華嚴經傳記 1.11

1.11

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.