出三藏記集 14.6

14.6

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.