華嚴經傳記 1.10

1.10

The Tripiṭaka Master Divākara of Central India—translated into Chinese as Rizhao (Sun-illumining)—belonged to the brāhmaṇa caste. He left home in his youth and resided at the Mahābodhi and Nālandā monasteries. The Tripiṭaka Master was gentle and refined in deportment, with brilliant and exceptional natural wit. Carrying his satchel of scrolls, he followed masters, studying meticulously for many years. His capacity was like carved jade, and his learning surpassed his teachers. Having learned that the monk Xuanzang had returned east after propagating the teaching, he longed for the profound gateway [of the Dharma] and turned his thoughts toward China (Zhendan). Following the prevailing wind toward the sagely reign, he came holding his monk's staff to manifest his presence, propagating the Supreme Vehicle to aid in glorifying the imperial transformation. In the initial years of the Yonglong era (ca. 680 CE), he arrived at the capital. Emperor Gaozong promoted and manifested the Buddhist fold, successfully elevating the bequeathed legacy. He decreed that eminent dragons and elephants among the black-robed sangha, along with the foremost talents of the imperial city—the Vinaya Master Daocheng, the Dharma Master Baochen, and other Ten Great Virtues—should translate sūtras and treatises at the Western Monastery of Weiguo. At that time, Dharma Master Xianshou, whose primary focus had been the Avataṃsaka, frequently lamented that this sūtra was incomplete and lacked portions. He went to consult [Divākara], who said, 'I have brought the text of the Eighth Assembly and have now arrived here with it.' Xianshou thereupon compared and collated it with the Tripiṭaka Master, and they obtained the passages on Sudhana's more than ten spiritual friends, including Devendraraśmi (Tianzhuguang). They requested that the new text be translated to make up for the old deficiency. The monk Fuli held the brush, and the monk Huizhi translated the speech. They further translated more than ten treatises and sūtras, including the Ghanavyūha Sūtra, totaling twenty-four fascicles, all accompanied by imperial prefaces composed by the Empress Dowager, who added profound praise. These are currently circulating in the world. When the Tripiṭaka Master had departed his homeland, his mother was still alive; never forgetting the debt of her nurturing care, he constantly thought of repaying her maternal love. He thereupon went to the Divine Capital (Shendu) and presented a memorial to the imperial court, begging to return to his home country. At first this was not granted, but after he firmly requested it two and three times, an edict was issued granting permission. The venerable masters of the capital made a crimson silk jeweled kāṣāya and attached it as an offering to the image beneath the Bodhi Tree; an edict also bestowed a divine bell, and they requested banners, images, and offering vessels to accompany his journey. On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the third year of the Chuigong era (687 CE), although his body was quite healthy, he told his disciples, 'I must pass away.' Lying on his right side, he passed away without illness at the Eastern Monastery of Weiguo in the Divine Capital. Several tens of thousands of people gathered for his funeral. When the Sagely Mother (Empress Wu) heard of it, she grieved deeply and donated a thousand bolts of silk to cover the funeral expenses. Clerics and laypeople mourned him as if having lost their own kin. Carried on a litter amidst incense and flowers, he was interred on the sunny southern slope of Mount Longmen, to the left of the Yi River. His disciples refurbished the spirit shrine, embellished multi-storied pavilions, and built a monastic cell beside it, sweeping and making offerings there. Later, following a memorial submitted by the King of Liang, a saṅghārāma was established there, and by imperial decree its name was registered as Xiangshansi (Fragrant Mountain Monastery). Its towering buildings scraped the Milky Way, and its soaring pavilions braved the clouds; it had seven niches of stone images and an octagonal pagoda. The Emperor visited in person and personally inscribed poems and praises there.