出三藏記集 14.6

14.6

佛陀耶舍。齊言覺明。罽賓人也。婆羅門種。世事外道。有一沙門。從其家乞。其父怒令人歐之。遂手脚攣躄不能行止。乃問於巫師。對曰。坐犯賢人。鬼神使然也。即請此沙門竭誠悔過。數日便瘳。因令耶舍出家為其弟子。時年十三。常隨師遠行。於曠野逢虎。師欲走避。耶舍曰。此虎已飽必不侵人。俄而虎去。前行果見餘肉。師密異之。至年十五。誦經日得五六萬言。所住寺常於外分衛廢於誦習。有一羅漢。重其聰敏恒乞食供之。十九誦大小乘經二百餘萬言。然性簡慠。頗以知見自處。謂少堪己師。故不為諸僧所重。但美儀止善談笑。見者忘其深恨。年及受戒莫為臨壇。所以向立之歲猶為沙彌。乃從其舅學五明諸論。世間法術多所通習。二十七方受具戒。以讀誦為務。手不釋牒。每端坐思義不覺虛中而過。其專精如此。後至沙勒國。時太子達摩弗多。齊言法子。見其容貌端雅問所從來。耶舍詶對清辯。太子悅之。仍請宮內供養。待遇隆厚。羅什後至從其受學阿毘曇十誦律。甚相尊敬。什隨母東歸。耶舍留止。頃之王薨。太子即位。王孫為太子。時符堅遣呂光攻龜茲。龜茲王急求救於沙勒王。自率兵救之。使耶舍留輔太子。委以後任。救軍未至而龜茲已敗。王歸具說羅什為光所執。乃歎曰。我與羅什相遇雖久未盡懷抱。其忽羈虜。相見何期。停十餘年。王薨。因至龜茲。法化甚盛。時什在姑臧。遣信要之。裹糧欲去。國人請留。復停歲餘。語弟子云吾欲尋羅什。可密裝夜發。勿使人知。弟子曰。恐明旦追至不免復還耳。耶舍乃取清水一鉢。以藥投中。呪數十言。與弟子洗足。即便夜發。比至旦行數百里。問弟子曰。何所覺耶。答曰。唯聞疾風之響。眼中淚出耳。耶舍又與呪水洗足住息。明旦國人追之。已差數百里不及。行達姑臧。而什已入長安。聞姚興逼以妾媵勸為非法。乃歎曰。羅什如好綿。何可使入棘中乎。什聞其至姑臧。勸興迎之。興不納。頃之命什譯出經藏。什曰。夫弘宣法教宜令文義圓通。貧道雖通其文未善其理。唯佛陀耶舍深達經致。今在姑臧。願下詔徵之。一言三詳。然後著筆。使微言不墜。取信千載也。興從之。即遣使招迎厚加贈遺。悉不受。乃笑曰。明旨既降。便應載馳。檀越待士既厚。脫如羅什見處。則未敢聞命。使還。興歎其機慎重信敦喻。方至長安。興自出候問。別立新省。於逍遙園四事供養。並不受。至時分衛一食而已。于時羅什出十住經。一月餘日。疑難猶豫尚未操筆。耶舍既至。共相徵決。辭理方定。道俗三千餘人皆歎其賞要。為人髭赤。善解毘婆沙。故時人號曰赤髭毘婆沙。既為羅什之師。亦稱大毘婆沙。四輩供養。衣鉢供具滿三間屋。不以關心。興為貨之。於城南造僧伽藍。耶舍先誦曇無德律。偽司隷挍尉姚爽。請令出之。姚興疑其遺謬。乃試耶舍令誦民籍藥方各四十餘紙。三日乃執文覆之。不誤一字。眾服其強記。即以弘始十二年。譯出為四十卷。并出長阿含經。減百萬言。涼州沙門竺佛念譯為秦言。道含執筆。至十五年解坐。興嚫耶舍布絹萬疋。不受。佛念道含布絹各千疋。名德沙門五百人皆重嚫施。耶舍後還外國。至罽賓。尋得虛空藏經一卷。寄賈客傳與涼州諸僧。後不知所終。

Buddhayaśas—translated into the language of Qi as Jueming ('Awakened Brightness')—was a native of Kapiśa. He was of the brāhmaṇa caste, whose family had served non-Buddhist traditions for generations. Once, a śramaṇa came begging at his house. His father was enraged and had someone beat the monk, whereupon his own hands and feet became crippled and he was unable to walk. He then inquired of a spirit medium, who replied: 'Because you offended a worthy person, spirits and ghosts have caused this.' He immediately invited the śramaṇa back, repented with utmost sincerity, and in a few days was healed. He therefore sent Yaśas to leave home and become the monk's disciple, being then thirteen years of age. He often accompanied his master on long journeys. In an open wilderness they encountered a tiger; his master wished to run and hide, but Yaśas said: 'This tiger has already eaten its fill and will surely not harm anyone.' Shortly after, the tiger left, and walking ahead they indeed saw the leftover meat. His master secretly marvelled at him. By the age of fifteen, he could recite fifty to sixty thousand words of sūtras daily. At the monastery where he resided, going out to beg for alms often disrupted his recitations and studies. An arhat, prizing his sharp intellect, constantly went begging food to support him. At nineteen, he had memorised over two million words of both Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna sūtras. Yet by nature he was aloof and haughty, placing great store in his own knowledge and views, and believing that few were fit to be his teacher; thus he was not held in high regard by the monks. However, he had graceful deportment and excelled in pleasant conversation, so that whoever met him forgot their deep resentment. When he reached the age for full ordination, no one would preside at the altar for him; thus as he approached the age of thirty he was still a śrāmaṇera. He then studied the treatises on the five sciences from his maternal uncle and became well-versed in many worldly arts and methods. At twenty-seven he finally received full ordination. He made reading and recitation his duty, never letting texts leave his hands. Whenever he sat upright contemplating the meaning, he would not notice that noon had passed without eating; such was his dedicated focus. Later he arrived in the kingdom of Kashgar. At that time, the crown prince Dharmaputra—translated into the language of Qi as Fazi ('Dharma-son')—saw his dignified and elegant appearance and asked where he had come from. Yaśas replied with lucid eloquence; the prince was delighted and invited him into the palace to receive offerings, treating him with lavish generosity. When Kumārajīva arrived later, he studied the Abhidharma and the Daśādhyāya-vinaya under him, and they held each other in great respect. When Kumārajīva returned east with his mother, Yaśas stayed behind. Soon afterward the king died, the crown prince ascended the throne, and the king's grandson became crown prince. At that time Fu Jian sent Lü Guang to attack Kucha. In dire need, the king of Kucha sought aid from the king of Kashgar, who led troops in person to relieve him, having Yaśas remain to assist the crown prince and entrusting him with the affairs of state. Before the relieving army arrived, Kucha was already defeated. When the king returned, he recounted in full how Kumārajīva had been captured by Guang. Yaśas sighed and said: 'Though Kumārajīva and I were together for a long time, we had not fully shared our innermost thoughts. Now he is suddenly taken captive; when will we meet again?' He remained there for more than ten years. When the king died, he went on to Kucha, where his teaching of the Dharma flourished greatly. At that time Kumārajīva was in Guzang and sent a messenger to invite him. Yaśas packed provisions intending to leave, but the people of the country pleaded with him to stay, and he remained for another year and more. He said to his disciple: 'I wish to seek out Kumārajīva; we can pack secretly and depart by night without letting anyone know.' The disciple said: 'I fear that by tomorrow morning pursuers will arrive and we will not escape being brought back.' Yaśas then took a bowl of clear water, cast medicine into it, chanted a dhāraṇī of several tens of words, and washed his and his disciple's feet with it; thereupon they set out by night. By daybreak they had travelled several hundred li. He asked his disciple: 'What did you perceive?' The disciple replied: 'I only heard the sound of rushing wind, and tears flowed from my eyes.' Yaśas again washed their feet with empowered water, and they rested. The next morning, pursuers from the country set out, but they were already several hundred li behind and could not overtake them. Travelling onward, he reached Guzang, but Kumārajīva had already entered Chang'an. Hearing that Yao Xing was pressing Kumārajīva to take concubines and urging him to act contrary to the Dharma, he sighed and said: 'Kumārajīva is like fine silk; how can one throw him into briars?' When Kumārajīva heard that he had reached Guzang, he urged Yao Xing to welcome him, but Xing would not listen. Soon after, Xing ordered Kumārajīva to translate the scriptural canon. Kumārajīva said: 'To propagate the Dharma teachings widely, the phrasing and meaning must be thoroughly harmonised. Although I can manage the phrasing, I have not mastered its principles. Only Buddhayaśas deeply grasps the import of the sūtras. He is now in Guzang; I pray you issue an edict to summon him. After scrutinising each word three times, we can then set brush to paper, so that the subtle words do not fall into ruin and will command trust for a thousand years.' Xing complied, immediately sending an envoy to invite him and bestowing lavish gifts. Yaśas accepted none of them and said with a smile: 'Now that the luminous decree has descended, I ought to ride forth swiftly. The dānapati treats scholars with great munificence, but if I were to meet with the same circumstances as Kumārajīva, I would not dare obey the command.' The envoy returned; Xing admired his keen caution and renewed his trust, persuading him with even greater sincerity, whereupon he finally came to Chang'an. Xing went out in person to greet and inquire after him, built a separate new lodging for him, and provided the four requisites of support in the Xiaoyao Garden; but Yaśas accepted none of them, merely going out to beg for food at the proper time to eat a single meal. At that time Kumārajīva was translating the Daśabhūmika-sūtra; for over a month he was beset by doubts and hesitations and had not yet set brush to paper. Once Yaśas arrived, they verified and resolved the questions together, and only then were the phrasing and principles settled. Over three thousand people, both monastic and lay, all praised his discernment of the essentials. As he had a red beard and was adept in understanding the Vibhāṣā, people of the time called him the 'Red-Bearded Vibhāṣā'. Since he was Kumārajīva's master, he was also called the 'Great Vibhāṣā'. Offerings from the four assemblies of monks, nuns, upāsakas, and upāsikās—robes, bowls, and requisites—filled three rooms, yet none caught his attention. Xing sold them on his behalf and built a saṅghārāma south of the city. Yaśas had earlier memorised the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya, and the Illegitimate Qin's Colonel of the Sili Yao Shuang requested that he translate it. Yao Xing suspected he might make omissions or errors, so he tested Yaśas by having him memorise household registers and medicinal recipes, each running to over forty sheets of paper. After three days, holding the texts to check them against his recitation, not a single character was mistaken. The multitude marveled at his prodigious memory. Thus, in the twelfth year of the Hongshi era, he translated it into forty fascicles, and also translated the Dīrgha-āgama, running to just under one million words. The śramaṇa Zhu Fonian of Liangzhou translated it into the language of Qin, and Daohan acted as scribe. In the fifteenth year, upon the conclusion of the summer retreat, Xing presented Yaśas with ten thousand bolts of cloth and silk, which he did not accept; Fonian and Daohan were given one thousand bolts of cloth and silk each, and five hundred eminent, virtuous śramaṇas all received substantial offerings. Later Yaśas returned to the foreign regions. When he reached Kapiśa, he obtained a single fascicle of the Ākāśagarbha-sūtra and sent it via a merchant to the monks of Liangzhou. Later, his ultimate end was unknown.