Ado阿道
1Ado — Heukhoja, Ado and the Suijeon: traces that split three ways
釋阿道．或云本天竺人。或云從吳來。或云自高句麗入魏。後歸新羅。未知孰是。風儀特異。神變左奇。恒以行化為任。每當開講。天雨妙花。始新羅訥祇王時。有黑胡子者。從句高麗至一善郡。宣化有緣。郡人毛禮。家中作窟室安置。於是梁遣使賜衣著香物。君臣不知香名及與所用。乃遣中使賚香遍問中外。胡子見之稱其名目曰。焚此則香氣芬馥。所以達誠於神靈。所謂神聖不過三寶。一曰佛陀。二曰達摩。三曰僧伽。若燒此發願。必有靈應。時王女病革。王使胡子焚香表誓。厥疾尋愈。王甚喜．酬贈尤厚。胡子出見毛禮。以所得物贈之。報其德焉。因語曰。吾有所歸請辭。俄而不知所去。及毘處王時。有阿道和尚。與侍者三人。亦來止毛禮家。儀表似胡子。住數年無疾而化。其侍者三人留住讀誦經律。往往有信受奉行者焉。然按古記。梁大通元年三月十一日。阿道來至一善郡。天地震動。師左執金環錫杖。右擎玉鉢應器。身著霞衲。口誦花詮初到信士毛禮家。禮出見驚愕而言曰。曩者高麗僧正方來入我國。君臣怪為不祥。議而殺之。又有滅垢玭從彼復來。殺戮如前。汝尚何求而來耶。宜速入門。莫令隣人得見。引置密室。修供不怠。適有吳使以五香獻原宗王。王不知所用。遍詢國中。使者至問法師。師曰以火燒而供佛也。其後偕至京師。王令法師見使。使禮拜曰。此邊國高僧何不遠。而王因此知佛僧可敬。勅許斑行。又按高得相詩史。曰梁氏遣使曰。元表送沈檀及經像。不知所為。咨四野。阿道逢時指法。相註云。阿道再遭斬害。神通不死。隱毛禮家。則梁吳之使莫辨其詳。又阿道之跡多同黑胡子。何哉。然自永平至大通丁未。凡四百十餘年。句高麗興法已百五十餘年。而百濟已行一百四十餘年矣。若按朴寅亮殊異傳。云．師父魏人崛摩。母曰高道寧。高麗人也。崛摩奉使高麗。私通還魏。道寧因有身誕焉。師生五稔有異相。母謂曰。偏𧙖之子。莫若為僧。師依教。即於是日剃髮。十六入魏。覲省崛摩。遂投玄彰和尚。受業十九年。歸寧於母。母諭曰。此國機緣未熟。難行佛法。惟彼新羅今雖無聲教。爾後三十餘月有護法明王御宇。大興佛事。又其國京師有七法住之處。一曰金橋天鏡林〔今與輪寺。〕二曰三川岐〔今永興寺。〕三曰龍宮南〔今皇龍寺。〕四曰龍宮北〔今芬皇寺。〕五曰神遊林〔今天王寺。〕六曰沙川尾〔今靈妙寺。〕七曰婿請田〔今曇嚴寺。〕此等佛法不滅前劫時伽藍墟也。汝當歸彼土。初傳玄旨。為浮屠始祖。不亦美乎。師既承命子之聲。出疆而來寓新羅王闕西里〔今嚴莊寺是也〕時當味鄒王即位二年癸未矣。師請行竺教。以前所不見為怪。至有將殺之者。故退隱于續村毛祿家。今善州也。逃害三年。成國宮主病疾不愈。遣使四方。求能治者。師應募赴闕。為療其患。王大悅問其所欲。師請曰。但剏寺於天鏡林。吾願足矣。王許之。然世質民頑。不能歸向。乃以白屋為寺。後七年始有欲為僧者。來依受法。毛祿之妹名史侍。亦投為尼。乃於三川岐立寺曰永興。以依住焉。味雛王崩後。嗣王亦不敬浮屠。將欲廢之。師還續村。自作墓入其內。閉戶示滅。因此聖教不行於斯盧。厥後二百餘年。原宗果興像教。皆如道寧所言。自味雛至法興凡十一王矣。阿道出現年代前卻如是其差舛。竝是古文不可取捨。然若當味雛時。已有弘宣之益。則與順道同時明矣。以其中廢而至梁大通乃興耳。故竝出黑胡子元表等。敘而觀焉。
The monk Ado (阿道) — some say he was a man of India by origin, some that he came from Wu, and some that he went from Goguryeo into Wei and came back to Silla afterwards; which is right is not known. His look and bearing were out of the common and his power of change was strange. He always took going about and teaching as his charge, and whenever he opened a lecture the sky rained down wonderful flowers.
In the beginning, in the time of King Nulji of Silla, there was one called Heukhoja (黑胡子) who came from Goguryeo to Ilseon prefecture. He spread his teaching and there were those who had a bond with it, and so Morye (毛禮), a man of that prefecture, made a cave room inside his house and lodged him there. At this time Liang sent an envoy and gave them cloth and incense, but the king and his officers did not know the name of the incense nor what it was used for. So they sent an attendant of the inner court round with the incense to ask within and without. Heukhoja saw it, named it by its name and said, "If this is burned, its fragrance spreads thick, and it is the means of carrying one's whole heart through to the spirits. Of the things called holy there is nothing beyond the Three Jewels: the first is the Buddha, the second the Law, the third the Sangha. If you burn this and make a vow, there will surely be an answer from the spirits."
At that time the king's daughter was gravely ill. The king had Heukhoja burn incense and set forth a vow, and her illness was healed forthwith. The king was very glad and rewarded him all the more richly. Heukhoja came out, saw Morye, and gave him the things he had received to repay his kindness. And he said, "I have a place to return to, and I take my leave." A little after that, where he had gone could not be known.
When the time of King Bicheo came, the master Ado also came with three attendants and stayed at Morye's house. His bearing was like Heukhoja's. He stayed some years and died without illness. Those three attendants of his stayed on there and read and chanted the sutras and the rules, and now and then there were those who believed and received them and upheld and practised them.
Yet by the old records, on the eleventh day of the third month of the first year of Datong of Liang, Ado came to Ilseon prefecture and heaven and earth shook. The master held a staff with golden rings in his left hand and lifted a jade begging bowl in his right; on his body he wore a robe the colour of sunset glow, and in his mouth he chanted the flowerlike scriptures. He came first to the house of Morye the believer, and Morye came out, saw him, and said in alarm, "Some time ago a monk of Goguryeo, Jeongbang (正方), came into our country, and the king and his officers called him strange and unlucky, and took counsel and killed him. Then Myeolgubi (滅垢玭) came again from there, and he was killed as the one before him was. What do you still come seeking? Come inside the gate quickly. Do not let the neighbours see you." And he led him in and put him in a hidden room, and did not slacken in making offerings to him.
There happened to be an envoy of Wu who presented five kinds of incense to King Wonjong (原宗王), and the king did not know what they were used for and asked all through the country. A messenger came and asked the master of the Law, and the master said, "They are burned in fire as an offering to the Buddha." After that they came together to the capital. The king had the master of the Law meet the envoy, and the envoy bowed to him and said, "That there is an eminent monk in this border country — how should that be called far?" By this the king knew that the Buddha and his monks were worthy of reverence, and by edict he allowed it to be practised widely.
Again, Godeuksang (高得相), in his Verse History (詩史), says that the house of Liang sent an envoy, and that one called Wonpyo (元表) brought aloeswood and sandalwood and the scriptures and an image; they did not know what to do with them and asked in all four quarters, and Ado met the time and pointed out the Law. And the note to it says that Ado was twice put to the sword, but by his power of spirit did not die, and hid in Morye's house. So whether it was an envoy of Liang or an envoy of Wu, the particulars cannot be made out. And the traces of Ado are much the same as those of Heukhoja — how is this? Still, from Yongping to Datong, the year jeongmi, is four hundred and ten years and more; the Law had already risen in Goguryeo a hundred and fifty years and more, and Baekje had already practised it a hundred and forty years and more.
By the Suijeon (殊異傳) of Bak Inryang (朴寅亮) it is told thus. The master's father was Gulma (崛摩), a man of Wei, and his mother was Godoryeong (高道寧), a woman of Goguryeo. Gulma came as envoy to Goguryeo and had secret dealings with her and went back to Wei, and Doryeong conceived by him and bore a child. Five years after the master was born he had marks that were out of the common, and his mother said, "You are a child with only one side; nothing would be better than to become a monk." The master followed her teaching and shaved his head that very day. At sixteen he went into Wei, waited upon Gulma, and then went to the master Hyeonchang (玄彰) and studied under him nineteen years. He came back to ask after his mother, and his mother said to him:
"This country's turn of circumstance is not yet ripe, and the Law of the Buddha is hard to practise here. Only in that Silla, though there is no voice and teaching there now, in three thousand months and more after you a bright king who guards the Law will rule the age and will raise the works of the Buddha greatly. And in the capital of that country there are seven places where the Law will dwell: the first is Cheongyeongnim at Geumgyo〔the Heungnyunsa of today〕; the second is Samcheongi〔the Yeongheungsa of today〕; the third is south of the Dragon Palace〔the Hwangnyongsa of today〕; the fourth is north of the Dragon Palace〔the Bunhwangsa of today〕; the fifth is Sinyurim〔the Cheonwangsa of today〕; the sixth is Sacheonmi〔the Yeongmyosa of today〕; the seventh is Seocheongjeon〔the Dameomsa of today〕. These are all the sites of monasteries of a former age, when the Law of the Buddha had not yet passed away. You should go back to that land and be the first to pass on the hidden meaning there, and be the founder of the Buddha's way. Is that not a fine thing?"
The master, having taken up her command, went out beyond the border and came to live in the village west of the royal palace of Silla.〔The Eomjangsa of today is this.〕 The time was the year gyemi, the second year after King Michu ascended the throne. The master asked leave to practise the teaching of India, but they called it strange because they had not seen it before, and there were even those who would have killed him. So he drew back and hid in the house of Morok (毛祿) at Sokchon (續村), which is the Seonju (善州) of today.
In the third year of his avoiding harm, the Lady of Seongguk (成國宮主) fell ill and did not get better, and envoys were sent to the four quarters to seek one who could heal her. The master answered the call, went to the palace, and cured her sickness. The king was greatly pleased and asked what he wished for, and the master made this request: "Only let a monastery be built at Cheongyeongnim, and my wish is enough." The king granted it. But the age was plain and the people stubborn, and they could not turn and face toward it; and so a house of white thatch was made to serve as the monastery.
Seven years later there were for the first time those who wished to become monks, and they came and leaned on him and received the Law. Morok's younger sister, whose name was Sasi (史侍), also gave herself up and became a nun. Then a monastery was set up at Samcheongi and called Yeongheungsa, and she leaned on it and lived there. After King Michu died, the king who came after him also did not revere the Buddha and was about to do away with it; and the master went back to Sokchon, made his own grave, went inside it, shut the door and showed his passing away. Because of this the holy teaching was not practised in Saro (斯盧). More than two hundred years after that, Wonjong did indeed raise up the teaching of images (像教), just as Doryeong had said. From Michu to Beopheung is eleven kings in all.
The years in which Ado appeared are as much out of order, before and behind, as this; but they are all old writings, and one cannot throw away or take up as one pleases. Still, if there had already been the profit of a wide spreading in the time of Michu, then it is plain that he was of the same time as Sundo, and that it fell away in between and rose only when Datong of Liang came. And so Heukhoja and Wonpyo and the rest are brought out together, set down here and shown.
Interlinear notes 1
三十餘月
The source text has 三十餘月, thirty months and more, but this does not agree with the later part of this account, which says that “after that, in two hundred years and more, Wonjong raised up the teaching of images” and that “from Michu to Beopheung there were eleven kings in all.” It is read here as 三千餘月, following the Samguk yusa account of Ado. — translator
2In praise — he hides his vessel and waits for his time
贊曰：自像教東漸。信毀交騰。權輿光闡。代有其人。若阿道．黑胡子。皆以無相之法身。隱現自在或先或後。似同異．若捕風搏影。不可執跡而定也。但其先試可而後啟行。始逃害而終成功。則秦之利方。漢之摩騰。亦無以加焉。易曰．藏器待時。阿道之謂矣。
In praise it is said:
Ever since the teaching of images (像教) moved eastward, belief and slander have risen by turns, and in the first opening and making bright of it each age has had its man. Men like Ado and Heukhoja were all free to hide and to appear in a body of the Law that has no form (相); now one went before, now the other; they seem the same and seem different, like catching the wind and laying hold of a shadow, so that one cannot take hold of their traces and fix them.
Only, he tried first whether it could be done and opened the road afterward; he fled harm at the beginning and in the end brought the work to pass. In this, Lifang of Qin and Moteng of Han have nothing to add to him. The Book of Changes says, "He hides his vessel and waits for his time." This is said of Ado.