大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 15.13

15.13

第八傳譯感通。疏「佛度跋陀羅，此云覺賢」等者，案《纂靈記》，本姓釋氏，迦維羅衛國人，甘露飯王之苗裔。覺賢三歲而孤，八歲喪母，為外氏所鞠。從祖鳩摩利聞其聰敏，乃度為沙彌。同學一月誦習，賢乃一日當之。及受具戒，博覽群經，多所綜達。少以禪律馳名，甞與同學僧伽達多遊處積年，知其已證不還果，常願遊方以弘至化。會秦沙門智嚴至罽賓國，問彼國僧誰可流化東土？咸云賢可。賢本受禪業於佛大仙，佛大仙時亦在罽賓國。智嚴求人東化，亦謂嚴曰：「可以振維僧徒、宣授正法，即賢其人也。」嚴即披誠至請，賢遂默而許焉。於是辭師東邁，涉路三載，寒暑備經、艱危罄受，或層巖四合鳥道躋雲、或連氷千里風行雪臥，每清暉啟曙即潛伏幽林，皓月良霄乃奔波永路。飛梯架逈、捫索憑虛，危懼日尋，資糧時絕。至於交阯，漸達夷途，附舶海行。備經危險，方達青州東萊郡。聞羅什在長安，欣然而詣。後遊東晉，至安帝義熙十四年，吳郡內史孟顗、右衛將軍褚叔度請譯此經，別造淨室。其年三月十日起首，賢乃手執梵文，共沙門法業、慧嚴等百有餘人，於道場寺詮譯，指文會理通言適妙，故道場寺猶有華嚴堂焉。永嘉六年卒，時春秋七十有一。手屈三指，明得阿那含果。餘廣如傳。業公未詳氏族，風格秀整，學無常師，遍閱群教。每以為未能探微照極，常怏然不足。後遇覺賢，請譯《華嚴》籌諮義理，數歲之後廓然有所通悟，因顧其友人曰：「聖教司南於是乎在。」遂敷弘幽旨，欝為宗首，著《旨歸》兩卷，見行於世。今不見本者，以希聲初啟未遑曲盡，時月淹久故多廢替。慧嚴、慧觀，即什公八俊之二，筆格高簡，經論深博，備於僧史。

Eighth, the transmission and translation through resonance and responsiveness. Regarding the commentary's phrase “Buddhabhadra, translated here as Juexian,” and so forth: according to the Zuanling ji, his original surname was Śākya, a native of Kapilavastu, a descendant of King Amṛtodana. Buddhabhadra was orphaned at age three, lost his mother at age eight, and was raised by his maternal relatives. His great-uncle Kumāri heard of his intelligence and ordained him as a śrāmaṇera. What his fellow students took a month to recite and practice, Buddhabhadra mastered in a single day. When he received the full precepts, he read extensively through all sūtras, thoroughly comprehending most of them. In his youth he was renowned for dhyāna and vinaya. He once lived together with his fellow student Saṅghadatta for many years, knowing that the latter had already attained the fruit of a non-returner (anāgāmin). He always aspired to travel to different lands to propagate the ultimate transformation. It happened that the Qin monk Zhiyan arrived in the country of Kaśmīra, and asked the saṃgha of that land who could travel to convert the Eastern lands. All said Buddhabhadra would do. Buddhabhadra had originally received the practice of dhyāna from Buddhasena, who was also in Kaśmīra at that time. When Zhiyan sought someone to convert the East, he also said to Zhiyan: “The one who can rally the saṃgha and transmit the true Dharma is precisely this man Buddhabhadra.” Zhiyan then sincerely and earnestly pleaded, and Buddhabhadra silently consented. Thereupon he took leave of his master and journeyed east. Traveling for three years, he experienced both winter and summer and endured all hardships and perils. Sometimes towering crags enclosed him on all four sides with bird-paths ascending to the clouds; sometimes a thousand li of continuous ice required walking in wind and sleeping in snow. Whenever the clear dawn broke, he concealed himself in secluded forests; on fine nights under a bright moon, he hurried along the long road. Flying ladders bridged great heights, and he grasped ropes suspended in empty air, with danger and fear arriving daily and provisions occasionally exhausted. Arriving in Jiaozhi, he gradually reached easy roads, boarded a ship, and traveled by sea. Having endured all dangers, he finally arrived at Donglai Commandery in Qingzhou. Hearing that Kumārajīva was in Chang'an, he joyfully went there. Later he traveled to the Eastern Jin. In the fourteenth year of the Yixi reign era of Emperor An, Meng Yi, Administrator of Wujun, and Chu Shudu, General of the Right Imperial Guard, invited him to translate this sūtra, constructing a separate pure chamber. On the tenth day of the third month of that year they began. Buddhabhadra held the Indic text in hand, and together with the monks Faye, Huiyan, and over a hundred others, he translated it at Daochang Monastery, pointing to the text and matching the principle, the language fluent and exquisitely apt; thus Daochang Monastery still has an Avataṃsaka Hall. He died in the sixth year of the Yongjia era at the age of seventy-one. With three fingers bent on his hand, he manifested the attainment of the fruit of an anāgāmin. The rest is extensively detailed in his biography. Master Faye's clan and ancestry are unknown; his deportment was refined and dignified, he had no fixed teacher in study, and he read broadly through all teachings. He always felt that he had not yet plumbed the subtle depths and illuminated the ultimate, remaining discontented. Later he met Buddhabhadra, requested the translation of the Avataṃsaka, and conferred with him on its doctrines. Several years later he attained a vast comprehension, whereupon he looked back to his friends and said: “The compass of the holy teachings is right here!” He then expounded its profound meaning, becoming an eminent lineage leader, and composed the Zhigui in two fascicles, which circulates in the world. The reason the text is no longer seen today is that when the rare tone first began, there was no leisure to exhaust all nuances, and with the passage of much time, most of it fell into disuse. Huiyan and Huiguan were two of Master Kumārajīva's eight luminaries; their literary style was lofty and concise, and their knowledge of sūtras and treatises deep and broad, fully documented in the monastic histories.