宋高僧傳 30.30

30.30

釋智宣，泉州人也。壯歲慕法，學義淨之為人也。輕生誓死，欲遊西域，禮佛八塔，并求此方未流經法。以唐季結侶渡流沙，所至國土，懷古尋師，好奇徇異，聚梵夾，求舍利。開平元年五月中達今東京，進辟支佛骨并梵書多羅葉夾經律。宣壯歲而往，還已衰耄矣。梁太祖新革唐命，聞宣迴，大悅，宣賜分物，請譯將歸夾葉。于時干戈，不遑此務也。

Śramaṇa Zhixuan was a native of Quanzhou. In his prime, he yearned for the Dharma and emulated Yijing's conduct. Taking life lightly and pledging death, he wished to travel to the Western Regions to pay homage to the eight stūpas of the Buddha and to seek scriptures and teachings that had not yet reached this land. In the late Tang, he joined companions to cross the shifting sands; wherever he arrived in foreign realms, he cherished antiquity and sought teachers, pursuing the curious and following the unusual, gathering Sanskrit manuscripts and seeking relics. In the fifth month of the first year of the Kaiping era, he reached the present Eastern Capital and presented a pratyekabuddha bone relic and palm-leaf manuscripts of Sanskrit sūtras and vinaya. Xuan had gone in his prime and returned already frail and aged. Emperor Taizu of the Liang, having newly altered the Tang mandate, was overjoyed to hear of Xuan's return; he bestowed gifts upon him and requested translations of the palm-leaf manuscripts he brought back. At that time, however, warfare raged, leaving no leisure for such pursuits.