[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [佛祖歷代通載](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2036) › 7.52 # 佛祖歷代通載 7.52 佛祖歷代通載 7.52 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [7.52](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2036.7.52) （十一）　是年什法師卒。鳩摩羅什。此翻童壽。天竺人也。家世勛烈。父鳩摩羅炎。有美節。避相位出家。龜茲王聞請為國師。以妹妻焉遂生什。日誦千偈三萬餘言。大小乘宗莫不該覽。符秦建元十三年。德星現之。苻堅使呂光西討。及聞堅敗。據姑臧稱涼。弗獲師面。姚秦弘始三年三月。庭樹生連理。逍遙園有葱變茝。以表智人應入中國。九月呂隆來降。十二月二十日。迎師居逍遙園。興以國師禮待之。甚見優寵。仍命譯經論三百餘卷。資學三千拔萃有八。曰道生僧肇道融僧叡道恒僧影惠觀惠嚴等。各有著述。知別傳明。可謂一時之盛千載光華。又舉僧䂮為僧正。以政僧事。沙門惠叡精誠遠到。隨什傳寫。每與叡言。西方辭體特重文制。其宮商體韻以入管絃。為善。凡覲王者必有贊德。經偈皆其式也。甞歎曰。吾著大乘阿毘曇非迦旃延比也。時無深識者。因悽然而止。獨與秦王著實相論二卷。秦王機政之暇。躬與什對譯。尋覽舊經多所紕繆。什釐正之。甞講經草堂寺。及朝臣沙門數千眾肅容觀聽。一日王謂什曰。法師才明超悟海內無雙。可使法種不嗣哉。遂以宮嬪十人逼令受之。什亦自謂。每講有二小兒。登吾肩欲障也。自是不住僧房。別立廨舍。諸僧有効之者。什聚針盈鉢謂曰。若相効能食此者乃可畜室耳。舉已進針如常饍。諸僧愧止初在龜茲。隣國諸王會同。每請什說法。必跪伏座前命什踐肩而登座。甞與母謁大月氏國北山尊者。北山謂其母曰。善護此沙彌。年三十五。毘尼無缺。度人如優波毱多。不爾正俊法師耳。杯渡比在彭城。聞什入關。歎曰。吾與此子戲別三百年矣。相見杳然未期。遲於來世耳。什甞升座。每曰。譬如臭泥中生蓮華。但取其華勿取臭泥也。居秦才九年而疾。口出三番神呪令外國弟子誦之。以自救。未及致力轉覺危殆。於是力疾集眾告別曰。因法相逢殊未盡心。方復後世。惻愴可言。自以闇短謬充傳譯。所出經論。唯十誦律未及刪繁。若義契佛心焚身之日舌不焦壞。言訖而逝。闍維日舌果若紅蓮色而不壞云。 > (11) In this year, Master of the Dharma \[Kumāra\]jīva passed away. Kumārajīva—translated here as Tongshou ('Youth-Longevity')—was a native of Tianzhu. His family had been distinguished for generations. His father, Kumārāyana, was a man of noble virtue who declined the position of prime minister and went forth from the household life (pravrajyā). When the king of Kucha heard of him, he invited him to become the state preceptor, gave him his younger sister in marriage, and she subsequently gave birth to \[Kumāra\]jīva. \[Kumāra\]jīva could recite a thousand verses, over thirty thousand words, each day. There were no teachings of the Great or Small Vehicles that he did not master thoroughly. In the thirteenth year of the Jianyuan era of Fu Qin, a star of virtue appeared. Fu Jian sent Lü Guang on a western expedition. When Lü heard of Fu Jian's defeat, he occupied Guzang and proclaimed himself king of Liang, so \[Fu Jian\] never met the master. In the third month of the third year of the Hongshi era of the Yao Qin, trees in the courtyard entwined their branches, and in the Xiaoyao Garden, green onions transformed into sweet flag, presaging that a wise man was about to enter the Central Lands. In the ninth month, Lü Long surrendered. On the twentieth day of the twelfth month, the master was welcomed to dwell in the Xiaoyao Garden. \[Yao\] Xing treated him with the courtesy due to a state preceptor, according him extraordinary favor and honor. He was ordered to translate over three hundred fascicles of sūtras and treatises. Among his three thousand disciples, eight stood out as preeminent: Daosheng, Sengzhao, Daorong, Sengrui, Daoheng, Sengying, Huiguan, Huiyan, and others. Each composed works, and their biographies are clearly known. It may indeed be called an era of flourishing and a millennium of glory. Furthermore, Sengqie was elevated to the post of sanghapradhāna (director of monks) to administer monastic affairs. The śramaṇa Huirui, whose sincere devotion reached far, assisted \[Kumāra\]jīva in transcribing and copying. \[Kumāra\]jīva often said to Rui: 'The stylistic forms of the Western regions place great weight on literary meter; having their tones and rhymes fit the winds and strings is considered excellent. Whenever one has an audience with a king, one must praise his virtues; the sūtra verses are all in this style.' He once sighed and said: 'Were I to write a Mahāyāna Abhidharma, it would be no match for Kātyāyana's.' Finding no one at the time with deep discernment, he grieved and ceased. He alone composed the two-fascicle Treatise on the True Mark (Shixiang lun) for the king of Qin. In the intervals of governing, the king of Qin personally sat opposite \[Kumāra\]jīva during translations. Upon examining the older sūtras, he found many errors and corruptions, which \[Kumāra\]jīva corrected. Once, when he expounded the sūtras at Caotang Monastery, thousands of court officials and śramaṇas gathered, observing and listening with reverent bearing. One day the king said to \[Kumāra\]jīva: 'The Dharma Master's brilliant intellect and transcendent awakening are unequaled within the realm; how could we let your Dharma seed lack posterity?' Thereupon, he forced him to accept ten palace maidens. \[Kumāra\]jīva himself remarked: 'Whenever I expound the teachings, I see two small boys climbing upon my shoulders, seeking to obstruct me.' From then on, he no longer dwelt in the monastic quarters, but had a separate residence built for him. Some monks sought to emulate him, so \[Kumāra\]jīva filled a bowl with needles and told them: 'Only if you can emulate me and eat these may you maintain a household.' He took them up and swallowed the needles like ordinary food, whereupon the monks were shamed into stopping. Earlier, while in Kucha, whenever the kings of neighboring states assembled and invited \[Kumāra\]jīva to preach the Dharma, they would kneel and bow down before his seat, asking \[Kumāra\]jīva to step on their shoulders to ascend the throne. He once visited the Venerable of the Northern Mountains in the Great Yuezhi kingdom with his mother. The Northern Mountain \[Venerable\] told his mother: 'Guard this novice well. If by age thirty-five his vinaya remains intact, he will deliver people like Upagupta; otherwise, he will be merely a clever Dharma master.' When Beidu was in Pengcheng and heard that \[Kumāra\]jīva had entered the Pass, he sighed: 'It has been three hundred years since I parted in jest with this child! A meeting is now remote and without a set time; we must wait for a future life.' Whenever \[Kumāra\]jīva ascended the seat, he would always say: 'It is like a lotus flower growing out of foul mud: take only the flower, do not take the foul mud.' After living in Qin for only nine years, he fell ill. He uttered three divine mantras and had foreign disciples recite them to save himself, but before their efforts could take effect, he felt his condition turning perilous. Thereupon, struggling through his illness, he gathered the assembly to take his leave, saying: 'We met through the Dharma, yet my intentions were far from fully realized. Now I go to the next life—how can words express my sorrow! Regarding myself as dim-witted and superficial, I presumptuously took up the role of translation. Among the sūtras and treatises translated, only the Sarvāstivāda-vinaya (Ten Recitations Vinaya) could not be pruned of redundancies in time. If my interpretations accord with the Buddha's mind, then on the day my body is cremated, my tongue will not be scorched or destroyed.' Having spoken these words, he passed away. On the day of his cremation (jhāpita), his tongue indeed resembled the color of a red lotus and was undamaged. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 7.51](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2036.7.51) - [Next: 7.53](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2036.7.53) - [Up: 7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2036.7) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2036~en-mt.7.52) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2036.7.52](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2036.7.52) · Pramāṇa