歷代三寶紀 8.2

8.2

Regarding the successive records of the two Qin dynasties, the Fu and the Yao: these rulers were also hegemons of their time who promoted the Dharma. Ever since the Jin imperial house crossed the Yangtze and the Xiongnu burned Luoyang, the Yi, Chan, Jing, and Wei rivers were no longer the imperial capital. The Master said: 'When the four barbarian tribes invade together, the Central Plains decline.' Does it not refer to this? Fu Jian was originally a man from Wudu of the Di ethnicity. Taking advantage of the turmoil of the two Zhao dynasties, he occupied Guansi. His descendants seized the opportunity to successively establish themselves and claim the title of emperor, naming their state Qin and making Chang'an their capital. By the time of the third sovereign, whose taboo name was Yonggu, a divine light appeared at his birth connecting heaven and earth, and an inscription appeared on his back saying 'Cao fu chen' (straw-grass minister). Thereupon he changed his surname to Fu. Sixteen years after Yonggu ascended the throne, the Grand Astrologer memorialized: 'A virtuous star has appeared in the astrological field of foreign kingdoms; a sage should come to assist the Central Realm, and whoever obtains him will become king.' Yonggu consequently sought Kumārajīva of the kingdom of Kucha, Shi Dao'an of Xiangyang who 'filled heaven', and others. At the time, Dao'an belonged to the Jin; [Fu Jian] attacked Nanyang, obtained Dao'an, and would always share his carriage with him, inquiring about politics as well as having him expound Buddhist scriptures. He dispatched an expedition westward to fetch Kumārajīva, but before Kumārajīva arrived, Yonggu had already died. After six sovereigns and forty-four years, [the territory] fell to the Later Qin. Yao Chang was a Qiang of the Western Rong; seizing the moment, he successively established himself, still keeping Chang'an as capital, and renaming it Chang'an [with the character 'constancy']. By the third spring of the Hongshi era of his son Yao Xing, trees with intertwined branches grew in the ancestral temple courtyard, and the scallions in the Xiaoyao Garden all transformed into Chinese chives. Everyone declared this to be an auspicious omen, indicating that a wise man was due to arrive as an auspicious response for the kingdom. In winter Kumārajīva arrived. Yao Xing welcomed him with exceptional courtesy, treated him as National Preceptor, and revered him most profoundly. He broadly expounded scriptures and treatises, and the propagation and translation of texts in Cīnasthāna reached its height during this dynasty. Śramaṇas from the four directions gathered like clouds. Before this, from the fall of the Former Han to the rise of the Fu Qin, for 331 years Chang'an's court and marketplaces had been desolate and its customs rough. Although there were a few saṅghārāmas, converts were rare. Three thousand virtuous monks lived together in one place, jointly receiving the offerings of the Heavenly King of the Yao Qin. The world called it the Great Monastery, though that was not its original name. In the center, a hall was constructed temporarily thatched with grass; within it and at the Xiaoyao Garden, translations were carried out in both places. The far-reaching reach of the Dharma-treasure and the verified signs were such as this. Monastic officials were therefore established with the salary and rank of Palace Attendants, and two registrars were appointed to supervise the monks of the five divisions. The flourishing of the Court of National Monastic Affairs originated from this. At the end of the Wei and the beginning of the Zhou, when the streets and avenues were slightly rearranged, the Great Monastery was consequently divided into four saṅghārāmas. The original name 'Thatched Hall' became one monastery; east of the Thatched Hall was the Changzhu Monastery; to the south was the Jingzhao Wang Monastery, which was later renamed Anding Guo Monastery; west of Anding Guo was the Mahāyāna Monastery. Beside the left side of Anding, on the east bank of the Imperial Avenue, was an octagonal great well; this was the sweet spring from the eastern kitchen of the old Great Monastery that supplied the three thousand monks. The descendants comprised three sovereigns over thirty-two years before being destroyed by the Jin, and their territory passed to the Wei. The combined records of the two Qin dynasties span seventy-six years; because West Qin's Qifu Gangui extinguished Fu Chong twelve years after the Later Qin was founded, when calculated according to the sexagenary cycle their chronologies overlap. Reckoning from the first year of Huangshi when Fu Jian arose, corresponding to the jia-yin year of the tenth year of the Yonghe era of Emperor Mu of the Jin, down to the second year of the Yonghe era of Yao Hong, which was the ding-si year of the thirteenth year of the Yixi era of Emperor An of the Jin, the national dynastic record actually covers sixty-four years. Sixteen Chinese, Rong, and Śākyan persons produced a total of 164 works of scriptures, treatises, and biographies in 914 fascicles. These are summarized as the successive records of the two Qin dynasties of the Fu and the Yao.