出三藏記集 13.4

13.4

安清。字世高。安息國王政后之太子也。幼懷淳孝敬養竭誠。惻隱之仁爰及蠢類。其動言立行若踐規矩焉。加以志業聰敏刻意好學。外國典籍莫不該貫。七曜五行之象。風角雲物之占。推步盈縮悉窮其變。兼洞曉醫術妙善鍼䘑。覩色知病投藥必濟。乃至鳥獸鳴呼聞聲知心。於是俊異之名被於西域。遠近隣國咸敬而偉之。世高雖在居家。而奉戒精峻。講集法施與時相續。後王薨將嗣國位。乃深惟苦空厭離名器。行服既畢。遂讓國與叔。出家修道博綜經藏。尤精阿毘曇學。諷持禪經。略盡其妙既而遊方弘化遍歷諸國。以漢桓帝之初。始到中夏。世高才悟幾敏一聞能達。至止未久。即通習華語。於是宣譯眾經改胡為漢。出安般守意陰持入經大小十二門及百六十品等。初外國三藏眾護撰述經要為二十七章。世高乃剖析護所集七章。譯為漢文。即道地經也。其先後所出經。凡四十五部。義理明析文字允正。辯而不華質而不野。凡在讀者。皆斖斖而不惓焉。世高窮理盡性自識宿緣。多有神跡世莫能量。初世高自稱。先身已經為安息王子。與其國中。長者子俱共出家。分衛之時施主不稱同學輒怒。世高屢加呵責。同學悔謝而猶不悛改。如此二十餘年。乃與同學辭訣云。我當往廣州畢宿世之對。卿明經精進不在吾後。而性多恚怒。命過當受惡形。我若得道必當相度。既而遂適廣州值寇賊大亂。行路逢一少年。唾手拔刀曰。真得汝矣。世高笑曰。我宿命負卿。故遠來相償。卿之忿怒故是前世時意也。遂申頸受刃容無懼色。賊遂殺之。觀者填路。莫不駭其奇異。既而神識還為安息王太子。即名世高時身也。世高遊化中國宣經事畢。值靈帝之末關洛擾亂。乃杖錫江南云。我當過廬山度昔同學。行達䢼亭湖廟。此廟舊有靈驗。商旅祈禱乃分風上下。各無留滯。常有乞神竹者。未許輒取。舫即覆沒竹還本處。自是舟人敬憚莫不懾影。世高同𢮱三十餘船。奉牲請福。神乃降祝曰。舫有沙門。可更呼上。客咸共驚愕。請世高入廟。神告世高曰。吾昔在外國。與子俱出家學道。好行布施。而性多瞋怒。今為䢼亭湖神。周迴千里並吾所統。以布施故珍玩無數。以瞋恚故墮此神中。今見同學悲欣可言。壽盡旦夕而醜形長大。若於此捨命穢污江湖。當度山西空澤中也。此身滅恐墮地獄。吾有絹千匹并雜寶物。可為我立塔營法使生善處也。世高曰。故來相度。何不見形。神曰。形甚醜異。眾人必懼。世高曰。但出。眾不怪也。神從床後出頭。乃是大蟒蛇。至世高膝邊。淚落如雨。不知尾之長短。世高向之胡語。傍人莫解。蟒便還隱。世高即取絹物辭別而去。舟侶颺帆。神復出蟒身。登山頂而望眾人。舉手然後乃滅。倏忽之頃便達豫章。即以廟物造立東寺。世高去後。神即命過。暮有一少年上船。長跪世高前。受其呪願。忽然不見。世高謂船人曰。向之少年。即䢼亭廟神。得離惡形矣。於是廟神歇沒。無復靈驗。後人於西山澤中見一死蟒。頭尾相去數里。今尋陽郡蛇村。是其處也。於是頃到廣州。尋其前世害己少年。時少年尚在。年已六十餘。世高徑投其家。共說昔日償對時事。并敘宿緣歡喜相向云。吾猶有餘報。今當往會稽畢對。廣州客深悟世高非凡。豁然意解追悔前愆。厚相資供。乃隨世高東行。遂達會稽。至便入市。正值市有鬪者。亂相歐擊誤中世高。應時命終。廣州客頻驗二報。遂精懃佛法。具說事緣。遠近聞知莫不悲歎。明三世之有徵也。高本既王種。名高外國。所以西方賓旅猶呼安侯。至今為號焉。天竺國自稱。書為天書。語為天語。音訓詭蹇與漢殊異。先後傳譯多致謬濫。唯世高出經為群譯之首。安公以為若及面稟不異見聖。列代明德。咸讚而思焉。

An Qing, courtesy name Shigao, was the crown prince of the primary queen of the king of Parthia (Anxi). From his youth he harbored genuine filial piety, showing utmost sincerity in respecting and nurturing [his parents]. His compassionate benevolence extended even to the crawling creatures, and his every movement, word, and act of conduct were as if conforming to a compass and square. Moreover, in his aspirations and endeavors he was intelligent and quick-witted, earnestly dedicated to learning. Of the foreign texts and records, there were none he did not comprehensively master. The signs of the seven luminaries and five phases, divination by the wind's direction (fengjiao) and cloud formations, the calculations of astronomy, waxing and waning—he thoroughly explored all their permutations. In addition, he was deeply versed in medicine, marvellously adept at acupuncture and pulse diagnosis; looking at a complexion he knew the illness, and when he administered medicine it was certain to cure. He even went so far as to know the minds of birds and beasts upon hearing their calls. Thereupon his fame as an extraordinary talent spread throughout the Western Regions, and neighboring states near and far all revered and extolled him. Although Shigao remained in lay life, he observed the precepts with meticulous austerity, continually delivering discourses and offering the gift of the Dharma. Later, upon the king's demise, he was about to succeed to the throne. He then deeply contemplated suffering and emptiness, becoming weary of fame and high position. Once the mourning observances were completed, he yielded the state to his uncle, left household life to cultivate the Way, broadly synthesized the scriptural canon, and was especially adept in abhidharma studies, chanting and upholding meditation scriptures and thoroughly grasping their subtleties. Thereafter, he traveled abroad to propagate and transform, passing through various countries. At the beginning of the reign of Emperor Huan of the Han, he first arrived in the Central Land. Shigao's natural acumen was discerning and acute: hearing a thing once, he could master it. Not long after his arrival, he attained complete fluency in the Chinese language. Thereupon he translated numerous scriptures, rendering the Hu into Han [Chinese]. He translated the Anban shouyi jing (Ānāpānasmṛti-sūtra), Yinchiru jing (Skandha-dhātv-āyatana-sūtra), the larger and smaller Twelve Gates, and One Hundred and Sixty Chapters, among others. Earlier, the foreign tripiṭaka master Saṅgharakṣa compiled an epitome of scriptures in twenty-seven chapters; Shigao analyzed seven chapters compiled by Saṅgharakṣa and translated them into Chinese, which is the Daodi jing (Yogācārabhūmi). In all, the scriptures he translated earlier and later amounted to forty-five works. Their doctrinal principles are clear and analytical, the wording accurate and correct, eloquent without being florid, plain without being rustic. All who read them do so untiringly and with zeal. Shigao thoroughly investigated principles and exhausted nature, knowing of himself his past karmic connections; he had many supernatural occurrences that the world could not fathom. Shigao initially recounted of himself that in a past life he had already been a Parthian prince and had left household life together with the son of an elder of that country. When begging for alms, if a donor did not give according to [the fellow-student's] wishes, the fellow-student would immediately become enraged. Shigao repeatedly rebuked him; the fellow-student apologized in repentance, yet still did not mend his ways. After more than twenty years like this, Shigao bid farewell to the fellow-student, saying: 'I must go to Guangzhou to settle a retribution from a past life. You are not behind me in understanding scriptures and vigorous progress, yet by nature you are given to wrath; after passing away, you will receive an evil rebirth form. If I attain the Way, I will certainly deliver you.' Thereafter, he went to Guangzhou, where he encountered a great rebellion by bandits. Walking along the road, he met a youth who spat on his hands, drew a sword, and said: 'I have truly caught you!' Shigao smiled and said: 'In a past life I owed you a debt, and therefore I have come from afar to repay it. Your fury is precisely the intention from that former life.' He then stretched out his neck to receive the blade, without any look of fear on his countenance. The bandit then killed him. Those who watched filled the road, and none were not astounded by this extraordinary event. Thereafter, his consciousness returned to become the crown prince of Parthia, which was Shigao's present incarnation. After Shigao had completed his traveling, transforming, and translating scriptures in China, he encountered the turmoil in Guanzhong and Luoyang at the end of Emperor Ling's reign. He then leaned upon his tin staff and headed south of the Yangzi, saying: 'I shall pass by Mount Lu to deliver my former fellow-student.' On his journey, he reached the shrine at Lake Gongting. This shrine had long possessed divine efficacy; when merchant travelers prayed, the wind would split to blow both upstream and downstream, none suffering delay. There was once someone who begged for the deity's bamboo; before permission was granted, he took it, whereupon his boat immediately capsized and the bamboo returned to its original place. From then on, boatmen feared and respected the deity, none failing to tremble before its shadow. Shigao traveled alongside more than thirty boats, and they offered animal sacrifices to pray for blessings. The spirit then descended through the medium, saying: 'There is a śramaṇa on the boats; you may summon him to come up.' The guests were all alarmed and invited Shigao into the shrine. The deity said to Shigao: 'In the past in a foreign land, I left household life together with you to study the Way. I took pleasure in practicing giving, but by nature was prone to anger. Now I am the deity of Lake Gongting, and the surrounding thousand li are all under my control. Because of giving, I have countless treasures and curios; because of anger, I fell into this spirit form. Seeing my fellow-student now, how can my sorrow and joy be told? My lifespan will end any day, yet my ugly form is long and vast. If I cast off my life here, it would pollute the rivers and lakes; I must cross to the empty marsh west of the mountain. Fearing that when this body perishes I may fall into hell, I have a thousand bolts of silk together with various treasures; you may erect a stūpa and conduct Dharma affairs on my behalf, so that I may be born in a good place.' Shigao said: 'I came specifically to deliver you. Why do you not show your form?' The deity said: 'My form is extremely grotesque; the multitude will surely be frightened.' Shigao said: 'Just come out; the crowd will not think it strange.' The spirit put forth its head from behind the couch—it was a great python. Coming beside Shigao's knees, its tears fell like rain; the length of its tail was unknown. Shigao spoke to it in the Hu language, which those beside could not understand. The python then withdrew into hiding. Shigao immediately took the silk and goods, bid farewell, and departed. When the boat travelers hoisted sail, the deity put forth its python body once again, ascended the mountain peak, and gazed toward the multitude; after they raised their hands [in farewell], it vanished. In an instant, they reached Yuzhang, where he immediately used the shrine's goods to establish the Eastern Monastery (Dongsi). After Shigao departed, the spirit expired. In the evening, a youth came aboard the boat, knelt long before Shigao, received his recitation of blessings (cuoyu), and suddenly disappeared. Shigao said to the boatmen: 'The youth just now was the deity of Gongting Shrine; he has succeeded in escaping his evil form.' Thereupon the shrine deity's manifestations ceased and it had no further efficacy. Later, people found a dead python in the marshes of the western mountain, its head and tail several li apart; Snake Village in present-day Xunyang Commandery is that place. Thereupon, [Shigao] went to Guangzhou to search for the youth who had killed him in his previous life. At that time, the youth was still alive, already over sixty years of age. Shigao went straight to his house, spoke with him about what had happened when settling the retribution in the past, and recounted their karmic ties, facing each other with joy. He said: 'I still have a remnant of retribution; now I must go to Kuaiji to settle it.' The guest from Guangzhou deeply realized that Shigao was no ordinary man, had an open awakening of mind, repented his former transgressions, and richly provided him with provisions. He then followed Shigao eastward, eventually arriving in Kuaiji. Upon arrival, he entered the marketplace. Just then, people were brawling in the marketplace; striking wildly in the fray, they mistakenly hit Shigao, and he died on the spot. Having repeatedly witnessed the two retributions, the guest from Guangzhou then vigorously applied himself to the Buddha's Dharma, related the events and circumstances in full detail, and none who heard of it far and wide failed to lament in sorrow, showing clearly that the three times have their proofs. As Shigao was originally of royal lineage and his fame was high in foreign lands, traveling guests from the western regions still called him Marquis An (Anhou), which remains an epithet down to the present. The state of Tianzhu refers to its own writing as divine writing and its speech as divine speech; its pronunciation and syntax are intricate and difficult, vastly different from Han [Chinese]. Translations handed down successively have often led to errors and confusion; only Shigao's scriptural translations stand at the head of all translations. Master Dao'an considered that to have personally received teachings from him would have been no different from seeing a sage. Eminent and virtuous men of successive generations have all praised and longed for him.