法苑珠林 89.115

89.115

The biography of Master Shangtong of the Qi states: When Emperor Ming of the Han was first moved to bring [the teachings], only two men, Kāśyapa Mātaṅga and Dharmaratna, first arrived here. They were unable to confer the full ordination, but merely shaved the hair of monks and laity, dressed them in plain robes, and conferred on them only the five precepts and ten precepts. Respectfully considering the matter: eight years after the Tathāgata appeared in the world, the karmavācanā [procedures] were first instituted. Cīnasthāna is twenty-seven thousand li east of Baimutiao. It was permitted that five holders of the Vinaya could confer the great precepts. Thereafter until the tenth emperor of the Han, Emperor Huan, for over a hundred years the three refuges, five precepts, and ten precepts were still used and transmitted from one to another. After Emperor Huan, there were five western monks from North India who came to the land of Han and conferred the full precepts upon the bhikṣus. The first was named Zhi Faling; the second, Zhi Qian; the third, Dharmarakṣa; the fourth, Zhu Daosheng; and the fifth, Lokakṣema. At that time, the great Vinaya texts did not yet exist, and Zhi Faling recited from memory one roll of the Prātimokṣa and one roll of the Karmavācanā, which circulated here. Nowadays this is called the Old Karmavācanā. Later, in the third year of the Huangchu era of the Wei, Dharmakāla also translated Vinaya texts. Later, in the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei, there was Vinaya Master Guang. Examining the Old Karmavācanā and the Prātimokṣa, [he found that] their texts had additions, subtractions, excesses, and deficiencies; following the order of the text of the great Vinaya, he abridged and compiled them, and this now circulates in the world under the title of the New Karmavācanā. At that time, an assembly of nuns came seeking to receive the precepts. Zhi Faling said, "As made clear in the Vinaya, it is only permitted that five monks in a borderland may confer the full precepts; it does not speak of nuns." At this time, the nuns took their leave and returned, their tears falling like rain, unable to contain their grief. Later, at the end of the Han and the beginning of the Wei, two bhikṣuṇīs from East India came to Chang'an. Seeing the assembly of bhikṣuṇīs, they asked, "From whom did you receive the precepts?" The nuns answered, "We went to the great monks and merely received the five precepts and ten precepts." The two nuns sighed and said, "None of the nuns in this borderland have the full ordination!" For their sake, they returned to their home country and gathered fifteen nuns to come. Three froze to death in the Snow Mountains; two fell into a black ravine and died; the rest reached this land, only ten arriving here. The various nuns all hurried to the capital, and they conferred the full precepts upon them. Later they went to the land of Wu and likewise conferred the full ordination on the nuns there. Having finished, the western nuns longed for their native homeland, and they boarded a ship in the South Sea to return. When they boarded the ship, there were only seven; three had died. Coming and going, their journeys took over seventeen years. Later, in the third year of Emperor Wen of the Wei, an imperial decree ordered the holding of an unobstructed great assembly. The Wei emperor decreed an inquiry into the origins of how the monks and nuns of this land obtained their precepts, asking what miraculous confirmations there were. None of the venerable elders answered. At that time, there was a monk who requested permission to go to the Western Regions to ask a holy person about the origins of obtaining the precepts. Setting out from Chang'an, he arrived in India and saw an arhat, to whom he addressed the question of whether the monks and nuns of Cīnasthāna had obtained the precepts or not. The arhat replied, "I am a lesser sage and do not know whether they have obtained them or not. You stay here, and I will ascend to Tuṣita for you to respectfully inquire of the World-Honoured Maitreya whether they have obtained them or not, and report back." He then entered samādhi, ascended to the Tuṣita Heaven, and asked in detail about the earlier matter. Maitreya replied, "The monks and nuns have all obtained the precepts." [The arhat] then requested a miraculous sign. Maitreya took a golden flower and said, "If the monks and nuns of the borderland have obtained the precepts, may the golden flower enter the palm of the arhat's hand; if they have not obtained them, may it not enter." Having made this vow, he pressed the flower against his hand, and the flower entered into the palm, appearing in reflection a foot high. Maitreya said to him, "When you reach the monk of Cīnasthāna, you should also act according to this method of mine." The arhat descended and, following Maitreya's method, pressed the flower against the monk's hand; it immediately entered into the palm, appearing in reflection a foot high. The auspicious verification having been confirmed, at that time monastics and laity from afar came to admire and venerate him, seeking to receive the three refuges and five precepts in countless numbers; he was thus called the "Flower-Hand Monk." When he had departed, there were eighteen men; of the rest, some admired and remained in the Western Regions, while others braved the drifting sands and the wind and cold and lost their lives; only the Flower-Hand Monk returned alone to the land of Han. On the day he originally departed, the deity Kapila manifested his form and said to Flower-Hand, "The road is distant and filled with many perils. This disciple will escort the master there, ensuring your coming and going are peaceful and auspicious." Before he arrived, in front of the palace of Emperor Wen of the Wei a golden flower appeared in mid-air. Emperor Wen asked the Grand Astrologer, "What anomalous portent is this?" The Grand Astrologer replied, "The correct Dharma of the Western Regions is about to arrive here." Within less than a month, the Flower-Hand Monk arrived in this land with the golden flower in his palm. On the day he first arrived, the golden flower in mid-air vanished and was seen no more. The great auspicious sign having been confirmed, the blessing of the precepts was perpetuated forever.