法苑珠林 61.8

61.8

When his words ended, he sat in dhyāna silence. Faxing requested again, saying, “We wish the Venerable One would bestow what has not yet been heard. The meaning of such a verse is already memorised and recited by an eight-year-old child; it is not what was expected of a person who has attained the Way.” Jīvaka smiled and said, “Though an eight-year-old recites it, an hundred-year-old does not practise it; what is the benefit of reciting it? Everyone knows to revere one who has attained the Way, but they do not know that by practising it they themselves attain the Way. How lamentable! Though my words are few, those who practise them will gain much.” Thereupon he took his leave. Several hundred people each invited Jīvaka for the midday meal; Jīvaka promised to go to all of them. The next morning, there was a Jīvaka in each of the five hundred households. At first each thought he had visited them alone; when they came to converse and ask one another, they only then realised he had multiplied his body to descend upon them. When he departed, all the monks saw him off as far as the city of Henan. Jīvaka walked slowly, yet those pursuing could not catch up. Jīvaka then drew a line on the ground with his staff and said, “Here we part!” On that day, someone coming from Chang’an saw Jīvaka in a temple there. Furthermore, a barbarian merchant, Hushideng, encountered Jīvaka in the drifting sands just as evening fell on that very day. Calculating this, he had already travelled more than nine thousand li. Having returned to the Western Countries, it is not known where he ended his days.