法華遊意 1.418

1.418

第九、明部黨不同。此經有新舊二本，古本名「正法花」，燉煌同處沙門竺法護，以晉太康七年或人云十年八月十日譯出此經，授優婆塞聶承遠，九月二日訖，張士明，張仲政筆受也。新本名「妙法蓮花」，羅什以魏秦姚興弘始十年二月六日於長安大寺譯出，亦云弘始五年四月二十三日於長安逍遙薗譯出也，即晉安帝時。觀、叡二法師並云「弘始八年集四方義學沙門二千餘人譯出斯經」。叡公云「于時聽受領解之僧八百餘人，皆是諸方英秀一時之傑竭也」。今謂「十年翻譯」，字之誤也。羅什以秦弘始三年二月二十日至長安，弘始四年正月五日即就翻經，弘始八年八月二十日終於長安。不應十年更翻譯也。又胡僧枝[彳*(苗/一/田/一)]，魏甘露元年於交洲譯出六卷，名「法花三昧經」；又沙門支道良，晉代康元年抄譯為五卷，名「方等法花經」。此二本南土皆無也，唯有一卷《法花三昧經》，又有一卷《薩曇分陀利經》，當別尋經目錄也。然晉有前後，昔有江右名為西晉，此經猶居外國。自從無王度江左稱為東晉，至晉安帝義熙中此經始度。然此經度江將三百年矣。

Ninth, explaining the differences among editions and lineages. This sūtra has two recensions, old and new. The ancient recension is named Zheng fahua [jing]; the śramaṇa Zhu Fahu of Dunhuang, on the tenth day of the eighth month in the seventh year of the Taikang era of the Jin—or some say the tenth year—translated this sūtra, transmitted it to the upāsaka Nie Chengyuan, and finished on the second day of the ninth month, with Zhang Shiming and Zhang Zhongzheng acting as scribes. The new recension is named Miaofa lianhua [jing]; Kumārajīva translated it at the Great Monastery in Chang'an on the sixth day of the second month in the tenth year of the Hongshi era under Yao Xing of the Qin, or it is also said to have been translated in the Xiaoyao Garden in Chang'an on the twenty-third day of the fourth month in the fifth year of Hongshi, during the reign of Emperor An of the Jin. The two Dharma masters [Hui]guan and Sengrui both say: "In the eighth year of Hongshi, more than two thousand śramaṇas who studied doctrinal principles were gathered from all four quarters to translate this sūtra." Master Sengrui says: "At that time, the monks who listened and comprehended numbered more than eight hundred, all of whom were the elite of various regions, the preeminent talents of the age." I now hold that "translated in the tenth year" is an error in character. Kumārajīva arrived in Chang'an on the twentieth day of the second month in the third year of the Hongshi era of the Qin, and began translating sūtras on the fifth day of the first month in the fourth year of Hongshi; he passed away in Chang'an on the twentieth day of the eighth month in the eighth year of Hongshi. He could not have translated it again in the tenth year. Furthermore, the Central Asian monk Zhi Jiangliang translated a six-fascicle text named Fahua sanmei jing in Jiaozhou in the first year of the Ganlu era of the Wei; and the śramaṇa Zhi Daoliang excerpted and translated it into five fascicles named Fangdeng fahua jing in the first year of the Taikang era of the Jin. Neither of these two recensions exists in the southern lands; there is only a one-fascicle Fahua sanmei jing and a one-fascicle Sad-dharma-puṇḍarīka sūtra, which should be searched out separately in sūtra catalogues. However, there were earlier and later periods in the Jin: formerly, the region west of the Yangtze was named the Western Jin, and this sūtra still resided in foreign countries. Ever since the king crossed east of the Yangtze and it was called the Eastern Jin, this sūtra first crossed over during the Yixi era under Emperor An of the Jin. It has now been nearly three hundred years since this sūtra crossed the river.