[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [歷代三寶紀](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2034) › 8.58 # 歷代三寶紀 8.58 歷代三寶紀 8.58 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [8.58](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2034.8.58) 右二十四件合二十八卷。沙門釋道安撰。安本常山扶柳人。俗姓衛氏。家世英儒。早失覆蔭為外兄孔氏所養。年七歲讀書再覽能誦。鄉隣嗟異。至年十二出家。神性聰敏而形貌甚陋。不為師之所重。執勞作役曾無怨色。篤性精進齋戒無闕。數歲之後方啟師求經。師與辯意經一卷。可五千言。安齎經入田。因息就覽。暮還以經歸師。更求餘者。師曰。昨經未讀今復求也。安答已誦經訖。師雖異之。而未信也。復與成具光明經一卷。減萬言。齎之如初。暮復還師。師執經覆之不差一字。師大驚嗟而敬異之。後為受具戒。恣其遊學。晉懷愍世。避難西東初遇佛圖澄。澄見嗟嘆與語終日。眾方敬伏。後至襄陽大宣佛法。初經出已久。而舊譯時謬。致使深義隱而未通。每至講說唯敘大意轉讀而已。安乃窮覽經典鉤深致遠遂注述前件二十餘部。序致淵富妙盡奧旨。條貫既敘文理會通。經義克明自安始也。時襄陽有習鑿齒者。鋒辯天逸籠罩當時。其先藉安高名早著。已致書通好。及聞安至止即往修造。既坐稱言。四海習鑿齒。安曰。彌天釋道安。時人以為名答。齒後餉梨十枚正值眾食。安手自割分梨盡人遍。無參差者。高平却超遣使遺米千斛。修書累紙。深致慇懃。安答書云。損米彌覺有待之為煩。而漢魏至晉經來稍多。其傳述經人名字弗說。後生追尋莫測年代。安乃總集目名表其時世。詮品新舊撰為經錄。眾經有據實由其功。符主遠承。故命符丕將十萬眾攻取襄陽獲釋道安。安既還長安住五重寺。僧眾數千大弘法化。符主嘗出命安升輦同載。有諫譏者。帝曰。朕以天下不易而治。況輿輦之榮。豈稱其德。安諫不聽南征。帝不從果敗云。安每稱譯胡為秦有五失本三不易也。一者胡言盡倒而使從秦。一失本也。二者胡經尚質秦人好文。傳可眾心非文不合。二失本也。三者胡經委悉至於嘆詠丁寧反覆。或三或四不嫌文煩。而今裁斥。三失本也。四者胡有義說正似亂辭。尋說向語文無以異。或一千或五百。刈而不存。四失本也。五者事以合成將更傍及。反騰前辭已乃後說而悉除此。五失本也。然智經三達之心。覆面所演聖必因時。時俗有易。而刪雅古以適今時。一不易也。愚智天隔聖人叵階。乃欲以千載之上微言傳使合百王之下末俗。二不易也。 > The above twenty-four items, totaling twenty-eight fascicles, were written by the śramaṇa Shi Dao'an. Dao'an was originally from Fuliu in Changshan. His secular surname was Wei. His family had been eminent Confucians for generations. Having lost his parents at an early age, he was raised by his maternal cousin of the Kong clan. At the age of seven, he read books, and after reviewing them twice he was able to recite them by heart. His fellow villagers and neighbors were astonished. When he reached the age of twelve, he went forth from household life. His spiritual nature was clever and perceptive, yet his physical appearance was quite ugly. He was not valued by his master. He carried out menial tasks and servitude without ever showing resentment. Firm in nature and vigorous, he observed the abstinences and precepts without omission. After several years, he finally requested sūtras from his master. The master gave him the Sūtra on Distinguishing Intent in one fascicle, about five thousand words. Dao'an took the sūtra into the fields, and during rests he read it. In the evening he returned and gave the sūtra back to his master, asking for another. The master said, 'You have not read yesterday's sūtra, yet now you ask for another?' Dao'an replied that he had already recited the sūtra to completion. Although the master marveled at this, he did not yet believe him. He then gave him the Chengju guangming jing in one fascicle, nearly ten thousand words. Dao'an took it as before, and in the evening returned it to the master. The master held the sūtra and examined him on it; not a single word was off. The master was greatly astonished and respected him with wonder. Later, he conferred the full precepts upon him and allowed him to travel and study as he pleased. During the reign of Huaimin of Jin, while escaping disasters in the west and east, he first met Fotudeng. Deng saw him, sighed in admiration, and spoke with him all day long. The assembly then respectfully submitted. Later he went to Xiangyang, where he greatly propagated the Buddhadharma. Previously, sūtras had been produced long ago, but older translations often contained errors, causing the deep meaning to be hidden and poorly grasped. Whenever it came to lecturing, teachers would only outline the general drift and recite the texts. Dao'an then thoroughly examined the canonical texts, plumbing the depths and reaching the far-off, and thereupon annotated the twenty-odd works mentioned above. His prefaces were profound and rich, wondrously exhausting the subtle meanings. The thematic structure having been laid out, the literary style and doctrinal logic came into seamless coherence. The clear illumination of the sūtras' meanings truly began with Dao'an. At that time in Xiangyang there was Xi Zuochi, whose keen eloquence was extraordinary, surpassing his contemporaries. Relying on Dao'an's already established high reputation, he had previously sent a letter to establish cordial relations. When he heard that Dao'an had arrived, he immediately went to pay a visit. Once seated, he announced, 'Xi Zuochi of the Four Seas.' Dao'an said, 'Shi Dao'an of the Vast Sky.' Contemporaries regarded this as a famous retort. Zuochi later presented ten pears just as the saṅgha was eating. Dao'an sliced and distributed the pears with his own hands; when the pears were exhausted, everyone had been served without any discrepancy. Que Chao of Gaoping sent an emissary to deliver a thousand bushels of rice, writing a letter across several sheets of paper expressing deep affection. Dao'an replied in a letter, saying, 'Diminishing the rice makes me feel all the more how troublesome having attachments is.' From the Han and Wei through to the Jin, sūtras arrived in ever greater numbers. The names of the persons who transmitted these sūtras were often unrecorded, so later generations who sought after them could not determine their eras. Dao'an then compiled a comprehensive catalog of titles, indicated their historical periods, evaluated the new and old, and composed a catalog of sūtras. That the sūtras possess verifiable provenance is truly due to his merit. The Fu ruler heard of him from afar; thus he ordered Fu Pi to lead a host of one hundred thousand to attack and seize Xiangyang, capturing Shi Dao'an. After Dao'an returned to Chang'an, he resided at Wuchong Temple. With a monastic assembly numbering several thousands, he greatly promoted the transformation of the Dharma. The Fu ruler once went out and invited Dao'an to mount his imperial carriage and ride with him. Some admonished and criticized this. The emperor said, 'We do not find governing the world easy, so how could the honor of an imperial carriage suffice to match his virtue?' Dao'an admonished him not to embark on a southern campaign; the emperor did not listen and indeed suffered defeat. Dao'an frequently stated that translating from the foreign language into Qin involves five losses of the original and three difficulties. The first is that foreign word order is entirely reversed, and making it conform to Qin is the first loss of the original. The second is that foreign sūtras esteem plainness while the people of Qin favor literary embellishment; to transmit in a way that pleases the minds of the masses requires literary phrasing, which is the second loss of the original. The third is that foreign sūtras are exhaustive, going so far as to offer praises, repeating themselves earnestly three or four times without begrudging repetitiveness; yet now this is abridged and excised, which is the third loss of the original. The fourth is that foreign texts have explanatory disquisitions that look just like rambling words; tracing the discussion back to earlier remarks reveals no difference in the phrasing; whether a thousand or five hundred words, they are pruned and discarded, which is the fourth loss of the original. The fifth is that after an exposition is completed and is about to turn to another topic, it loops back to restate the prior words before stating what follows; yet all of this is eliminated, which is the fifth loss of the original. However, the scriptures of wisdom originate from the mind of the three knowledges; what is expounded by the wide-tongued Tathāgata must certainly adapt to the times. Contemporary customs change, yet pruning ancient elegance to suit modern times is the first difficulty. The foolish and the wise are separated like heaven and earth; holy beings cannot be stepped up to. To wish to take the subtle words of a thousand years ago and transmit them to match the degenerate customs under a hundred dynasties of kings is the second difficulty. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 8.57](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2034.8.57) - [Next: 8.59](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2034.8.59) - [Up: 8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2034.8) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2034~en-mt.8.58) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (2) - [大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1736.19.42) — Classical Chinese - [神僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2064.2.2) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2034.8.58](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2034.8.58) · Pramāṇa