Translated Into English By

Dharma Realm Buddhist University

International Institute For The

Translation Of Buddhist Texts

Kashyapa Matanga and Gobharana were two Dharma Masters from India who co-translated the Sutra In Forty-Two Sections, in the later Han dynasty. The Han Dynasty was divided into the Eastern Han and the Western Han, and the period referred to here is the Eastern Han. In the Eastern Han, during the third year of the Yung Ping reign period (62 AD.),Emperor had a dream. He dreamed of a golden man who had a halo of light which shone forth from the crown of his head and streamed out through empty space into the palace where the Emperor was sleeping. The next day he questioned his officials about the dream and an astrologer named Fu-i said to the Emperor, "I have heard that in India there was a holy one whom people called the Buddha. Your dream, Your Majesty, certainly is of the Buddha."

A scholar named Wang-Tsun also spoke to the Emperor: "In the Chou Dynasty, there was a book written which was called Records Of Strange Events. In that book it was stated:

At that time there was an astrologer, also a diviner, named Su-Yu. He consulted the I Ching and got the hexagram "Ch'ien," "nine in the fifth place," "flying dragon the heavens," and knew from that, that a great Sage had been born in the West, in India. That Sage would transmit a teaching which after five hundred years would be transmitted to Chung Kuo (China).

At that time, the King of Chou ordered that the details of the event be carved in stone as a record and then buried at a certain spot south of the city to wait and see if the event would actually occur--to see if five hundred years hence, the Buddhadharma would actually be transmitted to Chung Kuo.

Later, during the reign of King Mu, there was a massive earthquake which moved heaven and earth. A white rainbow with twelve rays arched through the sun. At that time there was another astrologer named Hu-to who also used the I Ching to reckon the hexagrams, and he figured out, "This is a great Sage from the West who has entered extinction. In India, earlier in the Chou Dynasty, this great Sage came into the world and now he has entered Nirvana." So, although when the Buddha entered the world and entered extinction he was very far from Chung Kuo, nonetheless, they knew about it in Chung Kuo. The Buddha's appearance in the world was no chance event.

When the Emperor Ming of Han had the dream about the Buddha, he commanded Ts'ai-yin, Ch'in-ching, Wang-tsun, and others to go to India to seek the Buddhadharma. In India they met Kashyapa Matanga and Gobharana, and these two monks returned to Chung Kuo with Ts'ai-yin, Ch'in-ching, and Wang-tsun arriving in Loyang in the tenth year of the Yung-p'ing reign period (69 A.D.). They came carrying the Sutras on a white horse, whereupon the Emperor of Han established white Horse Monastery. There they translated The Sutra In Forty-Two Sections Spoken By The Buddha, making it the first Sutra transmitted to Chung Kuo.

At that time Taoism flourished in Chung Kuo. When Buddhism arrived in Chung Kuo, the Taoist masters became jealous. By the fourteenth year of the Tung-p'ing reign period, they had had enough. On New Year's Day they met with the Emperor and told him that Buddhism was false, that it was a barbarian religion, not Chung Wen(Chinese). "You should abolish Buddhism," they urged. "If you will not abolish it, then you should at least have a contest in order to com[are Buddhism with Taoism." They suggested that the texts be put together in a pile and then burned. Whichever texts did not burn would be the true ones.

On the fifteenth day of the new year, Taoist Master and leader Ch'u Shan-hsin, as well as five hundred other Taoist Masters, assembled at the southern gate of White Horse Monastery. They put the Taoist texts and the Buddhist texts together and then prayed to the Old Man of Mount T'ai, saying, "Divine Lord, Virtuous One of the Way, please grant us an efficacious response to insure that our Taoist texts will not burn and that the Buddhist Sutras will."

At that time there were many Taoist Masters with spiritual penetrations. They could mount the fog and ride the clouds. They could fly through the heavens and hide in the earth. They could vanish into thin air. They had used the charms and spells of the Taoist religion to gain spiritual powers. But when the fire was lit, guess what happened? The Buddhist Sutras did not burn. Instead, they emitted light. The shariras of the Buddha emitted a five-colored light as bright as the sun, illumining the whole world. The light shone into empty space and formed a great canopy which covered everyone in the Great Assembly. As soon as the Taoist texts were set on fire, they burned. And those who before could mount the clouds and ride the fog couldn't anymore. They didn't have nay more spiritual penetrations. Those who before could fly could no longer fly. Those who before could hide in the earth could no longer hide in the earth. Those who before could vanish could no longer vanish. When they spoke their charms, they were no longer efficacious. There wasn't any response. The Taoist texts burned to a crisp and the Taoist Masters Ch'u Shan-hsin and Fei Cheng-ch'ing just about died of rage. In the midst of the fury of the masters, two or three hundred of their disciples shaved their heads on the spot and became Buddhist monks. So the first time Taoism and Buddhism came to grips, the two Venerable Ones, Kashyapa Matanga and Gobharana, ascended into empty space and manifested the eighteen transformations of an Arhat. The Upper part of their bodies emitted water, the lower part of their bodies emitted fire; the upper part of their bodies emitted water; they walked about in empty space; they lay down and went to sleep in empty space, and so forth. Because of those manifestations, the Emperor and the people all came to believe in Buddhism.

Living beings on the wheel of rebirth in the six paths cannot avoid cause and effect. If you are wealthy now, it is because you were generous in previous lives; if you are poor, it is because you were stingy. To know what your future lives will be like, look at what you are doing now. If you foster merit and practice giving now, you will certainly be wealthy; if you do not, you certainly will be poor. You do not need spiritual powers, the Heavenly Eye, or the knowledge of past lives to understand this principle.

The High and Venerable Bhikshu An Shih Kao, also named An Ch'ing, was born the son of the King and Queen of An Hsi, Parthia, a small kingdom near India. From birth he was extraordinarily intelligent and mastered medicine, divination, astrology, and physiognomy while still young. He not only studied the sciences of man, but also learned the languages of animals and birds. When wild animals spoke, he knew what they said, and when the birds had a conversation, he understood.

One day, while on a holiday with many friends, he heard a swallow say to its flock, "Someone will send us food today!" An Shih Kao told his companions what the swallow had said, but they refused to believe him. In a short while, someone came with provisions for the birds, and everyone thought it was very strange that he could understand the language of birds. (Confucius' disciple Kung Ye Ch'ang also had this ability.)

An Shih Kao studied thoroughly and well; when his father died, An Shih Ko became king. All the officials brought their problems to him. If it wasn't this problem, it was that problems. "This is too much trouble!" he finally said, and abdicated the throne in favor of his uncle. He had never married, and as a Buddhist layman he held the precepts purely. Now he left home to become a Bhikshu.

A friend of his, a very intelligent Bhikshu, had, like An Shih Kao, learned the Buddhadharma quickly. What this Bhikshu would hear once he never forgot. But this Bhikshu had a temper. If people came to make offerings to him but didn't add a lot of reverent ward of praise, he would fly into a rage and shout, "I don't want your offerings!"

An Shih Kao said to him, "Friend, your wisdom is equal to mine, but your hatred is much greater. I fear that in the future you will fall. If I am not certified to the fruit of Arhatship, I won't be able to help you, but if I attain the Way, I shall find you and take you across. Now, I am going to Canton, in Chung Kuo, to receive the retribution from a former life.

In Canton, during the reign of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, (147-168 A.D.), the government was in disorder and many bandits roamed the streets. Upon his arrival, An Shih Kao passed by a young man, who immediately took out a knife and said, "Now that I have met you, I am going to kill you."

"Go right ahead, kill me," An Shih Kao replied, "but may I ask why you hate me so?"

The young man was puzzled. "I really don't know," he said, "but I wanted to kill you the moment I saw you. I feel that you are evil."

An Shih Kao said, "You don't know why you want to kill me, but I do. It is because in a previous lifetime I killed you. I have come here today only because I want you to kill me." Then he stretched out his neck and asked the man to kill him. His face didn't show the slightest trace of fear, just like the Second Patriarch in Chung Kuo, Hui Ko, who bared his neck for the executioner. The boy cut off An Shih Kao's head and An Shih Kao died. Everyone exclaimed, "This person did not fear death, since he said, "Because I had killed you before, you have to kill me now." This is very strange."

The crowd dispersed and the soul of An Shih Kao returned to An Hsi to be reborn as the king's son once again. When he was sixteen, he again left home to become a monk, and immediately went to save his former friend and his former murderer. He found his former murderer in Canton, no longer young but middle aged.

An Shih Kao asked him, Do you remember that on such and such a day you killed a Bhikshu?"

The man said, "Yes, I remember. Have you come to take revenge?"

"No, I have not come to take revenge. I am the person you killed. I was reborn in An Hsi Country and now I have come back to Chung Kuo to tell you of the cause and effect. You kill me and I kill you. There is no end to this. But don't be afraid, I won't kill you now."

The man thought to himself, "It has been many years since I killed that man, and this monk is a foreigner. So he must be telling the truth; how else could he know these things?"

An Shih Kao said, "I have told you the cause and effect. Now, I must go to save my old friend from my past life."

"Where is your friend?" said the man.

"In Chiang Hsi."

"Good, I'll go with you."

So they went together to Lu Mountain in Chiang Hsi with a party of over thirty people. At Lu Mountain, by the shore of Hu T'ing Lake, there was a temple with an extremely magical Spirit living inside. If travellers lit incense and bowed to the Spirit, their boats would travel safely across the waters. But if they did not, big waves would capsize their boats. Once a businessman asked the Spirit if he could take the bamboo that grew within the temple. The spirit didn't reply, so the businessman grabbed the bamboo and ran. His boat was swamped and he was frowned. The bamboo floated right back to the temple. The people said, "He is truly a powerful Spirit, truly a powerful Spirit!" and for a thousand miles around, everyone knew about the Spirit that lived in Hu T'ing Temple.

When An Shih Kao's party arrived at the lake, those who believed in the Spirit went to bow to him while An Shih Kao stayed in the boat. The Spirit said, "There is a Shramana on your boat. Invite him here!" When they told An Shih Kao, he said, "It is just this Spirit whom I have come to take across."

"Friend," he said to the Spirit, "you still have that big temper, don't you? When someone slights you, you capsize his boat. You have killed many people."

The Spirit said, "I don't know what to do! I am a Spirit who manages an area of about a thousand miles. But when I die, I shall certainly go to the hells for the crimes I have committed."

"Don't worry," said An Shih Kao, "Last life you were my friend and I have come to help you. Now, knowing your errors, show yourself!"

"I can't!" said the Spirit. "Everyone would die of fright."

An Shih Kao insisted, "Impossible. They won't be afraid. Now appear and let me see you."

The spirit had been hiding behind the bed. Slowly his head rose up, the head of a big snake--a mahoraga who could eat five people in one gulp. An Shih Kao explained the Dharma to the snake and recited mantras for him. The big snake cried; tears fell like rain. He said, "Soon I shall die, but I won't leave this ugly corpse here. I am going to a big marsh in Shan Hsi to die."

An Shih Kao returned to the boat and as it cast off from the dock, the mahoraga appeared in the sky above the mountain tops and bowed to An Shih Kao. Everyone waved good-bye to him. That was the end of the mahoraga.

Later on their voyage, a young boy appeared on the boat and bowed to An Shih Kao. He listened carefully while An Shih Kao explained the Dharma to him, and then disappeared. An Shih Kao told his followers, "This boy was the former Hu T'ing Lake Temple Spirit; he returned to thank me." From that day on, no matter what anyone prayed for at the Hu T'ing Lake Temple, there was no response. What is more, in Shan Hsi in a big marsh, the enormous body of a snake, measuring several miles long, appeared. The village there is now called "Snake Village." Soon everyone knew about this incident and many more people came to believe in the Buddhadharma.

When they disembarked, An Shih Kao handed his former murderer a box, saying, "I have to go to Hui Chi to received more retribution. In four years, open this box and see what is inside. If anything should happen to me, please see that I am buried properly."

As he passed through Hui Chi, he walked behind two men fighting in the street. One of them raised a club to strike his opponent, cracked open An Shih Kao's head on the backswing, and killed him.

Four years later, the box was opened and in it were these words:

"Ch'en Hui venerates me,

and Monk Hui guards my Ch'an Dharma."

At that time no one understood these words, but later, a layman named Ch'en Hui, venerated An Shih Kao, and a Dharma Master named Monk Hui, propagated the Sutras that An Shih Kao had translated.

An Shih Kao dwelt in Chung Kuo for twenty years. Although a foreigner, he learned Chung Wen quickly and translated over thirty Sutras with great accuracy.

That An Shih Kao, a Monk of such high virtue, had to undergo a severe retribution such as this, should warn us not to look lightly on cause and effect and casually lose our temper. The Hu T'ing mahoraga had been a Bhikshu in his last life, but fell to rebirth as a snake because he liked to get angry. Everyone thought he was magical. Who would have guessed that he was such a weird thing? Had it not been for An Shih Kao's vow to save him, he would have been in serious trouble.

An Shih Kao had been extremely filial to his father and mother. Later, when he went to Chung Kuo, everyone recognized him as a Virtuous High Monk. Because his father had been a king, the people called him Lord An.

The Greatly Virtuous Indian Bhikshu, K'ang Seng Hui of the Third Century, A.D., mastered all worldly knowledge by an early age. His father, a businessman who travelled throughout India and South-east Asia, settled his family in Chiao Chih, the present day Vietnam. When K'and Seng Hui was eleven or twelve years old, both his parents died simultaneously. After observing the practices of filial piety, he left home, vowing to spread the Buddhadharma. His vow power and conduct were lofty, and he strictly upheld the Vinaya; he studied many sutras and was able to read thirty-thousand gathas every day.

Earlier in Chung Kuo, a Buddhist Upasaka named Chih Ch'an, had translated many Sutras and had instructed a fellow student, Chi Ming. He, in turn, transmitted the teaching to Chih Ch'ien, a contemporary of K'ang Seng Hui, who was an exceptionally gifted Bhikshu. He had penetrated the principles of the entire Tripitaka and spoke six languages.

At that time, Emperor Sun Ch'uan had just established the kingdom of Wu. As wu was a peaceful country, Chih Ch'ien decided to travel there to avoid the political unrest brought about under the reign of Emperor Hsien of the Eastern Han Dynasty. When Emperor Sun Ch'uan heard that the famous and talented Chih Ch'ien had come to his country, he asked for his advice and conferred upon him the honorary title of Doctor of Philosophy. Chih Ch'ien was as tall and thin as a bamboo pole. His bright eyes had shining gold pupils, and people said of him:

Chih's eyes are yellow in the middle;

His frame is thin, He is a bag of wisdom.

He was tall and thin, and full of wisdom, but because he was a foreigner, he is not recorded in the historical documents of Wu.

When Chih Ch'ien died in Chung Kuo, K'ang Seng Hui in India knew about his death and decided that since Chih Ch'ien had not established any temples in Chung Kuo, he would go there and establish some. He wore monk's clothes, hat, shoes, socks, and robes. When he arrived, he built a small hut, made offerings to a Buddha image, and cultivated. However, in his cultivation, he had trouble. Although there was some Buddhadharma in Chung Kuo, Shramanas were rarely seen. "Look at him!" people would exclaim, wearing such strange clothes and doing strange things! see? He gets down on the ground and then gets up, gets down on the ground and then gets up. Just what does he think he is doing?"

The government sent the "F.B.I." to investigate. when K'ang Seng Hui was called before the Emperor Sun Ch'uan, the Emperor said, "Why, the Han Emperor Ming1

saw such a person in a dream! He is a member of the Sangha, a student of the Buddha

dharma!" Then he asked K'ang Seng Hui, "What are you doing?"

l Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in a dream saw a golden god flying in fron of his palace. His astrologer, Fu-i, told him that this was the Buddha, an Indian Sage who had attained Enlightenment, and whose body was a golden color.

"I am studying the Buddhadharma," K'ang seng Hui replied.

"And who is the Buddha?" the Emperor asked.

"The Buddha was a Indian prince who cultivated in the Himalayas for six years. then he sat beneath the Bodhi Tree, saw a star, and became enlightened. After his entry into Nirvana, King Ashoka built eighty-four thousand stupas to hold his sharira.2 The Buddha is a most awesome and powerful person!"

2 Sharira are precious relics which remain after the cremation of a Buddha or a saint. They are placed in reliquaries, called stupas, for veneration.

"You are deliberately overstating this," said the Emperor, "by making the Buddha so mysterious and wonderful. There is no such person, no such principle. But if you can show me a sharira, I will build you a stupa."

Surrounded by his many disciples, K'ang Seng Hui answered boldly, "In one week we shall give you sharira!"

K'ang Seng Hui and his disciples put on clean clothes, placed a small brass urn on a table before the Buddha, and vowed, "In this week we shall certainly obtain a sharira!"

K'ang Seng Hui then addressed his disciples: "The success or failure of Buddhism in Chung Kuo will be decided right here. If we obtain sharira, Buddhism will flourish; if we do not, Buddhism is finished. It is fitting that the Dharma comes to Chung Kuo. Therefore, we must be extremely sincere in our efforts this week."

Although they worshipped the Buddha all week, when Emperor Sun Ch'uan asked to see the sharira, K'ang Seng Hui could only reply that there were none yet, and he requested another week. Sun Ch'uan agreed.

With utmost sincerity, they prayed before the Buddha, but the second week passed and still there were no sharira. Emperor Sun Ch'uan was displeased: "You lied to me!" he said, "I have laws in my country. Do you know about them?" He wished to have K'ang Seng Hui put to death, but K'ang Seng Hui exclaimed, "Give us one more week!" Being wise and magnanimous, the Emperor assented.

K'ang Seng Hui said to his disciples, "If we obtain no sharira this week, we should not wait for the Emperor to execute us; we should all commit suicide together! The Buddhadharma should be efficacious. If we elicit no response, what right have we to continue to propagate the Law? Accordingly, they vowed, "If we obtain no sharira, we shall all die."

They bowed to the Buddha night and day, but by the evening of the sixth day, nothing whatsoever had happened. They had not even had any dream. Remembering their vow, they were afraid. Tomorrow we die!" they cried. But at about five o'clock in the morning on the seventh day, suddenly they heard from the brass urn:

"BANG!"

K'ang Seng Hui rushed forward to look in the urn. There was a brilliant five-colored sharira.

Emperor Sun Ch'uan and the scholars and officials of the Court were amazed. When Sun Ch'uan overturned the urn onto a brass try, the sharira rolled out and shattered the tray. "This is a miracle," said the Emperor, "a true jewel."

"This is a manifestation of the Buddha's might." said K'ang Seng Hui. "The fire at the end of the kalpa cannot burn this sharira."3

Sun Ch'uan said, "We shall see." He placed that sharira on an anvil and struck it with a large hammer. The anvil and hammer were dented, but the sharira was unscratched. "This is harder than a diamond." he said. Everyone who saw this incredible sharira believed in the Buddha, and the Emperor Sun Ch'uan spread the dharma for and wide.

3 At the end of a kalpa there are the three disasters of: fire, flood, and wind.

Seeing the sharira which appeared in response to K'ang Seeing Hui's prayers, emperor Sun Ch'uan came to believe in the Buddhadharma. He built First Established Monastery in Fo T'o (Buddha) Village. Here, at the Emperor's request, K'ang Seng Hui was asked to live. The monastery, as well as its stupa, were the first in Chung Kuo. After that, most of the people of the country of Wu became Buddhists. To this day in Su-Chou, Hang-Chou and Nanking, many believe in the Buddha because of this incident.

The Buddhadharma has its ups and downs; some believe and some do not. Emperor Sun Ch'uan may have believed in the Buddha, but his son Sun Hao (reign dated; A.D. 264-280), did not. He thought that his father was a stupid dolt, while he felt himself to be supremely intelligent. He wanted the Buddhist monasteries burned and the Buddhist practices discontinued. "Who started this Buddhism?" he asked his court officials. "Who is responsible for these meaningless rituals? Ultimately, what use are they? If Buddhism is useful, we should keep it, but if it doesn't benefit mankind, society, and the world, we should get rid of it!"

"The spiritual power and awesome virtue of the Buddha are inconceivable," replied the court officials. "You cannot just burn down Buddhist temples."

Sun Hao then sent a famous debater to visit the High Master K'ang Seng Hui, but no matter what principles or rhetoric he used, he could not defeat the Master. AS the debater was leaving, he saw that in a small temple beside the monastery gate, people were sacrificing chickens and pigs to the gods.

"How can such an improper place stand beside a proper, orthodox Buddhist monastery?" he asked.

K'ang Seng Hui replied, "Thunder may rend the mountains, but the deaf do not hear it. The Buddha is efficacious, but these senseless ones pay no attention."

"That has principle," said the debater. He returned to the Emperor and said, "Shramana K'ang Seng Hui is a man of great wisdom and intelligence. I cannot fathom his wisdom with my knowledge. The Emperor had best go see for himself." So the Emperor got into a beautiful four-horse cart and rode off to seek K'ang Seng Hui.

"What is magical about the Buddhadharma?" the Emperor asked. "What is meant by good and evil retribution? And what about ghosts and spirits? How do you explain these things?"

K'ang Seng Hui replied, "The Book Of Changes (I Ching), states that "A family that does good will have reason to rejoice; A family that does evil will encounter calamities." If you do evil in secret, the ghosts pay you back, and if you do evil openly, other men take revenge--they will kill you. Such is the retribution of good and evil."

The Emperor said, "Confucius and the Duke of Chou taught these principles long ago. What's so great about Buddhism expounding them now?"

"What was taught before was obvious and superficial. the Buddhadharma explains "retribution" in such profound and far-reaching terms that it leads men to refrain from evil and do good. Is this not fine?" Although Sun Hao was intelligent, he had no way to defeat K'ang Seng Hui or discredit the Buddhadharma. He just said, "Okay, forget it." But he didn't believe or study the Buddhadharma. There are many like Emperor Sun Hao!

Later, one of his attendants discovered a gold statue in the palace gardens. Not knowing it was a statue of the Buddha, the Emperor placed it in a hole beneath his outhouse so that all the excrement and urine landed on the Buddha image. He and his ministers laughed and joked. "This is really something." they said, "What kind of efficacy does it have now?" Then trouble came for Sun Hao; his entire body swelled up and his genitals really hurt. As he lay there, rolling over and over and calling out in pain, one of his diviners said, "You have offended a great spirit." Not knowing it was the Buddha, he just called it a great spirit. Sun Hao sent his attendants to the temples to offer incense and bow to the spirits, but his condition did not improve and his pain was not relieved at all. finally, one of his concubines, who was a Buddhist, asked, "Have you sought forgiveness in the temples of the Buddha?"

Sun Hao lifted his head, "Is the Buddha a great spirit?" he asked.

"The Buddha is the greatest of spirits," she replied.

Hearing this, Sun Hoa woke up and realized what he had done. He had the statue removed from the toilet and told his concubine to wash it clean with scented water. Sun Hao got up and bowed before the statue. He lit incense and repented, setting forth all of his past mistakes; soon he was completely cured and had no more pain. Later he went to First Established Monastery to request the speaking of the Dharma. K'ang Seng Hui spoke to him in eloquent detail of the principles of offenses and blessings, cause and effect, and the Emperor reformed, took refuge, and received the five precepts. He wanted to read the Bhikshu Precepts, but lay people are not allowed to see them, so K'ang Seng Hui wrote out two hundred and fifty vows all of which began, "I vow that living beings...etc." The vows increased the Emperor's faith and he instructed his attendants and laborers to take refuge, cultivate, and help spread the Buddhadharma.

K'ang Seng Hui translated many Sutras with great skill and accuracy, but during the fourth year of the T'ien Chi (A.D. 280) reign period, the Wu Dynasty fell to the Tsin Dynasty. In the ninth month of that year, K'ang Seng Hui died of a sudden illness. A stupa was built for him. Later a rebel named Su Tsun burned it down and it had to be rebuilt.

There was also General P'ingHsi Ch'ao Yu who did not believe in the Buddhadharma and slighted the Triple Jewel saying, "This is nothing but superstitious nonsense!" until one night the had a dream. He dreamt that he went into K'ang Seng Hui's stupa and said to the cultivators, "I have heard that this stupa emits light, but I will believe it when I see it." Just then, a five-colored light exploded from the stupa, totally filling up heaven and earth.

When the general woke up, he believed in the Buddha and never dared to slander the Triple Jewel again.

These are the main events in the life of K'ang Seng Hui.

High Sanghan Vighna was from India. His grandfather and father were both externalists who cultivated the worship of fire. Fire for them was the supreme ultimate, and they kept a fire constantly burning in their home, respecting, revering, and worshipping it as one would the Buddha.

One day a Shramana--a monk--who cultivated dharmas of the Lesser Vehicle and was an expert in the use of extremely efficacious mantras, passed by Vighna's household at dusk and asked to spend the night. He received permission from Vighna's father, but because the family cultivated an externalist way, they were reluctant to welcome the Shramana.

"What are we going to do with him?" they worried. They finally told him. "You can stay here, but not in the house; you'll have to sleep outside." They were taking precautions lest someone try to destroy their religion.

Applying his spiritual penetrations, the Shramana recited a "fire-extinguishing mantra" and their object of worship, the fire on their altar died. This alarmed everyone in the family. They knew they had done something wrong. In panic, they rushed outside, and so as to repent, they bowed before the Shramana. He was then invited inside to spend the night.

Inside, the Shramana recited a "fire-producing mantra," and the altar fire suddenly reappeared. The family of fire worshippers thought, "This is strange. We've been serving fire a long time, but we don't have his spiritual penetrations. It's miraculous!"

Upon seeing these awe-inspiring feats which far surpassed those of his family, Vighna believed in the Shramana and wished to leave the home life to follow him and cultivate the Way. His parents, recognizing the power of the Shramana, gave their consent. After he left the home life, Master Vighna concentrated on reading and reciting Sutras. In one day he was able to read and learn to recite from memory twenty or thirty thousand words.

In the third year of the reign period Huang Wu, in the Eastern Wu Dynasty, Master Vighna went to the state of Wu where he studied Chinese--remarkably slowly! Neither he, nor his companion Lu Yen, could master the language, but nonetheless, they proceeded to force some translations. How did they do it? They used dictionaries to look up every word. Since they translated in this way, their writing was stilted and cumbersome. They translated many short Buddhist sutras this way.

The only existent copies were written out in large characters, and these Sutra were lost when the original copies disintegrated. Nevertheless, the merit of these two Dharma Masters is great. Having previously been followers of an externalist way, they took refuge with the Triple Jewel and translated Sutras at a time when no Chung Wen translations of Sutras existed. It was much more difficult to translate then, than it is today, when scientific devices help speed the process. Although Master Vighna's ability with the Chung Wen language was not very good, he dared to translate, and his courageous efforts should be remembered by all of us.

The father of Tripitaka Master Kumarajiva (344-413 A.D.), was Kumarayana, Kumarayana was the son of a high official in India and, although he was heir to his father's position, he renounced the world instead and travelled everywhere in search of a Good knowing Advisor. Since Kumarayana's father was a high official, he was welcomed warmly wherever he went. In his travels he went to Kucha. There the king, hearing that Kumarayana had set aside worldly glory, much admired him and met him at the border, so as to escort him into the country. He also conferred upon him the title of "National Master."

The king had a little sister named Jiva who was just twenty years old. From birth she was so intelligent that she looked down on all the men in her own country. The king invited Kumarayana to a banquet, and the moment Jiva saw him she fell in love with him and wished to marry him. Although she didn't say anything, her brother, who was also quite intelligent, noticed her reaction. He decide it was meant to be, and ordered Kumarayana to marry her.

Before long, she became pregnant, and a lot of strange things began to happen. She would often visit Ch'iao Li Ta Temple where she would listen to the virtuous masters expound upon the Dharma. Originally, she did not understand the Indian languages, but strangely enough, when she was pregnant with Kumarajiva, one day at a banquet offered to the Sangha, she suddenly understood the Indian speakers and was able to converse with them as well. Not only that, her eloquence was unobstructed and her wisdom increased greatly. Everyone expressed their amazement. At that time, an Arhat said, "The child in that woman's womb is no ordinary child but one of great wisdom. This is like the time when Shariputra was in his mother's womb. So the child is probably just like Shariputra, the wisest of the Buddha's Sound-Hearer Disciples." When Kumarajiva was still in his mother's womb, then, he helped her become wise. Not long after that, she expressed the desire to leave the home life, but her husband would not give his consent. Two or three years later she gave birth to a second son. When she heard the Dharma Masters expound the Dharma, saying that everything in the world was bound up in suffering, emptiness, and impermanence, and was without a self, she resolved to leave home, no matter what. This is because her basic disposition was extremely fine. At this time, Kumarajiva was only seven years old.

Although Kumarayana had formerly wanted to leave home, after his marriage to Jiva, he gave up the idea. He was now too much in love with his beautiful wife and too fond of his money and his position. In The Sutra Of Forty-Two Sections it says, "It is hard to study the Way when one is rich. Because of his wealth and rank, Kumarayana had become confused. Not only did he not want to leave home, he wouldn't allow his wife to leave home either.

One day, when Jiva was strolling outside the city, she came upon a charnel field. seeing the dry, brittle bones scattered in great disorderly heaps, she profoundly grasped and universal truth of suffering and accordingly made a vow: "You say you won't let me leave home." she said, "but I'll die before I'll remain with you." and she began to fast. At first, Kumarayana didn't think much of her not eating. But when she hadn't taken any food, or even a drink of water, for six days, he grew concerned. On the evening of the sixth day, seeing her weakened condition and fearing that she might really starve to death, he finally relented. "All right," he said, "you may leave home. Now please eat something!" Jiva replied, "First ask a Dharma Master to cut my hair and then I will eat. Otherwise, after I eat you might go back one your word." Kumarayana had no choice but to go to Ch'iao Li Ta Temple and ask the Abbot to shave his wife's head. After that, she ate. From that time on, she studied the Buddhadharma with great sincerity.

In studying the Dharma, sincerity is essential. Without a sincere heart, no matter how long you study, you'll obtain nothing. Because she was so sincere--ready to starve to death in order to leave home--and because she saw cultivation as more important than life itself, she was able to reach the extreme of single-mindedness. She put absolutely everything else aside and at that time, her spiritual light blazed forth and she realized the first fruit of Arhatship.

Often she would take Kumarajiva with her to the Temple. He was only seven years old at the time and when he saw people bowing to the Buddha, he would do the same. When he saw people lighting incense, he would imitate them. Soon, he left home with his mother. Kumarayana was very upset. He found it as hard to let go of his son as it had been to let go of his wife. He may have wept bitter tears; it's not known for sure. However, Kumarajiva's mother was very firm. "Cry all you like," she said, "but we are leaving home," and off they went.

After Kumarajiva left home, he studied the Small Vehicle teachings and memorized the Sutras at the rate of a thousand verses of thirty-two words each, per day, or thirty-two thousand words a day. That's about thirty times as many words as there are in the Shurangama Mantra. Think it over: Kumarajiva at seven years old could memorize that many words in a single day. How does out intelligence compare with his? Every day you are given twenty-four Chung Wen characters to learn, but today, you don't remember yesterday's lesson. How can we possibly compare with him?

His mother soon had an awakening. Being the little sister of a king, after she left home she was showered with offerings. Not wishing to live in luxury and intent on cultivating the way, she decided to take Kumarajiva with her and travel about. When Kumarajiva was nine years old, she took him to Kashmir where he studied the Small Vehicle under the High Master Bandhudatta. Kumarajiva worked extremely hard at his studies. From dawn until noon. he wrote the verses out, and from noon until the sun went down, he recited them from memory.

In addition to being intelligent, Kumarajiva was also not lazy. Because he was intelligent, he learned the Sutras very fast; because he was not intelligent, but lazy, he never would have learned very much. If he had been industrious, but not intelligent, he also would not have learned very much. But since he was both, he learned very quickly.

When he was twelve, he and his mother set out to return to Kucha. As they passed through the northern mountains of Kusana, an Arhat seeing Kumarajiva said to Jiva, "you should take good care of this little novice. If by the time he is thirty-five he has not broken the Precepts, he will be able to cause the Buddhadharma to flourish greatly and will save countless beings, just like the Fourth Patriarch Upagupta of India. If his Precepts are not held intact, this will not be possible." The Fourth Patriarch had lived in a stone cave. Every time he converted someone, he would put a slip of bamboo in his cave. Eventually, the cave was entirely filled with bamboo slips, which proves that he saved hundreds of thousands of people.

On their way back to Kucha, they stopped in Kashgar. There, in a temple, Kumarajiva saw a large incense burner in front of the Buddha image. It must have weighed at least a hundred pounds. But he picked it right up and put it over his head with no effort at all. Once he had done this, he thought, "I'm just a little child. How can I lift such a heavy thing?" with that one thought, the burner suddenly became very heavy and crashed to the ground. When his mother asked him what was going one, he said, "The burner seemed light and then heavy only because of the discriminations in my mind." Thus, he awoke to the fact that everything is made from the mind alone. Before he had discriminated, he lifted the burner easily. Once he gave rise to discrimination, what had not been heavy became heavy. From this, he knew that the ten thousand dharmas arise only from the mind.

He remained in Kashgar studying Abhidharma texts and was introduced to the Great Vehicle and realized that, while the Small Vehicle was wonderful, the Great Vehicle was the wonderful within the wonderful. He sighed and said, "In my previous study of the Small Vehicle, I was like one who did not recognize gold and took ordinary rock as something wonderful." Although the king of Kashgar was anxious to keep him in his court, the king of Kucha sent a messenger asking him to return and so Kumarajiva and his mother once again set out for Kucha.

In a small country north of Kucha, there was a master of debate who loudly beat the palace drum and announced that if anyone could beat him in a debate, he would chop off his own head and present it to that person as a gift. This, too, was similar to the incident which took place between Shariputra's uncle and the Buddha. As Kumarajiva happened to be through, he questioned the man about two principles. This rendered the man completely speechless. Since the master of debate couldn't ear to cut off his head, he bowed to Kumarajiva as his teacher and studied with him. Kumarajiva once again set out for Kucha and was welcomed at the border by the king himself.

At the age of twenty, Kumarajiva received, at the palace, the full Precepts; that is, complete ordination. He studied the Sarvastivadin Vinaya In Ten Sections under Vimalaksha, the well-known Shramana from Kashmir who had travelled to Kucha and was a renowned master of the Vinaya.

Meanwhile, Kumarajiva's mother decided to travel to India. There she was to be certified to the third fruit of Arhatship. Before leaving, she took a look at the causes and conditions and saw that her son's affinities lay in Chung Kuo. She told him. "The profound Vaipulya teachings should be propagated extensively in Chung Kuo. You are the only one with the power to do this. However, it will be most unbeneficial for you personally. I don't know how you feel about this..."

Kumarajiva replied, "The way of the Bodhisattva is to benefit others and forget oneself. If I can transmit the great teaching and enlighten the people, I would not even object to being boiled in a cauldron."

Kumarajiva remained in Kucha for two years studying the Great Vehicle Sutras. Then his uncle, the king, had a golden lion throne made for him and asked him to ascend it and speak the Dharma. But at that time Kumarajiva had something else on his mind. He wanted to convert his Small Vehicle Master, Bandhudatta. His Small vehicle Master had a lot of disciples, and if Kumarajiva could convert him, he would convert many others as well. so, although his uncle had made his a lion throne, he still intended to leave Kucha for Kashmir where Bandhudatta lived. This greatly upset his uncle. "I have been so gracious as to make you this throne," he said, "and you show me no consideration whatever."

Curiously enough, shortly thereafter, Bandhudatta arrived at the border, seeking entrance into Kucha. When border officials informed the palace, both Kumarajiva and the king went to meet him. The king asked Bandhudatta, "Why have you come from so far?"

Bandhudatta replied, "I came first of all because I heard of the great awakening of my disciple, and secondly, because I heard, Great King, of your vast propagation of the Buddhadharma and I wished to meet you."

Kumarajiva was delighted to see his teacher and spoke for him The Sutra Of The Questions Of The Virtuous woman, a Great Vehicle Sutra. When he had finished, his Teacher said, "Just what particular advantages does the Great Vehicle have that have caused you to take it up in lieu of the Small Vehicle?"

Kumarajiva replied, "The Great Vehicle propounds the doctrine that dharmas are empty. The Small Vehicle relies upon names and marks."

Bandhudatta replied, "The Great Vehicle talks about emptiness, but emptiness is just emptiness--nothing at all. What's the use of studying it? If everything is empty, then why study it?"

Kumarajiva said, "In emptiness there is Wonderful Existence. In True Emptiness there is Wonderful Existence. The Great Vehicle is the ultimate teaching. It is not like the Small Vehicle which restricts itself with names and terms and does not teach genuine liberation. The Small Vehicle is too rigid and stuffy."

Then Bandhudatta countered, "I have an analogy for the emptiness of the Great Vehicle. Once there was a madman who asked a weaver to weave him a piece of fine silk. The first piece the weaver brought his was not fine enough, and the second was still too coarse. He kept sending the weaver back to his loom until, in exasperation, the weaver finally confronted him with nothing at all, just his empty fist clenched in space and said, "Here it is. This is my finest work!"

"But there's nothing there," the madman said.

"This silk is so fine," said the weaver, "that even I, the master weaver, cannot see it. It's so fine it's invisible,"

"The madman was delighted and paid a handsome price for the silk. the other weavers also took up this method and they all cheated the madman who paid out a lot of money for nothing at all. Your exposition of the Great Vehicle Dharma is exactly like that," said Bandhudatta. "You talk about emptiness and say that within emptiness there is existence, but no one can see it."

"No, no, no," said Kumarajiva, and he continued to explain many subtle Great Vehicle Doctrines to him until finally, after over a month of discussion, he won his Teacher over to the Great Vehicle, and brought him to a true understanding or the doctrine of True Emptiness and Wonderful Existence. Then what do you think happened?

Bandhudatta said, "I want to bow to you as my Master,"

Kumarajiva said, "You can't do that. I have already bowed to you as my Master. How can you bow to me as your Master?"

Bandhudatta said, "I am your Small Vehicle Master; you can be my Great Vehicle Master. that way, we'll both have our Masters and we'll both have our Vehicles and everyone will be satisfied. It's no big problem."

In this way, Kumarajiva received his own Teacher as a disciple. It's obvious from this that the ancients did not have a mark of self. They had true understanding. Otherwise, Bandhudatta would not have been able to bow to his own disciple as a teacher. He would simply have said. "I don't care how lofty your eloquence; you are my disciple and that's that." The ancients had no view of self. They took the way as their Teacher. all that was necessary was for someone else to have more virtue than they, and they would bow to them as their Teacher. They had no obstructive thoughts of rank or position, and they were not self-centered.

One time, when the weather was extremely dry in Kucha, and it hadn't rained for a long time, Kumarajiva manifested great spiritual powers and set up a Dharma Altar to seek rain. He announced, "Within three days there will certainly be ran." Sure enough, before three days had passed, it rained. Everyone believed in him even more.

All the nations stood in awe of Kumarajiva and the kings would kneel beneath his speaking platform to listen to him expound upon the sutras. The king would even allow his back to be used as a step for Kumarajiva to walk on as he ascended the Dharma seat to deliver a lecture. The king did this to show how much he honored the Master any how much he esteemed the Buddhadharma.

In Chung Kuo at this time, The Emperor was Yao Hsing and his reign period was called Yao Ch'in Earlier, Emperor Fu Chien had set up the Fu Ch'in Dynasty. When Fu Chien was murdered by Yao ch'ang, the dynasty name was changed to Yao Ch'in. Later, when Yao Ch'ang died, Yao Hsing took the throne.

In Ch'ang An, Fu Chien's court astrologer, ch'ih Tien Chien, had seen a "wisdom star" shining in the direction of India and told Fu Chien, "In India, there is a person of great wisdom who shall be coming here to protect our country."

Fu Chien said, "It is most likely Kumarajiva. We should send out troops to escort him here. He then sent General Lu Kuang with seventy thousand mounted troops to Kucha after Kumarajiva.

Before Lu Kuang arrived in Kucha, Kumarajiva had told the king, "Chung Kuo is sending troops to our country, but they do not wish to take our land. They have another objective and you should listen to them and agree to their demands." But the king refused to listen and when Lu Kuang arrived, he sent out his troops to fight. The Chung Kuo army was large and powerful, and Kucha was just a little country. the king was murdered and his troops defeated.

As the king had been an ardent believer in Buddhism, you may wonder why he was murdered. It was because the killing karma he had created in past lives was too heavy. It was a fixed, unavoidable retribution.

Lu Kuang captured Kumarajiva and started back. One night he camped in a gorge at the base of two mountain. Kumarajiva advised him not to camp there as it was an inauspicious site, but Lu Kuang said, "What do you, a left home person, know about military matters?" In the middle of the night a flood swept down the gorge and Lu Kuang lost several thousand men. The next day he realized that Kumarajiva was rather extraordinary and that he had spiritual powers. Before the troops had drowned he did not believe in him, but now he certainly did!

When Lu Kuang arrived in Ku Tsang, he heard that in Chung Kuo, Fu Chien had been murdered by Yao Ch'ang, who had set up the Yao Ch'in Dynasty. Uncertain as to how he would be received in Chung Kuo, Lu Kuang decide to remain in Ku Tsang and maintain his neutrality.

When Lu Kuang's most esteemed minister, Ch'ang Chih, fell ill, a Brahman healer thought to swindle Lu Kuang and claimed that he could cure Ch'ang Chih's illness. Lu Kuang gave him a large sum of money, but Kumarajiva knew the man was a swindler and said to Lu Kuang, "No matter how much money you give him, he won't be able to cure Ch'ang Chih's illness. I will prove it to you. Here is a five-colored threat which I shall burn into ashes. Then I will put the ashes in some water. If the ashes turn back into a five-colored thread, then Ch'ang Chih's illness will not be cured. If they do not, he will get well. If you don't believe me, we'll try it out. He burned the thread and put the ashes in a cup of water. As soon as he did this, the ashes turned into a five colored thread. seeing this, Lu Kuang knew that Ch'ang Chih could not be cured. soon after,

Ch'ang Chih died. Lu Kuang had spent a lot of money and got no results whatsoever. This was the inconceivable state of Kumarajiva. His spiritual powers were something which ordinary people could never fathom.

In Chung Kuo, when Yao Ch'ang died, his son, Yao Hsing, took the throne. A loyal supporter of the Buddhadharma, he sent men to Ku Tsang to bring Kumarajiva to Chung Kuo. In Ku Tsang, Lu Kuang having died, his son, Lu Shao, had taken the throne. Shortly after, Lu Tsuan, the son of one of his father's concubines, murdered Lu Shao and seized power. During the second year of Lu Tsuan's reign, a three-headed pig was born. Then a dragon was seen crawling out of a well on the outskirts of the eastern part of the city. It coiled up in front of the palace hall and remained there until dawn when it disappeared. Thinking this an auspicious portent, Lu Tsuan renamed the palace "Hovering Dragon." Then a black dragon was seen outside the throne-room gates. Lu Tsuan changed the name from' Nine Chamber Gates" to "Rising Dragon Gate,"

Kumarajiva told Lu Tsuan, "The appearance of these dragons is highly inauspicious. They are YIN dragons and their frequent appearance foretells calamities for the nation. I advise the cultivation of virtue to forestall these impending disasters."

Lu Tsuan would not hear of this. While playing chess with Kumarajiva, Lu Tsuan was about to take one of Kumarajiva's men and said, in reference to the chess move, "I cut off the Hu Nu's (barbarian's) head.

Startled, Kumarajiva said, 'You cannot cut off the Hu Nu's head. The Hu Nu will cut off someone else's head." This was a prophecy, although Lu Tsuan failed to understand it as such.

Lu Kuang's little brother, Lu Pao, had a son named Lu Ch'ao, whose nickname was Hu Nu. At that time, Lu Chao was plotting Lu Tsuan's murder. Later Lu Chao did, in fact, kill Lu Tsuan, and set his older brother, Lu Lung, on the throne. It was Lu Lung who was ruling the country when Yao Hsing's troops arrived from Chung Kuo to take Kumarajiva.

Kumarajiva arrived in Chung Kuo, at Chang An, in 401 A.D. and was made a National Master. He headed a translation center with over eight hundred Sangha and lay scholars assisting him. By the time he died, he had produced over three hundred rolls of translation, including the Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra.

We have proof that Kumarajiva's translations are extremely accurate. When he was about to die, he asked to be cremated and said, "I have translated many Sutras during my lifetime and I personally do not know if they are correct. If they are, when I am cremated, my tongue will not burn. If there are mistakes, however, it will." When his body was burned, his tongue was found unburned in the ashes.

During the Tang Dynasty, Vinaya Master Tau Hsuan once asked the god Lu Hsuan Chang, "Why does everyone prefer to read Kumarajiva's translations?"

The god replied, "Kumarajiva has been the translation master for the past seven Buddhas and so his translations are extremely accurate."

Kumarajiva was a Tripitaka Master, one who has mastered the Three divisions of the Buddhist Canon: the sutras, Shastras, and Vinaya. A Dharma Master takes the Dharma as his master and bestows the Dharma upon others. Some Dharma Masters chant Sutras, others maintain them in their minds and practice them with their bodies; others write them out and still others explain them for people.

Kumarajiva's name is Sanskrit and means "Youth of Long Life." One could say, "Young Kumarajiva will certainly live to a great age." One could also say, "He was young in years, but mature in wisdom, eloquence, and virtue: he had the wisdom of an old man. So he is called "the youth of long life."

The High Master Buddhayashas was a native of Kashmir. His family belonged to a secret non-Buddhist religion. One day, when a Shramana came to their door on his begging rounds, Buddhayashas" father said angrily, "Get out of here!" and sent his servant to beat him. As soon as the servant hit him, Buddhayashas' father felt pain in his arms and legs, and in a short time he was completely paralyzed. Realizing his mistake, he asked a shaman for advice. Shamans are individuals who possessed by efficacious ghosts, thus they have magical powers. the ghosts talk through the person, and the person thereby seems to know everything. People mistake this for a display of spiritual powers, and so many people believe in Shamanism. In some cases, all the shaman has to do is to give an auspicious prediction. For instance, if a couple have a newborn infant, he could say, "This child will quickly grow up to be strong and tall and will live a hundred years." which might be enough to influence the couple to believe in him. "You have offended a Sage," the shaman said, "and the ghosts and spirits have taken revenge. Seek forgiveness and you will get well."

Buddhayashas' father invited the Shramana into his house and bowed to him over and over saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," and he immediately got well. Impressed by the Shramana's virtue, Buddhayashas became his disciple and the two of them traveled from country to country.

Once, they met a tiger. The Shramana wanted to run, but Buddhayashas said, "He's eaten his fill. Don't worry, he won't harm us."

"How do you know?" said the Shramana. He didn't disbelieve Buddhayashas, but he didn't exactly believe him either. Just then the tiger trotted by without so much as a glance at the two of them. Up ahead, they came upon a corpse all blood and bones scattered on the road, and the Shramana thought, "Strange. I wonder how he knew that?" Buddhayashas was thirteen years old at the time, but there was nothing strange about it, because he was a young novice with great virtue. He had opened his Heavenly Eye and could see right into the tiger's stomach.

When he was fourteen, Buddhayashas studied and recited Sutras--a lot of Sutras, hundreds of thousands of volumes of Sutras--and his arrogance grew. "How many men in this world could possibly be my teacher?" he thought. "Few, few indeed!" Because of his arrogance, none of his colleagues would come near him, and when he was twenty, he couldn't receive the complete Bhikshu Precepts. No one would transmit them to such an arrogant child, so he studied the Indian classics with his non-Buddhist uncle. His teacher looked everywhere for High Masters to transmit the Precepts to him, but he had annoyed so many that he was twenty-seven years old before he finally received them.

Having mastered the Five Sciences: grammar and composition, arts and mathematics, medicine, logic, and philosophy, he continued to study, recite, and translate Buddhist Sutras and later traveled to Kashgar. The king of Kashgar, whose name translates as "No Thought," was a faithful and generous protector of the Triple Jewel. One day he invited over three thousand Bhikshus and Bhikshunis to the palace to have lunch and received offerings. When the king's son, Dharmaputra, saw Dharma Master Buddhayashas, he was deeply impressed by his handsome appearance and awesome comportment and asked, "Where are you from?" Dharma Master Buddhayashas' eloquent reply so delighted the Prince that he invited him to live in the palace and receive royal offerings of the finest food, clothing, and lodgings. When the king died, Dharmaputra succeeded him.

It was at this time that the young Kumarajiva and his mother arrived in Kashgar. Kumarajiva had been studying the Small Vehicle, but now he studied the Great Vehicle under Dharma Master Buddhayashas, and together they translated Sutras for a year or two, until Kumarajiva and his mother returned to Kucha. Meanwhile, in Chung Kuo, Fu Chien of the Fu Chin Dynasty, sent his great General Lu Kuang to Kucha to bring Kumarajiva back to Chung Kuo. The king of Kucha engaged Lu Kuang in battle. Deputizing his son, the crown prince, and Dharma Master Buddhayashas to administer the country's affairs. Dharmaputra leading his army, went to the aid of the king of Kucha. But before he even arrived, Kucha had been devastated, their army defeated, and Kumarajiva captured by Lu Kuang. (It took many hardships and a change of government before Kumarajiva finally arrived at Chang An, the capital of Chung Kuo, 401 A.D.).

Dharmaputra then took his army home and told Dharma Master Buddhayashas that Kumarajiva had been captured by the Chung Kuo General Lu Kuang. Dharma Master Buddhayashas sighed and said, "Ah! Kumarajiva and I were together for a long time, but I still have not fully explained all the principles that I cherish to him. I don't know when we will meet again."

Time passed and Dharma Master Buddhayashas went to Kucha to propagate the Dharma. Everyone came to believe in him. When Dharma Master Kumarajiva, in Chung Kuo, sent him a letter of invitation. Dharma Master Buddhayashas said to his disciples, "We will go immediately!" They prepared to leave, but the king and common people of Kucha would not let them go. Dharma Master Buddhayashas waited a year, then one night he gathered is disciples together. "Tonight we leave!" he said.

"But how?" said his disciples. "We can't get very far, and the king will surely find us and bring us back. How are we going to get out?"

"There's a method," said Dharma Master Buddhayashas, and he put some herbs in a large basin of water and began to recite mantras over them. Then, still reciting mantras, they all washed their feet, picked up their bedding, and ran. They ran about four hundred miles, and when it got light, he asked his disciples, "What do you think of that?"

"Oh!" they said, "all we heard was the wind in our ears. Our streaming eyes were blown shut by the wind."

Then he recited another mantra and they all washed their feet again. These mantras are not named in the text, but they probably were the "flying mantra" and the "non-flying mantra." The king of Kucha had sent people after them, but of course they never caught them. From this we can see that the virtuous Shramanas of antiquity were considered such national treasures that they were not even allowed out of the country.

They were welcomed at the border by Emperor Yao Hsing who respected Dharma Master Buddhayashas very highly. He built the Master a house where he could study. Dharma Master Buddhayashas lived there and helped Dharma Master Kumarajiva translate the Sutras, and spread the Dharma, but he accepted no further offerings. For many years however, the four kinds of offerings--food, drink, bedding, and medicine--were still offered; yet Dharma Master Buddhayashas ignored them. When three great roomfuls had accumulated, the Emperor sold them, and from the proceeds, built a temple for Dharma Master Buddhayashas. the Emperor's last offering to him of ten thousand rolls of cloth, was also refused. Dharma Master Buddhayashas' practice of not accepting offerings was his outstanding trait.

The Venerable Buddhabhadra was of the same family as Shakyamuni Buddha since he was a descendant of the Buddha's paternal uncle, Amritodana. His grandfather's name in Sanskrit means "Dharma Heaven"; his father's name means "Dharma Sun." He was born in kapilavastu, which was a wealthy city with an abundance of the objects of the five desires. Moreover, its citizenry had the virtue of much learning and liberation.

Despite his noble ancestry, Buddhabhadra's luck was poor. When he was three years old, his father died, and when he was five, his mother died as well. Since he was a remarkably intelligent child, he didn't cry when his parents died. "Life among men," he said, "is truly bitter." His maternal grandfather adopted him when he heard that his grandson, although an orphan, understood the nature of human existence so well.

"You have no parents," his grandfather said one day; "perhaps you should leave home and become a Shramanera."

Young Buddhabhadra excelled as a novice. He was young in years, but possessed such great wisdom that he even caused his teacher to remark, "You are truly inconceivable. You can master in one day what it takes others at least a month to learn. If this isn't intelligence, what is?" when Buddhabhadra was seventeen, he studied several hundreds of the Sutras, cultivating diligently with his Dharma brother Sanghadatta, who held him in great esteem. Even after cultivating together for more than a year, Sanghadatta still had no inkling of the level of his partner's cultivation. One day, however, when Sanghadatta had locked himself in his room to meditate, Buddhabhadra suddenly appeared before him.

"I thought I locked the door," said Sanghadatta. "How did you get in here?"

"I've just returned form the Tushita Heaven where I visited Maitreya Bodhisattva," Buddhabhadra replied. So saying, he vanished without a trace.

"He's a sage," thought Sanghadatta. "My Dhyana brother has certainly certified to the fruit," After that, he watched all of Buddhabhadra's spiritual transformations which went unnoticed by those less observant. Later, because he had asked in a most respectful manner, Buddhabhadra informed him that he had indeed been certified to the third fruit of Arhatship, that of an Anagamin, a 'never-returner." Now his greatest desire was to travel to all countries in order o spread the Buddhadharma and teach and transform living beings.

When the two of them were in Kashmir, Great Master Chih Yen (Second Hua Yen Patriarch) came from Chung Kuo to visit. He praised them saying, "The conduct of these two Dharma Masters is extremely impressive and their cultivation is correct and pure and very much in accord with the Dharma. If only the monks in Chung Kuo could be like this! But there are no Good Knowing Advisors in Chung Kuo at present and so no one has an opportunity to become enlightened.," He had resolved to return to Chung Kuo with a Good Knowing Advisor and so he addressed the Assembly saying, "Which one of you will be compassionate and cultivate the Bodhisattva way by returning with me to the land of Yao Chin (Chung Kuo) to convert living beings?"

All the many High Masters in Kashmir at the time, recommended Buddhabhadra. "This Indian Dharma Master," they said, "was born and raised in a great noble family. He left home at an early age and studied unfathomably deep Dharmas under his Good knowing Advisor, Buddhasena. He's the one to go to Chung Kuo."

Buddhasena himself said, "If you truly wish to propagate the Law and to instruct members of the Sangha, take Dharma Master Buddhabhadra with you." But when Master Chih Yen asked Dharma Master Buddhabhadra to go, he refused. Master Chih Yen then knelt for two days without rising until Dharma Master Buddhabhadra compassionately agreed. At that time, of course, there were no busses, trains, or planes, and while Buddhabhadra, as a certified Sage, could have "flown" to Chung Kuo without a plane, he knew it would have frightened people too much. So he shouldered his pack and the two of them walked to Chung Kuo. They walked for more than tree years and passed through six countries. The kings of all these countries, on hearing that he was going to Chung Kuo to spread the Dharma, were delighted and made offerings to him with great enthusiasm. They walked as far as Chiao Chih, the present day Vietnam, and then took a boat for Chung Kuo.

They sailed peacefully until one day, as they passed a certain mountain, Dharma Master Buddhabhadra said to the captain, "We should stop here."

"We can't stop now," said the captain. "We've got favorable winds and are making good time." They sailed another two hundred miles and ran into a gale which blew the ship, strangely enough, right back to the mountain where they disembarked. Seeing his spiritual powers, the people on board all took refuge with him and made offerings. When the wind stopped a few days later, he again cautioned the people to wait, but some didn't listen, and their boat capsized shortly after they set sail.

Those who had heeded his instructions, of course, didn't drown, but when he told them one night, "We should leave right away," not a single person listened. "All right," he said, "stay if you like, but I'm leaving," and he threw the lines off the deck and left. An hour later, those who had stayed behind were raided by thieves. they finally understood that Dharma Master Buddhabhadra was special!

When Buddhabhadra arrived in Chung Kuo at Ching Chou, Tung Lai Prefecture, he was informed that Kumarajiva was in Chang An, the Western Capital, and went to visit him. When Kumarajiva saw him he was extremely happy. "So you've come!" he exclaimed. "You must help me!" The two of them translated the Sutras, and whenever Kumarajiva had a question, he would ask Buddhabhadra. When ancient translators did not understand a passage, they were not reluctant to ask someone else for fear of losing prestige. Kumarajiva's wisdom, of course, was very high, but he still asked Buddhabhadra about certain points. One day Buddhabhadra said, "Your translation are really quite ordinary. There's nothing particularly special about them. Why are they so famous and so well-received?"

"Probably because I am so old," said Kumarajiva.

When Prince Yao Hung of Yao Chin heard of Buddhabhadra's unobstructed eloquence and limitless wisdom, he asked Kumarajiva to invite him to the palace to teach the Dharma. After several discussions, Buddhabhadra finally accepted and, at the palace, Kumarajiva requested the Dharma, asking "How can dharmas be made empty?"

Buddhabhadra replied, "A multitude of fine dust particles make up form; that is, they create the appearance of form. This appearance, however, has no self-nature. Thus the very substance of form itself is empty. The basic substance of form is empty."

Knowing that the Assembly had not understood, Kumarajiva further asked, "If, dividing form into its smallest particles of form dust, you take that to be the destruction of emptiness, then what about the particles of dust?"

Buddhabhadra said, "Most Dharma Masters suppose that a particle of dust must be destroyed before it can be considered to be empty. I disagree, I don't think that this particle of fine dust has to be destroyed to be empty; it's very existence is emptiness."

The listeners still hadn't understood, so Kumarajiva asked, "Then is this one remaining particle permanent and unchanging?"

Buddhabhadra said, "Because the one particle is empty, the collection of particles is empty. Because the collection of particles is empty, the single particle is empty. That is, the collection of fine particles is made up of many single particles which are of themselves non-existent. Thus when the collection of particles making up form disperses, the single particles then also disappear--it's all empty.

One day when the Chung Kuo Dharma Masters interrogated Buddhabhadra on this subject, Buddhabhadra said, "Dharmas do not arise of themselves but are created from causal conditions. Whatever is created form causal conditions has no self-nature and therefore, its very substance is emptiness.

Later Dharma Masters, possibly because of inaccuracies in the translation of Dharma Master Pao Yun, thought that Buddhabhadra was claiming that a dust particle is permanent. However, Buddhabhadra was saying that although a dust particle is an appearance of form, since form has no self-nature, the dust particle is empty. Now, an accumulation of dust particles creates a form, but on dispersion of these dust particles, the form becomes empty. Hence, Buddhabhadra asserted, "It's all empty."

The Emperor, Yao Hsing, was a firm believer in Buddhism. He had invited Kumarajiva to stay at the palace, and supported and made offerings to more than three thousand members of the Sangha who were free to wander in and out of the palace and who were on familiar terms with the Emperor believed in the Buddha and respected the Sangha, the palace ministers and lesser officials did too. Knowing they had the Emperor's respect, the Sangha members often went to the court to fawn. If a person was really cultivating, what would he be doing at the palace? So even then Chung Kuo Dharma Masters sought high positions. The only on who didn't go to the palace was Buddhabhadra. But the ways of the world are strange. Since he and his disciples didn't go, they were different from the other members of the Sangha who, in turn, became jealous. If you are the only good one among the bad, unless you also join their evil party, they will not be at all satisfied with you. Because Buddhabhadra was not like the others, they were upset with him. To his face they said, "You truly cultivate," but behind his back they slandered him. Having been certified to the third fruit of Arhatship, Buddhabhadra more or less knew what they were saying and decided to return to India. He said to his several hundred disciples, "Yesterday, I saw five big boats leave India headed for Chung Kuo; when they arrive, we will depart on them."

Whenever there's trouble, the disciples are always behind it, heating matters up. It's a headache to take disciples. I hope no one believes in me; then I won't have such a great responsibility! Buddhabhadra's disciples went everywhere saying, "None of you Chung Kuo High Masters pass, If he didn't have the penetration of the Heavenly Eye, how could he have known this?"

This made everyone even more jealous. The rumors got heavier and heavier and the leading Dharma Masters objected: "He's just manifesting a special style to make people believe in him."

Being slandered is one thing. But among his own disciples there were many braggarts and liars who never cultivated but still claimed to have certified to the first, second, or third fruits of Arhatship. Buddhabhadra didn't pay attention to such trivial matters and never told them that it was an offense to make such false claims. His bad disciples were only interested in making people believe that their words were efficacious and their knowledge extraordinary. They didn't cultivate, but cheated everyone with their phony talk. When they let out the news about their accomplishments, the Chung Kuo Dharma Masters were incensed. "On top of the five boats from India, this is really too much," they said, and couldn't forget about it.

High Master Tao Heng said to Buddhabhadra, "You say five boats are on their way from India. The Buddha himself did not permit one to speak about any personal attainments. This the Buddha's precept and yet you continue to spread false, baseless rumors. What proof have you?"

There was no way of course, to send a telegram, or telephone to discover if, in fact, there were five boats headed for Change Kuo. Tao Heng called Buddhabhadra a liar and added that some of Buddhabhadra's disciples were claiming to have certified to the fruit. "If you can't even keep track of your own disciples," he said, "how can you possibly teach other people?"

When the government heard Buddhabhadra's disciples were making false claims, it wanted to arrest and imprison them. This frightened his disciples and some changed their names; others escaped over the wall in the middle of the night. Of several hundred disciples, only forty or so remained.

Then Tao Heng came to throw Buddhabhadra out.........., "Your disciples don't follow the rules and so, according to the Buddha's Precepts, you can't stay here. From today onward, you'll have to leave right away! Get out!"

Buddhabhadra said, "Fine. My body is like a floating reed and leaving poses no problem. I only regret that I haven't expressed the bulk of what I brought here." And then he and his great disciple, Hui Kuan, and the forth other disciples left.

When the Emperor Yao Hsing beard that they had gone, he said to Tao Heng, "Master Buddhabhadra brought the Way to Chung Kuo, intending to spread the Buddha's teaching. How could you throw him out for such a small matter? This is not right. How could you let such a trivial thing deprive the entire populace of a Good Knowing Advisor?" The Emperor immediately sent a party out to apologize to Buddhabhadra, but when they found him, Buddhabhadra said to the attendant, "The Emperor has been most compassionate towards me, but I can't return with you. Please tell him I can't obey his command." That night he and his disciples escaped to Lu Mountain.

On Lu Mountain, Dharma Master Hui Yuan propagated the Pure Land School. He had long wished to meet Buddhabhadra because he greatly admired Buddhabhadra's translation work with Kumarajiva at Chang An. So when Dharma Master Hui Yuan heard that Buddhabhadra had arrived at Lu Mountain, he was extremely happy. The two of them chatted like old friends and Buddhabhadra helped Hui Yuan translate many Sutras.

The dwellings on the mountain were humble, but Buddhabhadra paid no attention to this nor did he accept the offerings of those who came to meet him. After more than a year he left Lu Mountain for Chiang Ling (the present day Nanking). En route he went out to beg for his food every day. He begged without discrimination, paying no attention to whether the families he begged from were rich or poor.

Once, Buddhabhadra and his disciples begged at the house of Yuan Pao, who was the general for the Emperor Wu Ti of the Liu-Sung Dynasty (5th to 6th Century, AD.). General Yuan Pao neither believed in the Triple jewel nor respected the Sangha. In addition to the fact that Buddhabhadra was a foreigner, Yuan Pao's offerings were stingy and there was not enough food to go around.

Those who eat vegetarian food should regulate their diet carefully. If the food is not varied and well-cooked, you cannot cultivate. If you eat cabbage one day, then you should eat turnips the next, and the next day sprouts. In general, it doesn't have to be as pungent as meat, nor should it be as foul smelling as garbage.

Now, Yuan Pao's food offering was probably half-raw and half-cooked, and his rice half-raw and partly spoiled. So no one ate his full. Yuan Pao said, "Eat some more! You don't come here often to beg and even though they aren't good offerings, you should eat your fill."

"Your heart is too small," said Buddhabhadra. "Your decision to make offerings bas been half-hearted. You are not generous, and your rice is all gone; what would you have us eat?"

"Impossible!" said Yuan Pao, "Quickly, bring in some more rice!"

"It's all gone," said the servant.

Yuan Pao thought, "This Dharma Master hasn't been to the kitchen. How does he know that the rice is gone?" He felt this was very strange. Later, he asked Hui Kuan, "What kind of a person is this Shramana?"

Hui Kuan said, "This Shramana's virtue is lofty and limitless, something common men can't fathom. His state is inconceivable."

Yuan Pao greedily wanted to know more about him, and thinking, "Are there still such men left in the world?"

invited Buddhabhadra to live in Nanking. Buddhabhadra dwelt there in Tao Chang Monastery where he was very frugal. He was completely different from the Chinese in his habits, neither wearing fine clothes nor eating rich food. For this reason, many Chinese Bhikshus and Bhikshunis respected him and made offerings to him. Later he translated the first thirty-six thousand verses of the Avatamsaka Sutra and helped Dharma Master Fa Hsien translate the Mahasanghika Vinaya. He died in the sixth year of the Yuan Chia reign of the Liu Sung Dynasty (430 A.D.), aged seventy-one.

This Sage had been certified to the fruit and often manifested spiritual powers. When he was thrown out of Chung Kuo by jealous rivals, forty truly faithful disciples accompanied him.

The High Master Dharmaraksha was a native of central India. When he was six years old, his father died and his widowed mother supported herself and her son by weaving woolen blankets. When she heard of the fame of the High Buddhayashas, who was receiving offerings from the great officials of the court and even from the king, she thought, "It's difficult to keep my son alive. Perhaps I should send him to a monastery to leave home. He will be well taken care of, and in the future, if he receives offerings anything like those received by Master Buddhayashas, I, as his mother, certainly won't starve to death."

After Dharmaraksha left home under Buddhayashas, he studied the Small Vehicle teachings and read and recited a great many Sutras. As a Shramanera, or novice, he was entirely different from his peers. None of them could match his wisdom or lofty character.

At that time, he met the Great Vehicle Dhyana Master Pai T'ou and debated with him for one hundred days. Dharmaraksha was defeated and asked Dhyana Master Pai T'ou, "Do you have any Sutras I could read?"

Dhyana Master Pai T'ou gave him a copy of the Nirvana Sutra, and when Dharmaraksha read it, he realized that his own realm was the size of a puddle, or like that of a frog sitting at the bottom of a well looking up at the sky. He knew that his wisdom was incomplete and that the Small Vehicle was not correct. So he gathered his fellow students, all novices, together and they bowed to Dhyana Master Pai T'ou, seeking repentance. Aster that, Master Dharmaraksha studied the Great Vehicle and read over two million words of Great Vehicle Sutras.

Dharmaraksha's brother happened to be an expert elephant trainer, and, when the king's favorite white-eared elephant refused to listen to him, Dharmaraksha's brother killed it. The enraged king executed him and afterwards issued an edict. This said that anyone who even looked at the corpse would be put to death, including the dead man's family, and his father's family, and his mother's. So no one dared to look at it, except Dharmaraksha who cried because it was his brother and because he wanted to bury the corpse. When he went ahead and buried it, the king threatened to kill him. Dharmaraksha said, "You killed my brother according to the law, and I buried him because he was my relative. This is certainly no infringement upon moral duty."

Hearing this, the king noticed that Dharmaraksha's bearing was calm and undisturbed. "This Bhikshu doesn't fear death," he thought. "He certainly must have virtue. Very well, we won't kill him." and he made offerings to Dharmaraksha instead.

Dharmaraksha was especially good at reciting mantras. His recitation was efficacious to the point that, if you were sick and he recited a mantra, you immediately got well. all unlucky affairs became auspicious, and because of this he was known as "The Great Mantra Master."

Once he accompanied the king to the mountains on a hunting expedition. AS there was no water in the area, the king said, "I am really thirsty, I wish I had some water." Dharmaraksha secretly recited a mantra which told the Dragon king to send some water. Strangely enough, water started to flow from the dry rocks. Dharmaraksha said to the king, "Your Way Virtue and benevolence towards the citizens is so great that you have caused water to flow from the rocks." Actually, it was Master Dharmaraksha's mantra that caused the water to flow, but he wanted to "give the king a high hat."

The king put the high hat on, and thought it quite comfortable. The story of the water spread to the surrounding countries and everyone admired and respected the king. "His virtue is so lofty." they said, "that he caused water to flow from the barren rocks," and everyone wanted to be his ally.

The king made generous offerings to Dharma Master Dharmaraksha and so Dharmaraksha's mother was not disappointed. However, after a time, the king forgot about him and became distant from him. Master Dharmaraksha thought, "I really shouldn't stay here and wait for offerings. I should leave,"

He traveled to Kashmir where there were many students of the Small Vehicle. Feeling no particular affinity for them, he then went to Kucha where he propagated the Teaching widely, converted many people, and gained a large following. Then he decided to go to Chung Kuo, and traveled to Hsi Liang, the present day Hsin Chiang, where the ruler, Chu Ch'u Meng Sun had established the Pei Liang Kingdom in Liang Chou at the beginning of the 5th Century. The king was especially respectful toward Master Dharmaraksha and made offerings to him, and so Master Dharmaraksha stayed there and taught the Dharma.

Because Master Dharmaraksha could recite mantras, he was able to see ghosts. On one occasion he said to Meng Sun, "Many epidemic ghosts have come into the area."

Meng Sun said, "I don't believe you. If I see one, then I'll believe."

"All right," said Master Dharmaraksha, "take a look." Sure enough, Meng Sun saw a ghost and was nearly frightened out of his wits. Dharmaraksha recited a mantra for three days and the ghosts finally left. Many people of the country saw them. epidemic ghosts spread a deadly sickness; once people catch it, they die right away. When the ghosts left, everyone knew it was because of Master Dharmaraksha's merit and virtue.

Meng Sun had sent his son, Hsing Kuo, to fight the Kingdom of Mu Mo, but Hsing Kuo was taken prisoner. Before long, the country of Mu Mo was leveled by Ho Lien, and, in the fighting, Hsing Kuo was slain.

When Meng Sun heard that his son had been killed, he was enraged. "All my life I believed in the Buddha and yet I haven't received any response. Why hasn't the Buddha protected my son?" Then he issued an edict ordering all Bhikshus under the age of fifty to return to lay-life. Those over fifty could remain Bhikshus.

Previously, the king had had a large stone image carved in rock (over sixteen feet high, in memory of his mother. When he was about to issue the edict, the statue wept; tears fell from its eyes and snot ran out of its nose. When he saw this, Dharmaraksha spoke to the king. "You shouldn't do things this way," Dharmaraksha said, "It's not that the Dharma hasn't done anything for you. Your son's death was a matter of cause and effect. It couldn't be avoided." After that, Meng Sun decided not to issue the order and instead helped to propagate the Buddhadharma.

When General Ts'ao Ts'ao, in the country of Wei, heard that Dharma Master Dharmaraksha was as wise as National Master Kumarajiva, and as accomplished in spiritual penetrations as Master Fo T'u Cheng, he dispatched a party to bring Master Dharmaraksha back to Wei. But Meng Sun was too fond of Master Dharmaraksha to part with him. Several years passed without war, and then Wei sent the official Li Shun to request that Master Dharmaraksha come to Wei. At this time prodigious offerings were made to Meng Sun with the hope of obtaining the Master. Meng Sun invited the Wei official Li Hsun to eat, and during the meal said to him, "No matter what, I'll never let you have Master Dharmaraksha. He's my Teacher. He only leaves over my dead body! I won't let him go."

The official, Li Hsun said, "The Emperor has been so good to you. He's allowed you to be king and sent you many gifts. He wishes that Dharmaraksha go to Wei, but you've lost your head over a foreigner. If I were you, I wouldn't do things this way. You really should let Master Dharmaraksha go."

"Never!" said Meng Sun, "He's the most important person in my country and I can't let him go." On one had, Meng Sun feared the country of Wei, but on the other, he bear to part with Dharma Master Dharmaraksha. More time passed, and Dharma Master Dharmaraksha, who had previously visited India for a year, wanted to go back to India again. Meng Sun became angry and did not want him to go anywhere at all.

However, Master Dharmaraksha decide to go after all. He wept when he left and said, "My karmic obstacles have found me, and they are such that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas cannot rescue me. I wanted to teach the final portion of the Nirvana Sutra, but now I have to stop," and he departed.

Meng Sun was so angry that he sent a gang of assassins after Master Dharmaraksha. They killed him and recovered all of the valuable offerings Meng Sun had given him. Dharmaraksha was only forty-nine years old when he died. After his death, Meng Sun's attendants saw a ghost holding a sword standing at Meng Sun's side every day. Not long afterwards in the fourth month of that year, Meng Sun died.

Before Master Dharmaraksha died, Dharma Master Tao Chin had requested Master Dharmaraksha to transmit the Bodhisattva Precepts to him. Master Dharmaraksha said," Go and repent first." Tao Chin returned and bowed to the Buddha in repentance for seven days and seven nights. On the eighth day, he went to see Dharmaraksha again . This time, Master Dharmaraksha acted really angry and scolded him soundly. Tao Chin said, "My karmic obstacles must be too heavy and so the Master won't transmit the Precepts to me." He returned, and for three years he cultivated concentration and sought repentance. At the end of three years he had a dream in which he saw Shakyamuni Buddha and all the Bodhisattvas of the ten directions come to transmit the Precepts to him. He was not the only one who had this dream. Over ten people had the same dream.

He went to inform Master Dharmaraksha, and as he approached the Master, at a distance of perhaps thirty feet, Dharmaraksha stood up and shouted, "Good indeed! Good indeed! You've already got the Precepts! Although you have obtained them, I will certify them for you." They went before the Buddha images and Master Dharmaraksha transmitted the Bodhisattva Precepts to Master Tao Chin.

On the very day Tao Chin had the dream, far off in Ch'ang An, the Western Capital, Master Tao Lang also had the same dream. Although Tao Lang was actually senior to hi, he called Tao Chin his superior and adopted a lesser position than his. Everyone thought these affairs most extraordinary, and because of them, many people received the Precepts from Master Tao Chin. These are the general events in the life of Master Dharmaraksha.

Dharma Master Fa Hsien of the Chin and liu Sung Dynasties (5th to 6th Centuries, A.D.), is one of the most venerated Dharma Masters in the history of Buddhism. He was one of the first to make the difficult journey from Chung Kuo to India long before Tripitaka Master Hsuan Tsang of the T'ang. During the Chin Dynasty, travel was treacherous, and the inland route from Chung Kuo to India took several years to complete.

Dharma Master Fa Hsien had three brothers. The first brother lived for only three years. The second lived two years, and the third died at the age of one. When Fa Hsien was born his parents were so concerned for his welfare that they took him to a monastery to become a Shramanera soon after his birth. He lived at the monastery for three years without incident, and his parent began to think that perhaps this son would not die, so they brought him back home only to have him immediately fall ill. His sickness was severe that he lost consciousness. "This is really incredible," thought his parents, and sent him back to the monastery. They couldn't bear to part with their son, but had no recourse. As soon as they sent him back to the monastery, he made an overnight recovery. The severe illness just disappeared.

His mother still spent all her time longing to see her son, but she didn't dare bring him in the door of her own home, because as soon as she did, he fell ill. Eventually, she devised an expedient method. Right outside the front door of the family house they built a small room fashioned like a miniature monastery where the little Shramanera could return home for two or three days once, twice, or at the most, three times a year. But even then he could never go in the main house.

When he was ten years old his father died. His uncle, who was a real busybody, advised him saying, "You are your father's only son. You can't leave the home life now that your father is dead. You should return to lay life." The uncle kept pressing his point: "Your mother is in mourning. She's a widow now and it won't be easy for her. You should return home and be her companion. You can't leave home any more."

What do you suppose the small Shramanera said? "My leaving home had nothing to do with my father," he replied evenly. "Since I didn't leave the home life because I had a father, why should I return to lay life just because my father has died?" His reply left the uncle speechless. the uncle realized that if he argued, his nephew would out-talk him, so he didn't have anything more to say.

The child stayed on at the monastery and cultivated ascetic practices. He did the things that others couldn't do, but never mentioned that he was doing them. The officers of the monastery noticed the work being done and asked publicly, "Who did that job? It was well done." Although it was actually Fa Hsien who had done it, he remained silent while another Shramanera who was greedy for recognition, took the credit. This caused everyone to respect the greedy novice, not realizing that he was a fraud.

Once, however, a group of Shramaneras went to the rice fields for the harvest. Times were hard in the area, and many people suffered from hunger, so when workers went into the fields to harvest the grain, people would come and steal it.

So it was that some hungry ghosts, saw that the rice in the monastery fields was being harvested, and went there intent upon stealing it. The Shramaneras fled in fright when they saw the thieves approach. But Fa Hsien didn't run with the others. Instead he stayed and spoke the Dharma for the bandits. "Brothers, I know it is because you are hungry that you have come to take this grain. Very well, you may have it. Take as much of it as you want. And by the way, I'd like to say something to you if you want to listen."

As soon as the bandits heard that Fa Hsien was willing to give them the grain--that it didn't matter to him and that he wouldn't try to stop them--they were pleased with the small Shramanera and said, "Sure, speak up. Say whatever you want. We'll be happy to listen."

"I wonder if you know why you don't have any rice to eat." said Fa Hsien. "Do you know why you are so hungry?"

The bandits looked at one another blankly. Unable to come up with an answer they muttered, ....."Don't know."

Fa Hsien said, "If you had known, it wouldn't have been necessary for me to say anything. But since you don't know, I will tell you."

"Why is it?"" asked the thieves.

Fa Hsien said, "You can figure out what you did in the past by what is happening to you now. You don't have anything to eat now and so you have become thieves who go about stealing food. This is happening because in past lives you didn't give to anyone. This is the former cause that has led you to be so poor in this life, to the point that you don't have any food at all. But look at yourselves. You still aren't giving. You are still going around stealing. Probably next life, you won't have it even this good. This life at least you are still able to steal. But at the rate you're going, in you next lives, you probably will be cripples who will die of starvation. It's a shame."

His words set the bandits thinking. "He's got a point there..."

Fa Hsien turned on his heels as soon as he finished speaking and walked out of the rice fields without a backward glance. Suddenly, the thieves were overwhelmed with shame and left without touching a grain of the monastery's rice. When Fa Hsien arrived back at the monastery, they several hundred Bhikshus who had witnessed the scene from afar agreed, "That Shramanera has got guts. Not only was he unafraid of the thieves, but he was able to teach and transform them, so that they renounced their evil ways and began to practice the good."

After that incident, most people realized this Shramanera was no ordinary novice and began to watch him closely. "In the future, he will be a valuable resource for the Dharma," they predicted.

When Fa Hsien was twenty he received the complete Precepts. It was then that he began to notice that most of the Sutras which were available in translation, were incomplete. Sometimes the first volume had been translated but not the last; sometimes the last volume had been translated, but not the first. Faced with this situation, he vowed to go to India.

At that time Buddhism in Chung Kuo was much like Buddhism in America today. With rare exceptions, there weren't any Sutras. Those which were available were very, very simple, such as the Forty-two Sections Sutra translated by the Venerable Masters Chu Fa-lan and Kashyapa Matanga. Printing methods had not been developed and the sutras which were translated had to be copied out by hand, a process which often resulted in scribal errors and omissions.

So Fa Hsien vowed to organize a party to go to India to bring back the Sutras. He set out in search of comrades and soon there were more than twenty dharma Masters who were prepared to accompany him. Dharma Masters Hui Jing, Tao Cheng, Hui Ying, Hui Wei and over fifteen others set out from Chung Kuo to India. The places which they passed through--the arid deserts with their shifting sands which stretched for hundreds of miles, high freezing mountains--and other difficulties they encountered, were extreme. They traversed places practically inaccessible, where neither birds would dare fly nor animals tread. How much the less a man! They trekked through barren wastes that bore no signs of life, not even vegetation. There, the hot wind burned the eyes and made the head so dizzy that most who made the attempt would soon pass into unconsciousness, and die.

In that region, besides the hot wind there were invisible poisonous ghosts. Their vapors were fatal when inhaled, and many people suffocated and died on the spot upon meeting them. Near the Onion Range Mountains, Fa Hsien and his party encountered a poison-spitting dragon who infiltrated the wind and rain with his poisonous vapors. Although the vapor was potentially fatal if inhaled, nonetheless. Fa Hsien and his Dharma companions, having no other recourse, walked right through the danger fully aware of the consequences.

At one point they came upon a place in the mountains where the road ended at the edge of a sheer rock cliff. The only way to go was up and over using peg holes chipped out by former travelers. They would stick a wooden piton into a hole and take a step up, pulling out the piton below and pounding it into the hole above before they could take their next step. Each person carried four pitons, and by putting them in and taking them out of the sheer rock face, they managed to make the ascent. Everyone had to do it. At the outset of this rugged climb there were more than twenty people in the party. Three days later the party had dwindled to twelve or thirteen--the rest having tumbled down and died.

Yet the remainder still pressed on, and eventually reached Small Snow Mountain where the cold was severe. There Hui Jing caught chills and began to shiver uncontrollable. He called to Fa Hsien, "I can't go on with you. I am going to die. Don't retreat. Press on. May my spirit protect you as you go on to seek the Sutras." When he finished speaking, Hui Jing froze to death. There is a verse which says,

During the reign of the seven emperors

From the Chin, Sung, Liang, through the T'ang Dynasties,

Hundreds of High Masters left Ch'ang An,

But less than ten returned.

How can generations to come ever realize

The difficulties endured by their ancestors?

Many Chung Kuo people who went to India to seek the Buddhadharma exchanged their lives for it. They renounced their very lives neither to invade India, nor to steal her treasures, but to seek the Buddhadharma. Americans have many blessings, for they have at their disposal, without any particular effort on their parts, complete and accurate texts of the Sutras which have been passed down from the virtuous High Monks of Chung Kuo. These Sutras have been studied and certified by Bodhisattvas and Arhats. Now they should be translated into English, which is also not a particularly difficult task.

After Hui Jing froze to death, Fa Hsien clasped his corpse crying, "Our original vow has not been fulfilled. Now you are dead, but I am not discouraged. With even firmer resolve I will go on and seek the Buddhadharma." so saying, he continued on through more than thirty countries until he arrived at a temple about thirty miles from Rajagriha.

Upon his arrival he told the several hundred monks residing at the temple that he was from Chung Kuo and that he had come to seek the Buddhadharma.

What he wished to do first, he said, was visit Vulture Peak.

"You can't go there!" was their reaction. "It's too dangerous. Nobody dares go to Vulture Peak these days. It was all right when the Buddha was in the world, but it won't work now. You can't go."

"Why not?" Fa Hsien asked, "Why could the Buddha go there but not us?"

They replied, "When the Buddha was in the world he had spiritual powers to defeat evil animals, beasts, and demons. Now on Vulture Peak the panthers alone are ferocious, not to mention the other wild animals. The black cats devour men on sight, and nobody could even begin to estimate the number of panthers roaming up there."

"I've been through all sorts of difficulties on my journey from Chung Kuo," Fa Hsien replied emphatically.

"There were poisonous snakes and evil beasts every day, and I won't afraid to die then. Now I am at the foot of Vulture Peak. How could fear of death possible stop me from paying my respects at a place where the Buddha taught?"

Two monks from the temple were sent to accompany him. It took an entire day to get to the top where Shakyamuni Buddha had dwelt. By the time they arrived,, night had begun to fall. "We'll stay here," said Fa Hsien.

"You want to stay here?" repeated the two monks incredulously. "We'll be eaten alive by the panthers! There are no two ways about it. We should start back immediately."

"I'm not going back tonight," said Fa Hsien. "If you don't want to remain, you can return."

As soon as he said that, the two monks dropped all pretense of courtesy and left, saying, "If you want to stay here and be eaten by panthers, it's your business. We still want to spread the Buddhadharma, and can't give up our lives." Fa Hsien was left alone on the mountain top.

He began bowing just as if Shakyamuni Buddha were still there speaking the Dharma. with the traces of the sages right before his eyes, he bowed and bowed with great sincerity. But eventually, the prediction made by the monks at the temple came true. Three panthers moved in on him. The cats were fiercer than tigers, and totally merciless. Their sleek bodies crept closer and closer while they licked their chops and flicked their tails as a prelude to the pounce.

Fa Hsien, who was reciting mantras at the time, said to them. "If you wish to eat me you'll have to wait until I finish reciting the sutras and mantras. Once I've finished, I'll give you my body so that you can tie up conditions with the dharma. However, if you don't wish to tie up conditions, but have just come to test me, then get out of here immediately! Don't hang around!"

When he finished addressing them, the three panthers knelt at his feet and Fa Hsien reached down and rubbed the tops of their heads just as if they were house cats. After a while the cats left, probably deciding among themselves that since one person wasn't enough for the three of them, it would be better if none of them feasted. Fa Hsien, having been virtually in the panthers' mouths, got off with his life.

At dawn he began to walk back. After about a mole, be met an extremely large person who wore ragged clothes and appeared to be over ninety years old. It was only after they passed one another that Fa Hsien realized the man was no ordinary person. Not really stopping to think who he might be, he turned around to take another look, only to find that the huge man had disappeared. a little farther along the road he met a monk and Fa Hsien said, "Who was that tall person?"

The monk laughed and said, "Him? He is the Great Disciple Mahakashyapa." Hearing this, Fa Hsien turned to address the monk only to find that he too had disappeared into thin air. Fa Hsien realized that he was having an inconceivable experience.

He returned to the temple and took up the study of Sanskrit. One day he noticed a food offering on the altar and recognized it as being from Chung Kuo. Realizing that a Chung Kuo merchant must have docked recently, he went out to find him, and was able to secure passage on the return trip to Chung Kuo. He packed up the numerous Sanghan Precepts, Bodhisattva Precepts, Sutras, and other sections of Vinaya as well as Agama texts. He left on the merchant's boat for Chung Kuo. During the passage, a violent storm blew the boat off course and it ended up on the shores of some unknown land. It is due to this incident that there are in the Indian languages of Mexico to this day, features which bear a similarity to ancient Chung Wen. This also accounts for the occurrence of some Chung Kuo styled architecture evident in Mexico and also for similarities in the iconography. When Fa Hsien and the hundred or so people on that merchant ship were blown across the Pacific to Mexico, they lived among the people there for five months during which they taught the natives Chung Wen and showed them various building techniques.

When the boat left Mexico, it carried over two hundred people, as some Mexicans wished to travel to Chung Kuo. Not long after it set sail, the winds rose again, and threatened the safety of the ship. Everyone on board banded together to lay the blame on Fa Hsien, saying that his presence on board was the reason for the repeated storms. The mob was preparing to throw Fa Hsien overboard as a sacrifice to the sea spirits in order calm the winds and waves.

But as they moved toward Fa Hsien, a devoted Dharma Protector of his stepped in and said loudly. "If you intend to throw this Shramana into the sea., you will have to toss me in first. If you don't get rid of me, when we get to Chung Kuo, I will report you to the Emperor and you ill all surely lose your lives. The Emperor believes in the Buddha and venerates the Triple Jewel; therefore, if you throw this monk into the sea, none of you will have long to live." The Dharma Protector, in addition to being persuasive, was very powerful as well. Sizing him up, the merchants realized that they would have difficulty overcoming him, and several at least would lose their lives. All cowards, they didn't dare throw Fa Hsien into the sea. After more than twenty days, nei huo, a plant native only to Chung Kuo, was sighted growing along a shore, and word spread that the boat had reached Shantung.

The natives of Shantung informed the Governor that Fa Hsien had arrived, and the Governor, who believed in the Buddha, came personally to welcome him. He invited Fa Hsien to reside at the Governor's mansion for a year, but the Dharma Master declined, saying that after his long stay in India, he wanted to return to the capital, Ch'ang An. Realizing that he couldn't detain Fa Hsien, the Governor permitted him to go on his way. He went on to Tao Ch'ang Monastery where Buddhabhadra resided, and began to translate the Sutras he had brought back from India. His translations include the Sangha Vinaya, the Nirvana Sutra, and over a hundred other texts. At age 86, he completed the stillness.

Of the Sutras he translated, the Nirvana Sutra was the one which many people particularly liked to study and recite. Once a layman, whose name has been forgotten, had a handwritten copy of the Nirvana Sutra which somehow got mixed in with the secular books in his collection. One day his house caught fire and all the books burned with the exception of the copy of the Nirvana Sutra which remained totally untouched by the flames. Everyone found the incident incredible, and it caused many to take up the study of that Sutra.

One other point of interest is that when Fa Hsien was in India, he witnessed the annual appearance of a white-eared dragon. This local dragon spirit protected the area and caused there to be an abundant harvest every year, provided that the people in that locale made an annual offering to him. The dragon, which looked like a snake except for his white ears, made its appearance while Fa Hsien was in the area.

Dharma Master Fa Hsien's merit and virtue with regard to the Buddhadharma is very great, and he is an outstanding figure in the history of Chung Kuo Buddhism.

The greatly virtuous High Master Gunavarman, was born into the royal family of Kashmir. His grandfather, Haribhadra, had been a highly respected and virtuous king, but eventually was overthrown by his subjects for being too rigid and unyielding. Consequently, his son, Sanghananda, who was Gunavarman's father, never became king but fled to the mountains to cultivate the way. Gunavarman also liked to cultivate and was especially intelligent, even as a child.

When Master Gunavarman was fourteen years old, his mother, who enjoyed eating the flesh of wild beasts, asked Gunavarman to find some meat for her , Gunavarman refused. "All creatures love life and dread death," he said. "Eating the flesh of animals is not compassionate. Not only do you destroy your own compassionate sensibilities, but you create killing karma as well."

His mother flew into a rage. "Supposing," she said, "just supposing there were an offense involved. It would be my offense, not yours. I would stand it on your behalf to receive the retribution for it."

Gunavarman did not reply, nor did he go out hunting for his mother. A few days later, he accidentally splattered some boiling oil and burned his hand in several places. In great pain, he went to his mother and said, "Mama! The pain in excruciating! Won't you please stand in for me and undergo this pain on my behalf?"

"You're just a child," said his mother, "and not a very bright one, at that. Your body, not mine, is in pain. How can I possible bear it for you?"

"If it is the case that you can't take the pain I suffer in the present, how will you be able to undergo in the future the karma for the offenses I went hunting, you would take the retribution on yourself, but now you can't even undergo the pain of a burned hand for me. How do you expect to suffer for my offense karma?"

One who wishes to save his mother and father must have a clever method. Suddenly his mother understood. She ceased killing and ate only vegetarian food. The young Gunavarman had purposely splattered the oil on his hand in an attempt to his mother to believe in the Buddhadharma. His method worked extremely well.

When he was eighteen years old, a physiognomist said of him, "When you are thirty you will sit with your back to the north and your face to the south; you shall be proclaimed an honored one and will be the ruler of a great nation. However, should you dislike worldly glory, you may leave home and you will be able to certify to the fruit of Sagehood and become a world-transcending Sage."

When he was twenty, Gunavarman left the home life and received the complete Precepts. Then he travelled around propagating the Buddhadharma. People were very respectful to him and had great faith in him. He read all the Great and Small Vehicle Sutras, several million words, and could recite many of them from memory. When he was thirty, the king of Kashmir died without leaving an heir. The officials and the common folk got together to select a leader and since they greatly revered the Master, they decided, "Gunavarman is virtuous and learned and should become king." They asked him to ascend the throne, but he refused, saying, "I left home to cultivate the Way and care nothing for worldly matters. Find someone else. I won't do it."

He continued to travel throughout India, spreading the Great Vehicle Teaching. The people persisted and asked him gain. In fact, they asked him three, four, five, six seven times to take the throne, and what do you think happened? He ran away. He went off to the deep mountain valleys where no one could find him, ate leaves and roots, and saw nobody at all. He cultivated the Way among the wild beasts and later he travelled to Sri Lanka (Simhala), where he studied and propagated the Teaching. Among the people it was known that he had certified to the First Fruit of Arhatship. His speech was cogent and principled and his deportment was so awesome that the people, having seen him only once, would bring for the resolve to attain enlightenment.

Then the Master went to Java. The day before he arrived, the king of Java's mother had a dream in which she saw a boat flying across the sea, carrying a Shramana. When Gunavarman arrived the following day, she recognized him. "Yesterday, I had a dream in which a Shramana came to our country. You look just like him." She deeply believed in him and received the five lay Precepts from him: No killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no false speech, and no intoxicants. She studied under the Master, cultivated, and learned a lot.

One day she spoke to her son, the king. "I have a great affinity with you and so you are my son and I am your mother. This is most propitious. But I am a Buddhist and you are not, and so our causes and conditions are divergent. I fear that in the future things will not be as fortunate, for we are headed down two different roads."

The king understood that his mother wanted him to become a Buddhist, even though she had not said so openly, and she certainly would not have demanded it. "I shall take the Five Precepts," he said to her, and he forced himself to go ahead, even though he wasn't very interested in the Buddhadharma. Because Master Gunavarman had been certified to the first fruit, he taught the doctrines so effectively that the king eventually came to believe in the Dharma. "It's incredibly wonderful," he said. "Why didn't I begin studying it sooner? How fortunate I am to have such a fine mother who believes in the Buddhadharma and who has saved me as well!" He was overjoyed.

Just when he was most elated, trouble came. The neighboring country invaded. The king went to Gunavarman and said, "Master, if you believe in the Buddha, then people bully you! If you're evil, people fear you, but if you're good, they push you around. Before I became a Buddhist, no one dared opposed me. Now they have come to wage war. If I fight them with troops I will kill many men. If I don't fight, the country is finished. Master, I ask you, what am I to do?"

Gunavarman said, "If they attack, use your troops, but hold thoughts of compassion, not cruelty. Since you have taken the Five Precepts, you should pity your enemies, not hate them."

The King instructed his troops to recite "Homage to the Greatly Compassionate Bodhisattva Who Contemplates the Sounds of the World" (Avalokiteshvara), and to take, as their guiding principle, pity, rather than the intent to kill. So although they went off to battle, they recited the Bodhisattva's name. As a result, as soon as the King's troops met the enemy, the enemy retreated, frightened by their awesome virtue. The King, although injured in the foot by a arrow, was still happy about the victory. Gunavarman recited the Great Compassion Mantra over some water and then washed the King's wound. It healed completely in just a few days, and didn't hurt at all. This caused the King to believe in Gunavarman even more sincerely.

Having gained such a victory, the King realized that the Buddhadharma was truly unfathomable. He studied every day and after a while he had an awakening: he awoke to the fact that being a King was a lot of trouble--"This is a problem! We'd better ask the King. That's a problem. We'd better ask the King. Ask the King! Ask the King!" He decided he would be better off leaving home to become a member of the Sangha than remaining so caught up in trivial worldly matters.

When he announced his decision to join the Sangha, all the ministers, scholars, and the people knelt and begged him not to abdicate. He denied their request and they wept. "All right," he finally said, "if you insist that I remain King you must agree to three conditions. Otherwise, I am going to leave home."

"What are your three conditions?" they asked. "First of all, within the country I rule, everyone must be respectful toward, make offerings to, and take refuge with the Triple Jewel. All the citizens must do this."

"That can be arranged," they said, "What is the second conditions?"

"All the citizens must uphold the Five Precepts and cultivate the Ten Good Acts including no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no greed, no hatred, no stupidity, no lying, no vulgar speech, no abusive speech, no backbiting. What is more, they must cease killing and eat only pure vegetarian food."

See how this Dharma Master first convinced his mother to quit eating meat and now his disciple, the King, has convinced the whole country to do so!

"There's no problem with that one," they said. "What's the third?"

"You must distribute all the treasures and wealth in the treasuries to the needy, the sick, the widows, widowers, the orphans, and the childless."

"Fine," they said, and the King remained on the throne.

He then erected a temple for his teacher, Master Gunavarman. He joined the other carpenters and industriously pounded nails. However, on one occasion a board fell on his toe, causing considerable swelling.

"Master," he cried, "My toe!"

"You," Master Gunavarman said, "are just looking for trouble. Why are you working as a carpenter?"

"I wanted to express my true sincerity toward my Master," the King replied.

"Well then, you can undergo a little pain," said the Master. But then he applied a mantra which healed the toe on the spot, thus redoubling the King's faith.

Master Gunavarman became well-known for converting the King of Java. In Chung Kuo, during the Liu-Sung Dynasty, Buddhabhadra's disciple, Dharma Master Hui Kuan, as well as Dharma Master Hui Tsung and others, went to the Emperor Wen and asked that someone be sent to request Master Gunavarman to come to Chung Kuo to spread the Dharma. The Emperor ordered the Magistrate of Chiao Chou along with Dharma Master Fa Ch'ang and Tao Ch'ung and others to serve as envoys to request Master Gunavarman to come to Chung Kuo. However, the King of Java did not wish to let his Master leave the country. Yet, when he thought it over, he realized that people should not be selfish. His own country was small, whereas Chung Kuo was large and he thought it best to allow his Master to go to Chung Kuo to teach and transform living beings there.

But, before the party from Chung Kuo had even arrived in Java, Master Gunavarman had already set sail on a merchant ship. His intention was to travel to a small kingdom to teach the Dharma. Strangely enough, a wind came up an blew the Master directly to Canton. Hearing of his arrival, the Emperor of Chung Kuo sent people to welcome him and bring him to the capital. On the way he passed through Shih Hsing where there was a mountain called Hu Shih ("Tiger City") which Master Gunavarman said resembled Mount Gridhrakuta ("Vulture Peak") in India, and its name was accordingly changed.

In the monastery on the mountain, many Sangha members cultivated the Way. The Master built a small hut about a mile from the monastery where he cultivated Dhyana samadhi. Although the sound of the large monastery bell did not reach as far as his hut, whenever the small hand bell was run, the Master immediately went to the monastery.

It was generally known that the Master had been certified to the first Fruit of Arhatship because his actions differed from those of ordinary men. Although it looked like he was walking on the ground, he actually was walking in space, about one inch off the ground. People noticed that when it rained, the bottoms of his shoes did not get muddy, and so they knew he was a Sage.

There were many man-eating tigers on the mountain, but whenever the Master met one, he would put his staff on the tiger's head, and speak the Dharma. The tiger would then tamely saunter away. After this happened several times, the tigers never bothered anyone again.

On several occasions the Master entered Dhyana samadhi and did not emerge from his room for days on end. Once, the monks sent a novice to inquire after him. The novice saw a white lion guarding the Master's door and green lotuses filling empty space. Startled, the novice called out, but by the time the other monks arrived, the vision had vanished. There were many such miraculous occurrences.

The Emperor invited the Master to come to Nanking. He arrived in 431 A.D. The Emperor asked him, "I wish to be a vegetarian, but court etiquette, and the pressure of those around me, all of whom eat meat, prevent his. What can I do?"

The Master replied, "The way is to be found within the heart, not in specific affairs. the Emperor's cultivation will naturally differ from that of the common folk, for the Emperor has the charisma which the common people do not. You need not necessarily eat vegetarian food. What you should do is benefit the people. Be a just and benevolent \ruler and command the people not to kill. Teaching the people not to kill is your form of vegetarianism. Its merit for surpasses that derived from simply eating one meatless meal, thus saving one creature's life. Your cultivation does not reside in simply eating less meat or in drinking less wine. Teaching your subjects to be filial is you form of filial piety. You must influence the citizens not to commit evil actions, but to practice only good deeds. That should be your cultivation."

The Emperor exclaimed, "Most Shramanas are confused about broad principles and most scholars are caught up in the specific teachings. Those confused about broad principles speak about cause and effect and the illusory nature of things in an unclear way. those attached to specific teachings cling to their books and literature. Today, having had this discussion with the Dharma Master, I finally understand the Great Heavenly Way." The Emperor arranged for the Master to live in the Jeta Monastery and made abundant offering sot him. Many Bhikshus, Bhikshunis, Upasakas, and Upasikas cultivated there, attending the Master's lectures on the Sutras, such as the Lotus Sutra and the Ten Grounds Sutra. One day at lunch, after he had taken a few bites of food, Master Gunavarman suddenly rose and returned to his room. There he sat upright in the full-lotus position and entered the stillness. When his attendant noticed he had left the dining room he went to ask after him and found that the Master had suddenly gone off to rebirth. He was sixty-five years old.

He had announced to his disciples previously, the time of his death. He had also written a set of thirty-six verses which narrated the events of his life as a cultivator and described his contemplation of corpses. He had watched the corpse swell, turn green, leak pus and blood and then be eaten by worms. finally, only the skeleton remained. He had realized that no matter how beautiful the woman or how charming the man, when they are dead, their corpses are equally disgusting. What is there to cling to? Through such contemplation, he had won great bliss and his meditation was ineffably delightful. He had then been certified to the First Fruit of Arhatship. After that, he had continued to cultivate, but he was disturbed the constant barrage of people who came to make offerings to him and consequently he retired to the mountains and saw no one. He had continued to cultivate in the stillness of his retreat and had attained the Second Fruit of Arhatship. He then left Sri Lanka for Java, and later went to Chung Kuo to propagate the great Vehicle. When the affinities which drew him to this world had been fulfilled, he died and was cremated according to Buddhist custom. He truly had independence over birth and death. When he was burned on a pyre of sandalwood, his faithful disciples watched the smoke form into lotuses and saw a dragon fly out of the smoke into empty space. Because of theses occurrences, everyone trusted his translations of the Sutras and Vinaya, and knew that his merit and virtue was exceedingly great.

In our own cultivation of the way we should imitate the greatly virtuous ones of the past by never relaxing or slacking off, but always forging ahead with all our might in order to quickly put an end to birth and death.

Dharma Master Dharmamitra was a native of Kashmir. As a child he was extremely happy to see members of the Sangha, especially when he saw one of them reciting a Sutra. Whenever he encountered a monk reciting a Sutra he would kneel down and listen. On seeing a monk bow to the Buddha he would join in and bow too. This made him extremely happy. Even when he was very small he went to the monastery every day to play, but this play consisted of bowing to the buddhas and reciting the Sutras. His father and mother watched and thought, "This is very strange behavior for a child. All the boy does is go to the monastery and bow to the Buddha,