貞元新定釋教目錄 14.3.6

14.3.6

fills the three thousand [worlds], and their stage transcends the ten grounds. Mantras were thereupon propagated, and representations were thus carried out.
The Tripiṭaka Master Vajra was the third son of the Kṣatriya King Īśānavarman of Central India. In the seventh year of Kaiyuan, he was recommended through a memorial to enter the court by the military commissioner and general Miquna of South India; hence he was called a man of South India. Born auspicious and extraordinary, in his youth he possessed miraculous qualities. He earnestly pleaded with his father to seek entry into the Path. When just ten years old, he entered monastic life under Śāntamati at Nālandā Monastery, studying the Treatise on Linguistic Science (Śabdavidyā) along with ninety-four scripts. He was especially skilled in secret arts and exquisitely versed in drawing and painting. The Master was named Bodhibhadra. When he came of age to save others, travel was his principal endeavour. He went to South India, and with Nāgabodhi he accorded with the dhāraṇī repository, perfectly fulfilling his long-held aspirations. He requested the establishment of a bodhimaṇḍa, and for seven years spread the sūtras of the Five Divisions. Whenever the time came, food and drink descended from the sky, and Vajrasattva constantly appeared before him. He also ascended the summit of Mount Laṅkā to view the Tathāgata's footprint. Burning ghee lamps, their light was bright and penetrating, yet the footprint was faint and indistinct. Just as slight doubt arose, the profound marks immediately manifested; such was his spiritual affinity. At that time, there was a nyagrodha tree in South India that had long been withered and emaciated; the Master circumambulated the tree and practiced the Path for seven days, and in an instant the flowers and leaves returned as before; such was his true resonance. The Master arrived from South India bearing the root teachings of the Great Bodhisattva in two hundred thousand words, along with Indic palm-leaf manuscripts of yoga; such were his spiritual responses. Having arrived in the Tang country, he erected a Vairocana stūpa; its design was beyond ordinary conception, conceived with the sharp precision of a brush tip, rare in the world; such was the extraordinary nature of his skill. The Emperor praised it greatly, and an imperial plaque in the Emperor's calligraphy on silk was bestowed with grace; comparing present to past, nothing like this had ever occurred. He once ascended the altar of the former Buddha and received the jewel of the King of the Dharma; he was styled Tripiṭaka Master Vajrabodhi. Princes, dukes, gentry, and commoners all revered him. In the twenty-fourth year, he accompanied the imperial entourage into Chang'an. On the twenty-sixth day of the seventh month of the twenty-ninth year, by heavenly grace, he was permitted to return to his native country. Arriving at Guangfu Monastery in the Eastern Capital, he manifested illness. Lamenting the suffering of having a physical body, he passed away in a seated posture. His disciple the monk Zhizang and others requested that he leave his final instructions. After a brief moment, he revived, and having given his final instructions, he said: 'In the Western Lands, entering parinirvāṇa does not at all involve the seated method. Following the Teacher returning to quiescence, one lies on the right side; this is what is recorded in the Lion King Sūtra.' Realizing the body is non-existent, he shed his shell and took distant flight. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month of that year, he realized the fruit. Appearing to be born in spring and manifested to perish, there was mourning over this. The Emperor on his throne mourned and grieved, moving the hearts of the gentry. On the fifth day of the ninth month of that year, an imperial decree ordered him to be interred at Longmen in the Eastern Capital. On the twenty-seventh day of the second month of the second year of Tianbao, a stūpa was erected on the western ridge of Fengxian Monastery. This stūpa was originally established by an arhat whose outflows were exhausted; it is called either stūpa or thūpa. Relying on peaks and resting by streams, all could face the Yi River. Gauging high and low to match proper regulations, and calculating breadth and width to hit the compass and square: the masonry was laid out like teeth to drain away the lingering leaks of rain; guarding the precipitous peak, its spire gathered the fleeting shadows of drifting clouds. Closed with stone leaves and locked with golden latches, the pines of the forest rustled mournfully, and the stele on the peak stood lofty and towering. A thousand ages hence, rivers and valleys may shift; a hundred generations later, neither men nor gods may know. Thereupon, he composed the inscription, saying: