大宋僧史略 1.25

1.25

Tracing its origin, the Buddha's Way is difficult to conceive, and its miraculous traces are inherently extraordinary; it cannot be measured by ordinary sentiments, nor sought through common rules. Thus, just as the monks of the Eastern Han came after Liu Xiang had already encountered Indic manuscripts, and King Aśoka's stūpas appeared when the Qin dynasty already possessed divine images. The Shi Lao zhi states: 'The learning of the Śākya clan was heard of in the Western Han. In the Yuanshou era of Emperor Wu, Huo Qubing captured the golden man of King Kunye; the Emperor regarded it as a great deity and arranged it in the Ganquan Palace, burning incense and bowing in worship. This was the beginning of the transmission of the Buddha-Dharma.' When the Western Regions were opened, Zhang Qian was sent as an envoy to Bactria, and on his return reported that in Shendu [India] there was the teaching of the Buddha. In the Yuanshou era of Emperor Ai, Jing Xian went to the Yuezhi and received the Buddha's scriptures by oral instruction. However, at that time faith was not yet deep and the Way was not yet widely practiced, like the first waters of the great Yangtze River, or the tip of a sprout of a giant tree. Now we take the reign of Emperor Ming of the Han, when the two śramaṇas brought the Sūtra in Forty-Two Sections and an image painted on white cotton, as the beginning. Furthermore, as in the Gantong zhuan, King Mu of the Zhou built Ling'an Monastery, and the stone flower of Yongzhou supported King Aśoka's stūpa—could these not have preceded the Eastern Han? These are matters that thought cannot fathom and discourse cannot reach, and may be left out of account. Now, relying on historical traces that can be conceived and discussed, we take Yongping as the beginning.