it. The devas scattered flowers. He was born from her right side, sixteen feet in height. Immediately he took seven steps, jewelled flowers receiving his feet. Raising his hand, he stood and said: "In heaven above and beneath the heavens, I alone am supreme. The three realms are all suffering; what is there to enjoy?" Śakra and Brahmā waited upon him; the Four Heavenly Kings received him onto a golden table; dragons rained down fragrant water to bathe him. Five hundred serving-maids each gave birth to strong men; the white mare gave birth to a foal; the yellow ewe gave birth to a lamb (the Ruiying benqi jing says the servant was named Chandaka and the horse was named Kaṇṭhaka; the various Benqi texts are largely the same with minor differences). After seven days his mother passed away and was born in Trāyastriṃśa heaven. The prince was an infant and needed to be cared for. At that time someone said, "Only Mahāprajāpatī is the prince's maternal aunt; pure and without a husband, she should be able to nurture and raise him." King Śuddhodana then went to Mahāprajāpatī to ask her to nurse him, and Mahāprajāpatī consented. A brahmacārin of the Snow Mountains named Asita, on seeing the prince, wept and lamented with streaming tears. The king asked him the reason, and he replied, "I look up in celebration to the great king for fathering this divine being. Yesterday heaven and earth shook violently precisely because of this. According to my method of physiognomy, the prince has the thirty-two marks: first, his body is golden-hued; second, on the crown of his head there is a fleshy protuberance; third, his hair is deep indigo-blue; fourth, between his eyebrows there is a white tuft of hair; fifth, the nape of his neck radiates sunlight; sixth, his eyelashes are deep indigo-blue; seventh, his upper and lower lids blink together; eighth, his mouth has forty teeth; ninth, his teeth are white and even; tenth, his cheeks are square; eleventh, his tongue is broad and long; twelfth, his palate is fully rounded; thirteenth, his chest is like that of a lion; fourteenth, his torso is square and upright; fifteenth, his arms are long; sixteenth, his fingers are long; seventeenth, his heels are full; eighteenth, his feet stand flat and even; nineteenth, his inner and outer joints are firmly locked; twentieth, the palms of his hands have webbed fingers; twenty-first, the soles of his hands have patterns of thousand-spoked wheels; twenty-second, the soles of his feet have patterns of thousand-spoked wheels; twenty-third, his private parts are concealed like a horse's; twenty-fourth, his calves are like those of an antelope; twenty-fifth, his bones are linked like hooks; twenty-sixth, his body hairs curl to the right; twenty-seventh, each pore has a single hair; twenty-eighth, his skin and hair are fine and soft; twenty-ninth, his body does not retain dust or water; thirtieth, on his chest there is a svastika (the Ruiying jing is identical but lacks two). One whose body possesses these marks, if he remains a householder, will become a wheel-turning sage king to whom the seven jewels arrive spontaneously; if he leaves the household life, he will become a self-awakened Buddha. I grieve that my years are already advanced and I shall not witness the rising of the Buddha; it is for this reason alone that I weep." The king rewarded him generously. He instructed Mahāprajāpatī to protect and attend to him with deep veneration (drawn from fascicle 2 of the Puyao jing and fascicle 1 of the Shijia pu). When the prince was seven years old, he rode in a sheep-cart, escorted and followed by the Śākya clan, and went to the writing master. The master was named Viśvāmitra. The prince asked, "Master, what scripts do you have to teach me?" He replied, "I have the Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī scripts to teach you." The prince said, "There are sixty-four kinds of different scripts; why only two?" The master said, "I wish to hear their names." The prince replied, "The Brāhmī script, Kharoṣṭhī script, protector-of-the-multitude script, swift-and-firm script, dragon-and-ghost script, gandharva script, asura-deer-wheel script, heavenly-intestine script, rotating-numbers script, contemplating-emptiness script (the text is extensive and is not recorded here). Which script do you wish to teach me?" The master was unable to comprehend and could only sing his praises. The prince explained the fundamentals and particulars to the boys and encouraged them to arouse the aspiration for awakening (the Ruiying jing states that two characters were missing from the script, so he questioned the master, and when the master could not answer, [the prince] instead inspired his mind). When the prince was seventeen years of age, the king sought to arrange a consort for him. After screening several thousands, he finally found the daughter of a king of a small state whose clan name was Gautama, Vasuvarta (in the language of Liang: Śākyavardhana); her name was Gopī. She was peerlessly dignified and pure as a lotus. Eight states vied to wed her, but he had not promised her to any. The king summoned and met him, [saying], "I now wish to arrange a betrothal for the prince with your daughter." Śākyavardhana was filled with grief and worry: if he did not agree, he would surely face military conquest; if he agreed to give her, he would incur the enmity of the eight states. The daughter said, "King Śuddhodana's realm is supreme in martial skills, feared by all states. Let the king proclaim within his realm: seven days hence, the prince will display his arts; let those who are capable assemble" (the Dīrghāgama says that she was the daughter of the Śākya Daṇḍapāṇi, who said that whoever possessed martial skills would take her as wife). Devadatta struck and killed an elephant; the prince threw it outside the city walls. In astronomy, geography, and eighty thousand diverse arts, none could match the prince. Devadatta engaged in hand-to-hand wrestling with the prince; being younger, the prince caught and threw him into the air three times without harming him. Then they competed in archery at drums. Devadatta hit the drum, but at forty li could not pierce through. When the prince drew bows, the bows all snapped and broke. He asked whether there was an exceptional bow fit for his use. The king said, "The bow used by my late grandfather is extraordinary and peerless; no one has been able to use it. It is kept in the heavenly temple." It was fetched and given to the prince; none of the Śākyas had been able to string it. The prince used it to shoot and struck a drum at a hundred li; the arrow sank into the earth, and a gushing spring welled forth spontaneously, reaching as far as the Iron Ring Mountains. The three-thousandfold world system shook in six ways. Gopī was then made the prince's principal consort, and following worldly custom he manifested the appearance of mutual amusement (the Ruiying jing says that the prince took a wife but for a long time did not engage in intercourse; he pointed one finger at the consort's abdomen, and later a son was born). He also took the daughter of the elder Yi-shi, named Yaśodharā, as his second consort. He also took the daughter of a Śākya elder, named Mṛgadāvā, as his third consort. As the prince was destined to become a flying emperor, [the king] erected palaces for the three seasons and installed sixty thousand palace maidens. Rāhula vanished and transformed down from heaven, manifesting his birth. Later, the prince went out through the eastern city gate. The king ordered the roads to be cleared and cleaned, so that nothing impure would remain. Through the prince's spiritual power, a deva transformed into an old man: his head was white, his teeth had fallen out, his eyes were dim, his ears were deaf, and he walked hunched over leaning on a cane. The prince, knowing full well, deliberately asked, "What kind of person is this?" The charioteer said, "This is called an old man." The prince said, "Human life flows away like a torrent, hard to attain again. It is not so for this person alone; the whole world is thus." Turning the chariot around, he returned to the palace, brooding and unhappy. Later, he went out through the southern city gate and encountered a sick person, with a swollen belly and emaciated body, lying beside the road. He asked the charioteer, who answered, "A sick man." The prince said, "All things are impermanent; having a body entails suffering. The same will surely apply to me." Thereupon he returned to the palace. Later, he went out through the western city gate and saw a dead man, with his family weeping bitterly. The charioteer said, "A dead man. When people live, there is death, just as after spring there is winter; beings are all subject to the same pattern." The prince said, "Death is indeed painful! The spirit is in great agony! I see that when one dies, the form decomposes and the body disintegrates, yet the spirit does not perish. I cannot again receive birth through death, wandering in the five destinies and wearing out my spirit." He turned the chariot around and returned. On another day, he went out through the northern city gate and saw a śramaṇa, his robes neat and orderly, holding a Dharma implement in his hand. The charioteer said, "This is called a bhikṣu. He has cast aside emotional desires, his mind rejoices in all beings, and he wishes to deliver those of the ten directions." The prince said, "Excellent! This is what I delight in. If I do not renounce the royal throne and leave the household life, it would not be fitting." That very night, in the quiet of the night, he entered the royal palace, and light shone far and near. His royal father was awakened and arose. The prince said to his father, "The devas urge and assist me; I must now leave the household life." His royal father wept bitterly: "What is your aspiration? When will you return?" The prince wished to obtain four boons: first, not to age; second, to be without illness; third, not to die; fourth, not to be separated. "If you, royal father, grant these four boons, I will not leave the household life." The king said, "From antiquity to the present, no one has ever attained these." His sorrow and grief deepened even more. He then ordered five hundred Śākya youths endowed with great courage and strength to guard the four gates overnight; the opening and closing of the city gates could be heard forty li away. Gopī was suspicious and did not leave his side. The prince reflected that the path is pure and not suited to living at home; one must reside in the mountain forests, investigating the subtle and practicing dhyāna. At that time he was twenty-nine years of age. After midnight on the seventh day of the fourth month, Gopī had five dreams and immediately woke up in alarm. The prince questioned her, and she answered, "I dreamt that Mount Sumeru collapsed, the bright moon fell to the earth, the jewel's radiance suddenly vanished, my hair fell out on its own, and someone snatched my parasol." The Bodhisattva, knowing the dreams were omens concerning his own person, said: "Mount Sumeru does not collapse; the bright moon continues to shine; the jewel's radiance does not vanish; hair does not fall out; the parasol remains intact. Just sleep peacefully; take care not to worry or be distressed." At night he looked upon the dancing girls: all their hundred joints were empty, like plantain trees; with nasal mucus and tears flowing, their musical instruments lay strewn about. He looked back at his wife and saw her physical form completely: brain, marrow, skull, heart, liver, intestines, and stomach; on the outside a leather bag, inside filled with foul filth, like something borrowed, to be returned before long and unable to endure. In the three realms there is no refuge; only the path can be relied upon. The gods of the kāmadhātu stood in the air. The god Fahang from afar addressed the prince: "The time has arrived! The Buddha-star has just appeared." He called Chandaka to rise and saddled Kaṇṭhaka. The Four Heavenly Kings, together with countless yakṣas and dragons, all clad in armour, arrived from the four directions and bowed their heads in homage. Fearing there might be obstacles or delays, the devas sent the god of slumber into the palace to induce deep sleep; men and women in the city all fell into deep slumber, and even peacocks and various birds lay resting in exhaustion. Chandaka wept bitterly; the gate-keys could not open the doors. The four deities held aloft the horse's hooves, leaping over the palace walls. Śakra led the way, radiating great pure light, and they proceeded to the foot of the Buddha tree (drawn from fascicle 3 and fascicle 4 of the Puyao jing).