高僧傳 3.56

3.56

The evaluation says: The merit of translation is sublime indeed, truly beyond all praise! In antiquity, after the Tathāgata entered extinction, the elders Kāśyapa, Ānanda, Madhyāntika, and others fully maintained the eighty thousand stores of the Dharma, propagating the Way to deliver humanity, their accomplishments ever wider, the sunlight of holy wisdom with its lingering glow not yet hidden. Thereafter, Kātyāyanīputra, Dharmatrāta, Dharmaśrī, and others extensively examined divergent treatises, each composing expositions; yet all took the four Āgamas as their ancestral foundation and the Tripiṭaka as their model. As for Nāgārjuna, Aśvaghoṣa, and Vasubandhu, they grasped the essential pivots within the profound Vaipulya sūtras: their source sprang from prajñā, and their current flowed through to the Twin Trees. Though it is said their transformation adapted to high and low, each also realized its nature. Thus they caused the Three Jewels to be transmitted onward and the wheel of Dharma not to cease; hence, for five hundred years, it could still be said that the True Dharma remained in the world. Now, wherever divine transformation touches, far and near alike are reached: a single sound or a single light shakes other lands; a single terrace or a single canopy covers the lands of the Ganges. Though Zhen Dan (China) and Kapilavastu are separated by the Congling mountains and rivers, and lie tens of thousands of li apart, if measured by the holy one's spiritual power, it is like a stride of a pace; yet that hearing and seeing were walled off—how could that not be a matter of the times? But when the turning of conditions was about to resonate, the illustrious teaching subtly permeated: some called him the Lord of the Pagoda, while others termed him the Great Spirit of the Western Regions. Therefore Emperor Ming of the Han issued an edict to Liu Ying, Prince of Chu, stating: 'The prince recites the subtle words of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi, and esteems the benevolent sacrifices of the Buddha.' And when he had a dream of a golden man, he dispatched envoys to the Western Regions, whereupon Śeṣamātaṅga and Dharmarakṣa, cherishing the Way, came to transform [the realm]. Coordinating plans on a solitary expedition, amidst hardships they surely arrived, bordering sheer cliffs and looking down into the abyss, treading flying ropes to cross perilous depths. Casting aside their own bodies for the sake of beings, residing in hardship they were able to find ease. Transmitting the Dharma and proclaiming the sūtras, they first transformed the Eastern Lands; that later students have heard [the Dharma] is indeed due to their effort. Coming down to An Qing, Lokakṣema, Kang Senghui, Dharmarakṣa, and others, though in different generations and at one time, they followed in each other's footsteps to propagate and assist. Yet barbarian and Chinese were not the same, and phonetics were vastly separated; unless one thoroughly mastered glosses and commentaries, comprehension was truly difficult. It fell to Zhi Qian, Nie Chengyuan, Zhu Fonian, the monk Baoyun, Zhu Shulan, Mokṣala, and others, who were all wonderfully adept in both the Sanskrit and Chinese languages; thus they were able to realize the utmost aims of translation. Weighing a single word thrice over, their phrased intent was distinct and clear, and only then did they further use the tones of this land to embellish and compose. A treatise says: 'According to regional idioms, one can show the true meaning; within the true meaning, one sets words that follow the meaning.' This is precisely what it means. Later, Kumārajīva, an eminent scholar who probed the depths, whose spiritual reflection was profound and far-reaching, traveled through the central lands and became fully versed in regional dialects. Furthermore, regretting that the translations of Zhi [Qian] and Zhu [Dharmarakṣa] were archaic and plain in composition, not fully achieving perfection and beauty, he then directly confronted the Sanskrit originals and re-proclaimed and translated them; thus arose the 'new' and 'old' versions of the sūtras, differing in words but identical in meaning. At the time there were [Daosheng], Sengrong, Sengying, Huirui, Sengyan, Huiguan, Daoheng, and Sengzhao, who all comprehended before words were spoken, their phrasing as lustrous as pearls and jade; holding the brush to receive his dictation, the duty rested upon these men; thus the translations made at Chang'an flourished as the foremost. At that time Yao Xing had usurped the imperial title and held sway over the imperial demesne; revering and cherishing the Three Jewels, he fortified the bequeathed Dharma. He caused those yearning for the Way to come in reverence, gathering like clouds from near and far; the Dharma doors of the Tripiṭaka were surely beheld by those with affinity; since the image period moved east, it was never as flourishing as here. As for the monk Buddhabhadra, who translated the great text of the Avataṃsaka in the region east of the Yangtze; Dharmakṣema, who translated the subtle teaching of the Nirvāṇa in the Hexi corridor; and the four Āgamas, five Vinayas, Skandhaka, Vibhāṣā, and other texts brought forth by various masters—they all agreed in word with the Dharma originals, and their principles accorded with the three seals. Yet Tongshou (Kumārajīva) had the transgression of a separate chamber, and Buddhabhadra had the trace of expulsion; when examined against true records, these cannot easily be fathomed in full detail. Perhaps because the times were shallow and degenerate, the Way was lost and people estranged, what was manifested and seen reached this point. If judged by superficial traces, it was merely a single flaw in a jade tablet. Furthermore, An Shigao, Dharmakṣema, Bo Fazu, Bo Fazu's brother [Fazuo], and others were all thoroughly versed in principle and thought, their benevolent moisture forming mists; yet none of them died a natural death. This was surely because karma has its transmitted repercussions, and righteousness brooks no evasion; therefore, though an arhat has extinguished all outflows, he may still incur the calamity of a pierced skull; though Bi Gan was outspokenly loyal and utterly sincere, he still brought upon himself the misfortune of the bestowed sword—is it not so! Occasionally there was Zhu Fadu, who claimed to adhere exclusively to the Hīnayāna, yet he transgressed the Tripiṭaka: eating from copper bowls was originally not permitted by the Vinaya rules; lying prostrate facing one another was likewise absent from the procedures of repentance. Moreover, Fadu was born in Nankang and never traveled to Tianzhu; in his later years he met Dharmayaśas, who was also not a master devoted solely to the Hīnayāna; Fadu merely wished to indulge his own voracious desires, and so made bizarre pretenses. Nevertheless, gentlemen of thorough discernment never turned to follow him, while nuns easily yielded and first accepted his transformation. Indeed, women are difficult to satisfy with reason and doctrine, and their actions are easily overturned: hearing of cause and effect, they turn their backs indifferently; seeing magical transformations, they run about pouring out their devotion—the meaning of 'falling in accordance [with whims]' refers to just this! I humbly reflect that the True Dharma is deep and vast, numbering more than eight hundred million [verses], yet what has been obtained through translation amounts to merely a thousand-odd fascicles. All of this is because they had to cross sandy obstructions and traverse dangerous precipices: some gazing at smoke to cross perils, some clinging to pegs to pull themselves forward; and when they met to search and seek, in every case eight or nine out of ten were lost. For this reason, when Faxian, Zhimeng, Zhiyan, Fayong, and others set out, they formed cohorts and gathered in bands; yet when they returned, they looked back on only a solitary shadow—truly it is heart-rending! One should realize that for a single sūtra to reach here, how is it not like bestowing life anew? Yet the students of recent generations only aspire to delve into a single scripture, claiming that reading widely causes much confusion; this is the excuse of indolent learners, not the instruction of the universally versed. Why is this? If one wishes to investigate the flavor of principle and determine the Dharma doors, how can one decide it purely by one's own mind without extensively examining the myriad scriptures? Thus, they cause the labor of copying to be in vain, scriptures forever hidden away in boxes and chests, the true exposition of sweet dew never opened and sought out, the unsurpassed precious jewel concealed and unused—how is this not lamentable! If one can thoroughly gather dhyāna and vinaya, and melt and fuse sūtras and treatises, then even though the Jeta Grove has ceased its shade, the mysterious breeze will still blow; though the Śāla trees change their leaves, the Buddha-nature will still be manifest. Above, one requites the benevolence of the Capable and Humane (Śākyamuni); below, one matches the virtue of translation. If one is blessed with life and body, how could one not exert oneself!