法苑珠林 61.9

61.9

During the Jin dynasty, there was Zhu Fotucheng in Ye, who was a native of the Western Regions. His original surname was Bo. He went forth from the household in his youth, remaining pure and upright and devoting himself to study. He chanted several millions of words of the scriptures and was skilled in understanding their meaning. Although he had not read the Confucian texts and histories of this land, when debating doubtful and knotty points with scholars, his understandings were as secretly matched as tallies, and none could bend him. He said of himself that he had twice gone to Kashmir to receive instruction from renowned teachers, and throughout the Western Regions he was acclaimed as one who had attained the Way. In the fourth year of the Yongjia reign of Emperor Huai of the Jin dynasty, he came to Luoyang with the intent to broadly propagate the Great Dharma. He was adept at chanting divine dhāraṇīs and could command ghosts and spirits. Smearing his palm with sesame oil mixed with safflower oil, matters a thousand li away were clearly seen in his palm as if face to face. He could also cause those who observed pure purification rites to see likewise. Furthermore, by listening to the sound of bells he could divine events, never failing to find confirmation. He then concealed himself in the marshy fields to observe the changes of the world. At that time, Shi Le had stationed his troops at Gebi, making slaughter alone his instrument of awe, and very many śramaṇas met their deaths. Cheng took pity on the common people and wished to transform Le through the Way. Thereupon, taking up his staff, he went to the gate of the army. Le's general Guo Heilüe had long revered the Dharma; Cheng immediately sought lodging at Heilüe's house, where Heilüe received the five precepts from him and treated him with the respect due to a master from a disciple. Le summoned Cheng and asked, "What efficacious proof does the Buddha's Way have?" Cheng knew that Le was not receptive to profound principles and could only be convinced by the evidence of spiritual arts. He therefore said, "Although the ultimate Way is profound, it may also be verified through proximate matters." He immediately took an alms bowl, filled it with water, burned incense, and chanted a spell over it. In an instant, a blue lotus flower grew forth, its light and colors dazzling the eyes. Le was thereby convinced and won over. Cheng then admonished him, saying, "When the virtuous transformation of a sovereign spreads through the world, the four spiritual creatures display auspicious omens. When governance falls into corruption and the Way wanes, comets appear above. Ever do portents manifest, with good fortune and calamity following upon conduct. This is the constant verification across ancient and modern times, the clear admonition between heaven and humans." Le was greatly pleased by this. Of all those who were to be executed or mutilated, eight or nine out of ten benefited from his intervention. Later, Le, falling into rage, wished to harm the Daoist practitioners and also wished to torment Cheng. Cheng then avoided this by going to Heilüe's house, telling his disciples, "If the general sends a messenger to ask where I am, report that you do not know where I have gone." The messenger soon arrived, searched for Cheng, but could not find him, and returned to report to Le. Le was startled and said, "I bore ill intent toward the sage, and the sage has abandoned me and departed!" Throughout the night he did not sleep, thinking of seeing Cheng. Knowing that Le had repented, Cheng went to see Le the next morning. Le said, "Where did you go last night?" Cheng said, "You had an angry mind, my lord, and so I temporarily avoided it last night. You have now changed your mind, which is why I dare to come." Le laughed heartily and said, "You are mistaken, man of the Way!" The water source for the moat of the city of Xiangguo was below the Huanlan shrine, five li northwest of the city. Its water suddenly dried up. Le asked Cheng, "How can water be brought?" Cheng said, "Now I should command the dragon." Le's courtesy name was Shilong; thinking that Cheng was mocking him, he replied, "It is precisely because a dragon cannot bring water that I ask you." Cheng said, "These are sincere words, not in jest. In the source of the spring, there must reside a divine dragon. If I now go and command it, water can surely be obtained." He then went with his disciples Fashou and several others to the springhead. The old place of the source had long dried up, cracked like chariot ruts. His followers were suspicious and feared that water would be difficult to obtain. Cheng sat on a rope bed, burned benzoin incense, and chanted aspirations amounting to several hundred words. After three days of this, water suddenly began to flow faintly. There was a small dragon, about five or six inches long, which came out following the water. The monks vied to go and look at it. Cheng said, "The dragon has poisonous vapors; do not approach over it." Shortly thereafter, water arrived in great volume, and the moats and trenches were all filled. The subtle omens Cheng foretold can hardly all be related. After Le ascended the throne, he served Cheng all the more earnestly. At that time, Shi Cong was about to rebel. That year, Cheng warned Le, saying, "This year, there are pests within the alliums; eating them will surely harm people. You may order the populace not to eat alliums." Le issued an order throughout his realm warning them not to eat alliums. By the eighth month, Shi Cong indeed fled. Le respected him even more, consulting him before acting on any matter, and addressed him as "the Great Monk." Shi Hu had a son named Bin, whom Le later took as his own son and loved dearly. He suddenly fell violently ill and died; two days had already passed. Le said, "I have heard that when the Crown Prince of Guo died, Bian Que was able to bring him back to life. The Great Monk is a divine man of the realm; we should urgently go and inform him, for he will surely be able to bring about good fortune." Cheng then took a willow branch and chanted a spell over it. In an instant, the child was able to rise, and before long he fully recovered. From this time on, Le's young children were mostly raised within Buddhist temples. Every year on the eighth day of the fourth month, Le personally went to the temple to bathe the Buddha and make vows for his children. In the fourth month of the fourth year of Jianping, the sky was calm and without wind, yet a single bell on the stūpa rang by itself. Cheng said to the assembly, "The sound of the bell says: 'There will be a great mourning in the state, not outlasting this year.'" In the seventh month of that year, Le died. His son Hong succeeded to the throne. Soon after, Hu deposed Hong and set himself up, moving the capital to Ye and designating the era title Jianwu. Devoting his heart to serving Cheng, he revered him even more than Le had, and issued an edict saying: "The Monk is a great treasure of the realm. Glorious peerages are not bestowed upon him; high emoluments he does not receive. If honors and emoluments are not lavished, how can his virtue be proclaimed? From this time forward, it is fitting that he be clad in damask and brocade and ride in an engraved carriage. On days of court assemblies, when the Monk ascends the hall, all from the Regular Attendants down shall assist in raising the palanquin, and the Crown Prince and the Dukes shall support him as he ascends. The master of ceremonies shall announce, 'The Great Monk has arrived,' and all who are seated shall stand to manifest his veneration." He also commanded the pseudo-Minister of Works, Li Nong, to inquire after him in person morning and evening, and ordered the Crown Prince and Dukes to pay court every five days to express his respect. At that time, Cheng resided in the palace temple inside the city of Ye. He sent his disciple Fachang north to Xiangguo. His disciple Fazuo was returning from Xiangguo, and they met beneath the wall of Liangji, lodging together overnight. Facing each other's carts, they talked through the night, touching upon the Monk. At dawn, each went his way. When Fazuo arrived, he entered to pay respects to Cheng. Cheng smiled ahead of him and said, "Last night, as your cart crossed with Fachang's, did you speak together of your master? The ancients had a saying: 'Is it not called respect? Not to alter even in the dark. Is it not called caution? Not to be indolent even when alone.' To be dark and alone is the root of respect and caution; did you not understand this?" Zuo was startled, ashamed, and repentant. Thereupon the people of the country always said to one another, "Do not harbor ill intentions; the Monk knows of you." Wherever Cheng was, none dared to blow their noses, spit, or relieve themselves facing in his direction. At that time, Crown Prince Shi Sui had two sons in Xiangguo. Cheng said to Sui, "Little Ami will soon fall ill; you may go to bring him back." Sui immediately dispatched a messenger to go and see, and he was indeed already sick. The chief physician Yin Teng and a foreign Daoist claimed that they could cure him. Cheng told his disciple Faya, "Even if a sage were to appear again, he could not cure this illness, let alone these people!" Three days later, the child indeed died. Later, the Jin army came out to the Huai and Si rivers, and Longbei and Wacheng were both invaded and pressed. The three quarters sent urgent reports, and the people's minds were alarmed and disturbed. Hu then grew furious and said, "I have revered the Buddha and made offerings to the Saṅgha, yet this has only brought foreign invaders. The Buddha has no spiritual power!" Cheng entered early the next morning, and Hu asked Cheng about the matter. Cheng then admonished Hu, saying, "Great King, in a past life you were a great merchant leader. Arriving at a monastery in Kashmir, you once offered a great feast, in which were sixty arhats; this lowly body of mine also participated in that assembly. At that time, a person who had attained the Way told me, 'When this host's life ends, he will take a chicken's body, and after that he will rule as king in the land of Jin.' Now that the Great King has become the sovereign, is this not your merit? Military incursions on the borders are a normal occurrence for a state. Why do you resent and slander the Three Jewels, giving rise to venomous thoughts through the night?" Hu then believed and awoke to this, kneeling to apologize. Hu once asked Cheng, "The Buddha's Dharma forbids killing. I am the ruler of all under Heaven; without executions and killings, I cannot purge the realm within the seas. Since I violate the precept and take life, though I serve the Buddha, how can I attain blessings?" Cheng said, "When emperors and kings serve the Buddha, it lies in manifesting reverence in body and yielding in mind, exalting the Three Jewels, not committing cruel tyranny, and not harming the innocent. As for the violent, stupid, and unruly who cannot be changed by moral influence, when they are guilty of crimes, one cannot but kill them; when they commit evil, one cannot but punish them. One should merely kill what may be killed and punish what may be punished. If one indulges one's desires in cruel tyranny, killing and harming unlawfully, then even if one exhausts one's wealth to serve the Dharma, disaster cannot be averted. May Your Majesty lessen desires and give rise to compassion, extending it broadly to all. Then the Buddha's teachings will long flourish, and good fortune will endure." Although Hu could not follow all of it, it was of no small benefit. Hu's Ministers of the Secretariat, Zhang Li and Zhang Liang, had wealthy families and served the Buddha, each building a great stūpa. Cheng said to them, "Serving the Buddha lies in purity, tranquility, desirelessness, and having compassion as one's heart. Although you, dānapatis, ceremonially uphold the Great Dharma, your greed and stinginess have not ceased. Hunting without moderation and accumulating without end, you are about to receive retribution in this present life; what reward of blessings can you hope for?" Li and the other were later both executed and wiped out. Cheng once sent a disciple to the Western Regions to buy incense. After he had departed, Cheng said to the other disciples, "In my palm, I see that the disciple buying incense has been robbed in a certain place and is close to death." He then burned incense and chanted aspirations, rescuing and protecting him from afar. The disciple later returned and said, "On a certain month and day at a certain place, I was robbed by bandits and was on the verge of being killed, when suddenly I smelled a fragrance, and the bandits, startled for no reason, said, 'Relief troops have arrived!' and abandoned me to flee." Whenever Hu wished to attack Yan, Cheng admonished him, saying, "The state of Yan's destiny has not run out; it will be difficult to overcome in haste." Hu repeatedly suffered defeats, only then believing Cheng's admonition. Furthermore, the Yellow River originally did not produce soft-shelled turtles; suddenly one was obtained and presented to Hu. When Cheng saw it, he sighed and said, "Huan Wen will enter the River before long!" Wen's courtesy name was Yuanzi. Later it indeed turned out as he had said. Cheng was once ascending the central hall together with Hu, when Cheng was suddenly startled and said, "A disaster, a disaster! A fire will occur in Youzhou." He then took wine and sprinkled it. After a long while, he smiled and said, "The rescue has been accomplished." Hu sent someone to check Youzhou, who reported, "On that day, fire arose from the four gates; a black cloud came from the southwest, and a sudden downpour extinguished it. The rain also smelled considerably of wine." In the seventh month of the fourteenth year of Hu's Jianwu reign, Shi Xuan and Shi Tao were plotting to kill each other. Xuan at that time came to the temple and sat with Cheng. A single bell on the pagoda rang by itself. Cheng said to Xuan, "Do you understand the sound of the bell? The bell says: 'The barbarian son will fall into calamity.'" Xuan's countenance changed and he said, "What words are these?" Cheng said deceitfully, "This old barbarian practices the Way but cannot live in the mountains, speaking of fine carpets and beautiful garments; is this not falling into calamity?" Shi Tao arrived later; Cheng gazed at him intently for a long time. Tao was frightened and asked Cheng about it; Cheng said, "I was amazed by the smell of your blood, which is why I looked at you." In the eighth month, Cheng had ten disciples purify themselves in a separate chamber. Cheng at that time briefly entered the eastern gallery. Hu and Empress Du inquired after Cheng. Cheng said, "There is a bandit at your flank; it will not exceed ten days. From west of the pagoda to east of this hall, there will be flowing blood. Be cautious not to walk east." Empress Du said, "Is the Monk senile? Where could there be a bandit?" Cheng immediately changed his words, saying, "All that the six senses receive are bandits. It is natural for the old to be senile, so long as the young are not muddled." Thus he spoke in allegories and did not make it explicitly clear again. Two days later, Xuan indeed sent men to kill Tao in the Buddhist temple, wishing to carry out a great treason when Hu came to mourn. Because of Cheng's prior warning, Hu was able to escape. When Xuan's plot was exposed and he was arrested, Cheng admonished Hu, saying, "Since he is Your Majesty's son, why add such heavy calamity? If Your Majesty can show forbearance and apply compassion, there will still be more than sixty years [of dynasty]. If you must execute him, Xuan will become a comet that sweeps down upon the palace of Ye." Hu did not follow his advice; he pierced Xuan's jaw with iron chains, dragged him onto a pile of firewood, and burned him. He arrested more than three hundred of his officials, having them all torn apart by chariots and dismembered, throwing them into the Zhang River. Cheng then instructed his disciples to end their fast in the separate chamber. More than a month later, there was an apparition: a horse whose mane and tail both appeared burned entered the Zhongyang Gate and exited the Xianyang Gate; it headed east toward the Eastern Palace, but could not enter either, and ran toward the northeast, vanishing after a short while. When Cheng heard of it, he sighed and said, "The disaster is about to arrive." In the eleventh month, Hu held a great banquet for his ministers in the front hall of Taiwu. Cheng chanted, "The hall, the hall! Brambles grow into a grove, about to tear people's clothes." Hu ordered the stones beneath the hall to be uncovered and examined, and there were indeed brambles growing there. Cheng returned to the temple, looked at the Buddha statue, and said, "How regrettable that it cannot be adorned!" Speaking to himself, he asked, "Can it last three years?" and answered himself, "It cannot." He asked again, "Can it last two years, one year, a hundred days, or one month?" and answered himself, "It cannot." Then he spoke no more. Returning to his chamber, he said to his disciple Fazuo, "In the wushen year, calamity and chaos will sprout; in the jiyou year, the Shi clan will be destroyed. Before the chaos arrives, I shall pass away first." He immediately sent someone to bid farewell to Hu, saying, "The nature of things must change, and life cannot be preserved. This illusory body of disasters of this poor monk has reached its appointed time of transformation. Having received your exceptional favor, I respectfully inform you in advance." Hu said sorrowfully, "I had not heard that the Monk was ill, yet he suddenly announces his demise!" He immediately left the palace himself, visited the temple, and offered comforting words. Cheng said to Hu, "Entering life and exiting death is the constant way. Long or short life is fixed by destiny; it is not something that can be prolonged. The Way values the perfection of conduct; virtue prizes absence of indolence. If one's conduct and integrity have no flaws, though dead, one remains as if living. To violate them and obtain longevity is not what one desires. What remains unfulfilled in my mind now is that the state cherishes Buddhist principles, serves the Dharma without stint, and has raised temples high and magnificent. Befitting such virtue, you should enjoy good fortune. Yet your governance is violent, and cruel punishments are excessive, openly violating the sacred texts and secretly disobeying the Dharma's admonitions. If you do not restrain and reform yourself, in the end there will be no blessings or protection. If you humble your heart, alter your thoughts, and show kindness to these lower people, then the state's mandate will be prolonged, and both religious and lay will rejoice and rely upon it. Then, completing my life and meeting my end, I shall pass away without remaining regret." Hu wept and sobbed, knowing that he would surely pass away. He immediately had a vault dug and a tomb constructed for him. On the eighth day of the twelfth month, he died at the palace temple in Ye; this year was the fourth year of the Yonghe reign of Emperor Mu of the Jin dynasty. Officials and commoners mourned and wailed, the entire realm mourning; he was one hundred and seventeen years of age. He was then buried at Zimo, west of Linzhang, which was the tomb created by Hu. Soon after, Liang Du raised a rebellion. The next year Hu died, and Ran Min usurped the throne, slaying the Shi clan to the last person. Min's childhood name was Jinu ["Bramble Slave"]; this was what Cheng had previously meant by "brambles grow into a grove." Near Cheng's left breast, there was originally a hole four to five inches in circumference, passing straight through into his abdomen. At times his intestines would emerge from it, and he would plug the hole with cotton wool. At night, when he wished to read scriptures, he would pull out the cotton, and the entire room would be brightly illuminated. Moreover, on days of purification, he would always go to the water's edge, draw out his intestines, wash them, and insert them back inside. Cheng was eight chi tall, with an elegant and composed bearing. He had a marvelous comprehension of profound sūtras and broad mastery of worldly treatises. When lecturing, he would directly indicate the essential tenets, making the text and meaning clear and understandable from beginning to end. In addition, his compassion extended to the populace, rescuing those in peril and distress. Under the violent tyranny and unprincipled cruelty of the two Shis, had they not lived in the same time as Cheng, who could tell what would have happened? Yet the people benefited, using it daily without knowing it. Several tens of renowned monks, such as Fotiao and Bodhi, all came from India and Kangju, not considering tens of thousands of li distant, treading across the drifting sands on foot to come to Cheng to receive instruction. Shi Dao'an of the Fan River and Zhu Faya of Zhongshan both crossed passes and rivers to hear Cheng lecture; all of them marvelously comprehended the refined principles and deeply probed subtle depths. Cheng said of himself that his birthplace was more than ninety thousand li from Ye; he had left the household to enter the Way for one hundred and nine years. Wine never passed his teeth, and he did not eat past noon. If it was not in accordance with the precepts, he did not tread upon it; he had neither desire nor seeking. Those who received instruction and followed him numbered constantly in the hundreds, and from first to last his disciples were nearly ten thousand. In the provinces and commanderies through which he passed, he established eight hundred and ninety-three Buddhist temples. The flourishing of his propagation of the Dharma was surpassed by none. Initially, when Hu encoffined Cheng, he placed his living staff and alms bowl inside the coffin. Later, when Ran Min usurped the throne, he opened the coffin and found only the bowl and staff, no longer seeing the corpse. Some said that in the month Cheng died, someone saw him in the drifting sands. Hu suspected that he was not dead, opened the coffin, and saw the corpse. Later, Murong Jun established his capital at Ye and resided in Shi Hu's palace. He repeatedly dreamed of Hu biting his arm, and suspected that Shi Hu was haunting him. He thereupon offered a reward to find Hu's corpse, and dug it up at the Dongming Pavilion. The corpse was stiff and not decomposed. Jun stepped on it and cursed, "How dare a dead barbarian terrify a living Son of Heaven! When your palaces were completed, you were plotted against by your own son, let alone by others!" He flogged and humiliated it, then threw it into the Zhang River. The corpse leaned against a bridge pillar and did not move. The Qin general Wang Meng then gathered and buried it. This was the prophecy of Maru. Maru was a refugee from Wei County, whose clan was unknown to anyone. He always wore a hemp-padded jacket and a cloth robe, begging in the marketplace. He appeared mad but was actually a worthy. People said that his friendship with Master Cheng was extremely close. When he first met Hu, their conversation had nothing unusual, only saying that His Majesty would end beneath a single-pillared hall. Later, when Fu Jian attacked Ye, Jun's son Wei was captured by Jian's general Guo Shenhu; this was indeed the verification of the earlier dream of the tiger [Hu]. Tian Rong's Records of Zhao says that several years before Cheng died, he built his own tomb. Since Cheng already knew that the tomb would certainly be opened and that his corpse would not be inside, how could he have built it in advance? I fear that Rong is mistaken. Cheng is sometimes called Fotudeng [磴], sometimes Fotuzheng [撜], and sometimes Fotucheng [澄]; these are merely different renderings of the Sanskrit sound.