佛祖統紀 26.32

26.32

Dharma Master Buddhayaśas (in the language of Jin, Jueming) was of brāhmaṇa stock from the country of Jibin. A śramaṇa came to his house begging for food. His father, originally a non-Buddhist, angrily beat him. Thereupon his hands and feet became crippled and lame (pronounced *lián-bì*, meaning hand contracted and foot lame). A diviner said to him, 'This is because you offended a worthy and noble one.' He at once invited this śramaṇa and repented of his error. In ten days he was cured. He therefore had Yaśas leave home [as a monk]. At the age of thirteen, while travelling through the wilderness with his teacher, they encountered a tiger. Yaśas said, 'The tiger is already sated; it will surely not harm anyone.' Walking forward along the path, they indeed saw leftover bones. By fifteen, he recited up to ten thousand words of sūtras each day. Feeling distressed that alms-gathering (in Sanskrit, *piṇḍapāta*; in the language of Jin, begging for food) disrupted his practice, an arhat came to beg food on his behalf. At nineteen, the sūtras he could recite numbered several million words. By nature he was lofty and proud, not esteemed by others. Even at thirty, he remained a novice (śrāmaṇera). He also studied the Five Sciences (*pañcavidyā*) and worldly magic from his maternal uncle. (The inner assembly [Buddhists] and non-Buddhists both have Five Sciences. The inner Five Sciences are: first, the science of language [śabdavidyā]; second, the science of medicine [cikitsāvidyā]; third, the science of mantras; fourth, the science of arts and crafts [śilpakarmasthānavidyā]; fifth, the science of logic [hetuvidyā]. The non-Buddhist Five Sciences: the first four are identical; the last one is the science of talismans and seals.) Arriving in the kingdom of Kashgar (Shule), he was treated with great generosity. Soon after, Kumārajīva arrived, and so he studied the Abhidharma treatises and the *Daśabhāṇavāra-vinaya* (Ten-Recitation Vinaya) under him. When Kumārajīva returned to Kucha with his mother, the Master remained behind to spread the teachings. Fu Jian dispatched Lü Guang to attack Kucha and capture Kumārajīva. Hearing of this, the Master sighed, 'Kumārajīva and I had not yet fully opened our hearts to each other. Now he is suddenly captured; when can we meet again?' Ten years later, the Master travelled east to Kucha, where he greatly propagated the Dharma. Kumārajīva, being in Guzang, sent a letter inviting him. The Master, fearing that the people of the country would halt his departure, took clean water, put medicine into it, and chanted several tens of words of incantation. After washing his and his disciples' feet with it, they set out that very night. By dawn they had travelled several hundred li, beyond the reach of pursuers. He asked his disciples, 'What did you perceive?' They replied, 'We only heard the whistling rush of swift wind, and tears flowed from our eyes.' The Master again chanted over water and washed their feet, and then they stopped [flying]. Once he reached Guzang, Kumārajīva had already entered Chang'an. Hearing that Ruler Yao forced concubines upon him (pronounced *yùn*, sending women to accompany a bride), he sighed, 'Kumārajīva is like fine silk floss; how could one cast him into a briar patch?' Kumārajīva urged Ruler Yao to send envoys to welcome the Master. Once he arrived, a separate resting temple was erected in the Xiaoyao Garden. Of the four requisites of offering, he accepted not one. When the time came, he only gathered alms for a single meal. At that time, Kumārajīva translated the *Daśabhūmika-sūtra*. The Master exchanged examinations and resolutions with him, and only then were the phrasing and principles settled. The Master had a red beard and was adept at explaining the *Mahāvibhāṣā-śāstra*; the people of the time called him the 'Red-Bearded Treatise Master'. During the Hongshi era of the Qin, he translated the *Dharmaguptaka-vinaya* (Four-Part Vinaya, forty-four fascicles) and the *Dīrghāgama* (twenty-two fascicles). In the eighth year of Yixi, he came to Mount Lu and entered the society. Later he took his leave and returned to his native country. From Jibin, he sent one fascicle of the *Ākāśagarbha-sūtra* via merchants to Liangzhou. Dharma Master Buddhabhadra (in the language of Jin, Juexian) was of the Śākya clan, a native of Kapilavastu, and a descendant of King Amṛtodana. Having lost his parents in his youth, he left home as a novice. At sixteen he was widely learned in the various sūtras and deeply versed in meditation and monastic discipline. He often travelled to Jibin together with Saṃghadatta. While Datta was sitting in meditation behind closed doors, he suddenly saw the Master come and say, 'I went briefly to Tuṣita to pay homage to Maitreya.' Having spoken, he vanished. Later Datta witnessed even more of his divine transformations; reverently asking him, he then learned that he had attained the fruit of a non-returner (anāgāmin). At that time, the Yao Qin śramaṇa Zhiyan reached Jibin. Beholding the purity of the Dharma assembly, he sighed, turned his gaze eastward, and said, 'My companions have not yet encountered a true master; how shall they attain awakening?' He then inquired among the assembly, 'Who can grant my plea to spread the transformation to the Eastern Land?' All replied, 'Bhadra is the man.' Zhiyan then invited the Master, and packing provisions they set off. Passing through various lands, they reached Jiaozhi, boarded a ship, sailed along the coast, and arrived at Donglai in Qingzhou. Hearing that Kumārajīva was in Chang'an, he went to join him. Hong, the Crown Prince of Qin, invited the Master to the Eastern Palace, gathering the assembly to expound the Dharma. He debated the meaning of form and emptiness with Kumārajīva. The Master said, 'You only explain form and emptiness in the result, but do not explain form and emptiness in the cause.' Kumārajīva asked what that meant. The Master said, 'Because one subtle atom is empty, many subtle atoms are empty. Because many subtle atoms are empty, one subtle atom is empty. Within the emptiness of one subtle atom there are no many subtle atoms; within the emptiness of many subtle atoms there is no single subtle atom.' Back and forth they debated several times, and Kumārajīva could not fathom it. Ruler Xing of Qin made offerings to three thousand monks, grandly cultivating human affairs; yet the Master kept to himself in meditative stillness. Suddenly he said to his disciples, 'I see five ships departing together from my native land.' The assembly considered it a falsehood, and thereupon expelled him together. He then departed together with more than forty disciples, including Huiyan and Huiguan, reaching the Incense Valley of Mount Lu, where they lodged in a thatched hut (*bó*, pronounced *pú-chāng-qiè*; the *Classic of Poetry* says 'where the Earl of Zhao lodged', the commentary reading 'thatched hut'). Meeting the Lotus Society at this time, Master Yuan considered that the Master had been expelled owing to the fault of his followers, and foretelling the five ships was no violation of the Vinaya. He thereupon dispatched his disciple Tanyong with a letter to the Ruler of Qin to have the expulsion revoked for him. He then invited the Master to Donglin to translate various sūtras on meditation and numerical categories. From this time on, Jiangdong first became devoted to the bliss of meditation. The Master's aspiration lay in wandering and teaching; heading west to Jiangling, he carried his bowl to gather alms, and indeed saw the five Indian ships arrive there. Later he returned to the capital and established Daocheng Temple. Prior to this, Zhi Faling had obtained in Khotan a Sanskrit text of the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra* in thirty-six thousand verses, which had not yet been proclaimed and translated. In the fourteenth year of Yixi, Meng Yi, Administrator of Wujun, and Chu Shudu, General of the Right Guards, invited the Master to be the chief translator, with the śramaṇas Faye, Huiyi, Huiyan, Huiguan, and others recording the translation brush in hand, completing the translation in sixty fascicles. Two boys in blue garments emerged each morning from the pond to sweep the ground and grind the ink. The Master successively translated fifteen works in all, including the *Guanfo sanmei jing*, the *Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra*, the *Xiuxing fangbian lun*, and the *Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya* brought by Faxian. In the sixth year of Yuanjia of the Song, he passed away while reciting the Buddha's name. His stūpa is on the northern ridge of Mount Lu.