法苑珠林 28.26

28.26

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.