宋高僧傳 5.15

5.15

釋玄逸，姓竇氏，即玄宗神武皇帝從外父也。繁柯懿葉，莫我與京，昆友姪弟，多升朝列，或以靡麗自持，或以官榮相抗。逸乃風神秀朗，蕭灑拔俗，悟色空之迹，到真寂之場，糠粃膏粱，幺麼軒冕。既而形廁緇伍，學追上流，祕藏香龕，披閱通理。一日，喟然興歎曰：「去聖日遠，編簡倒錯，或止存夏五，或濫在魯魚，加以筆札偷行，校讎喪句。若犍度失其夾葉，猶《禮記》脫錯後先，日見乖訛，迷而不復，有一于此，彝倫攸𣀇！」遂據古今所撰目錄，及勘諸經，披文已浩於几案，積卷仍溢於堂宇。字舛者詳義而綸之，品差者賾理而綱之。星霜累遷，功業克著。非夫心斷金石、志堅氷蘖者，曷登此哉？既綜結其科目，諒條而不紊也，都為三十卷，號《釋教廣品曆章》焉。考其大小乘經律論，并東西土賢聖集，共一千八十部，以蒲州、共城二邑紙書，校知多少，縛定品次，俾後世無悶焉。其章頗成倫要，「備預不虞，古之善制」。有樂陵尹靈琛為序。逸後不知所終。

Shi Xuanyi's secular surname was Dou; he was a maternal cousin once removed of Emperor Shenwu, Xuanzong. From a lineage of flourishing branches and fine leaves, none could rival him in the capital; his brothers, nephews, and younger cousins mostly attained court rank, either maintaining themselves in extravagance or competing with one another in official glory. Yi, however, had an outstanding and luminous demeanor, carefree and detached from vulgarity; he realized the traces of form and emptiness and arrived at the realm of true tranquility, regarding rich foods as chaff and official carriage and cap as trifling. Later, he joined the ranks of the black-robed [saṅgha] and pursued the highest levels of study; in the fragrant shrine of the secret storehouse, he unrolled and read, mastering the principles. One day, he sighed deeply and said: 'As we grow ever further removed from the sages, bamboo slips become jumbled; some preserve only the "summer's fifth month," while others mistake "Lu" for "fish." In addition, copyists make negligent transcriptions, and collators lose sentences. If a skandhaka loses its folded leaves, it is just like the Classic of Rites having its sequences inverted; errors appear daily, and confusion is never remedied. If this goes on, the constant social bonds will collapse!' Thereupon, relying on catalogues compiled in ancient and modern times and checking various sūtras, the texts he unrolled were already vast upon his desks, and the accumulated fascicles still overflowed his halls. Where characters were erroneous, he examined their meanings and regulated them; where chapters were disordered, he penetrated the principles and ordered them into a framework. As the seasons rolled by, his achievements became manifest. Had he not possessed a mind as resolute as metal and stone and an aspiration as firm as ice and bitter greens, how could he have attained this? Once he had synthesized and compiled its headings, it was indeed orderly and unconfused, comprising thirty fascicles in total, titled Shijiao guangpin lizhang (Broad Chapter Registers of the Buddhist Teachings). Examining the sūtras, vinayas, and treatises of the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna, together with the collections of the sages and worthies of the eastern and western lands—1,080 works in total—he used paper from the two districts of Puzhou and Gongcheng, collated their lengths, and definitively fixed the sequences of their chapters, so that future generations would suffer no confusion. The chapters were well organized into essential principles, exemplifying the ancient maxim: 'Preparation against unforeseen contingencies is an excellent ancient rule.' Yin Lingchen of Leling wrote a preface for it. It is not known where Yi ended his days.