釋氏稽古略 3.135

3.135

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).