高僧傳 2.50

2.50

Earlier, when Dharmakṣema was in Guzang, there was a śramaṇa from Zhangye named Daojin who wished to receive the bodhisattva precepts from Dharmakṣema. Dharmakṣema said: "Repent your transgressions for now." [Daojin] then exerted his utmost sincerity for seven days and seven nights, and on the eighth day went to Dharmakṣema to request receipt. Dharmakṣema suddenly became exceedingly angry. Daojin further reflected: "It is only that my karmic hindrances have not yet been eliminated." He then applied his efforts for three years, practicing dhyāna and repenting. Daojin then, while in samādhi, saw Śākyamuni Buddha and various Great Beings conferring the precept dharmas upon him. That night, over ten people staying in the same quarters all experienced dreams matching what Daojin had seen. Daojin wished to go to Dharmakṣema to recount this, but before he had approached within several tens of paces, Dharmakṣema started up in surprise and exclaimed: "Splendid! Splendid! You have already sensed the precepts; I shall further serve as your witness." One by one, before the Buddha image, he explained the marks of the precepts for him. At that time, the śramaṇa Daolang was renowned west of the Pass; on the night Daojin sensed the precepts, Lang also experienced the dream. He then lowered his own precept seniority and requested to become [Daojin's] Dharma brother. Thereupon over a thousand people received [the precepts] from Daojin; the transmission of this method down to the present day is entirely the legacy of Dharmakṣema. Another record states: "The Bodhisattvabhūmi-sūtra should have been transmitted to this land by the Bodhisattva Yibole." Later it was indeed translated and transmitted by Dharmakṣema, leading to the suspicion that Dharmakṣema might not have been an ordinary man.