御請來目錄 1.26

1.26

Eighty grains of the Buddha's śarīra (among which is one golden-colored śarīra);
One niche carved in white sandalwood with images of buddhas, bodhisattvas, vajra-beings, and others;
Four hundred and forty-seven deities of the mahā-maṇḍala on white silk;
One hundred and twenty deities of the Vajradhātu samaya-maṇḍala on white silk;
One five-gem samaya-vajra;
One set of gilt-bronze alms bowls (two pieces);
One ivory bench;
One white conch shell.
The eight items above were originally brought by Ācārya Vajrabodhi from South India and transmitted to Ācārya Mahāprājña. Tripiṭaka Master [Mahā]prājña in turn transmitted them to the Qinglong[si] Ācārya. Upādhyāya Qinglong in turn bestowed them upon Kūkai. These are indeed the seals of faith of the transmission of the Dharma and the refuge of myriad sentient beings.
One patchwork robe of Gandharan gauze;
Two offering bowls of green lapis lazuli;
One offering bowl of amber;
One offering bowl of white lapis lazuli;
One pair of chopsticks of deep-blue lapis lazuli.
The five items above were also bequeathed by Ācārya Qinglong. In the late summer month of the twenty-third year of Enryaku, Kūkai accompanied the Ambassador to the Tang, Fujiwara no Ason, boarding the first ship and setting out for Xianyang. In the eighth month of that year, we made landfall in Fuzhou. In the late twelfth month, we reached the city of Chang'an and were lodged in a residence in the Xuanyang Ward. On the eleventh day of the second month of the twenty-fourth year, the Ambassador and his party turned their carriages back to our court. Only Kūkai remained, solitary, permitted by imperial decree to take up residence in the former cloister of Upādhyāya Eichū at Ximingsi. Thereupon, visiting celebrated virtues throughout the city, I chanced to meet the Upādhyāya of the East Pagoda Cloister of Qinglongsi, whose Dharma name was Ācārya Huiguo. That great virtue was the Dharma-transmitting disciple of the Tripiṭaka Master Mahāprājña of Daxingshansi. His virtue was honored by his times, and his Path was that of imperial preceptor. Three courts venerated him and received abhiṣeka; the fourfold assembly looked up to him and studied the Secret Piṭaka. Together with the Dharma Masters Zhiming and Tansheng of Ximingsi and five or six others, Kūkai went to see the Upādhyāya. Seeing me, the Upādhyāya broke into a smile and joyfully said: "I knew beforehand that you would come, and I have waited for you long! Meeting today is most auspicious, most auspicious. My life-span is on the verge of exhaustion, and I have had no one to transmit the Dharma to. You must quickly prepare incense and flowers to enter the abhiṣeka! Quickly prepare incense and flowers to enter the abhiṣeka maṇḍala!" I immediately returned to my cloister and prepared the offerings. In the first ten days of the sixth month, I entered the maṇḍala for the Dharma-learning abhiṣeka. On that day, coming before the Great Compassion Garbhadhātu mahā-maṇḍala, I cast a flower in accordance with the ritual: by chance it fell upon the body of the Tathāgata Vairocana in the central court. The ācārya praised: "Inconceivable, inconceivable!" Repeating his praise again and again, he immediately bathed me in the abhiṣeka of the five families and conferred the empowerment of the three mysteries upon me. From then on, I received the Sanskrit characters and ritual manuals of the Garbhadhātu and studied the yoga contemplative wisdom of the various deities. In the first ten days of the seventh month, I again came before the Vajradhātu mahā-maṇḍala and received the abhiṣeka of the five families once more. Casting a flower, I again obtained Vairocana. The Upādhyāya expressed amazement as before. In the first ten days of the eighth month, I also received the abhiṣeka for the rank of Dharma-transmitting ācārya. On that day, a feast for five hundred monks was held, providing universal offerings to the fourfold assembly. The court-attending great virtues of Qinglongsi and Daxingshansi all came to the banquet, and all rejoiced in harmony. Successively, I received the mantras and secret mudrās of the five families of the Vajraśekhara Yoga, studying the Sanskrit characters and Sanskrit hymns alongside them. The Upādhyāya said: "The sūtras and commentaries of the Secret Piṭaka of mantras are obscure and hidden; unless one relies on paintings, they cannot be transmitted." He then summoned court-attending painters such as Li Zhen and more than ten others to paint ten panels of the Garbhadhātu, Vajradhātu, and other mahā-maṇḍalas. He gathered over twenty scribes to transcribe the supreme vehicle Secret Piṭaka sūtras of the Vajraśekhara and others. He also summoned the court-attending bronze founders Yang Zhongxin and Zhao Wu to forge anew fifteen ritual implements. The images and scripture transcriptions gradually took shape in order. The Upādhyāya said: "Long ago, in my youth, I first saw the Tripiṭaka Master [Amoghavajra]. After looking at me once, the Tripiṭaka Master loved me like a son; entering the palace or returning to the temple, I never left his side like a shadow. He whispered to me: 'You are a vessel of the Secret Piṭaka; make effort, make effort!' Thus did I learn the great Dharma of the Two Realms and the secret mudrās. Other disciples, whether monastic or lay, have either studied the great Dharma of one realm or obtained only one deity and one mudrā; they have not mastered both together. Wishing to requite the boundless grace of mountains, rivers, and high heaven, and since my affinity with this land is now exhausted and I cannot remain long, you should take these two mahā-maṇḍalas, the more than one hundred scriptures of the Vajrayāna, the objects transmitted by the Tripiṭaka Master, and the offering implements, and request to return with them to your native land to disseminate them within the realm. When I first saw you come, I feared my life would not suffice; now that the transmission of the Dharma has its recipient, and the scriptures and images are completed, you should return early to your homeland to serve your state, spreading them across the realm to increase the fortune of the people. Then the four seas will be at peace and myriad people will rejoice. This is to repay the Buddha's benevolence and the master's virtue; it is loyalty to the state and filial piety to one's family. Court-attendant Yiming will transmit [the teaching] here; you must go and transmit it to the Eastern Country. Make effort! Make effort!" His conferral of the Dharma was earnest, and his final instructions were complete. On the full moon day of the twelfth month of last year, he washed away defilements with scented orchid water, formed the Dharma-mudrā of Vairocana, and passed away lying on his right side. That night, while reciting and meditating in the bodhimaṇḍa, the Upādhyāya appeared vividly before me and said: "I have long had a pact with you, vowing to propagate the Secret Piṭaka. I shall be reborn in the Eastern Country and will surely be your disciple." These detailed words need not be recounted further. Such is the general account of my reception of the Dharma and the ācārya's entrustment.
Three bundles of Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts.
Regarding the above, Tripiṭaka Master Prajña said: "My birthplace was the kingdom of Kaśmīra. In my youth I entered the Path and traveled through the five regions of India. Always vowing to transmit the lamp, I traveled here to this land. Now I wish to take a raft across the Eastern Sea, but lack the karmic conditions, so my vow remains unfulfilled. Take the new translation of the Avataṃsaka and the Ṣaṭpāramitā-sūtra made by me, as well as these Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts, to offer to them. I humbly pray that a connection will be formed with that country to rescue the myriad common folk." Fearing verbosity, I do not list them one by one.
Now, the Buddhist teachings are vast, without bound or limit. To summarize them in a word, they consist only of the two benefits: aspiring to the fruit of permanent bliss is benefiting oneself; rescuing from the cause of suffering and emptiness is benefiting others. To wish in vain for permanent bliss without practice will not attain it; merely planning to eliminate suffering is also difficult. One must cultivate both fortune and wisdom, practicing both concentration and insight together; only then can one relieve the suffering of others and secure bliss for oneself. The paths for cultivating concentration are many, having the slow and the quick. Playing with the sharp sword of the one mind is the exoteric teachings; wielding the vajra of the three mysteries is the Secret Piṭaka. Letting the mind wander in the exoteric teachings, three asaṃkhyeya kalpas are distant and vague; maintaining oneself in the Secret Piṭaka, sixteen lifetimes are exceedingly brief. The sudden among the sudden: the Secret Piṭaka corresponds to this! Therefore, Tripiṭaka Master Śubhakarasiṃha renounced his royal throne and forgot all delicacies; Emperor Daizong bowed his imperial person [before the master] without weariness; Upādhyāya Nāgabodhi lived eight hundred years without growing old; Chan Master Chonghui crushed heresy and propped up what was falling. How could any inconceivable Dharma surpass this Piṭaka? May those who yearn for enlightenment hear what they have not yet heard. A verse says: