大方廣佛華嚴經疏 3.15

3.15

Eighth, the history of translation and spiritual resonances, divided into two: first, clarifying the translation periods; second, clarifying the signs of spiritual resonance in circulation and transmission. Under the first, this sūtra had altogether only two translations from beginning to end, and together with its supplements of missing portions, four different recensions: First, in the fourteenth year of Yixi of the Jin dynasty, the North Indian Tripiṭaka Master Buddhabhadra—here translated as 'Awakened Worthy'—translated a Sanskrit manuscript of thirty-six thousand verses at Xie Sikong Monastery in Yangzhou into the Jin sūtra in fifty or sixty fascicles; the śramaṇa Faye recorded it in writing, and Huiyan and Huiguan polished the style. Xie Sikong Monastery is the present Xingyan Monastery in Runzhou, so named because it brought about the flourishing of the Avataṃsaka. Second, during the first year of Yonglong of the Great Tang, the Indian Tripiṭaka Master Divākara—here translated as 'Sunlight'—translated at the Western Capital's Dayuan Monastery two omitted passages within the chapter 'Entering the Dharmadhātu': first, between Māyādevī and Bodhisattva Maitreya, the ten spiritual friends including Devatā-prabhā; second, between Bodhisattva Maitreya and the spiritual friends as numerous as the paramāṇus of a trichiliocosm of Bhagavats, the fifteen lines of scripture where Mañjuśrī extended his hand over one hundred and ten yojanas to pat Sudhana's crown. Virtuous ones such as Vinaya Master Daocheng, Dharma Master Baochen, and Dharma Master Dacheng Ji translated together, while Dharma Master Fuli polished the text, establishing it based on the sixty-fascicle version. Third, in the first year of Zhengsheng, the Khotanese Tripiṭaka Master Śikṣānanda—here translated as 'Delight in Learning'—retranslated the old text and supplemented all the omissions at the Eastern Capital's Foshouji Monastery, adding an estimated nine thousand verses, making forty-five thousand verses together with the old, forming the Tang recension of eighty fascicles. Virtuous ones such as Tripiṭaka Master Yijing, Chan Master Hongjing, Dharma Master Woncheuk, Dharma Master Shenying, Dharma Master Fabao, and Dharma Master Xianshou translated together, and Dharma Master Fuli edited the text. Fourth, although several passages were added in the aforementioned third recension, it omitted the passage where Mañjuśrī pats Sudhana's crown supplemented by Tripiṭaka Master Divākara; thereupon Dharma Master Xianshou compared the new and old sūtras with the Sanskrit manuscript and placed Divākara's supplemental passage where Śikṣānanda had omitted it, so that the text was continuous and the meaning linked. The significance of that text will be distinguished below. What is transmitted today is this fourth recension. Because the third recension had already circulated beforehand, many sūtras in the world today still have this omission; that is the third recension, and I hope discerning people will see the deficiency and continue it.