續高僧傳 4.10

4.10

那提三藏。唐曰福生。具依梵言。則云布如烏代邪。以言煩多故。此但訛略而云那提也。本中印度人。少出家。名師開悟。志氣雄遠弘道為懷。歷遊諸國務在開物。而善達聲明通諸詁訓。大夏召為文士。擬此土蘭臺著作者。性汎愛好奇。尚聞有涉悟。不憚遠夷。曾往執師子國。又東南上楞伽山。南海諸國隨緣達化。善解書語。至即敷演。度人立寺。所在揚扇。承脂那東國盛轉大乘佛法崇盛贍洲稱最。乃搜集大小乘經律論五百餘夾合一千五百餘部。以永徽六年創達京師。有勅令於慈恩安置所司供給。時玄奘法師。當途翻譯聲華騰蔚。無由克彰。掩抑蕭條。般若是難。既不蒙引返充給使。顯慶元年勅往崑崙諸國採取異藥。既至南海。諸王歸敬為別立寺度人授法。弘化之廣又倍於前。以昔被勅往理須返命。慈恩梵本擬重尋研。龍朔三年還返舊寺。所齎諸經。並為奘將北出。意欲翻度。莫有依憑。惟譯八曼荼羅禮佛法阿吒那智等三經。要約精最可常行學。其年南海真臘國。為那提素所化者。奉敬無己。思見其人。合國宗師假途遠請。乃云。國有好藥唯提識之。請自採取。下勅聽往。返亦未由。余自博訪大夏行人云。那提三藏。乃龍樹之門人也。所解無相與奘頗返。西梵僧云。大師隱後。斯人第一深解實相善達方便。小乘五部毘尼外道四韋陀論。莫不洞達源底通明言義。詞出珠聯理暢霞舉。所著大乘集義論。可有四十餘卷。將事譯之。被遣遂闕。夫以抱麟之歎。代有斯蹤。知人難哉。千齡罕遇。那提挾道遠至。投俾北冥既無所待。乃三被毒載充南役。崎嶇數萬頻歷瘴氣。委命斯在。嗚呼惜哉。

Tripiṭaka Master Nadī, called Fusheng in Tang; following the Sanskrit fully, it is Punyodaya. Because the expression is wordy, here it is only abbreviated colloquially as Nadī. Originally a native of Central India, he left the household life at an early age. Enlightened by famous teachers, his aspirations were heroic and far-reaching, cherishing the dissemination of the Way in his heart. Traveling across various countries, his task lay in opening the minds of beings. He was thoroughly proficient in grammar and well-versed in lexicography. Tokharistan summoned him as a man of letters, corresponding to the drafters of the Orchid Terrace in this land. By nature universally benevolent and fond of novelties, esteeming whatever heard knowledge might lead to realization, he did not shrink from distant foreign lands. He once went to the Kingdom of Siṃhala, and further ascended Mount Laṅkā in the southeast, transforming beings according to affinities throughout the kingdoms of the Southern Seas. Being skilled in understanding written and spoken languages, he expounded the teachings as soon as he arrived, ordaining people and establishing monasteries, spreading his influence everywhere. Hearing that the eastern state of Cīna was flourishing in turning the Mahāyāna wheel of Dharma, with the Buddha's teachings exalted and celebrated as foremost in Jambudvīpa, he gathered more than five hundred bundles of Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna sūtras, vinaya, and śāstras, totaling over one thousand five hundred works. In the sixth year of Yonghui [655], he first arrived at the capital. An edict ordered that he be accommodated at the Ci'en Monastery and provided for by the relevant bureau. At that time, Dharma Master Xuanzang was in charge of translation; his fame and glory were brilliant, so there was no way [for Nadī] to make his mark. Obscured and neglected, prajñā suffered difficulty. Not receiving introduction, he was instead employed as an errand runner. In the first year of Xianqing [656], an imperial edict sent him to the various Kunlun states to gather unusual medicines. Arriving at the Southern Seas, the various kings took refuge in reverence, establishing separate monasteries for him, ordaining people, and transmitting the Dharma; the breadth of his propagation doubled that of before. Because he had previously been dispatched by imperial command, he was obliged by principle to report back; intending to investigate anew the Indic manuscripts at Ci'en, he returned to the old monastery in the third year of Longshuo [663]. The scriptures he brought had all been taken north by Xuanzang. Though he wished to translate them, he had no support, translating only three texts, including the Eight Maṇḍala Worship Ritual and the Āṭānāṭīya, which are concise and essential, suitable for constant practice and study. In that year, the kingdom of Zhenla in the Southern Seas, having long been converted by Nadī, revered him endlessly and longed to see him; the masters of the entire country requested him from afar under a pretext, saying, "Our country has fine medicines known only to Nadī; we request that he come in person to collect them." An imperial edict permitted him to go, and there has been no means for him to return. When I widely questioned travelers from Tokharistan, they said: "Tripiṭaka Master Nadī is a disciple of Nāgārjuna. His understanding of signlessness differs considerably from Xuanzang's." Western Indian monks said: "After the Great Master passed away, this man was foremost in deeply understanding the true mark and mastering expedient means. Regarding the five vinaya divisions of the Hīnayāna and the four Veda treatises of the non-Buddhists, there was none whose sources he did not thoroughly penetrate and whose words and meanings he did not clearly comprehend. His words flowed like a string of pearls, and his reasoning soared like rising clouds. The Mahāyāna-samuccaya-śāstra composed by him comprised about forty fascicles; just as he was about to translate it, he was dispatched away, and so it was omitted." The lament over cradling the unicorn has appeared from generation to generation; how difficult it is to know a man, rarely encountered in a thousand ages! Nadī brought the Way from afar, but was cast off into the Northern Darkness without being employed; he was poisoned three times, and repeatedly tasked with southern missions, trudging tens of thousands of li, constantly enduring pestilential vapors. Entrusting his life to this—alas, how lamentable!