高僧傳 1.13

1.13

According to the Scriptural Catalogue by Shi Dao'an: 'Between the second year of the Jianhe reign of Emperor Huan of the Han and the Jianning reign of Emperor Ling, a period of over twenty years, An Shigao translated over thirty sūtras.' Moreover, a Separate Biography states: 'At the end of the Taikang reign of the Jin, there was a man of the Way named the Marquis An who came to Sangyuan. Having finished producing a sūtra, he sealed a box at the temple, saying: "It may be opened after four years." At the end of the Wu, he traveled to Yangzhou and had someone sell a chest of goods to purchase a slave named Fushan, saying: "This is my good spiritual friend (kalyāṇamitra)." He then took the slave to Yuzhang and crossed over the deity of the Gongting shrine. After building a temple for him, Fushan stabbed Marquis An in the ribs with a knife, whereupon he died. The people of Sangyuan then opened the box he had sealed; the grain of the wood had naturally formed characters that said: "The one who honors my way is the upāsaka Chen Hui; the one who transmits the dhyāna scriptures is the monk Sengui." It was precisely four years to that day.' Furthermore, Yu Zhongyong's Record of Jingzhou states: 'At the beginning of the Jin, there was the śramaṇa An Shigao, who crossed over the deity of the Gongting shrine and, obtaining wealth and goods, erected the Baima Temple in the southeastern corner of the city of Jing.' Prince Kang of Linchuan under the Song states in his Records in Proclamation of Manifestations: 'The python died at the end of the Wu.' Tanzong's Record of Pagodas and Temples states: 'Waguan Temple in Danyang was erected during the reign of Emperor Ai of the Jin by the śramaṇa Huili; later, there was the śramaṇa An Shigao, who repaired it using the leftover property from the Gongting shrine.' However, since Dharma Master Dao'an collated the various scriptures and arranged the records of their translations, he certainly could not have been mistaken. From the second year of the Jianhe reign of Emperor Huan of the Han to the end of the Taikang reign of the Jin is over one hundred and forty years in all. While it might be possible if Master Gao lived to a great age, the facts cannot be so. Why is this? Consider that Kang Senghui's preface to his commentary on the Ānāpānasmṛti-sūtra states: "This sūtra was produced by Shigao, and for a long time it lay obscure. By chance there were Han Lin of Nanyang, Wen Ye of Yingchuan, and Chen Hui of Kuaiji; these three worthy men possessed deep and sincere faith in the Way. Together they requested instruction; Chen Hui then explained the meaning, and I assisted in weighing the interpretations." Now, Sengui died in the first year of the Taikang reign of the Jin, yet he had already stated: "After this sūtra was produced, for a long time it lay obscure." Furthermore, the writing inside the box sealed by Shigao said: "The one who honors my way is the upāsaka Chen Hui; the one who transmits the dhyāna scriptures is the monk Sengui." Now, what the Ānāpāna clarifies deals extensively with the practice of dhyāna; thus we know that the inscription in the sealed box was surely not a fabrication. Since it says that these two men were only then to transmit his way, how could [Shigao] have shared the same era with them? Moreover, the Separate Biography itself states: "The one who transmits the dhyāna scriptures is the monk Sengui." If Sengui had already died at the beginning of the Taikang reign, how could the man of the Way Marquis An have appeared only at the end of the Taikang reign? The statements from beginning to end contradict each other. It must simply be that an errant book mistakenly pointed to the beginning of the Jin, and subsequent writers either spoke of the Taikang reign or mentioned the end of the Wu, blindly following each other in rivalry without any way to verify it. Since the claim regarding the beginning of the Jin is already difficult to accept, Tanzong's record stating that "During the reign of Emperor Ai of the Jin, Shigao once again repaired the temple" is an even more wildly divergent error.