[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) › [釋氏稽古略](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2037) › 3.135 # 釋氏稽古略 3.135 釋氏稽古略 3.135 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [3.135](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2037.3.135) 不空三藏　籍京兆大興善寺。梵名阿目佉跋折羅。華言不空金剛。北天竺婆羅門族。幼孤隨叔父觀光東國。年十五師事金剛智。蒙授教法。洎登具戒儀範。善解一切有部。金剛智入寂已。開元二十五年十二月。携弟子三七人。附崑崙舶返五天印度。歷彼諸國。廣求密藏及諸經論五百餘部。天寶五載還京。奉勅權止鴻臚。六載詔入內立壇為帝灌頂。賜號智藏國師。移居淨影寺。夏祈雨有應。帝自持寶箱賜紫袈裟。洛陽北邙山有巨蟒。毒氣遠噴。聞者立死。帝召師呪而斃之。天寶十二載。西番大石康居三國兵圍凉州。帝請空祈陰兵救之。空結壇誦仁王密語。帝親秉爐。有神介冑而至。帝視之問曰。此何神也。空曰北方毘沙門天王長子也。空誦密語遣之。四月二十日西凉奏報。二月十一日城東北三十許里。雲霧間神兵長偉。城北門樓有光明天王。怒視番帥。鼓角凌雲而至。西番畏懼卷甲遁去。帝覽奏。因勅諸道城樓置天王像此其始也。肅宗乾元中詔空入內建道場護魔法。為帝受轉輪王位七寶灌頂。上元末空表請入山。李輔國宣勅令於終南山智炬寺修功德。代宗立。恩渥彌厚。永泰元年詔譯密嚴仁王二經。帝為製序。十一月一日制授特進試鴻臚卿。大曆三年詔空大興善寺建壇。為近侍大臣及諸鎮將帥悉授灌頂。帝親署加號太廣智三藏。大曆六年空進所譯經凡一百二十卷七十七部。九年示寂。上表辭帝。勅使勞問賜醫藥。加開府儀同三司封蕭國公食邑三千戶。固讓不已。且曰。白月圓滿吾當逝矣。奈何臨終更竊名位。乃以五股金剛鈴杵先師之所傳者以銀盤置菩提子水精數珠留別。附中使李憲誠進。六月十五日香水澡浴。東首倚臥北面瞻望闕庭。以大印身定中而寂。享年七十。僧臘五十。弟子慧朗次紹灌頂之位。餘知法者數人。帝輟朝三日。賜絹布雜物錢四十萬。造塔錢二百餘萬。勅功德使李元琮知護喪事。七月六日茶毘。詔朝品劉仙鶴就寺置祭贈司空。諡太辯正廣智三藏。收舍利數百粒。以八十粒進內。其頂骨不壞。中有舍利一顆半隱半現。勅於本寺別院起塔。御史大夫嚴郢為碑。徐浩書樹於本院（唐書舊史續高僧傳）。 > Tripiṭaka Master Amoghavajra: Registered at Daxingshan Monastery in the capital. His Sanskrit name was Amoghavajra; in Chinese it means Unfailing Vajra. He came from a brāhmaṇa clan of northern India. Orphaned in his youth, he followed his uncle to visit the Eastern Land. At the age of fifteen, he served Vajrabodhi as his master and was favored with the transmission of the teachings. When he underwent full ordination, he mastered the vinaya rituals and became well versed in the Sarvāstivāda school. After Vajrabodhi entered cessation, in the twelfth month of the twenty-fifth year of the Kaiyuan era, he took twenty-one disciples and boarded a Kunlun ship to return to the Five Indias. He traveled throughout those countries, broadly seeking the esoteric treasury as well as various sūtras and treatises totaling more than five hundred texts. In the fifth year of the Tianbao era, he returned to the capital, temporarily lodging by imperial order at the Court of State Ceremonial. In the sixth year, a decree summoned him into the palace to erect an altar and bestow consecration upon the Emperor; he was granted the title National Preceptor Zhizang. He moved his residence to Jingying Monastery. When he prayed for rain in the summer, there was a miraculous response. The Emperor personally held a jewel box and presented him with a purple kāṣāya. On Mount Mang north of Luoyang, there was a gigantic serpent that sprayed venomous vapors over a great distance; whoever smelled them died immediately. The Emperor summoned the master to chant dhāraṇī over it and kill it. In the twelfth year of the Tianbao era, the forces of the three kingdoms of the Western Tibetans, the Arabs, and Kangju besieged Liangzhou. The Emperor asked Amoghavajra to pray for hidden spirit soldiers to rescue it. Amoghavajra constructed an altar and recited the esoteric incantations of the Benevolent Kings \[Sūtra\]. The Emperor personally held the censer. A deity clad in armor arrived. The Emperor looked upon him and asked, 'What deity is this?' Amoghavajra said, 'He is the eldest son of the Heavenly King Vaiśravaṇa of the north.' Amoghavajra chanted esoteric incantations and dispatched him. On the twentieth day of the fourth month, Xiliang memorialized that on the eleventh day of the second month, about thirty li northeast of the city, amidst clouds and mist, spirit soldiers appeared towering and mighty, and upon the north gate tower of the city, there was a radiant heavenly king glaring furiously at the barbarian commander, while drums and horns arrived shaking the clouds. Terrified, the Western Tibetans rolled up their armor and fled. The Emperor reviewed the memorial and consequently ordered that images of the Heavenly King be placed upon the city gate towers of all circuits; this was the origin of it. During the Qianyuan era of Emperor Suzong, an imperial decree summoned Amoghavajra into the palace to establish a bodhimaṇḍa for homa rituals and to confer upon the Emperor the seven-jewel consecration of a wheel-turning king. Toward the end of the Shangyuan era, Amoghavajra submitted a memorial requesting permission to retire to the mountains; Li Fuguo proclaimed an imperial decree ordering him to cultivate merit at Zhiju Monastery on Mount Zhongnan. When Emperor Daizong ascended the throne, the imperial grace grew even more profound. In the first year of the Yongtai era, a decree ordered the translation of the two sūtras Ghanavyūha and Kāruṇikarāja; the Emperor composed a preface for them. On the first day of the eleventh month, an imperial decree appointed him Grand Master for Thorough Counsel and Acting Director of the Court of State Ceremonial. In the third year of the Dali era, a decree summoned Amoghavajra to Daxingshan Monastery to construct an altar and confer consecrations upon all the intimate ministers and generals of the various garrison commands. The Emperor personally signed a decree adding the title Tripiṭaka Master Da Guangzhi (Great Broad Wisdom). In the sixth year of the Dali era, Amoghavajra presented his translated sūtras, totaling 120 fascicles in seventy-seven texts. In the ninth year, he displayed cessation. He submitted a memorial taking leave of the Emperor; an imperial envoy was sent to comfort him and bestow medicines, and he was promoted to Specially Advanced with the Open Office Equal to the Three Authorities, enfeoffed as Duke of the State of Xiao with a fief of three thousand households. He firmly declined repeatedly, and moreover said, 'When the white moon is full, I shall pass away; how could I, on the brink of death, usurp further fame and position?' He then used a five-pronged vajra bell and pestle transmitted by his former master, placing them in a silver tray along with bodhi-seed and crystal prayer beads, to leave behind as a farewell gift, presented through the eunuch envoy Li Xiancheng. On the fifteenth day of the sixth month, having bathed in scented water, he reclined with his head to the east and gazed northward toward the palace courtyard; assuming the Great Mudrā, he passed away in samādhi. He lived seventy years, with fifty years as a monk. His disciple Huilang succeeded next to the station of consecration; there were also several other disciples who understood the Dharma. The Emperor suspended court audiences for three days, bestowed four hundred thousand coins worth of silk, cloth, and various goods, and disbursed more than two million coins to erect a stūpa, ordering the Commissioner of Merit Li Yuancong to oversee the funeral affairs. On the sixth day of the seventh month, the cremation took place. By imperial decree, the court official Liu Xianhe went to the monastery to offer sacrifices, and Amoghavajra was posthumously promoted to Grand Commander, with the posthumous title Tripiṭaka Master Da Bianzheng Guangzhi (Great Eloquent, Upright, and Broad Wisdom). Hundreds of śarīra relics were collected, eighty of which were presented to the palace. His parietal bone remained uncorrupted, within which a single śarīra relic appeared half hidden and half visible. By imperial order, a stūpa was erected in a separate cloister of the monastery. The Censor-in-chief Yan Ying composed the stele inscription, and Xu Hao penned it to be erected in the cloister (Tang History, Old History, and Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks). > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 3.134](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2037.3.134) - [Next: 3.136](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2037.3.136) - [Up: 3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2037.3) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2037~en-mt.3.135) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [宋高僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.1.50) — 贊寧, Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2037.3.135](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2037.3.135) · Pramāṇa