華嚴經傳記 1.11

1.11

大周神都佛授記寺沙門實叉難陀。唐云喜覺。于闐國人。智度弘曠。利物為心。善大小乘。兼異學論。天后明揚佛日。敬重大乘。以華嚴舊經處會未備。遠聞于闐有斯梵本。發使求訪。并請譯人。實叉與經。同臻帝闕。以天后證聖元年乙未。於東都大內遍空寺。譯華嚴經。天后親臨法座。煥發序文。自運仙毫。首題名品。南印度沙門菩提流志。沙門義淨。同宣梵文。後付沙門復禮法藏等。於佛授記寺。譯至聖曆二年己亥功畢。又至久視元年庚子。於三陽宮內。譯大乘入楞伽經。及於西京清禪寺東都佛授記寺。譯文殊授記等經。前後總譯一十九都。沙門波崙玄執等筆受。沙門複禮綴文。沙門法寶弘景等證義。太子中舍人。賈膺福監護至長安。四年實叉。緣母年老。請歸覲省。表書再上。方蒙允許。勅御史崔嗣光。送至于闐。後和帝龍興。重暉佛日。勅再徵召。方屆帝城。以景龍二年。達于茲土。帝屈萬乘之尊。親迎於開遠門外。京城緇侶。備諸幢幡。逆路導引。仍裝飾青象。令乘入城。勅於大薦福寺安置。未遑翻譯遘疾彌留。以景雲元年十月十二日。右脇疊足。終于大薦福寺。春秋五十有九。緇徒悲噎。歎法棟之遽摧。俗侶哀號。恨群生之失導。有詔聽依外國法葬。以十一月十二日。於開遠門外古燃燈臺焚之。薪盡火滅。其舌猶存。斯是弘法之嘉瑞也。至十二月十三日。本國門人悲智。勅使哥舒道元。送其餘骸及斯靈舌。遂歸于闐。起塔供養。後人復於焚屍之所。起七層塔焉。

Śramaṇa Śikṣānanda (translated into the Tang language as Xijue, 'Joyful Awakening') of Foshouji Monastery in the Divine Capital of the Great Zhou was a native of Khotan. His wisdom was broad and vast, and his intention was to benefit living beings. He was skilled in both the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna, as well as the treatises of heterodox schools. The Empress Dowager [Wu Zetian] brightly exalted the Sun of the Buddha and deeply revered the Mahāyāna. Because the old translation of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra had incomplete assemblies and locations, and hearing from afar that such a Sanskrit text existed in Khotan, she dispatched envoys to seek it out and request translators. Śikṣānanda and the sūtra arrived together at the imperial palace. In the first year of Zhengsheng (yiwei [695 CE]), Empress Wu had the Avataṃsaka Sūtra translated at Biankong Monastery within the Eastern Capital's imperial precinct. The Empress attended the Dharma seat in person, composed a brilliant preface, and wielding her divine brush, personally inscribed the titles of the chapters. The South Indian śramaṇa Bodhiruci and the śramaṇa Yijing jointly recited the Sanskrit text. Later, it was entrusted to śramaṇas Fulie, Fazang, and others, who carried on the translation at Foshouji Monastery until the work was completed in the second year of Shengli (jihai [699 CE]). Furthermore, in the first year of Jiushi (gengzi [700 CE]), inside the Sanyang Palace, he translated the Mahāyāna Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra; and at Qingchan Monastery in the Western Capital and Foshouji Monastery in the Eastern Capital, he translated sūtras such as the Mañjuśrī-vyākaraṇa Sūtra, translating in all nineteen works before and after. The śramaṇas Polun, Xuanzhi, and others recorded the brush transcription; the śramaṇa Fulie refined the text; the śramaṇas Fabao, Hongjing, and others verified the meaning; and Jia Yingfu, Director of the Heir Apparent's Household, supervised the translation bureau. In the fourth year [of Chang'an, 704 CE], because his mother was elderly, Śikṣānanda requested to return home to attend to her. He submitted memorials twice before obtaining permission. An imperial decree ordered Censor Cui Siguang to escort him to Khotan. Later, when Emperor Zhongzong ascended the dragon throne, renewing the brilliance of the Buddha's sun, he issued an imperial decree summoning him once more, whereupon he arrived back at the imperial capital. In the second year of Jinglong [708 CE], he reached this land. The Emperor set aside his imperial majesty and personally welcomed him outside the Kaiyuan Gate. The monks of the capital prepared banners and flags, lining the route to guide him, and adorned a blue elephant for him to ride into the city. He was ordered to reside at the Great Jianfu Monastery. Before finding leisure to engage in translation, he fell into a lingering illness. On the twelfth day of the tenth month in the first year of Jingyun [710 CE], lying on his right side with feet folded, he passed away at the Great Jianfu Monastery at the age of fifty-nine. The monastic community wept, lamenting the sudden collapse of the pillar of the Dharma; the laity wailed, grieving that living beings had lost their guide. An imperial decree permitted him to be buried according to the customs of foreign countries. On the twelfth day of the eleventh month, he was cremated at the Ancient Dīpaṃkara Terrace outside the Kaiyuan Gate. When the fuel was consumed and the fire went out, his tongue remained intact: this was an auspicious omen of his propagation of the Dharma. On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, his native disciple Beizhi and the imperial envoy Geshu Daoyuan escorted his remaining relics and this miraculous tongue back to Khotan, where a stūpa was erected to make offerings. Later generations also erected a seven-storied stūpa at the place of his cremation.