廬山記 3.26

3.26

Buddhayaśas is translated here as Jueming (Awakened Illumination). He was of the great brāhmaṇa caste in the country of Jibin. At the age of thirteen, while traveling in the wilderness with his teacher, they encountered a tiger. The teacher wished to avoid it, but Yaśas said, 'This tiger is already full; it will certainly not eat people.' Shortly afterward, the tiger left, and on their path they indeed saw leftover food; his teacher secretly regarded him as extraordinary. At the age of fifteen, he recited one million words of Mahāyāna scriptures; while still a śrāmaṇera, he studied the treatises of the five sciences and became well-practiced in many worldly arts. However, by nature he was proud and aloof, considering few worthy of being his teacher. Only at the age of twenty-seven did he receive full ordination. In reading and reciting, a scroll was never out of his hands; whenever he sat upright contemplating doctrine, he would still lament wasting the daylight. Such was his focused diligence. In Kashgar, he and Kumārajīva respected each other greatly. Later he entered Kucha, where his propagation of the Dharma flourished. At that time, Kumārajīva had already been detained by Lü Guang. While in Guzang, Kumārajīva sent a message inviting him. Yaśas wished to follow it, but feared that the people of the country would detain him. He thereupon took a bowl of clear water, cast medicine into it, incanted several dozen words, and washed his disciples' feet with it. They then set out by night; by dawn they had traveled several hundred li, so that the countrymen could not overtake them. He asked his disciples, 'What did you feel?' They replied, 'We only heard the sound of rushing wind, and our eyes were watering.' Yaśas again incanted water to wash their feet, and it ceased. Upon reaching Guzang, Master Kumārajīva had already entered Chang'an, so he requested Yao Xing to welcome [Yaśas]. [Yao Xing] separately established a new quarters in the Xiaoyao Garden, where [Yaśas] worked with Kumārajīva to translate treatises such as the Daśabhūmikavibhāṣā. Yaśas had a red beard, so the people of the time called him the Red-Bearded Master of Treatises. From first to last, he accepted none of the offerings of the four requisites presented to him. When the time came, he went on almsround, eating only one meal. Robes, bowls, and bedding filled three rooms, yet none concerned his mind. Yao Xing sold them on his behalf and built a temple south of the city. Yaśas previously recited the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya; Xing suspected there might be errors, so he tested him by having him recite Qiang medical prescriptions, amounting to some fifty thousand words. After two days, they held the text and checked it against his recitation; not a single word was mistaken. The assembly submitted to his formidable memory. During the Hongshi era, he translated the Four-Part Vinaya into the Qin language. In the eighth year of the Yixi era of the Jin, the renzi year, he entered Lushan and became a guest participating in Master Yuan's society. Later he took his leave to return to his native country. From Jibin, he entrusted one fascicle of the Ākāśagarbha Sūtra to a merchant to be sent to Liangzhou. It is not known where he ended his life.