大宋僧史略 1.52

1.52

朱士行頴川人也。志業方正。少懷遠悟。脫落塵俗。出家之後。專務經典。常講道行般若。每歎譯理未盡。乃於魏甘露五年。發跡長安。度流沙至于闐。得梵書正本九十章。彼國多小乘學者。譖於王曰。漢地沙門欲以婆羅門書惑亂正法。何不禁之。聾盲漢地。王之咎也。王乃不聽齎經東去。士行因請燒之為驗。于時積薪殿前。誓畢而焚。其經無損。王始歸信。士行寄經還國。竺叔蘭無羅叉譯為放光般若。叡法師云。士行於洛中講小品。往往不通。遠出流沙求大品。歸出為晉音是也。士行曹魏時。講道行經。即僧講之始也。

Zhu Shixing was a man of Yingchuan. His resolve and conduct were upright; from his youth he cherished far-reaching awakening and detached himself from worldly dust. After leaving home, he dedicated himself exclusively to the scriptures, constantly lecturing on the Daoxing bore. He always lamented that the translations did not exhaust the principles. Thus, in the fifth year of the Ganlu era of Wei, he departed from Chang'an, crossed the shifting sands, and arrived in Khotan, where he obtained an authentic Sanskrit manuscript in ninety chapters. In that country, there were many Hīnayāna scholars, who slandered him to the king, saying: "The śramaṇa from the land of Han wishes to confuse the true Dharma with Brahmanical texts. Why do you not forbid it? Blinding and deafening the land of Han will be the king's fault." The king thereupon would not permit him to carry the scripture eastward. Shixing therefore requested that it be burned as a test. At that time, wood was piled before the palace; after his vow, it was cast into the fire, but the scripture was not damaged. Only then did the king place his faith in him. Shixing sent the scripture back to the country, and Zhu Shulan and Wuluocha (Mokṣala) translated it as the Fangguang bore. Dharma Master Sengrui said: "Shixing lectured on the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā (or Aṣṭasāhasrikā / Xiaopin) in Luoyang, but often encountered points that did not make sense; he travelled far beyond the shifting sands to seek the Dapin, which was brought back and rendered into the Jin language." This was it. During the Cao Wei, Shixing lectured on the Daoxing jing; this was the beginning of monks lecturing.