宋高僧傳 3.10

3.10

Shi Bodhiruci was a native of South India, born of a pure-practicing Brahmin family surnamed Kāśyapa. At the age of twelve, he renounced home life among non-Buddhists to serve Parāśara, studying treatises on phonology, Sāṃkhya, and other systems. In calendrical calculations, incantations, yin and yang, and prognostication texts, there was nothing he had not mastered. Only after passing sixty did he change his mind; recognizing that non-Buddhist doctrines were flawed and perceiving the profound silence of the Buddhist gate, he withdrew to live in mountain valleys, practicing dhūta austerities. Initially relying on the Tripiṭaka master Yaśoghosa, he studied various sūtras and treatises, and subsequently journeyed through the Five Indias, attending lectures everywhere. Emperor Gaozong, hearing of his distant reputation and admiring his lofty character, dispatched an envoy in the second year of the Yongchun era [683] to welcome him. The Heavenly Empress treated him with even greater reverence, directing him to reside at the Fuxian Temple in eastern Luoyang to translate eleven works, including the Buddha-gocara, Ratnamegha, and Avataṃsaka sūtras. In the second year of the Shenlong era under Zhongzong [706], he also resided at the Chongfu Temple in Jingzhao to translate the Mahāratnakūṭa-sūtra. When Xiaohuade [Zhongzong] passed away and Ruizong ascended the throne, an imperial decree commanded that he continue the translation work at the White Lotus Pool and the Sweet Dew Pavilion in the Northern Park. When the translation was completed, an imperial preface was placed at the head of the scripture; combining old and new, it totaled forty-nine assemblies in one hundred and twenty fascicles. On the eighth day of the fourth month of the second year of the Xiantian era [713], it was submitted to the court. In this translation bureau, the śramaṇa Sichong, the Indian chieftain Iśvara, and others translated the Sanskrit text; the Indian śramaṇas Prajñāgupta and Dharma verified the Sanskrit meaning; the śramaṇas Lüfang, Zongyi, and Huijue recorded the text; the śramaṇas Shenliang, Shengzhuang, Chenwai, Wuhe, and Huaidi certified the meaning; and the śramaṇas Chengli, Yunguan, Shenjian, and Daoben arranged the text. Next, the embellishing officials Lu Can, Scholar Xu Jian, Secretariat Drafter Su Gui, Supervising Secretary Cui Qu, Chancellor Lu Xiangxian, Minister Guo Yuanzhen, Secretariat Director Zhang Yue, and Senior Grand Master Wei Zhigu brought the Buddhist and Confucian traditions together to create total perfection. In the translation of the Ratnakūṭa, the employment of worthy scholars was vast, and Bodhiruci exerted the greatest effort. One matter of regret was that, throughout past and present translations, the final phrase of all dhāraṇīs was rendered as ‘svāhā’ without subtly examining the clear and muddy [tones], thereby leading to discrepancies in the wording. Some wrote sapohe, others sapahe, and so forth, in nine irregular pronunciations; standardizing the Sanskrit phonology revealed that none matched the original intention. This was not because the Indian monks recited inaccurately, but rather resulted from errors made by the scribes. Therefore, sha (sounded like sang-ba) wa (sounded like wu-ke) he (sounded like hu-ge) was definitely established as the correct form. In the twelfth year of the Kaiyuan era [724], Ruci accompanied the imperial retinue to dwell at the Changshou Temple in the capital of Luoyang. On the fourth day of the eleventh month of the fifteenth year [727], he instructed his disciples that on the fifth day at noon, the attendants should be dismissed; lying peacefully on his right side, he suddenly passed away at the age of one hundred and fifty-six. Hearing this, the Emperor was grieved and mourned, conferring upon him the provisional title of Minister of State Ceremonial and the posthumous name ‘Kaiyuan Tripiṭaka of All-Pervading Omniscience’. He dispatched the Palace Attendant Du Huaixin to oversee the funeral arrangements and provided materials from the palace treasury, ensuring that they were abundant. The guard of honor, regalia, banners, streamers, and floral canopies filled the thoroughfares. On the first day of the twelfth month, his remains were interred on the northwestern plain of Mount Longmen south of Luoyang, where a stūpa was raised and an inscription carved in stone to commemorate him.