大唐故三藏玄奘法師行狀 1.3

1.3

On the first day of the first month of the first year of Linde, the assembly and monks of Yuhua Monastery requested the translation of the Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra. The Dharma Master declined, saying: "I know that conditions for this scripture are not yet ripe in the Han land; even if translated, it would not be completed." As they firmly insisted and he could not refuse, the Dharma Master said: "The translation will certainly not fill five lines." Thereupon he translated four lines and stopped. He addressed his disciples and the translation monks, saying: "Conditioned dharmas must inevitably end in annihilation; how could a physical form of foam and illusion linger long? Now in the first year of Linde, my age is sixty-three. I will certainly pass away at Yuhua. If you have doubts concerning the scriptures and treatises, you should ask quickly; do not regret it later." When his disciples heard this, none did not weep in shock. All said: "The preceptor's venerable body is healthy and sound, and in counting the years, you have not reached advanced old age. Why do you suddenly utter such words?" He answered, saying: "I know this of myself; it is not something the assembly can understand." At that time, the Dharma Master had no illness yet, and his disciples looked at one another, all harboring doubt and wonder. On the third day of the first month, the Dharma Master again told his disciples: "I fear impermanence is near; I wish to go and bid farewell to the Buddha." Thereupon he went with his disciples to the site where he had previously made the koṭi statues, where he paid homage, repented, and bade farewell. When there were translation monks and disciples who took their leave to go to the capital to visit their elders, the Dharma Master answered them all, saying: "Go well. Take away all your robes, bowls, scriptures, and books. I part from you now; you need not come again, and even if you come, we will not see each other." Those departing replied, saying: "The preceptor is healthy and at ease; surely this will not happen." The Dharma Master answered, saying: "It is not something you know." Those who left indeed never saw him again. On the eighth day of the first month, a disciple monk, Xuanjue, saw in a night dream a great wooden stupa, lofty, manifest, ornate, and magnificent; as he wished to look up at it in reverence, it suddenly collapsed and shook with a crash. His mind was alarmed, and he woke up. At dawn he went to pay his respects and recounted this matter in detail. The Dharma Master answered, saying: "This matter pertains to me; it does not concern you. Do not be grieved or terrified." At the hour of the monkey on the ninth day of the month, he again told the abbot of Yuhua Monastery, Huide, and others: "I will certainly die. A sūtra says: 'This body is loathsome, like a dead dog.' When I have relinquished my life, do not keep me in the palace monastery. You should place me in a quiet spot on the mountain hills. Make a coffin just fitting the body, craft a simple inner casket, and transport it thither on a reed mat. You may incinerate it according to the teachings; this is foremost." Huide and the others sighed in wonder, not believing that this would actually happen. Toward evening on that day, as he went toward the rear room, he stepped across a small drainage ditch and injured his foot. For the first four days, his walking and resting were still as usual. On the thirteenth day, he took to his bed with illness. On the sixteenth day, closing his eyes and opening his eyes, he repeatedly saw white lotus flowers, larger than a serving platter, radiant, pure, fresh, and spotless. On the seventeenth day, he also saw an immeasurable assembly of hundreds of thousands of people, their forms magnificent and great, all wearing brocade garments. They also carried brocades, damasks, and various kinds of flowers and gems, adorning the room where the Dharma Master resided; gradually adorning in turn, it spread throughout the inner and outer halls of the Translation Hall, and even to the mountain forests, all adorned with jewel decorations, flower banners, flags, and canopies; music was also played. Later he saw outside the gate countless jeweled carriages, with food of a hundred flavors and various fragrant fruits and medicines, none of which were things of the human world, all brought to be offered to the Dharma Master. The Dharma Master declined, saying: "These offerings are to be received by those with the six abhijñās; I do not yet possess this virtue and dare not accept them." Although he firmly declined, they did not cease offering them. His attendant was startled and touched him, whereupon he opened his eyes and recounted the preceding events in full to the monastic assembly. As for the abbot Huide, on that night the moon was very bright and clear, and he saw all the trees on the northern mountain turn into white canopies, and also saw two people holding up a jeweled carriage with various delicacies covering the mountains and valleys, as if making an offering. Soon afterward he went to inquire and recounted the matter in full, which precisely coincided [with what the Master saw]. [The Master] also said: "Regarding the merit and wisdom I have cultivated throughout my life, judging from what has been seen, my efforts have not been spent in vain; I believe that all that has been spoken is without error." He then instructed the translation monk Jiashang to compile a catalogue of the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna scriptures and treatises translated recently, such as the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra and the Yogācāra[bhūmiśāstra], totaling seventy-five works in 1,331 fascicles, and had him chant it aloud, deeply rejoicing in himself. He also said: "The time of my impermanence has arrived. You should inform my disciples so that they may all come to take their leave." On the twenty-first day, the abbot Huide dreamed of immeasurable golden statues, said to be the Thousand Buddhas, appearing in the sky above the Translation Hall to the east and then disappearing again. On the twenty-second day, the disciples assembled together, and he had them perform naiḥsargika-prāyaścittika, resolving to completely give up all his personal robes and non-robe requisites to fashion ten koṭi statues, and also requested the monks to recite scriptures and circumambulate, light lamps for offerings, and bathe the sangha. On the twenty-third day, after the vegetarian feast was finished, at exact noon, he ordered artisans in the Jiashou Hall to apply incense to the fragrant-wood frame of a Bodhisattva statue. Facing the monastic assembly and disciples, he asked joy from each, bidding them farewell. He also composed a posthumous memorial, which his disciple Kuiji presented [to the throne]. He then maintained silent right mindfulness. Later, someone uttered a verse teaching those beside him to recite: "Namo Maitreya Tathāgata, Arhat, Samyaksambuddha! May I, together with all sentient beings, swiftly behold your compassionate countenance! Namo to the inner assembly where Maitreya Tathāgata resides! May I, having relinquished life, be born without fail in their midst!" On the fourth day of the second month, the monk Mingzang, who was caring for the sick, saw two persons, each over a zhang tall, wearing white robes and caps, each using one hand to together hold up a large white lotus flower with three tiers of petal-bases, extraordinarily lovely, about the size of a small cartwheel. Standing before the Dharma Master, they said: "The causes of karmic retribution from various fixed karmas of vexing sentient beings for immeasurable kalpas are being experienced lightly in a minor illness, and all are extinguished; you should rejoice and not harbor sorrow or distress." Having seen them, the Dharma Master joined his palms for a long while, then turned himself over, laying his right side on the bed, stretching out his feet one over the other, supporting his head with his right hand, and stretching his left hand upon his thigh, and until his life ended, he did not move again. Mingzang asked further: "What marks did you see?" He replied: "Do not ask; it hinders my right mindfulness." In the middle of the night on the fifth day, his disciple Guang and others asked again: "Will the preceptor definitely be born before Maitreya?" He answered, saying: "I will definitely attain rebirth." Having spoken, he relinquished his life. When sixty days had passed, his hair gradually grew, and his complexion was as usual, white and red without change; there was also fragrance, with entirely no foul odor. At the time he fell ill, the translation commissioner Xu Xuan reported the matter to the throne in detail, and receiving an imperial order, a physician was dispatched with medicine to examine him. By the time he arrived, the Dharma Master had already passed away, and the physician was too late. After his passing, Dou Shibei, the prefect of Fangzhou, reported the matter to the throne in detail. An imperial decree ordered that all necessities for the funeral be provided by the state. Next, an imperial decree was received: "Since the monk Xuanzang of Yuhua Monastery has passed away, the translation work shall temporarily halt. For those works already translated, let the government copy them according to the old precedent. The remaining untranslated manuscripts shall be entrusted to Cien Monastery, to be kept safely without loss. Xuanzang's disciples and translation monks who were not originally monks of Yuhua Monastery shall each be dismissed back to their own monasteries." Another imperial decree was received: "On the day of the late monk Xuanzang's funeral, let the monks and nuns of the capital be dispatched to make banners and escort him to the tomb." Mingxiang has previously written an account of this matter; it is so extensive that it is not fully listed here. The Dharma Master was treasured and revered by the two emperors, receiving offerings of more than ten thousand bolts of floss silk, tabby, and damask, and several hundred items of fine patchwork robes and seasonal clothing. Whenever the Dharma Master received them, he had stupas built for the state, painted one thousand silk scrolls of koṭi statues, one thousand scrolls of the Thousand Buddhas of the Fortunate Kalpa, and one thousand scrolls of Maitreya Buddha, fashioned ten koṭi statues, bathed the sangha, and gave alms to the poor, storing nothing. Whatever he received, he immediately dispersed, taking only translation and transmission of the Dharma as his duty. Whenever he translated a sūtra, he was anxious, fearing he would not finish it; when a work was completed, he rejoiced and celebrated, saying: "With this, I repay the four obligations."