肇論新疏 1.6

1.6

The Tongjian says: "Fu Jian occupied Guanzhong, naming the state Great Qin. Toward the end of Fu Jian's reign, Yao Chang usurped the throne and also called it Qin. Therefore, historians distinguished them by the words 'Former' and 'Later'." The treatise master lived under the Later Qin. Chang'an is the present-day Anxi. "Śākya" refers to Śākyamuni, which is the common surname of monastics, because the Tathāgata had the surname of the Śākya clan. Master Dao'an initiated this model, which from afar agreed with the āgamas; for a thousand ages it has been followed and relied upon, without change down to the present. Sengzhao is the name of the treatise master. His original biography states in brief: "A native of Jingzhao, he read widely through the classics and histories and thoroughly mastered ancient writings. His aspiration delighted in the subtle and profound, and he always took Zhuangzi and Laozi as his mental essentials. Hence he sighed: 'Beautiful indeed they are, yet their method of resting the spirit and merging with afflictions is still not completely consummate.' Later, when he saw the old Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, he rejoiced and received it on the crown of his head, saying that only then did he know where to take refuge. Thereupon he went forth from household life. He skillfully studied the vaipulya and simultaneously mastered the Tripiṭaka. Hearing that Kumārajīva was in Guzang, he went from afar to follow him; Kumārajīva praised and admired him without limit. When Kumārajīva came to Chang'an, Zhao also followed him into the city. Yao Xing decreed that he enter the Xiaoyao Garden to carefully settle the sūtras and treatises. The four treatises he authored, along with the Commentary on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa and the prefaces he composed for various sūtras and treatises, are all transmitted in the world." "Composed" means formulated or created. The meaning is truly the Buddha's teaching, while the treatise was authored by himself—he composed its phrasing without concealing its meaning.