宋高僧傳 14.39

14.39

釋鑒真，姓淳于氏，廣陵江陽縣人也。總丱俊明，器度宏博，能典謁矣。隨父入大雲寺，見佛像，感動夙心，因白父求出家。父奇其志，許焉。登便就智滿禪師，循其獎訓。屬天后長安元年，詔於天下度僧。乃為息慈配住本寺，後改為龍興。殆中宗孝和帝神龍元年，從道岸律師受菩薩戒。景龍元年，詣長安。至二年三月二十八日，於實際寺依荊州恒景律師邊得戒。雖新發意，有老成風，觀光兩京，名師陶誘。三藏教法，數稔該通，動必研幾，曾無矜伐。言旋淮海，以戒律化誘，欝為一方宗首。氷池印月，適足清明；猊座揚音，良多響答。時日本國有沙門榮叡、普照等東來募法，用補缺然。於開元年中，達于揚州，爰來請問，禮真足曰：「我國在海之中，不知距齊州幾千萬里。雖有法而無傳法人，譬猶終夜有求於幽室，非燭何見乎？願師可能輟此方之利樂，為海東之導師乎！」真觀其所以，察其翹勤，乃問之曰：「昔聞南岳思禪師生彼為國王，興隆佛法，是乎？又聞彼國長屋曾造千袈裟來施中華名德，復於衣緣繡偈云：『山川異域，風月同天，寄諸佛子，共結來緣。』以此思之，誠是佛法有緣之地也。」默許行焉。所言長屋者，則相國也。真乃募比丘思託等一十四人，買舟自廣陵齎經、律法離岸，乃天寶二載六月也。至越州浦，止署風山。真夜夢甚靈異。纔出洋，遇惡風濤，舟人顧其垂沒，有投棄𣝕香木者。聞空中聲云：「勿棄投」，時見舳艫各有神將介甲操仗焉，尋時風定。俄漂入蛇海，其蛇長三丈餘，色若錦文。後入魚海，魚長尺餘，飛滿空中。次一洋，純見飛鳥集於舟背，壓之幾沒。洎出鳥海，乏水。俄泊一島，池且泓澄，人飲甘美。相次達於日本，其國王歡喜迎入城大寺安止。初於盧遮那殿前立壇，為國王授菩薩戒。次夫人、王子等，然後教本土有德沙門足滿十員，度沙彌澄修等四百人，用白四羯磨法也。又有王子一品親田捨宅造寺，號招提，施水田一百頃。自是已來，長敷律藏，受教者多，彼國號大和尚，傳戒律之始祖也。以日本天平寶字七年癸卯歲五月五日，無疾辭眾，坐亡，身不傾壞，乃唐代宗廣德元年矣。春秋七十七。至今其身不施苧漆，國王、貴人、信士時將寶香塗之。僧思託著《東征傳》詳述焉。

Shi Jianzhen, whose secular surname was Chunyu, was a native of Jiangyang County in Guangling. In his youth, he was brilliant and discerning, possessed of a grand capacity, and already adept at social receptions. Accompanying his father into Dayun Temple, he saw a statue of the Buddha; his innate mind was deeply stirred, and he begged his father for permission to leave home. His father marveled at his aspiration and permitted it. Thereupon, he immediately approached Chan Master Zhiman and followed his guidance and training. During the first year of the Chang'an era under the Heavenly Empress, an imperial edict was issued across the empire to ordain monks. He was accordingly ordained as a novice and assigned to reside at his home monastery, which was later renamed Longxing Temple. Around the first year of Shenlong under Emperor Xiaohu of Zhongzong, he received the bodhisattva precepts from Vinaya Master Dao'an. In the first year of Jinglong, he went to Chang'an. On the twenty-eighth day of the third month of the second year, he received the full precepts at Shiji Temple from Vinaya Master Hengjing of Jingzhou. Though newly initiated, he possessed the demeanor of a seasoned elder; he went to observe the glories of the two capitals and was molded by renowned masters. Within a few years, he had comprehensively mastered the teachings of the Tripiṭaka; whenever he acted, he would delve into the subtlest principles, yet he never boasted of his achievements. Returning to the Huaihai region, he transformed and guided beings with the Vinaya, becoming the preeminent authority of that entire quarter. Like the moon mirrored in a frozen pond, he was fittingly pure and luminous; like a lion's roar from the seat of Dharma, his teachings met with extensive resonance. At that time, the Japanese śramaṇas Yōrei, Fushō, and others traveled east to seek the Dharma to supply what was lacking in their land. Arriving in Yangzhou during the Kaiyuan era, they came to inquire and pay homage at Jianzhen's feet, saying: 'Our country is located in the midst of the sea, who knows how many millions of miles distant from China. Though we have the Dharma, we have no one to transmit the precepts; it is like searching through a dark room all night—how can anything be seen without a lamp? We pray that the master might leave behind the benefits and joys of this land to become the guide of the eastern seas!' Jianzhen observed their intentions and examined their earnest diligence, and then asked them: 'Long ago, I heard that Chan Master Si of Nanyue was reborn in your land as a king to promote the Buddha-Dharma; is this so? Moreover, I heard that Prince Nagaya of your land once had a thousand kāṣāyas made and sent as gifts to the renowned and virtuous of China, having embroidered on the borders of the robes this verse: "Mountains and rivers lie in different realms, / Yet the wind and moon share the same sky. / We send this to the Buddha's disciples, / Together weaving ties for the future." Considering this, it is truly a land that has karmic ties with the Buddha-Dharma.' He quietly consented to go. He whom they called Nagaya was the Chancellor. Jianzhen then recruited fourteen bhikṣus, including Situo, and bought a boat to set out from Guangling carrying the scriptures, Vinaya, and teachings, in the sixth month of the second year of Tianbao. Reaching the harbor of Yuezhou, they stayed at Mount Shufeng. Jianzhen had an exceedingly miraculous dream. As soon as they entered the open sea, they met with adverse winds and towering waves; the boatmen, seeing they were about to sink, began throwing agarwood into the sea. A voice in the sky said: 'Do not throw it away!' At that time, divine generals in armor wielding weapons were seen at both the prow and the stern, and shortly thereafter the wind subsided. Soon they drifted into the Sea of Serpents, where the serpents were over thirty feet long with patterns like brocade. Later, they entered the Sea of Fish, where fish over a foot long flew through the air, filling the sky. In the next sea, nothing was seen but flying birds that gathered on the boat, almost sinking it under their weight. After leaving the Sea of Birds, they ran out of fresh water. Soon they anchored at an island with a deep, clear pool whose water was sweet and delicious to drink. In due course, they reached Japan. The king of the country welcomed them with great joy into the great temple of the capital to reside. First, an altar was erected in front of the Vairocana Hall, where Jianzhen conferred the bodhisattva precepts upon the king. Next, he conferred them upon the queen, the princes, and others; afterward, he instructed the virtuous native śramaṇas to make up a full quorum of ten, and ordained four hundred novices, including Shōshū, using the fourfold karman procedure with a motion (jñapti-caturtha-karman). Furthermore, an imperial prince of the first rank gave his own lands and surrendered his residence to construct a monastery named Tōshōdai-ji, donating one hundred qing of wet fields. From then on, Jianzhen continuously expounded the Vinaya Piṭaka, and many received his teachings; the people of that country addressed him as the Great Preceptor (Daitokushō), the founding patriarch who transmitted the Vinaya. On the fifth day of the fifth month of the seventh year of the Tenpyō-hōji era of Japan (the guimao year), without illness, he bid farewell to the assembly and died seated, his body remaining unbowed and undecayed; this was the first year of the Guangde era under Emperor Daizong of the Tang. He was seventy-seven years of age. Even today, his body is not treated with hemp or lacquer, but the king, nobles, and faithful regularly anoint it with precious incense. The monk Situo composed the Record of the Eastern Expedition, giving a detailed account of these events.