歷代三寶紀 4.196

4.196

The above twenty-one works, comprising sixty-three rolls, were translated by the śramaṇa Lokakṣema (Zhi Loujiachen, also simply called Zhi Chen) of the Yuezhi kingdom, from the Jianhe era of the reign of Emperor Huan to the Zhongping era of Emperor Ling, in Luoyang. The upāsakas Meng Fu, Zhang Lian, and others of Henan served as scribes. Now, as to the old translation being termed Hu banniuan: the character hu is not properly understood. I observe that ever since scriptures appeared in ancient times, when worthy and virtuous masters served as scribes, whenever they reached the translation of language, they inevitably called it 'translating Hu into Chinese (Han)'. Now, 'Hu' refers to the frontier customs of the western states, whereas 'Han' is the designation for the Eastern realm. Furthermore, throughout the nine provinces, the western regions are collectively called Tianzhu; thus the Book of Han refers to the kingdom of Shendu, and Shendu is Tianzhu. There is Central Tianzhu, which is the land of Tianzhu where the Buddha was born; there are East, West, South, and North, hence called the Five Tianzhu. And those Five Tianzhu collectively call this eastern realm Zhina, or Cīnasthāna, or Zhendan; this is merely a difference of pronunciation between Chu and Xia. If one must speak of 'Han', Han belongs solely to the Liu clan; the Former Han and Later Han bore the single designation for two eras. The Later Han abdicated to Wei; Wei was weak and divided into three, leading to Wu and Shu. Though Wei swallowed Shu, it in turn abdicated to Jin. Ever since the Jin ruled, the land of the nine provinces has been divided up, each part having its own master. When sūtras were translated, depending on the place, as both the people and the localities differed, the renderings were not uniform. One must make distinctions based on the imperial reigns and titles. Now, in compiling this catalogue, I have corrected them all accordingly. Moreover, since Hu refers to the frontier customs of the Western Regions, akin to our Di, Qiang, Man, Yi, Gua, and Lao, what scriptures could they have had that one should speak of 'Hu language'? Who was at fault for initially setting up the term 'Hu language' as a standard for the world? The Buddha was born in Tianzhu. The gentry and brahmins of that land are collectively designated as Fan (Brahmā). 'Fan' means pure, deriving descent from the Ābhāsvara [Heaven]. The Ābhāsvara Heaven is the lowest among the Brahmā heavens. At the beginning of the kalpa, when the waters receded and the earth dried up, [beings from that heaven] came down and consumed the earth's sap; their bodies grew coarse and heavy so that they could not fly away, and they subsequently gave birth to humans. Because of their primal origin and ancestry, they are called Fan. Therefore, one ought to speak of the Fan language and Fan script. In the translation of scriptures into Chinese, monks had not yet shaved their heads; in the Wei dynasty, Zhu Shixing was the first to leave home, put on the Dharma robes, and become a monk, yet he still retained his secular surname. Wu and Jin followed one another without changing this custom. Until the Fu Qin dynasty, there arose Shi Dao'an, who alone stood preeminent in his time and was markedly enlightened. Monastics and laity admired him, crowding like rice and hemp. He stated: 'Having shaved our heads and continued the lineage of the Śākya clan, how can we be said to inherit the lineage if the sons bear a different surname from the father? Today, all who leave home should take the name Shi.' Later, when sūtras arrived and the four Āgamas were translated, the text indeed stated: 'When the four castes leave home, they share the single Śākya clan.' Everyone sighed in admiration. (The four castes are: first, Kṣatriya, the royal caste; second, Brāhmaṇa, those of elevated conduct; third, Vaiśya, akin to the gentry and common people of this land; fourth, Śūdra, the lowly, akin to menial servants.) However, Dao'an lived right during the Jin and Qin dynasties, established catalogues, and abridged and annotated various sūtras, styling himself 'Mitai' (Vast as Heaven) and serving as a model for later generations, yet he still spoke of 'translating Hu into Qin', and formulated the five losses of the original and the three difficulties. This was merely a single pebble from Mount Kunlun, not yet wholly consummate. Therefore, wherever the word Hu appeared since antiquity, this catalogue replaces it throughout with the word Fan, in the hope that later wise men of good speech may attain the genuine standard.