出三藏記集 14.14

14.14

Saṃghavarman, rendered in Qi as Seng'ai ("Armor of the Saṃgha"), was a native of Tianzhu. He renounced worldly life in his youth, and was pure, rigorous, and endowed with the virtue of the precepts. He clearly understood the Vinaya Piṭaka and was especially adept in the Za xin. In the tenth year of the Yuanjia era of the Song, he walked across the drifting sands to the capital. His deportment was magnificent and solemn; monks and laypeople respected and marveled at him, all venerating and serving him, and dubbed him Tripiṭaka Dharma Master. Formerly, in the first year of the Jingping era, Xu Sang, Magistrate of Pinglu, gave up his residence to build a monastery, which was consequently named Pinglu Monastery. Later, Huiguan of Daochang, considering that Saṃghavarman's practice of the Way was pure and complete, invited him to reside in this monastery and elevated his offerings to manifest his virtue. Saṃghavarman and Huiguan added three stories to the stūpa, walking the path and chanting day and night without cease. The monastic community gathered, and the transformation of the Way spread abroad. Earlier, the Tripiṭaka Dharma Master [Guṇavarman] was profoundly versed in the grades of precepts and had intended to re-administer the full ordination to the nun Huiguo and others of Yingfu Monastery. At that time the dual saṃgha was not complete, and the Tripiṭaka Master passed away. Soon after, the bhikṣuṇī Tessarā and others from the Lion Country arrived at the capital. The assembly thereupon jointly requested Saṃghavarman to serve as their master to continue the Tripiṭaka Master's work. Huiyi of Zhihuan stubbornly held a differing view, and debate went back and forth. Saṃghavarman expounded the tenets and clarified the Dharma, his reasoning clear and fair. Huiyi thereupon abandoned his rigidity and narrowness, yielding in full admiration; he led his disciples to follow and receive the precepts from him, and several hundred monks and nuns were ordained. Yikang, Prince of Pengcheng of the Song, revered his standard of vinaya and broadly provided vegetarian feasts, so that the fourfold assembly flourished and filled the capital. Soon after, the renowned and virtuous senior monk Huiguan and others, knowing that Saṃghavarman possessed a marvelous understanding of the Za xin and could chant it fluently, convened scholars in the ninth month of that year at Changgan Monastery, with Baoyun translating the spoken words and Master Huiguan acting as scribal recorder. They examined and collated it thoroughly, taking a full year to complete it. Subsequently he translated the Mātṛkā, the Brief Exhortation to Kings with Essential Verses on Distinguishing Karmic Retribution, and the Text on Inviting Holy Monks to Bathe, totaling four works. Saṃghavarman made wandering and converting his purpose, never lingering in one place. Once his translation of the sūtras was complete, he wished to return to his home country. The assembly all begged him to stay, but none could detain him. In the middle of the Yuanjia era, he returned abroad aboard a ship of merchants from the Western Regions; his end is not known.