法苑珠林 28.26

28.26

晉沙門耆域者。天竺人也。自西域浮海而來。將遊關雒達舊襄陽。欲寄載船北渡。船人見梵沙門衣服弊陋輕而不載。比船達北岸。耆域亦上。舉船皆驚。域前行兩虎迎之弭耳掉尾。域手摩其頭虎便入草。於是南北岸奔往請問。域曰。無所應答。及去有數百人追之。見域徐行而眾走猶不及。惠帝末域至雒陽。雒陽道士悉往禮焉。域不為起。譯語譏其服章曰。汝曹分流佛法不以真誠。但為浮華求供養耳。見雒陽宮曰。忉利天宮髣髴似此。當以道力成就。而生死力為之。不亦勤苦乎。沙門支法淵竺法興。並年少後至。域為起立。法淵作禮訖。域以手摩其頭曰。好菩薩羊中來。見法興入門域大欣笑。往迎作禮。捉法興手舉著頭上曰。好菩薩從天人中來。尚方中有一人。癈病數年垂死。域往視之。謂曰。何以墮落生此憂苦。下病人於地臥單席上。以應器置腹上。紵布覆之。梵唄三偈訖為梵呪可數千語。尋有臭氣滿屋。病人曰。活矣。域令人舉布。見應器中如污泥者。病人遂差。長沙太守滕永文先頗精進。時在雒陽兩脚風攣經年。域為呪。應時得申。數日起行。雨水寺中有思惟樹先枯死。域向之呪。旬日樹還生茂。時寺中有竺法行善談論。時以比樂令。見域稽首曰。已見得道證願當稟法。域曰。守口攝意身莫犯。如是行者度世去。法行曰。得道者當授所未聞。斯言八歲沙彌亦以之誦。非所望於得道者。域笑曰。如子之言。八歲而致誦。百歲不能行。人皆知敬得道者。不知行之即自得。以我觀之易耳。妙當在君豈慍未聞。京師貴賤贈遺衣物以數千萬億悉受之。臨去封而留之。唯作幡八百枚。以駱駝負之。先遣隨估客西歸天竺。又持法興一納袈裟隨身。謂法興曰。此地方大為造新之罪。可哀如何。域發。送者數千人。於雒陽寺中中食訖。取道人有期日發長安來。見域在長安寺中。又域所遣估客及駱駝奴達燉煌河上。逢估客弟於天竺來云。近燉煌寺中見域。弟子濕登者云。於流沙北逢域。言語款曲。計其旬日。又域發雒陽時也。而其所行蓋已萬里矣。

The Śramaṇa Jīvaka of the Jin was a native of India. He came floating across the sea from the Western Regions, intending to travel to the Guan and Luo regions. Arriving at Old Xiangyang, he wished to take passage on a boat to cross to the north. Seeing that the Indian śramaṇa's clothing was tattered and mean, the boatmen disdained him and would not carry him. By the time the boat reached the northern bank, Jīvaka had already arrived ashore. The entire boat was amazed. Jīvaka walked ahead, and two tigers met him, flattening their ears and wagging their tails. Jīvaka stroked their heads with his hand, and the tigers then entered the grass. Thereupon, people from both the north and south banks rushed forward to inquire of him. Jīvaka said, "I have nothing to answer." When he departed, several hundred people chased him; they saw Jīvaka walking slowly, yet the crowd ran and still could not catch up. At the end of the reign of Emperor Hui, Jīvaka arrived in Luoyang. All the Daoists of Luoyang went to pay homage to him. Jīvaka did not rise for them. Translating his words, he ridiculed their robes and attire, saying, "You people divide the currents of the Buddha's Dharma without true sincerity; you merely seek offerings for floating splendor." Seeing the palaces of Luoyang, he said, "The heavenly palace of Trāyastriṃśa faintly resembles this. That was accomplished by the power of the Way, but this was made by the power of birth and death—is it not arduous toil?" The śramaṇas Zhi Fayuan and Zhu Faxing, both being young, arrived later; Jīvaka stood up for them. After Fayuan paid homage, Jīvaka stroked his head with his hand and said, "A fine bodhisattva, come from among sheep!" Seeing Faxing enter the gate, Jīvaka smiled with great joy, went to welcome him and pay homage, took Faxing's hand, placed it upon his head, and said, "A fine bodhisattva, come from among gods and men!" In the Directorate of the Palace Buildings, there was a man who had been bedridden with illness for several years, near death. Jīvaka went to see him and said to him, "Why did you fall to be born in such distress?" He moved the sick man down to the ground onto a single mat, placed an almsbowl on his belly, and covered it with ramie cloth. After chanting three verses of Sanskrit pāṭha, he recited a Sanskrit mantra of several thousand words. Soon a foul odor filled the room. The sick man said, "I am revived!" Jīvaka ordered people to lift the cloth, and they saw something like foul mud in the bowl. The sick man subsequently recovered. Teng Yongwen, Grand Administrator of Changsha, had formerly been rather vigorous. At the time, he was in Luoyang, and both his legs had been paralyzed by wind for over a year. Jīvaka recited a mantra for him, and immediately he was able to extend them; in a few days he arose and walked. In the Yushui Temple, there was a tree of contemplation that had previously withered and died. Jīvaka faced it and recited a mantra; within ten days, the tree became green and luxuriant again. At that time, in the temple there was Zhu Faxing, who was good at philosophical debate and was compared to Prefect Yue. Seeing Jīvaka, he bowed his head and said, "Having already seen the proof of your attaining the Way, I wish to receive the Dharma from you." Jīvaka said, "Guard your mouth, rein in your mind, and let your body commit no offenses. One who practices thus will cross beyond the world." Faxing said, "One who has attained the Way should impart what has not yet been heard. These words an eight-year-old novice can also recite; this is not what was hoped for from one who has attained the Way." Jīvaka smiled and said, "As you say, at eight years old one can recite it, but at a hundred years old one cannot practice it. All people know to revere those who have attained the Way, but do not know that by practicing it they will attain it themselves. In my view, it is easy; the subtlety must lie with you, sir—why be angry at not hearing [something novel]?" Gifts of clothing and items from the noble and lowly of the capital, amounting to tens of billions, he accepted all. Upon departing, he sealed and left them behind, only making eight hundred banners, which he loaded onto camels and dispatched ahead to follow merchants westward back to India. He also kept one patched kāṣāya belonging to Faxing with him. He said to Faxing, "This land is about to commit the sin of great slaughter; how lamentable!" When Jīvaka set out, several thousand people saw him off. After finishing his midday meal in a temple in Luoyang, a traveler who set out on a fixed day from Chang'an arrived and said he had seen Jīvaka in a temple in Chang'an. Furthermore, the merchants and camel drivers whom Jīvaka had dispatched reached the river above Dunhuang, where they met the merchants' younger brother arriving from India, who said that he had recently seen Jīvaka in a temple in Dunhuang. His disciple Shideng said that north of the Shifting Sands he had met Jīvaka and conversed with him intimately. Calculating the days, that was precisely the time when Jīvaka was leaving Luoyang. Yet what he had traversed was already ten thousand li.