肇論新疏 2.312

2.312

"Master Ling" is Zhi Faling. According to Master Yuan's biography, he seems to have been Master Yuan's disciple, and Master Yuan also dispatched him to go to the Western Regions; the Sanskrit texts of the Avataṃsaka and others were all sought out and brought back by this master. It is a pity that he has no official biography, but the Great Commentary on the Avataṃsaka briefly recounts the circumstances. The invited "Mahāyāna meditation master" was Buddhabhadra, which means "Enlightened Sage" in Chinese. According to his biography, he was invited by Zhiyan; because Buddhabhadra studied the practice of dhyāna under the great ṛṣi Buddhasena in Kaśmīra, and Zhiyan also studied this, Zhiyan firmly invited Buddhabhadra to travel so as to transmit this teaching. During the Hongshi era he entered Qin and taught and practiced the way of dhyāna at Waguan Temple. Huiyan and Huiguan from south of the Yangtze, and Xuan'gao and others from within the Pass, all received instruction from this master; the author of the treatise was also among them. The single "Tripiṭaka master" was Puṇyatāra. His biography states: a man of Kaśmīra, thoroughly versed in the Tripiṭaka. Yao Xing treated him with the etiquette of an honored guest and ordered him to translate the Daśabhāṇavāra. When the work reached only half, he passed away; Dharmaruci continued the translation to its completion. The "two Vibhāṣā masters" were Dharmayaśas and Dharmagupta; both are recorded in the Liang Biographies, so they are not quoted at length here. From "translated the newly arrived" downward: some were Sanskrit texts brought by himself, and some were obtained by Master Zhi. "Its fundamentals and details": fundamentals refers to the four pārājikas, details refers to the remaining sections; the new translation is so refined and thorough that it is as if one were witnessing the precepts as originally instituted by the Tathāgata. The remaining text is easily understood.