歷代三寶紀 4.11

4.11

The five works above, totaling sixteen fascicles, [were translated by] the śramaṇa Zhu Falan from Central Tianzhu. In his youth he was keen and perceptive, refined, broadly benevolent, and versed in many matters; in meditation and Vinaya there was nothing he had not mastered. He recited more than one million words of sūtras and had over a thousand disciples. In dwelling he did not seek ease, constantly cherishing the desire to broadly benefit others. His disciplinary code was strict and solemn, such that the crowd could not fathom it. Hearing that the Han envoy [Cai] Yin had come inquiring after the Buddhadharma for the Han lands, he conceived the desire to set forth without delay. The king of the country would not permit it, so he secretly came together with [Kāśyapa] Mātanga, traveling by indirect routes and arriving later. During the reign of Emperor Ming, he initially produced the Forty-two Sections together with Mātanga. After Mātanga died, Falan translated on his own. Formerly, when Emperor Wu of Han excavated the Kunming Pool, he found black ash at the bottom and asked Dongfang Shuo. Shuo said: "You may ask the Sanskrit people from the Western Regions." When Falan arrived, people of the time subsequently questioned him. Falan said: "This is the ash from the kalpa fire." Shuo's words were thus verified, and those who believed were very numerous. Furthermore, when the envoy Qin Jing returned, he obtained from the country of the Yuezhe the fourth painted copy of King Udayana's sandalwood image and brought it to Luoyang. The emperor then ordered copies to be painted and venerated; from then on, paintings in pigments have been handed down to the present day.