高僧傳 2.47

2.47

Juqu Mengxun, King of Hexi, who had illegitimately seized the Liang territory and proclaimed himself king, heard of Dharmakṣema's renown and summoned him to an audience, treating him with great generosity. Mengxun had long revered the Great Teaching and was intent on propagating it; he wished to request [Dharmakṣema] to produce the sūtra texts. Dharmakṣema, considering that he had not yet mastered the local language and that there were no interpreters, feared that the words would deviate from the principle, and so did not consent to translate immediately. Thereupon he studied the language for three years, and only then translated and transcribed the "First Part" [of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra] in ten fascicles. At that time the śramaṇas Huisong and Daolang were peerless in Hexi. Encountering his propagation and production of the sūtrapiṭaka, they esteemed him deeply; [Dharmakṣema] rendered the Sanskrit text, and Venerable Song recorded it with brush in hand. Several hundred monastics and laypeople raised doubts and difficulties from every angle; Dharmakṣema resolved obscurities as they arose, his lucid eloquence flowing like a stream. Moreover, he was rich in literary elegance, his phrasing ornate and dense. Song, Lang, and others further requested him to produce various sūtras widely, and next he translated the Daji, the Dayun, the Beihua, the Dichi, the Youposai jie, the Jin guangming, the Hailongwang, and the Pusa jieben, comprising over six hundred thousand words. Because the text of the Nirvāṇa-sūtra was not yet complete in its chapters, Dharmakṣema returned to the foreign regions to search for it thoroughly. Finding that his mother had died, he consequently remained for over a year. Later, in Khotan, he obtained the "Middle Part" of the sūtra text, and returned again to Guzang to translate it. Later he again dispatched an envoy to Khotan and subsequently obtained the "Latter Part," whereupon he continued translating it into thirty-three fascicles. Beginning the translation in the third year of the illegitimate Xuanshi era, it was only on the twenty-third day of the tenth month of the tenth year of Xuanshi that the three cases were completed, which was the second year of Yongchu of Emperor Wu of the Song. Dharmakṣema said: "The Sanskrit original of this sūtra was originally thirty-five thousand verses, which in this land would be somewhat less than a million words; what is now produced is only ten thousand-odd verses." Dharmakṣema once told Mengxun: "Spirits have entered the settlement; there will surely be many pestilences." Mengxun did not believe it and wished to witness it personally as proof. Dharmakṣema then applied his arts to Mengxun; Mengxun saw them and was terrified. Dharmakṣema said: "You should purify your sincere intentions with fasting and precepts, and drive them away with divine spells." He then recited spells for three days, and said to Mengxun: "The spirits have already departed." At that time, someone at the border who saw spirits said: "I saw several hundred epidemic spirits galloping away." Peace was secured within the borders through Dharmakṣema's power, and Mengxun served and revered him all the more.