高僧傳 1.32

1.32

是時晉武之世，寺廟圖像，雖崇京邑，而《方等》深經，蘊在葱外。護乃慨然發憤，志弘大道，遂隨師至西域，遊歷諸國。外國異言三十六種，書亦如之，護皆遍學，貫綜詁訓，音義字體，無不備識。遂大齎梵經，還歸中夏，自燉煌至長安，沿路傳譯，寫為晉文。所獲覽即《正法華》、《光讚》等一百六十五部。孜孜所務，唯以弘通為業。終身寫譯，勞不告勌。經法所以廣流中華者。護之力也。

At that time, in the reign of Emperor Wu of the Jin, although monasteries and sacred images were revered in the capital, the profound Vaipulya sūtras remained hidden beyond the Congling Mountains. Dharmarakṣa sighed with indignation, resolved to propagate the Great Way, and thereupon followed his master to the Western Regions, travelling through numerous countries. The foreign states had thirty-six different languages, with scripts to match; Dharmarakṣa studied them all, thoroughly mastering their glosses, sounds, meanings, and written forms, being fully conversant in every one. He then brought back a vast collection of Sanskrit sūtras and returned to the central lands, translating and writing them into the Jin language along the route from Dunhuang to Chang'an. Those he translated and studied included the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra, and others, amounting to one hundred and sixty-five works. What he strove for day and night was solely the spread of the Dharma as his lifelong task; writing and translating throughout his days, he never spoke of weariness. That the scriptural Dharma came to be widely disseminated in China was through Dharmarakṣa's efforts.