Written by Puji of the Song Dynasty | 2018-06-23 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 释迦牟尼佛。﹝贤劫，第四尊。﹞姓刹利，父净饭天，母大清净妙位。登补处，生兜率天上，名曰胜善天人，亦名护明大士。度诸天众，说补处行，于十方界中，现身说法。 | Śākyamuni Buddha. [The fourth Buddha of the Fortunate Aeon.] His clan was Kṣatriya; his father was Pure-Rice Deva, and his mother was Great Purity, Wondrous Rank. Having ascended to the rank of successor, he was born in Tuṣita Heaven, where he was named the Deva Victorious in Goodness, and was also called the Great Being Protector of Light. He liberated the hosts of devas, expounded the practices of a successor, and manifested bodies throughout the worlds of the ten directions to teach the Dharma. |
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| 普曜经云：“佛初生刹利王家，放大智光明，照十方世界。地涌金莲华，自然捧双足。东西及南北，各行于七步。分手指天地，作师子吼声。上下及四维，无能尊我者。”即周昭王二十四年甲寅岁四月八日也。 | The Sūtra of Universal Illumination says: “When the Buddha was first born into the household of a Kṣatriya king, he emitted the light of great wisdom, illuminating the worlds of the ten directions. Golden lotuses sprang from the earth and naturally supported his two feet. He took seven steps each toward east and west, south and north. Pointing one hand to heaven and the other to earth, he gave a lion’s roar: ‘Above and below, and throughout the four directions, none is more venerable than I.’” This was the eighth day of the fourth month in the jiayin year, the twenty-fourth year of King Zhao of Zhou. |
| 至四十二年二月八日，年十九，欲求出家而自念言：“当复何遇？”即于四门游观，见四等事，心有悲喜而作思维，此老、病、死，终可厌离。于是夜子时，有一天人名曰净居，于窗牖中叉手白言：“出家时至，可去矣。 | By the eighth day of the second month in the forty-second year, at the age of nineteen, he wished to leave home. Reflecting to himself, he said, “What further encounter should I seek?” He then toured and observed the four gates, saw four kinds of events, and, with sorrow and joy in his heart, reflected: “Old age, sickness, and death are ultimately to be renounced.” Then, at midnight, a deva named Pure Abode joined his palms at the window and said, “The time to leave home has come; you may go.” |
| ”太子闻已，心生欢喜，即逾城而去，于檀特山中修道。始于阿蓝迦蓝处三年，学不用处定，知非便舍。复至郁头蓝弗处三年，学非非想定，知非亦舍。又至象头山，同诸外道日食麻麦，经于六年。 | Having heard this, the prince rejoiced. He scaled the city wall and departed, cultivating the Way on Mount Dāṇṭaka. He first spent three years with Ārāḍa Kālāma, studying the samādhi of the sphere of nothingness; knowing that it was not the way, he abandoned it. He then spent three years with Udraka Rāmaputra, studying the samādhi of neither perception nor nonperception; knowing that it too was not the way, he abandoned it. He next went to Elephant-Head Mountain, where, together with various non-Buddhist ascetics, he ate sesame and wheat each day for six years. |
| 故经云：“以无心意、无受行，而悉摧伏诸外道。”先历试邪法，示诸方便，发诸异见，令至菩提。故《普集经》云：“菩萨于二月八日，明星出时成道，号天人师，时年三十矣。”即穆王三年癸未岁也。 | Therefore, the sūtra says: “With neither mind nor intention, neither sensation nor volitional activity, he completely subdued all non-Buddhist paths.” He first experienced and tested erroneous teachings, displayed various skillful means, brought forth diverse views, and led them to bodhi. Thus, the Sūtra of Universal Assembly says: “On the eighth day of the second month, when the morning star appeared, the bodhisattva realized the Way. He was called Teacher of Humans and Devas, and he was then thirty years old.” This was the guiwei year, the third year of King Mu. |
| 既而于鹿野苑中为憍陈如等五人转四谛法轮而证道果。说法住世四十九年。后告弟子摩诃迦叶：“吾以清净法眼、涅槃妙心、实相无相、微妙正法，将付于汝，汝当护持！”并敕阿难：“副贰传化，无令断绝。 | Thereafter, in Deer Park, he turned the wheel of the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths for Kauṇḍinya and the other four, and they realized the fruit of the Way. He remained in the world teaching the Dharma for forty-nine years. Later, he told his disciple Mahākāśyapa: “I now entrust to you the pure dharma eye, the wondrous mind of nirvāṇa, the reality-mark of no mark, and the subtle, wondrous, right Dharma. You must preserve and uphold them!” He also instructed Ānanda: “Assist in the transmission and transformation; do not allow it to be cut off.” |
| ”而说偈曰：“法本法无法，无法法亦法。今付无法时，法法何曾法？”尔时世尊说此偈已，复告迦叶：“吾将金缕僧伽梨衣传付于汝，转授补处，至慈氏佛出世，勿令朽坏。”迦叶闻偈，头面礼足曰：“善哉！善哉！我当依敕，恭顺佛故。” | He then spoke this verse: “The Dharma that is fundamentally Dharma is not Dharma; the Dharma of no Dharma is also Dharma. Now that I entrust the time of no Dharma, when have dharmas ever been dharmas?” Having spoken this verse, the World-Honored One again told Kāśyapa: “I shall transmit to you my gold-threaded saṃghāṭī robe. Pass it on in turn to the successor, until Maitreya Buddha appears in the world. Do not allow it to decay.” Having heard the verse, Kāśyapa bowed with his head at the Buddha’s feet and said, “Excellent! Excellent! I shall follow your instruction and comply reverently, out of respect for the Buddha.” |
| 尔时世尊至拘尸那城，告诸大众：“吾今背痛，欲入涅槃。”即往熙连河侧，娑罗双树下，右股累足，泊然宴寂。复从棺起，为母说法。特示双足化婆耆，并说无常偈曰：“诸行无常，是生灭法。生灭灭已，寂灭为乐。 | Then the World-Honored One arrived at the city of Kuśinagara and told the great assembly: “My back now aches; I wish to enter nirvāṇa.” He then went to the bank of the Hiraṇyavatī River, beneath the twin śāla trees, lay on his right side with his feet crossed, and serenely entered repose. He later rose from the coffin and taught the Dharma to his mother. He specially revealed his two feet to convert Poqi, and spoke this verse on impermanence: “All conditioned phenomena are impermanent; they are dharmas of arising and ceasing. When arising and ceasing have ceased, quiescent cessation is bliss.” |
| ”时诸弟子即以香薪竞茶毗之，烬后金棺如故。尔时大众即于佛前，以偈赞曰：“凡俗诸猛炽，何能致火爇，请尊三昧火，阇维金色身。”尔时全棺座而举，高七多罗树，往返空中，化火三昧。须臾灰生，得舍利八斛四斗。即穆王五十二年壬申岁二月十五日也。自世尊灭后一千一十七年，教至中夏，即后汉永平十年戊辰岁也。 | The disciples then competed to cremate him with fragrant firewood, but after the fire had burned out, the golden coffin remained as before. The great assembly then praised the Buddha in verse: “How could the fierce flames of ordinary people set him ablaze? We beseech the Venerable One to use the fire of samādhi to cremate the golden-colored body.” Then the entire coffin and bier rose seven tāla-tree heights into the air; moving back and forth in space, he manifested the fire samādhi. Before long, ashes appeared, and eight hu and four dou of relics were obtained. This was the fifteenth day of the second month in the renshen year, the fifty-second year of King Mu. One thousand and seventeen years after the World-Honored One’s passing, the teaching reached China, in the wuchen year, the tenth year of Yongping in the Later Han dynasty. |
