姓氏
Surname
西域記云。姓者。所以繫統百世使不別也。氏者所以別子孫之所出也。釋迦氏譜云。夫姓氏之興本。欲召諸質也。故隨物類而命焉。
A record from the Western Regions states: "A surname links generations together so they are not divided, while a clan name distinguishes the lineage of descendants." The *Genealogy of the Śākya Clan* says: "The origin of surnames and clan names is fundamentally for addressing individuals. Thus, they were assigned according to categories of things."
天竺種姓有四
In ancient India, society was divided into four classes, known as the four castes.
一者剎帝利(謂弈世君王種)。二者婆羅門(秦言外意謂淨行志道其種。別有經書。世世相承。或在家出家。苦行而多恃己術。自我慢人)。三者毘舍(或云吠舍。謂商賈之種)四者首陁(或云成達羅。謂田農之種)。我佛釋迦牟尼世尊即剎帝利之種也。長阿含經云。賢劫初成未有日月。是時光音天人下生。皆有身光。飛行自在。無有男女尊卑親疎之別。食自然地味。因食此物。乃身光滅神通亡。貪心始萌。復生地餅地膚地脂之味食。乃諸惡湊集。男女始形。地生粳米。朝刈暮生。亦無糠糩。時人貪心增長。皆預取厚藏。米遂不生。乃各占田土。學耨種業。自此姦盜滋彰。無決斷者。中有一人。容質瓌偉。世所欽信。眾議立為民主。號摩訶三摩曷羅闍(此云大平等主)各願輸賦供億(此祖稅之始)故命氏剎帝利(此云土田主謂初分土田各有諍訟使主之)。
First, the Kshatriya caste, traditionally kings and warriors. Second, the Brahmin caste, practitioners of spiritual arts, who may be householders or ascetics, often self-reliant and proud. Third, the Vaishya caste, composed of merchants and traders. Fourth, the Shudra caste, composed of farmers and laborers.
Our Buddha, Shakyamuni, the World-Honored One, was born into the Kshatriya caste. According to the Dirgha Agama Sutra: At the very beginning of this present world age, there was no sun or moon. Then, beings from the Radiant Heaven descended to earth. They were radiant, could fly freely, and knew no distinctions of gender, rank, closeness, or distance. They fed on a natural, delicious substance from the earth. Because they ate this, their inner light faded and their spiritual powers vanished. Greed began to stir. Then, they ate other earthly growths, like a crust, a skin, and a fatty essence. This caused all kinds of evil to converge, and the forms of male and female appeared. Finally, rice grew from the earth, but it was harvested and regrew daily, with no husk. As greed grew stronger, people began to hoard rice, storing it away. Then the rice stopped growing naturally. People had to divide land, learn to plant, and cultivate. Theft and conflict arose. With no one able to settle disputes, the people chose one person, majestic and trustworthy, to be their leader. They called him Mahasammata Raja, meaning 'Great Equal Sovereign.' In exchange, they offered him a portion of their harvest, which was the origin of taxes. Thus, he was called Kshatriya, meaning 'lord of the fields,' as he mediated disputes over the division of land.
別姓有五
A person without a fixed family name has five possibilities.
我佛釋迦於三阿僧祇劫。修六度萬行因。或實報或示化。各隨物類。別名氏也。
The Buddha Shakyamuni, over three immeasurable eons, cultivated the causes of the six perfections and myriad virtuous practices. Whether in his true reward body or in manifested transformations, he adapted to each kind of being, taking on different names and forms.
一瞿曇氏
The Shakya Clan
梵語正云瞿答摩。又云瞿曇彌此云地最勝。謂除天外在地人類中最勝。故經云。昔佛於劫初作國王禪位。師瞿曇僊修道。常於一園游止。為賊所害。彼僊乃殯尸取血。泥為兩團。用器盛之。置於左右。呪之滿十月。左化為男。右化為女。乃命氏。瞿曇始也。
The Sanskrit term is properly pronounced "Gautama." It is also called "Gautamī," which translates as "Supreme on Earth." This means that, aside from celestial beings, they are the most supreme among humans on earth. As the sutra states: In the distant past, during the beginning of the kalpa, the Buddha was a king who abdicated his throne to follow the ascetic Gautama and cultivate the path. He often wandered and rested in a garden. There, he was harmed by bandits. The ascetic then took the blood from the body, mixed it with mud to form two balls, placed them in vessels, and set them to his left and right. After chanting mantras for ten full months, the left ball transformed into a man, and the right into a woman. Thus, the clan name Gautama originated.
二甘蔗氏
The Two Sugarcane Clans
經云。昔有轉輪王。名大自在。子孫相承。合有八萬四千王。最後王名大茅草。垂老無子。乃委政大臣。自剃髮出家。眾號王僊。極老不能行履。諸弟子輩時行乞食。遂以草籠盛王僊懸於樹。虞虎狼之害也。有獵人望見謂是白鳥乃射之死。血瀝于地。諸弟子歸見師被害。即共殯尸其血瀝之地後時忽生甘蔗二本。日炙開剖。一生童子。一生童女。大臣聞迎取歸宮。養育長成。以王種故。遂立為王。命氏甘蔗始也(或梵云。喬答摩。或憍曇彌。二姓華言最勝。經音疏云。皆甘蔗王種也。順正理論云。喬答摩種。生於日光)。
The scripture says: In ancient times, there was a Wheel-Turning King named Great Freedom. His descendants inherited the throne, and altogether there were eighty-four thousand kings. The last king was named Great Grass. In his old age, he had no heir, so he entrusted the government to his ministers, shaved his head, and left home to become a monk. The people called him King Sage. When he became extremely old and could no longer walk, his disciples would go out to beg for food, placing him in a grass basket and hanging it from a tree to protect him from tigers and wolves. A hunter saw him from afar, mistook him for a white bird, and shot him dead. His blood dripped onto the ground. When the disciples returned and found their master killed, they buried his body where his blood had fallen. Later, two sugarcane stalks suddenly grew from that spot. Under the sun’s heat, they split open, giving birth to a boy from one and a girl from the other. The ministers heard of this, welcomed them into the palace, and raised them. Because they were of royal descent, they were eventually made king and queen. This is the origin of the Sugarcane Clan(In Sanskrit, they are called Gautama or Gautamī. Both surnames mean “most excellent.” The Commentary on the Sutra’s Sounds states that both are of the Sugarcane King’s lineage. The Shunzheng Lilun says: The Gautama clan was born from sunlight.).
三日種氏
Three days of the Zhong clan.
經云即甘蔗王不受胎藏。因日炙開剖。故名日種○大悲經云。姓日者為離諸暗。而作光明故(今詳二經前就本緣後約功德)。
The scriptures say that King Sugarcane was not born from a womb, but was split open by the heat of the sun, hence he was called "Sun-born." The Great Compassion Sutra states that the surname "Sun" was given to dispel all darkness and bring forth light.
四舍夷氏
The Four Noble Truths
即甘蔗王擯出四太子。一名炬面。二名金色。三名象眾。四名尼拘羅(隋言別成)四子初至雪山北。頓駕大樹枝條蓊欝之下。是故名奢夷耆耶。今言舍夷必。梵語訛略也。五分律云。近雪山北舍夷林。築城營舍。又缾沙王始問佛生何國。佛言生舍夷國(今詳。必因樹命國。從國稱氏)○法苑云。舍夷者。西方之貴姓也。
King Sugarcane banished his four princes: the first named Torch-Face, the second named Golden-Hue, the third named Elephant-Multitude, and the fourth named Nyagrodha(which means "separately accomplished"). When the four princes first arrived north of the Snowy Mountains, they halted beneath a great tree with lush, dense branches. For this reason, it was called Śākyā; now it is called Śākya, a slight phonetic variation in Sanskrit. According to the *Five-Part Vinaya*: "North of the Snowy Mountains, near the Śākya Grove, they built a city and established dwellings." Moreover, when King Bimbisāra first asked the Buddha, "In which country were you born?" the Buddha replied, "I was born in the Śākya country."(Now, upon closer examination, it is likely that the country was named after the tree, and the clan was named after the country.)○ The *Garden of the Dharma* states: "Śākya is a noble clan of the western regions."
五釋迦氏
Five: The Shakya Clan
即彼四太子以德歸人。不數年間。欝為強國。父王悔憶。遣使往詔四子辭過不歸。父王乃三歎曰。我子釋迦(華言能仁)長阿含經云。釋迦。秦言能。又譯為直。謂直。林故(詳此二譯初從人後就處)今詳。四太子俱命釋迦。惟第四尼拘羅是 我佛祖也。按經云。尼拘羅有子名俱盧。俱盧有子名瞿俱盧。瞿俱盧有子名師子頰。師子頰有四子。一淨飯。二白飯。三斛飯。四甘露飯(梵云首圖䭾那。此云淨飯王。即佛父也)。
Because of the virtue of those four princes, the people naturally turned to them. Within just a few years, their land had grown into a powerful nation. The father king, filled with regret, sent messengers to summon the four princes back, but they declined and did not return. The father king then sighed three times, saying, "My sons are Shakyas."
The *Long Agama Sutra* explains that "Shakya" in the language of Qin means "ability," and it is also translated as "upright," referring to the upright grove. These two translations differ—the first derives from the people, the second from the place. Now upon careful examination, all four princes were called Shakyas, but it was the fourth, Nikroda, who was our Buddha's ancestor. According to the sutras, Nikroda had a son named Kuru; Kuru had a son named Ukkuru; Ukkuru had a son named Simhahanu. Simhahanu had four sons: first, Shuddhodana; second, Shuklodana; third, Dronodana; fourth, Amritodana (in Sanskrit, Shuddhodana means "King of Pure Rice," who was the Buddha's father).
出家人統姓
Monastics all share the same surname.
開元錄云。秦晉已前。出家者多隨師姓。後彌天沙門道安云。凡剃髮染衣。紹釋迦種。即無殊姓。宜悉稱釋氏。時皆未然。洎譯出阿含經云。佛告比丘。四大河水入海。無復本名。同名為海。四姓之子。於佛出家剃除鬚髮。著三法衣。無復本姓。但云沙門釋子○彌沙塞律云。汝等比丘。雜類出家。皆捨本姓。同稱釋子(今稱沙門釋者。蓋天竺出家。外道亦自稱沙門。今以釋字簡之。或單稱釋亦可。若彼此是僧。即不用稱。蓋同一釋家。法兄弟故)。