續高僧傳 2.9

2.9

He was a native of the Gandhāra kingdom, called in the Sui 'the kingdom of fragrant conduct'. He lived in the city of Puruṣapura, meaning 'the palace of men'. He was of the kṣatriya caste, with the surname Jinbu (pronounced *ju-fan*), which means 'neck', referring to a peacock's neck; in that kingdom it is considered a noble surname. His father was named Vajrabara, meaning 'adamantine firmness'. In his youth he possessed far-reaching capacity, and as he grew up he maintained pure deportment; he held the position of prime minister, regulating the governance of the state. Jñānagupta had five brothers and was the youngest of them. Having planted the roots of virtue in past lives, he gave rise to the aspiration for bodhi early on. While still a boy with milk teeth, he already wished to leave home. His parents deeply recognized his capacity and did not go against his request. In their native country was a monastery called Great Forest; thither he went to take refuge, and thereby received ordination. His upādhyāya—which means 'one who is constantly approached and keeps [the precepts]', now called *heshang*, which is merely a corrupted abbreviation from Khotan—was named Jinayaśas, meaning 'Victorious Fame'; he devoted himself to quiet sitting and plumbed the depths of meditative practice. His ācārya—which means 'transmitter' or 'correct conduct', that is, the so-called *ācārya*, which is likewise a corrupted abbreviation from neighbouring countries—was named Jñānabhadra, meaning 'Wise and Worthy'; he had mastered all three trainings and was especially versed in the Vinayapiṭaka. After leaving home, Jñānagupta was devotedly filial and reverent; through years of instruction he came to fully comprehend the ultimate purport. Yet, because the sacred sites and spiritual traces of India were still preserved, he followed his original teacher so that he could pay homage to them all. At that time he was twenty-seven years old, having held the precepts for three summers. Master and disciples made a pact to travel afar to propagate the Dharma. At first there were ten persons who together agreed to depart the borders. Their route passed through the kingdom of Kapiśā, where they lingered for several years. The king of the country earnestly invited his master, venerating him as Lord of the Dharma, and the benefits [to the people] were comprehensive. When they were about to resume their travels, they crossed the western foot of the Great Snow Mountains; it was indeed the most precipitous of natural hazards. They reached the Hephthalite kingdom; upon first arriving, the wilderness was vast and the population sparse, so there was no one to prepare the necessary food and drink. Jñānagupta therefore relinquished his full precepts and exerted all his strength to serve and provide for [the others]. Though they repeatedly endured hardships of the times, protected by the unseen spirits, they fortunately escaped disasters and misfortunes. They also passed through the kingdoms of Qashgar, Khotan, and others, repeatedly encountering summer rains and cold snow, so they temporarily halted. Having no opportunity to preach widely, they did not stay long. They also reached the Tuyuhun kingdom, and then arrived at Shanzhou; at that time it was the first year of the Datong era of the Western Wei. Although they had passed through hardships and perils, his resolve grew all the more valiant; three years had passed since they set out on their trek. More than half of the ten persons had perished, and of those remaining, only four survived to reach this point. In the Wucheng era of Emperor Ming of the Northern Zhou, he first reached Chang'an and resided at Caotang Monastery. Master and disciples had fulfilled their original aim in travelling and converting; he ascended the pure altar once again and received the full ordination anew, following the Way with sincere dedication even greater than before. Gradually he had audience in the imperial capital and became versed in the Chinese language. Soon he accompanied his original master Jinayaśas, summoned by an edict from Emperor Ming to enter the rear garden to discuss the Buddha-Dharma together. Exceptional courtesies and special provisions were supplied in full within the palace. Wishing to disseminate the Dharma but having no means to unfold it on his own, he submitted a memorial detailing the matter. Thereupon he received a special imperial edict ordering the construction of the Four Heavenly Kings Monastery for them to dwell in. From then on, they translated new scriptures. Yet it was not a grand or extensive undertaking; it was merely a temporary accommodation. Thus they supplemented texts previously lacking, translating from the Indic scripts; namely, the *Eleven-Faced Avalokiteśvara Sūtra*, the *Sūtra of the Golden Immortal's Questions*, and others. It happened that Yuwen Jian, the Prince of Qiao, was garrisoning Shu; he also invited [Jñānagupta] to travel with him. For three years there, he constantly served as the Saṅgha Controller of Yizhou, residing at Longyuan Monastery. He also translated the *Verses of Avalokiteśvara* and the *Buddhabhāṣita Sūtra*. In the Jiande era, the fortunes [of the Dharma] fell into ruin and the semblance teachings were not propagated; the five groups [of monastics] were at once forced to adopt secular dress. Emperor Wu issued an imperial edict summoning him to the capital, where he was offered official titles and emoluments and pressured to follow Confucian rites. Holding fast to his integrity, he remained steadfast unto death without fear. Pitying his uprightness and purity, the emperor took mercy on him and allowed him to return. His path led through Ganzhou and northward through the Tujue. The ācārya Jñānabhadra returned to the west and passed into extinction. Jñānagupta and his upādhyāya were detained by the Tujue. Before long, his upādhyāya passed away. A solitary figure without support, he knew not where to find peace. Fortunately, the ruler and people of the northern nomads greatly promoted merit, and relying on this, though wandering and stranded, he benefited beings wherever he went. There were the Qi monks Baoxian, Daosui, Sengtan, and others, ten in all, who in the sixth year of the Wuping era joined together to journey to the Western Regions to collect scriptures. After seven years of travelling back and forth, they were about to return east, having obtained in all two hundred and sixty Indic manuscripts. When they reached the Tujue, the Qi had suddenly fallen, so they also took refuge in that country. Thereupon they dwelt together, finding joy in lecturing on the Way. The [monks from Qi] requested him to translate the titles of the newly brought scriptures; checking them against old catalogues, they found them all the more apt and skillful, surpassing those of predecessors. Vowing that their bitter travels would not be in vain, they burned incense together and pledged to proclaim them. When the Great Sui received the abdication, the Buddha-Dharma immediately flourished. Baoxian and the others, bringing the scriptures, arrived first in response to the turn of fortune. In the final month of winter in the first year of the Kaihuang era, they reached the capital. An edict entrusted them to the relevant bureau to seek out someone to translate them. In the second month of spring in the second year, the translation commenced. In the middle of summer, an imperial edict stated: 'When the Yin moved five times, it was feared that the people would all perish. Thus, dwelling in lands of good or bad omen determines whether lives are short or long. Planning for the new and discarding the old is like a farmer looking forward to autumn. At Dragon Head Mountain, the streams and plains are splendidly beautiful, and the vegetation is lush and abundant. A capital should be established there, the foundation for setting up the bronze tripods, an eternal and boundless enterprise; here is an auspicious realm. Let the city be called Daxing City, the hall called Daxing Hall, the gate called Daxing Gate, the county called Daxing County; the gardens, flowers, ponds, and marshes shall all bear the same name; and the monastery shall be called Daxingshan.' In this monastery, the Dharma texts were translated. At that time, Jñānagupta was still dwelling among the northern nomads. By the fifth year of the Kaihuang era, Śramaṇa Tanyan and more than thirty others of Daxingshan Monastery, finding that when translating themselves the sounds and meanings diverged, heard that Jñānagupta was in the north and memorialized the throne requesting his return. The emperor then issued a special imperial edict summoning him. Jñānagupta had abandoned hope of returning west and had been stranded for ten years; deeply longing for an enlightened era to encounter the Three Jewels once again, when he suddenly received this summons from afar, joy and vows converged. He thereupon travelled into the country with the envoy. At that time, Emperor Wen was on an imperial tour to Luoyang; there [Jñānagupta] had audience with him. The Son of Heaven was greatly pleased and repeatedly bestowed gifts and inquiries. Before returning to the capital, an imperial edict was soon issued ordering him to undertake translations. The newly arrived Indic manuscripts were numerous across many sections—some scriptures, some treatises, both inner and outer texts; whenever there was translation, Jñānagupta was always made the principal. Everyone considered that Jñānagupta understood foreign languages and was versed in distinct scripts; thus he was able to express and explain on his own without relying on intermediaries. His comprehension of the doctrinal principles was sound, his sentences well-rounded in style, and once the phrasing and meaning were roughly established, the manuscript was complete. Those who took down his words with the brush were spared much effort. If compared with past masters, he surely was their worthy successor. At that time, Narendrayaśas had already passed away, and he alone served as the chief master. At Daxingshan, they further summoned the Brahmin monk Dharmagupta, and also ordered the upāsakas Gao Tiannu and Gao Heren, brothers, to assist in rendering the Indic language. They also appointed ten Great Virtues—the śramaṇas Sengxiu, Facan, Fajing, Huizang, Hongzun, Huiyuan, Fazuan, Senghui, Mingmu, and Tanqian—to supervise the translation work and determine the central doctrines. The śramaṇas Mingmu and Yancong compared the text with the Indic original once again, carefully re-examining and polishing the meaning and phrasing. Formerly, the *Mahāsaṃnipāta* translated by Dharmakṣema, Kumārajīva, and others mostly comprised thirty rolls per division. In the Northern Qi dynasty, Narendrayaśas produced the twelve rolls of the *Candragarbha Sūtra*, and in the early Sui, the fifteen rolls of the *Sūryagarbha Division* were subsequently produced. Since these were all broad sections of the *Mahāsaṃnipāta*, but translated separately earlier and later, they ended up disjointed and dispersed across different wrappers. In the sixth year of the Kaihuang era, Śramaṇa Sengjiu of Zhaoti Monastery combined them into sixty rolls. Sengjiu had left home at an early age and devoted himself to monastic studies; although he contributed to their propagation, he regretted that the literary structure was not harmonious, so he grouped them by category and appended them to the great compilation. Yet regarding the appropriateness of phrasing and purport, he was not entirely thorough. Recently, Śramaṇa Hongqing of Daxingshan Monastery, who possessed clear understanding and oversaw the copying of the canon for the state, further revised what Sengjiu had compiled, and the sequence of titles became very coherent in its logic. Furthermore, among the various scriptures currently being translated, many are remaining chapters of the *Mahāsaṃnipāta*; if briefly collected, they should fill a hundred rolls. According to the Indic text, this scripture has a total of one hundred thousand verses; rendered in the Sui language, it could comprise some three hundred rolls. Jñānagupta once recounted that more than two thousand li southeast of Khotan lies the kingdom of Cakuka. Its king is purely faithful and deeply reveres the Mahāyāna. Within the palace, he personally keeps three texts: the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā*, the *Mahāsaṃnipāta*, and the *Avataṃsaka*. The king upholds them himself and personally holds the keys; when chanting them, he opens them with offerings of incense and flowers. Sometimes he uses various cakes and fruits to entice minor kings to pay homage to them. About twenty li southeast of this kingdom, the mountains are extremely rugged, and there is a deep, pure cavern where twelve texts are stored: the *Mahāsaṃnipāta*, the *Avataṃsaka*, the *Vaipulya Ratnakūṭa*, the *Laṅkāvatāra*, the *Vaipulya*, the *Śāriputra-puṣpasaṃcaya*, two dhāraṇīs, the *Dūsala Repository*, the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā*, eight divisions of the *Prajñāpāramitā*, and the *Mahāmegha Sūtra*, totaling nearly one hundred thousand verses. By state tradition, they are guarded and protected. There are also three arhats who entered the cessation trance, dwelling in meditative calm within the cavern. Every half-month, monks go to the mountain to shave their hair. Thus the human custodians and the Dharma abide together, upon which sentient beings rely. Jñānagupta's religious character was pure and generous, his spiritual resolve unbending and upright. He loved virtue insatiably and sought the Dharma unflaggingly. Broadly learned in the Tripiṭaka, he investigated the ultimate truth from afar; having studied all five sciences, he was also versed in secular treatises. In walking meditation, he grasped the delight of the bodhimanda; in dhāraṇīs, he penetrated the principles of divine spells. With his three robes and one meal a day, he held fast to his sincerity to the end. His benevolent aid and wide-ranging guidance did not depend on entreaties. Diligently reciting Buddhist sūtras, he became all the more devout as he aged; possessing a strong memory of ancient times, he grew all the more proficient with the passage of time. Gentry and commoners admired and esteemed him; monastics and laypeople revered him. Prince Teng of the Sui revered and followed his vinaya standards, taking him as his master. When [the prince] was implicated in worldly affairs and exiled to Dongyue, [Jñānagupta] was also in the Ou and Min regions; his reputation for the Way filled the roads, saving both bodies and minds, and conferring immense benefit. In the twentieth year of the Kaihuang era, he passed away at the age of seventy-eight. From the time he came from the Western Regions to China, he sequentially translated thirty-seven works in one hundred and seventy-six rolls, namely the *Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra*, the *Dharmadīpa Sūtra*, the *Tejovaty-ārakṣā*, the *Bhadrapāla*, and other sūtras. All were thoroughly examined and refined, their principles and teachings fully integrated, their language clear and their doctrinal meanings well formulated, circulating completely in the world; these are recorded in Fei Changfang's *Record of the Three Jewels*. Earlier, Emperor Gaozu of the Sui also ordered Jñānagupta, together with the Western Śramaṇa Jñānagupta, Kaifu Gao Gong, Gong's sons the Commanders Tiannu and Heren, the Brahmin Viśākhadatta, and others, to translate ancient Indic books and Sanskrit texts in the Secretariat and Imperial Chancellery. By the twelfth year of the Kaihuang era, the translation of the books was completed, totaling more than two hundred rolls, which were memorialized and presented to the inner palace; this is recorded in the *Datang Zhenguan Neidian Lu*. At that time, there was also an upāsaka of the Gautama family named Dharmaprajñā, called Fazhi in the Sui; his father was named Prajñāruci, as detailed in other biographies. Fazhi was originally from Central India; having drifted and settled in Dongchuan, he adapted to Chinese customs. For generations his family had inherited and practiced translation. At the end of the Northern Qi, he served as the Controller of Buddhist Affairs. When the Qi was conquered and the Buddha-Dharma was destroyed alongside it, Fazhi transferred from monastic administration to secular office, twice being appointed Governor of Yangchuan Commandery in Yangzhou. When the Sui received the abdication and Indic texts arrived, an imperial edict summoned him back to take charge of translation. Fazhi was exquisitely skilled in dialects; holding the original, he translated directly without requiring interpreters. He translated the *Karmavibhaṅga Sūtra* and others. Śramaṇa Shi Zhixuan of Chengdu took down the phrasing with the brush and arranged the doctrinal structure. Śramaṇa Yancong of Riyansi composed the preface. These are recorded in the *Sui Dynasty Scriptural Catalogue*.