佛祖歷代通載 8.80

8.80

（三十七　三十八　甲子　五二）　勅沙門法獻玄暢。為天下僧主。他日會于帝前。對制稱名而不坐。中興寺僧鍾對帝稱貧道。武帝訝之。以問中書王儉。儉曰。漢魏佛法未盛。傳記無載者。獨宋魏始盛。而沙門多稱貧道而預坐。晉庾氷桓玄皆欲屈之。然竟不可行。今亦稱貧道。帝曰。獻暢二師道行如此猶稱名。朕以稱名乃得宜。可著令以為定式。初獻公慕法猛西遊。自巴蜀出河南。經芮芮國到于闐欲度葱嶺。會棧道絕不得往。獲佛牙一枝。舍利十有五粒。并經論梵夾而還。暢公精究經律博貫子史百氏之言。初華嚴未有疏。暢首為之。學者得以祖述焉。風詣高簡弘道輔世有功國。家莫年特聽肩輿入殿。時稱黑衣二傑焉。

(Thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth years; jiazi [484 CE] / 52) An imperial decree appointed the śramaṇas Faxian and Xuanchang as monastic chiefs of the realm. On a later day, when they met before the Emperor, they answered the imperial questioning by stating their monastic names and did not sit. The śramaṇa Sengzhong of Zhongxing Temple addressed the Emperor by calling himself 'this poor monk' (pindao). Emperor Wu was astonished by this and questioned the Palace Secretariat Wang Jian. Jian said, 'During the Han and Wei, the Buddha-Dharma had not yet flourished, and there are no records of it; it was only in the Song and Wei that it began to prosper, where śramaṇas mostly called themselves pindao and participated in seated audiences. In the Jin, Yu Bing and Huan Xuan both wished to subjugate them, but in the end this could not be enforced. Today they likewise call themselves pindao.' The Emperor said, 'Even masters of such spiritual practice as Xian and Chang state their names; I deem stating one's name to be what is proper. Let an edict be promulgated to establish this as the fixed norm.' Earlier, Master Xian, admiring Fajing's journey to the west, set out from Bashu through Henan, passed through the Rouran state, reached Khotan, and intended to cross the Congling mountains; but coming upon broken plank roads and being unable to proceed, he obtained a Buddha's tooth relic, fifteen grains of relics, as well as sutras, treatises, and Indic palm-leaf manuscripts, and returned. Master Chang thoroughly investigated the sutras and vinaya and was widely versed in the philosophers, historians, and the hundred schools of thought. Initially, there were no commentaries on the Avataṃsaka; Chang was the first to compose one, so that later scholars could follow his tradition. His refined bearing was lofty and unadorned; he propagated the Way, assisted the world, and performed meritorious service for the state. In his twilight years, he was granted the special privilege of entering the palace in a shoulder litter. At the time, they were called the 'Two Luminaries in Black Robes.'