釋氏稽古略 3.32

3.32

三藏玄奘法師　貞觀三年冬往西域。取未至佛經。詣闕陳表。帝不允。師私遁自原州出玉關。抵高昌葉護等國而去。貞觀七年至中印度。遇大乘居士受瑜伽師地。入王舍城。止那蘭陀寺。從上方戒賢論師受瑜伽唯識宗旨。留十年。歸自王舍城。貞觀十九年正月丙子至京師。長安留守房玄齡表聞。壬辰法師如洛陽（東都也）三月己亥見於儀鸞殿。帝曰。師去何不相報。曰當去時表三上不蒙諒許。乃輒私行。帝曰。師能委命求法惠利蒼生。朕甚嘉焉。師因奏西域所護梵本經論六百五十七部。乞就洛陽嵩山少林寺為國宣譯。帝曰。朕頃為穆太后剏弘福寺。可就彼翻譯。勅平章房玄齡專知監護。資備所須一從天府。貞觀二十二年六月。帝製法師新譯經大唐三藏聖教序。時皇太子治覩聖序遂撰述聖記。詔皇太子撰菩薩藏經後序。八月帝賜法師百金磨衲并寶剃刀。法師奉表謝。略曰。忍辱之服彩合流霞。智慧之刀銛逾切玉。謹當衣以降煩惱之魔。佩以斷塵勞之網。高宗永徽三年。法師於慈恩寺將建大塔奉安西取經論梵本。表奏。勅賜大內及東宮掖庭等七宮亡人衣物助師營辦。法師授以西域制度。塔成高二百尺。顯慶四年十月制以玉華宮為寺。追崇先帝詔法師居之。次年師於玉華譯般若經。麟德元年二月。法師命弟子大乘光抄錄所譯經論凡七十五部一千三百三十五卷。又召門人造像設齋與眾辭決。令左右念彌勒如來。初五日中夜右脇安臥而逝。壽六十五。帝輟朝三日。勅斂以金棺銀槨。四月塔於滻東原。弟子神泰棲元會隱慧立明濬義褒大乘光皆法門龍象。法師以西域戒賢論師處所得瑜伽師地唯識宗旨授窺基（本傳）。

Tripiṭaka Dharma Master Xuanzang went to the Western Regions in the winter of the third year of Zhenguan to retrieve Buddhist scriptures that had not yet arrived. He went to the palace and presented a memorial, but the Emperor did not grant permission. The Master secretly slipped away, departing from Yuanzhou through Yumen Pass, and proceeded via Gaochang, the Yabghu, and other kingdoms. In the seventh year of Zhenguan, he reached Central India, met a Great Vehicle lay practitioner, and received the Yogācārabhūmi. Entering Rājagṛha, he stayed at Nālandā Monastery and received the doctrines of Yogācāra and Vijñaptimātra from Master Śīlabhadra on the terrace. He remained for ten years and returned from Rājagṛha. In the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, on the bingzi day of the first month, he arrived at the capital. Fang Xuanling, Regent of Chang'an, reported this in a memorial. On the renchen day, the Dharma Master went to Luoyang (the Eastern Capital). In the third month, on the jihai day, he was granted an audience at the Yiluan Hall. The Emperor asked: "When the Master departed, why did you not report it?" He replied: "When I was about to depart, I submitted memorials three times, but not receiving your gracious permission, I took it upon myself to travel secretly." The Emperor said: "That the Master was able to risk your life to seek the Dharma and bring benefit and advantage to the multitude of living beings—we commend you exceedingly!" The Dharma Master then reported the six hundred and fifty-seven Sanskrit texts of sutras and treatises he had brought from the Western Regions, begging to declare and translate them for the realm at the Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song in Luoyang. The Emperor said: "We have recently founded Hongfu Monastery for the Empress Dowager Mu; you may translate them there." An edict ordered Fang Xuanling, Chancellor of the Realm, to take exclusive charge of supervision, and all supplies and necessities were to come from the imperial treasury. In the twenty-second year of Zhenguan, in the sixth month, the Emperor composed the "Preface to the Sagely Teaching of the Tang Tripiṭaka" for the Dharma Master's newly translated scriptures. At that time, Crown Prince Zhi, seeing the sagely preface, accordingly composed the sagely record. An edict ordered the Crown Prince to compose the postface to the Bodhisattvapiṭaka Sūtra. In the eighth month, the Emperor bestowed on the Dharma Master a precious robe worth a hundred pieces of gold and a jeweled razor. The Dharma Master presented a memorial of thanks, which said in brief: "The robes of forbearance match their colors with floating rosiness; the knife of wisdom is sharper than one that carves jade. I shall reverently wear it to subdue the Māra of afflictions, and gird it to sever the web of worldly defilements." In the third year of Yonghui under Gaozong, the Dharma Master was about to build a great stupa at Ci'en Monastery to enshrine the Sanskrit texts of sutras and treatises retrieved from the west; he presented a memorial. An imperial edict bestowed clothing and goods from the deceased of the seven palaces, including the Great Interior and the Eastern Palace inner courts, to aid the Master in the endeavor. The Dharma Master directed the design according to the system of the Western Regions. When completed, the stupa was two hundred feet high. In the fourth month of the tenth year of Xianqing, an imperial edict designated the Yuhua Palace as a monastery; to venerate the late Emperor, an edict summoned the Dharma Master to reside there. In the following year, the Master translated the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra at Yuhua. In the second month of the first year of Linde, the Dharma Master ordered his disciple Mahāyānaprabha to copy a record of the translated sutras and treatises, in all seventy-five works and one thousand three hundred and thirty-five fascicles. He also summoned his disciples to create images, hold a vegetarian feast, and take leave of the assembly. He had his attendants recite the name of Maitreya Tathāgata. In the middle of the night on the fifth day, lying peacefully on his right side, he passed away at the age of sixty-five. The Emperor suspended court for three days and ordered that he be encoffined in a gold inner coffin and silver outer coffin. In the fourth month, he was entombed in a stupa on the eastern plain of Chan. His disciples Shentai, Qiyuan, Huiyin, Huili, Mingjun, Yibao, and Mahāyānaprabha were all dragons and elephants of the Dharma gate. The doctrines of Yogācārabhūmi and Vijñaptimātra which the Dharma Master had received from Master Śīlabhadra in the Western Regions were transmitted to Kuiji (Ben zhuan).