高僧傳 3.12

3.12

First arriving in Henan Kingdom, they then exited Haixi Commandery, entered the shifting sands, and arrived at Gaochang Commandery. Passing through Kucha, Kashgar, and other kingdoms, they climbed the Congling Mountains and crossed the Snow Mountains, where pestilential vapours rose in a thousand folds and layered ice stretched for ten thousand li. Below was a great river, flowing as swiftly as an arrow. Along the sides of the two mountains to the east and west, they tied ropes to make a bridge. Ten people would cross at a time; once they arrived at the other bank, they would raise smoke as a signal; only when those behind saw the smoke and knew that the former had crossed were they able to proceed further. If no smoke was seen for a long time, they knew that a violent wind had blown the ropes and the people had fallen into the river. Traveling for three days, they again crossed the Great Snow Mountains. The hanging precipices stood sheer, with no place to set foot. The rock walls all had old peg holes, facing each other in places. Each person held four pegs: first pulling out the lower peg, and clutching the upper peg with their hands, they grasped them turn by turn, only crossing after an entire day. When they arrived on flat ground and waited for each other to take count of their companions, they had lost twelve people. Proceeding to the kingdom of Jibin, they worshipped the Buddha's bowl. Staying for more than a year, he studied the Sanskrit script and Sanskrit language, and sought and obtained one Sanskrit text of the Guanshiyin shouji jing. Traveling westward again to the Sindhu River, in Chinese called Lion's Mouth, they followed the river westward into the Yuezhi country, where they worshipped the Buddha's uṣṇīṣa bone and viewed a self-boiling wooden boat. Later, they arrived at the Shiliu Monastery south of Mount Daṇḍa, where more than three hundred monks dwelt, studying the three vehicles mixed together. Tanwujie stayed at this monastery to receive the full precepts. The Indian dhyāna master Buddhatāra, here translated as Juejiu, of whom people in that land all said he had already attained the fruits [of the path], was invited by Tanwujie to be his upādhyāya, and the Chinese śramaṇa Zhiding was his ācārya. After staying for the three months of the summer retreat, he again traveled toward the borders of Madhyadeśa. The road being desolate and vast, they carried only rock sugar as provisions. There were still thirteen companions; eight of them all died along the way, and the remaining five traveled together. Although Tanwujie repeatedly passed through dangers and thistles, his mindfulness of the Guanshiyin jing that he carried never ceased for a moment. When about to reach the kingdom of Śrāvastī, they met a herd of wild mountain elephants in the wilderness. Tanwujie invoked the name [of Avalokiteśvara] and took refuge; immediately a lion emerged from the forest, and the elephants fled in terror. Later, when crossing the Ganges River, they again encountered a herd of wild buffaloes roaring as they charged, about to harm people. Tanwujie took refuge as before; soon a large vulture flew over, and the wild buffaloes scattered in panic, so they were able to escape. How his sincere mind moved [the divine] and overcame dangers to bring rescue was all of this sort.