宋高僧傳 30.30

30.30

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.