宋高僧傳 3.4

3.4

Shi Zhitong, surnamed Zhao, was originally a native of Anyi in Shanzhou. During the Daye era of the Sui, he renounced the world and received full ordination, and was later registered at the Zongchi Temple. In the practice of the precepts he was meticulous and clear, and his learning in the sūtras and treatises was comprehensive. Being exceptionally gifted from his youth, he had the ambition to travel; consequently, he went to the translation hall in the capital of Luoyang to study Sanskrit script and language, mastering them with total clarity. During the Zhenguan era [627–649], a North Indian monk brought a Sanskrit manuscript of the Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Sūtra. Emperor Taizong issued an imperial decree to search throughout the empire for monks of learning and understanding to serve in the translation hall as text polishers, scribes, and meaning certifiers. Tong qualified and translated the text together with the Indian monk into two fascicles. In the fourth year of the Yonghui era of the Heavenly Emperor [Gaozong, 653], he further translated at his home temple one fascicle of the Thousand-Turn Dhāraṇī Incantation of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, one fascicle of the Mind-Fulfilling Incantation of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, and one fascicle of the Dhāraṇī of the Pure Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, totaling four works in five fascicles. Tong had mastered the Sanskrit script and was also deeply versed in the Chinese language; when translating by direct confrontation [between the two texts], all at that time deferred to him in admiration. It is also said that he practiced the esoteric teachings of Yoga, with extraordinary supernatural resonance. Where he died is unknown.