高僧傳 2.6

2.6

When Jīva was seven years old, he also left home with her. Following his master, he received sūtras, reciting a thousand verses each day; each verse had thirty-two syllables, totaling thirty-two thousand words. When he had finished reciting the Abhidharma, his teacher explained its meaning, and he immediately understood it thoroughly, leaving nothing profound unexplored. At that time the people of Kucha gave abundant offerings because his mother was the king's sister, so she took Jīva away to avoid this. When Jīva was nine years old, he followed his mother across the Sindhu River to Kashmir, where they met the renowned and virtuous Dharma master Bandhudatta, who was the younger cousin of the king of Kashmir. Deep, pure, and magnanimous, he had brilliant talent and vast erudition, standing unequaled in his time; there were none of the three baskets or nine divisions of scriptures that he had not mastered. From dawn to noon, he copied out a thousand verses by hand; from noon to dusk, he recited a thousand verses as well. His fame spread to various kingdoms, and people from near and far took him as their teacher. When Jīva arrived, he revered Bandhudatta as his teacher and received from him the *Kṣudrakapiṭaka* and the *Madhyama* and *Dīrgha Āgamas*, totaling four million words. Bandhudatta continually praised Jīva's extraordinary talent, until his fame reached the king. The king then invited him into the palace and assembled non-Buddhist debaters to cross-examine him. When the debate first began, the non-Buddhists belittled him for his youth and their words were quite insolent. Jīva seized upon their flaws and defeated them; humiliated and humbled, the non-Buddhists were left speechless with regret. The king revered him all the more as exceptional, providing him daily with a pair of preserved geese, three pecks each of non-glutinous rice and flour, and six pints of ghee; these were the highest offerings in foreign countries. The monks of the temple where he resided assigned five fully ordained monks and ten novices to attend to and clean for him as if they were his disciples; such was the reverence he received.