梵網經古迹記 1.6

1.6

翻譯故者，後秦有西域三藏鳩摩羅什，此云童壽，持菩薩戒偏誦此品，與義學沙門三千餘人，遂於逍遙園及長安草堂寺翻譯經論五十餘部。最後因秦主欲受禁戒，別誦譯出，慧融等筆受。法藏師云：「西域有十萬頌六十一品，具譯成三百餘卷。」此經序云：「可有一百二十卷。」又上代諸德相傳云：真諦三藏將菩薩律藏擬來，此時於南海上船，船即欲沒，省去餘物仍猶不起，唯去律本船方得進。真諦歎曰：「菩薩戒律漢地無緣，深可悲矣。」又曇無讖三藏，於西涼州有沙門法進等，求讖受菩薩戒并請戒本。讖曰：「此國人麁，豈有堪為菩薩道器？」遂不與授。進等苦請不獲所願，於佛像前立誓求戒。七日纔滿，夢見彌勒親與授戒竝受戒本，竝皆誦得。覺已見讖，讖覩其相異，喟然歎曰：「漢地亦有人矣。」則與譯出戒本。與進夢誦文義相同，今別行《地持戒本》首安歸敬偈者是。又聞西域諸小乘寺以賓頭盧為上座，諸大乘寺以文殊師利為上座，合眾共持菩薩戒，羯磨說戒皆作菩薩法事，菩薩律藏常誦不絕。

Regarding the translation: Under the Later Qin, there was the Tripiṭaka Master Kumārajīva of the Western Regions, here translated as "Youthful Longevity" (Tongshou). Upholding the bodhisattva precepts, he specifically chanted this chapter. Together with more than three thousand śramaṇas of doctrinal learning, he subsequently translated over fifty works of sūtras and treatises in the Xiaoyao Garden and the Caotang Monastery in Chang'an. Finally, because the ruler of the Qin wished to receive the prohibitive precepts, he separately recited and translated it out, with Huirong and others transcribing it by brush. Master Fazang said: "In the Western Regions there are one hundred thousand verses in sixty-one chapters; translated in full, it would make over three hundred fascicles." The preface to this sūtra says: "It may comprise one hundred and twenty fascicles." Furthermore, masters of past generations have traditionally transmitted: Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha intended to bring the Bodhisattva Vinayapiṭaka. At that time, when he boarded a ship on the Southern Sea, the ship was about to sink. Although they disposed of other belongings, it still did not rise; only when they cast off the Vinaya manuscript was the ship able to proceed. Paramārtha sighed, saying: "The land of Han has no affinity with the bodhisattva vinaya; how profoundly lamentable!" Furthermore, when Tripiṭaka Master Dharmakṣema was in Western Liangzhou, there was the śramaṇa Fajin and others who sought to receive the bodhisattva precepts from Kṣema and requested the precept text. Kṣema said: "The people of this country are crude; how could there be vessels capable of the bodhisattva path?" Thus he did not grant it to them. Jin and the others earnestly pleaded but did not attain their wish; they made vows before a Buddha image seeking the precepts. As soon as seven days were fulfilled, he saw Maitreya in a dream personally conferring the precepts and imparting the precept text, all of which he memorised. Upon waking, he went to see Kṣema. Kṣema, observing his extraordinary appearance, sighed deeply and said: "The land of Han indeed has worthy people!" He then translated out the precept text for them. It was identical in text and meaning with what Jin had recited in his dream; this is the separately circulating Bodhisattvabhūmi Prātimokṣa that begins with verses of refuge and homage. Furthermore, it is heard that across the Western Regions, all Hīnayāna monasteries take Piṇḍola as the senior elder, while all Mahāyāna monasteries take Mañjuśrī as the senior elder; the assemblies together uphold the bodhisattva precepts, their karman and recitation of precepts are all performed as bodhisattva ritual proceedings, and the Bodhisattva Vinayapiṭaka is constantly recited without interruption.