歷代三寶紀 10.47

10.47

右一部三十六卷。元嘉曇無讖。晉末於姑臧為北涼沮渠氏譯。本有四十卷。語小朴質不甚流美。宋文帝世元嘉年。初達于建康。時有豫州沙門范慧嚴清河沙門崔慧觀。共陳郡處士謝靈運等。以讖涅槃品數疎簡。初學之者難以厝懷。乃依舊翻泥洹正本加之品目。文有過質頗亦改治。結為三十六卷。始有數本流行未廣。嚴後一時夜忽然夢見有一人形狀極偉。乃大厲聲而謂嚴曰。涅槃尊經何以率爾輕加斟酌。嚴既覺已懷抱惕然。旦乃集僧欲改前本。時有識者咸共止云。此蓋欲誡勵後人耳。若必苟違乖舛理者。何容即時方始感夢。嚴以為然。頃之又夢神人告曰。君以弘經精到之力。於後必當得見佛也。恐將來哲不知根元。故復記述。

The above one work in thirty-six fascicles. In the Yuanjia reign-period, [the work originally translated by] Dharmakṣema in the late Jin at Guzang for the Juqu clan of the Northern Liang originally consisted of forty fascicles. Its language was somewhat rustic and unpolished, not very smooth and fine. In the Yuanjia reign-period of Emperor Wen of the Song, it first arrived in Jiankang. At that time, the śramaṇa Fan Huiyan of Yuzhou, the śramaṇa Cui Huiguan of Qinghe, together with the retired scholar Xie Lingyun of Chen commandery and others, considering that Dharmakṣema's Nirvāṇa Sūtra had chapters that were sparse and rough, making it difficult for beginners to grasp, took the original translation of the authentic Nirvāṇa text as a basis and added chapter headings to it; where the text was overly plain, they also revised and polished it considerably, forming thirty-six fascicles. At first, several copies were circulated, but not widely. Later, one night, Huiyan suddenly saw in a dream a person whose appearance was extraordinarily imposing, who loudly and severely said to Huiyan, 'The sublime Nirvāṇa Sūtra—how could you rashly and lightly make adjustments to it?' When Huiyan awoke, his heart was filled with terror. In the morning, he assembled the saṅgha, intending to revert to the earlier version. At that time, men of understanding all dissuaded him, saying, 'This was surely only to admonish and warn later generations. If it were truly a willful violation of and contrary to principle, how could the dream have been induced only now?' Huiyan thought this was so. Soon after, he again dreamt of a divine being telling him, 'Through your diligent and meticulous effort in propagating the sūtra, you will certainly see the Buddha in the future.' Fearing that future wise men would not know its origin, it is recorded here again.