宋高僧傳 3.8

3.8

Shi Ajina, translated into Chinese as Baosiwei [Ratnacinta], was a native of the Kingdom of Kaśmīra in North India, born of the kṣatriya caste. Leaving home in his childhood, he made dhyāna and recitation his life’s work. After taking full ordination, he devoted himself strictly to the vinaya rules; his wisdom and understanding surpassed the ordinary, and his learning spanned both ultimate and conventional truths. In astrology and incantations, he was especially adept in their subtleties. In addition, his heart was set on converting and guiding others, without lingering affection for his home country. In the second year of the Changshou era of the Heavenly Empress [693], he arrived in the capital of Luoyang and was accommodated by imperial decree at the Tiangong Temple. From that year, when he commenced translating, until the bingwu year, the second year of the Shenlong era under Zhongzong [706], he produced seven works at temples such as Foshouji, Tiangong, and Fuxian, including the Amoghapāśa-dhāraṇī-sūtra. In the fourth month of the first year of the Taiji era under Ruizong [712], Zhang Qixian, the Heir Apparent's Washer of Horses, and others copied them and presented them to the court. In the sixth month of that year, an imperial decree commanded Xue Ji, Minister of Rites and Duke of the State of Jin, and Xu Yanbo, Senior Gentleman of the Attendants and Marquis of Gaoping, to scrutinize, finalize, and incorporate them into the canon for propagation. After the Shenlong era, [Ratnacinta] no longer engaged in translation, but devoted himself purely and diligently to prostrations, recitation, and cultivating works of merit. Every morning, he would grind incense into water to bathe the Buddha images before taking food and drink. From beginning to end, this was his constant practice. Except for his robes and bowl, whatever he obtained he gave away immediately. Later, he requested permission to establish a monastery on Mount Longmen, designed entirely in accordance with Western standards, and therefore named ‘Tianzhu’ [India]. His disciples and fellow students lived together in this monastery; moved by their sincerity, spiritual responses were exceedingly numerous. Reaching an age of over one hundred years, he died at the monastery in the ninth year of the Kaiyuan era [721], where a stūpa was erected to commemorate him.