高僧傳 2.20

2.20

什未終日，少覺四大不愈，乃口出三番神呪，令外國弟子誦之以自救，未及致力，轉覺危殆。於是力疾與眾僧告別曰：「因法相遇，殊未盡伊心，方復後世，惻愴何言。自以闇昧，謬充傳譯，凡所出經論三百餘卷，唯《十誦》一部，未及刪煩，存其本旨，必無差失。願凡所宣譯，傳流後世，咸共弘通。今於眾前發誠實誓，若所傳無謬者，當使焚身之後，舌不燋爛。」以偽秦弘始十一年八月二十日卒于長安，是歲晉義熙五年也。即於逍遙園，依外國法，以火焚屍，薪滅形碎，唯舌不灰。後外國沙門來云：「羅什所諳，十不出一。」

Before Kumārajīva passed away, he felt a slight ailment in the four great elements. Thereupon, he recited divine dhāraṇīs three times, ordering his foreign disciples to chant them in order to save himself. Before their efforts could take effect, he felt his condition turning increasingly critical. Thereupon, exerting himself despite his illness, he bid farewell to the monastic assembly, saying: 'Having met through the Dharma, we have not yet fully realized our intentions; now that I am turning to the next life, what words can express my sorrow? Lacking insight myself, I errantly served as a translator. Of the more than three hundred fascicles of scriptures and treatises I have produced, only the single work of the Daśabhāṇavāra-vinaya had not yet had its superfluities pruned; keeping its original intent, there is surely no error. I vow that all that I have declared and translated may be transmitted to future generations, and together all will propagate them. Now before the assembly I make this solemn oath of truth: if my translations contain no error, then after my body is cremated, my tongue shall not be charred or destroyed.' On the twentieth day of the eighth month in the eleventh year of the Hongshi era of the illegitimate Qin (the fifth year of the Yixi era of the Jin), he passed away in Chang'an. Right in the Xiaoyao Garden, in accordance with the foreign custom, they cremated his corpse with fire. The firewood was consumed and his form shattered, but his tongue alone did not turn to ash. Later, a foreign śramaṇa came and said: 'What Kumārajīva had committed to memory did not amount to even one-tenth of what he translated.'