弘贊法華傳 2.21

2.21

The above [work was translated by] the śramaṇa Kumārajīva, who was called Tongshou ('Youth-Lifespan') [in Chinese]. He was a man of India. His family had served for generations as prime ministers of their realm. Jīva's grandfather, Datta, was held in high esteem throughout the realm. His father, Kumārāyana, possessed noble virtues; relinquishing the ministerial position, he left the householder life and crossed east of the Congling Mountains. The king of Kucha, hearing that he had renounced worldly glory, revered and admired him greatly, went out into the suburbs in person to welcome him, and requested him to be the State Preceptor. The king's younger sister was just twenty years of age, endowed with sharp wit and clear understanding; furthermore, her body had red moles [signifying] that she was destined to give birth to a wise child. Proposals of marriage came from various realms, but she refused them all. Once she saw Āyana, however, her heart was set upon him, and she compelled him to take her as his wife. Soon after, she became pregnant with Jīva. While Jīva was in the womb, his mother's comprehension of wisdom doubled beyond the ordinary. Hearing that there were many eminent and virtuous masters as well as monks who had attained the Way at the great monastery of Tsio-li, she, together with noble ladies of the royal clan and nuns of virtuous conduct, provided offerings day after day, requesting assemblies to listen to the Dharma. Jīva's mother suddenly became spontaneously proficient in the Indian tongue; her phrasing in raising difficult queries invariably plumbed the most profound depths, and all the assembly marveled at her. An arhat named Dharmaghoṣa said, 'She must be carrying a wise child,' citing for them the evidence of Śāriputra in the womb. After Jīva was born, she forgot the speech she had spoken before. Not long after, Jīva's mother wished to leave the household life; applying herself with unflagging diligence, she attained the first fruit [of stream-entry]. When Jīva was seven years old, he also left the household life together with her. Receiving sūtras from his master, he recited a thousand verses each day; each verse consisting of thirty-two syllables, making thirty-two thousand words in total. Once he had recited the Abhidharma, his master instructed him in its meaning, and he immediately grasped it on his own. Thereupon he traveled widely among various masters, extensively studying the scriptural teachings; hearing something but once, he could receive it and exhaust all its corners and recesses. He also perused all the scriptures and books of non-Buddhist traditions. Later, Jīva's mother said to him, 'The profound teachings of the Universal and Equal (Vaipulya) should be extensively propagated in the land of China; that they be transmitted and brought forth to the east depends entirely on your effort.' Soon after, he bade farewell to his mother. In the first month of the thirteenth year of the Jianyuan reign of Fu Jian, the Grand Astrologer memorialized, saying, 'A star has appeared in the division of the foreign realms; there must be a person of great virtue and wisdom entering to court in China.' Jian said, 'We have heard that in the Western Regions there is Kumārajīva,' and immediately sent an envoy to seek him; but before he arrived, Jian died. By the ninth month of the third year of the Hongshi reign of Yao Xing of the Later Qin, his dignified presence arrived here. In the twelfth month of that year, he had an audience with Xing. Xing treated him with the courtesies due to a State Preceptor and showed him exceptional favor. When they engaged in discussions of understanding, they would linger for the entire day; penetrating subtleties and fathoming the ultimate, they forgot fatigue throughout the year. Ever since the Great Dharma was brought east, beginning under Emperor Ming of the Han and progressing through the Wei and Jin dynasties, sūtras and treatises had gradually increased in number; however, those translated by Zhi Qian and Dharmarakṣa mostly adhered to literal phrases or the method of matching meanings (geyi). From his youth Xing had revered the Three Jewels and was eager to sponsor lectures and gatherings. Once Jīva arrived, he invited him into the Ximing Pavilion and the Xiaoyao Garden to translate various sūtras. Since Jīva had memorized most of them and fathomed them thoroughly, and had moreover become proficient in the Chinese language, his phonetic renderings and translations flowed smoothly. Upon examining the older sūtras, he found that their meanings were mostly flawed and improper, which was entirely due to earlier translators losing the underlying import and not matching the Sanskrit originals. Thereupon, Xing directed more than eight hundred śramaṇas—including Senglüe, Sengqian, Faqin, Daoliu, Daoheng, Daobiao, Sengrui, and Sengzhao—to receive and verify Jīva's intent. In the summer of the eighth year of the Hongshi reign, at the Great Monastery of Chang'an, he further assembled more than two thousand śramaṇas versed in the study of doctrinal meaning from the four quarters to translate this sūtra. Furthermore, Master Huirui's 'Essay Clarifying Doubts' (Yuyi lun) states, 'The authentic text of the Lotus Sūtra shed radiance from deep within the earth in the great kingdom of Khotan, welled up into empty space, and thereby came to circulate here.' Yao Chong, Colonel Director of Retainers, General of the Left, and Marquis of Ancheng, whose subtle resonance resonated with the profound gate and whose mind resided beyond the mundane world, focused his sincerity upon this scripture and sponsored its copying, so that it circulates down to the present day. There was also the bhikṣuṇī Beidu, an unfathomable person. While in Pengcheng, hearing that Jīva was in Chang'an, she sighed and said, 'It has been more than three hundred years since this boy and I playfully parted. Our fragrant reunion is not yet appointed; I can only await our meeting in a future life.' A few days before Jīva's demise, he felt that his four great elements were unharmonized. Thereupon he uttered three rounds of divine dhāraṇīs from his mouth and instructed his foreign disciples to recite them in order to save himself. Before their efforts could take effect, he felt his condition turning increasingly critical. Thereupon, struggling against his illness, he bade farewell to the assembly of monks, saying, 'We have met through the Dharma, yet I have by no means fully expressed my heart. Facing a future life, my sorrow is beyond words! Thinking myself foolish and unenlightened, I have improperly filled the role of translator. If what I have transmitted is free of error, may my tongue not be scorched or rot after my body is burned!' On the twentieth day of the eighth month of the eleventh year of the illegitimate Qin's Hongshi reign, he passed away in Chang'an. This year was the fifth year of the Yixi reign of the Jin. In the Xiaoyao Garden, in accordance with the foreign customs, they cremated his corpse with fire. The firewood was consumed and his form shattered, but his tongue alone was not reduced to ashes.