佛祖歷代通載 11.22

11.22

（九　癸巳）　七年。三藏法師玄奘。游天竺求法。達于王舍城。奘生洛州偃師陳氏。隋季出家具戒。博貫經籍。每慨前代譯經多所訛略。志游西土訪求異本以參訂焉。以三年冬抗表辭帝。制不許。即私遁自原州出玉關抵高昌。高昌王麴文泰奉奘行資。護送達于罽賓。從僧伽論師決俱舍因明。大毘婆沙等論。至大林國。從婆羅門學中論及異道典籍。時婆羅門七百餘歲。至僕底國。從伏光法師學對法宗顯理門等論。至那伽羅國。從月胄論師學眾事分毘婆沙。至祿勒那國從闍那屈多三藏學經部毘婆沙及薩婆多部辨真等論。至麴闍國從毘邪犀那三藏學二毘婆沙。王有勝兵十萬雄冠西域。奘與胡商八十許人渡殑伽河。彼俗以人祀天。奘與諸商被執。以奘風度特異。將戮以祭。俄大風作塵沙漲天晝日晦暝。彼眾震懼。以奘為聖人。遂釋之。至中天竺。遇大乘居士。為奘開瑜伽師地。即入王舍城。彼預聞奘至。具禮郊迎之。安置那蘭陀寺。寺七寶所成。僧以萬數。奘見上方戒賢論師。時春秋一百有六。道德為西土宗師。號正法藏。國主以十城租賦奉之。奘啟以求法意。賢咨嗟流涕曰。吾頃疾病且死。忽夢文殊大士謂吾曰。汝未應厭世。後三年震旦有大沙門。從汝受道。自爾已來今三稔矣。於是慰喜交集。有同宿契焉。奘見王。王給象車從者三十輩。日供上饌。饌有龍腦香乳蘇蜜及大人米。米香聞百步。然國產不多。唯君長與后。及主法上德與焉。奘寓其國。從正法藏窮探大乘祕奧。日益智證云。

(9. Guisi) In the seventh year, the Tripiṭaka Master Xuanzang traveled to India to seek the Dharma and reached the city of Rājagṛha. Zang was born to the Chen family of Yanshi in Luozhou. At the end of the Sui dynasty, he left the household and received the full ordination (upasampadā). Having thoroughly mastered the scriptures and treatises, he was constantly grieved that the scriptural translations of previous dynasties were often erroneous or abridged, and he resolved to travel to the Western lands to search for different manuscripts to collate and verify them. In the winter of the third year, he submitted a memorial taking leave of the Emperor, but the imperial decree did not permit it. Thereupon he slipped out privately from Yuanzhou, departed through Yumen Pass, and reached Gaochang. Qu Wentai, the King of Gaochang, provided Zang with travel expenses and escorted him safely to Kashmir. There, under Master Saṅghayaśas, he resolved doubts concerning the Kośa, Hetuvidyā, the Mahāvibhāṣā, and other treatises. Reaching the kingdom of Mahāvana, he studied the Madhyamaka-śāstra and heterodox texts under a brāhmaṇa who was over seven hundred years old. Reaching the kingdom of Botidi, he studied the Abhidharma treatises, Prakaraṇapāda, Nyāyamukha, and others under Dharma Master Fuguang. Reaching the kingdom of Nagarahāra, he studied the Prakaraṇābhidharma-vibhāṣā under Master Candravarmā. Reaching the kingdom of Luolena, he studied the Sautrāntika-vibhāṣā, the Sarvāstivāda-tattvasiddhi, and other treatises under Tripiṭaka Master Jñānagupta. Reaching the kingdom of Kanyākubja, he studied the two Vibhāṣās under Tripiṭaka Master Jayasena. The king had a victorious army of a hundred thousand, reigning supreme over the Western regions. Zang, along with some eighty Central Asian merchants, crossed the Gaṅgā River. According to their local customs, human sacrifice was offered to heaven. Zang and the merchants were captured. Because of Zang's extraordinary demeanor, they intended to execute him as the sacrificial victim. Suddenly a great wind arose, sand and dust filled the sky, and daylight turned completely dark. The bandits were terrified; taking Zang to be a sage, they promptly released him. Arriving in Central India, he met a Mahāyāna layman who expounded the Yogācārabhūmi for him. He then entered the city of Rājagṛha. Having heard beforehand of Zang's arrival, they prepared ceremonial welcomes in the suburbs to receive him, and accommodated him at Nālandā Monastery. The monastery was built of the seven jewels, and its monks were numbered in the tens of thousands. Zang met the Superior, Master Śīlabhadra, who was then one hundred and six years old; his moral virtue made him the foremost master of the Western lands, and he was known as the Treasury of the True Dharma. The ruler of the country supported him with the revenue of ten cities. When Zang stated his intention to seek the Dharma, Śīlabhadra sighed and wept, saying: "Some time ago I was sick and about to die, when suddenly I saw Mañjuśrī in a dream, who said to me: 'You should not yet grow weary of this world. Three years from now, a great śramaṇa from Cīnasthāna will come to receive the Dharma from you.' Since then, three years have now passed." Thus, relief and joy intermingled, as if they were bound by a past vow. Zang had an audience with the king, who provided him with an elephant chariot and thirty attendants, and made daily offerings of superior food. The food included dragon's brain camphor, milk, butter, honey, and the rice for great men; the fragrance of this rice could be smelled from a hundred paces away. However, it was not produced in great quantity in the land, being reserved only for rulers, queens, and eminent masters of great virtue who upheld the Dharma. Zang resided in that country, thoroughly plumbing the profound and secret doctrines of the Mahāyāna under the Treasury of the True Dharma, with his wisdom and realization advancing day by day.