神僧傳 6.8

6.8

Shi Xuanzang, whose original personal name was Yi and whose lay surname was Chen, was a native of Goushi in Luozhou. Having suffered hardship and deprivation in his youth, he followed his elder brother, Dharma Master Changjie, to dwell at Jingtu Monastery, where [Changjie] instructed him in subtle principles and alongside them adept dialectics. At the age of eleven, he could recite the Vimalakīrti and Lotus Sūtras. When a regular ordination of monks took place in the Eastern Capital, he was admitted among them. From then on he was eminent, upright, and uncompromising, longing for the Great Dharma. Later, he reached Chang'an and dwelt at Zhuangyan Monastery, yet this was not his original aspiration. Crossing west over the Jian Pass and arriving in the capital of Shu, he received the various sūtras and treatises, never forgetting what he heard even once. In the fifth year of the Wude era, at the age of twenty-one, he expounded the Abhidharmahṛdaya (Heart of Abhidharma) for the foremost śramaṇas of the academy; without looking at the text, his recitation and exposition flowed boundlessly. The people of the time called him a divine man. Afterward, he traveled extensively throughout Jingzhou, Yangzhou, and other prefectures visiting colleagues in the Way. Returning again to the capital, he sought out foreigners from various tributary states, learning their written and spoken languages in their entirety, receiving instruction while walking and sitting; in several days he had gained broad mastery, merely awaiting an opportunity. In the third year of the Zhenguan era, when an imperial edict was issued for clergy and laity to disperse in all directions to follow the harvest, he was able by this means to depart for the Western Regions to retrieve the sūtras and images. Arriving in Kapiśa, the road was treacherous with tigers and leopards, impassable. Xuanzang did not know what plan to devise, so he locked the door of his room and sat. Toward evening, he opened the door and saw an old monk, whose head and face were covered with sores and whose body ran with pus and blood, sitting alone upon a bed, of unknown origin. Xuanzang bowed to him and earnestly made requests. The monk orally transmitted a single fascicle of the Heart Sūtra, having Xuanzang recite it. Consequently, the mountains and streams became level and easy, the roads opened, the tigers and leopards hid, and the demons and ghosts concealed their traces. He finally reached the Buddha-land and obtained more than six hundred works of sūtras. In the nineteenth year of the Zhenguan era, he returned to the capital. An imperial edict commanded him to dwell at Yuhua [Palace] to translate the repository of sūtras. Throughout his life, Xuanzang had always vowed to be reborn with Maitreya; when traveling through the Western Regions, he had heard that the brothers Asaṅga had both been born in that heaven, and his frequent prayers all yielded clear evidence. Later, having arrived at Yuhua, whenever he had a spare moment he never failed to make this vow. In the first year of the Linde era, he announced to the translating monks and disciples: “Conditioned dharmas must inevitably return to annihilation. How could the physical form of bubble and shadow remain long? Having reached sixty-five years of age, I will certainly pass away at Yuhua. Those who have doubts regarding the sūtras and treatises should quickly ask them now.” Those who heard this were astonished. The Master said: “This matter I know of myself.” He then went to take leave of the Buddha and the monastic assembly. Having fallen ill in bed, he constantly saw a great, immaculate white lotus approaching, and also beheld the form of the Buddha. He instructed a monk to read aloud the catalog of the sūtras and treatises he had translated, which totaled seventy-three works in 1,330 fascicles, feeling deep joy in his heart. He summoned all his disciples and those with whom he had karmic affinities together, saying: “Impermanence is about to arrive; come quickly to see me.” In the Jiashou Hall, he erected a bodhi statue of fragrant wood. Having bidden farewell to the monastery monks and completed his final memorial to the throne, he silently mindfully recollected Maitreya, lay on his right side with feet resting on each other, propped his head with his right hand, and placed his left hand on his thigh. Unmoving and firm, his breath ceased and his spirit departed. For two months his appearance remained as normal. He was buried on the Bailu Plain. Earlier, when Xuanzang was about to set out for the Western Regions, he saw a pine tree at Lingyan Monastery. Standing in the courtyard, Xuanzang stroked its branches and said: “I am going west to seek the teachings of the Buddha; you may grow toward the west. When I return, then bend back toward the east, so that my disciples will know it.” When he left, its branches pointed west year after year, growing several tens of feet. One year, they suddenly turned east. The disciples and followers said: “The Master of the Teaching is returning!” They went west to welcome him, and Xuanzang indeed returned. To this day, the assembly calls this pine the 'Head-Stroked Pine' (Mōdǐng Sōng).