高僧傳 2.15

2.15

Ever since the Great Dharma spread eastward, beginning under Emperor Ming of the Han and continuing through the Wei and Jin dynasties, sūtras and treatises gradually increased in number. However, the translations produced by the Zhus and Zhis mostly clung to the words and relied on matched concepts (geyi). Yao Xing had been perceptive from his youth and venerated the Three Jewels, directing his keen resolve toward lectures and assemblies. Once Kumārajīva arrived, he invited him into the Ximing Pavilion and the Xiaoyao Garden to translate various scriptures. As Kumārajīva was mostly able to recite them from memory and had thoroughly investigated them all, and was also fluent in the Chinese language, his translations were flowing and natural. When he inspected the older scriptures, their meanings were often flawed and distorted, entirely because earlier translators had lost the original import and their renderings did not correspond to the Sanskrit originals. Thereupon, Yao Xing ordered more than eight hundred śramaṇas—including Senglüe, Sengqian, Faqin, Daoliu, Daoheng, Daobiao, Sengrui, and Sengzhao—to consult and receive Kumārajīva's teachings, and instructed him to re-translate the Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra. Kumārajīva held the Sanskrit original while Yao Xing held the older translation to cross-examine and collate them; wherever the new phrasing differed from the old, the meaning was completely lucid and comprehensive, so that the hearts of the assembly submitted in conviction and all rejoiced in praise. Yao Xing considered the Buddha's Path to be profound and deep, its practice solely consisting in goodness, and believed it to be a fine ford for escaping suffering and a great standard for governing the world. Therefore, while fixing his intent on the Nine Classics, he let his mind roam through the Twelve Divisions of the Canon, composing the Treatise on Comprehending the Three Periods to encourage and demonstrate cause and effect; from the princes and dukes on down, all admired and praised his standard. General-in-Chief Xian, the Duke of Changshan, and General of the Left Army Song, the Marquis of Ancheng, were both deeply devoted to causes and karmic fruition, and repeatedly invited Kumārajīva to the Great Temple of Chang'an to lecture on the new scriptures. In succession, he translated the Smaller Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra, the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā, the Daśabhūmika, the Lotus Sūtra, the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, the Viśeṣacintibrahmaparipṛcchā, the Śūraṅgamasamādhi, the Lokadhara, the Buddhapiṭaka, the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, the Sūtra of the Buddha's Bequeathed Teaching, the Bodhy-apravṛtti, the Censure of Desires, the Sarvapunyasamuccayasamādhi, the Guan Yinyuan, the Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha, the New Bhadrakalpika, the Dhyāna Sūtra, the Essentials of Dhyāna Methods, the Explanations of the Essentials of Dhyāna, the Maitreyavyākaraṇa, the Descent of Maitreya, the Daśabhāṇavāra-vinaya, the Daśabhāṇavāra-prātimokṣa, the Bodhisattva-prātimokṣa, the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, the Tattvasiddhi, the Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā, the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, the Śataśāstra, and the Dvādaśanikāya-śāstra—totaling over three hundred fascicles. In all of them he gave free expression to the divine source and brought to light their hidden depths. At that time, men devoted to doctrinal principles from the four quarters inevitably gathered from ten thousand li away; his flourishing enterprise was enduring and vast, and is looked up to even now.