出三藏記集 15.14

15.14

Shi Faxian was originally of the Gong family and hailed from Wuyang in Pingyang. His three elder brothers had all died in childhood, and his father, fearing that misfortune would befall him as well, had him ordained as a śrāmaṇera at the age of three. He remained at home for several years until he fell critically ill and was on the brink of death. He was then sent back to the monastery, where after two nights he recovered. He was no longer willing to return home. His mother wished to see him but could not, so she built a small hut outside the monastery gate to await his comings and goings. At the age of ten, he suffered the loss of his father. His uncle, considering his mother widowed and unable to support herself, pressured him to return to secular life. Faxian said, 'I did not leave home because of my father; it was simply that I wished to distance myself from the dust of the world and depart from mundane life that I entered the Path.' His uncle admired his words and desisted. Soon after, his mother passed away. His filial devotion was beyond the ordinary; when the funeral rites were completed, he immediately returned to the monastery. Once, when he and several dozen fellow students were reaping rice in the fields, famished bandits arrived intent on seizing their grain. The other novices all fled, but Faxian alone stayed behind and addressed the bandits, saying, 'If you need grain, take as much as you wish. But it is only because you failed to practice giving in the past that you suffer hunger and poverty in this life. If you rob others now, I fear your suffering in future lives will be all the worse. A poor monk worries for you in advance; that is why I speak to you.' When he finished speaking, he returned [to the monastery]. The bandits abandoned the grain and departed, and the community of hundreds of monks was filled with admiration. At twenty, he took the full precepts. His will and conduct were spotless, and his monastic decorum was rigorous and dignified. Constantly lamenting the defects and omissions in the texts of sūtras and vinaya, he vowed to search for them. In the third year of the Long'an era of the Jin dynasty, together with his fellow students Huijing, Daozheng, Huiying, Huiwei, and others, he set out from Chang'an and crossed the desert sands to the west. Above there were no flying birds, below no wandering beasts; looking in all directions, boundless waste, none knew where to turn. They could only look to the sun to gauge east and west, and rely on human bones to mark the trail. Again and again hot winds and evil spirits arose; whoever encountered them surely died. Entrusting his fate to circumstance, Faxian pushed straight through the perils and hardships, and before long reached the Congling (Pamir) Mountains. Snow accumulated there in winter and summer alike; evil dragons spewed poisonous winds, rain, sand, and gravel. The mountain paths were precarious and steep, sheer cliffs rising thousands of fathoms. Ancient travelers had carved out rock to make paths, setting up wooden ladders alongside; altogether they climbed more than seven hundred flights of ladders, and crossed rivers by traversing suspended ropes at ten places. They then crossed the Little Snow Mountains, where a freezing gale suddenly arose. Huijing shook with cold and could go no further, and said to Faxian, 'I am about to die. You must go on in time; do not let us both perish.' His words ceased and he expired. Caressing him, Faxian wept aloud, crying, 'That our original design should fail—it is fate! What can be done?' He then mustered his strength to travel on alone. He successfully negotiated the perilous mountains, having passed through more than thirty countries in all, and arrived in North India. More than thirty li before reaching Rājagṛha, there was a monastery, where he stopped as dusk was gathering. The next morning, Faxian wished to visit Gṛdhrakūṭa (Vulture Peak). The monks of the monastery admonished him, saying, 'The path is treacherous and perilous, and moreover there are many black lions that have repeatedly devoured people. How can you possibly reach it?' Faxian said, 'Having traveled tens of thousands of li with the vow to reach Vulture Peak, could I let the sincere purpose of accumulated years be abandoned now that I have arrived? Though there be perils and hardships, I am not afraid.' None could dissuade him, so they sent two monks to accompany him. When Faxian arrived in the mountains, evening was falling and he wished to lodge there for the night. Filled with fear, the two monks abandoned him and turned back. Faxian remained alone in the mountains, burning incense and prostrating. Deeply moved by the ancient traces, he felt as though he beheld the sacred countenance. By nightfall, three black lions came, crouched before Faxian, licked their lips, and wagged their tails. Faxian chanted sūtras without ceasing and single-mindedly recollected the Buddha. The lions lowered their heads, drooped their tails, and prostrated before Faxian’s feet. Faxian stroked them with his hand and recited an incantation: 'If you wish to harm me, wait until I have finished chanting. If you have come to test me, then you may withdraw.' After a long while, the lions departed. The next morning he started on his return; the path was secluded and dark, choked with tangled brush and crossed by wild beasts, with only a single track to pass through. When he was still over a li away, he suddenly encountered a man of the Way, about ninety years old, whose appearance and coarse robes were plain, yet whose spirit was sharp and lofty. Faxian perceived his noble bearing, yet did not realize he was a spiritual being. Moving forward shortly after, he met a young man of the Way. Faxian asked, 'Who was that elderly man of the Way I just met?' He replied, 'It was the ascetic disciple Mahākāśyapa.' Faxian was filled with sorrowful regret for a long time. Arriving before the mountain cave, a great rock blocked its mouth, so he could not enter. Faxian wept, paid his respects, and departed. Next he reached the country of Kāsī. Within a monastery there was a white-eared dragon who had made a pact with the monks to ensure bountiful harvests throughout the country, all of which proved effective. The śramaṇas built a dragon chamber for it and provided offerings of meritorious food. Whenever the summer retreat ended, the dragon would transform into a small snake with two white ears. The monks all recognized it as the dragon, filled a bronze bowl with curd, and placed it inside. They carried it around from the senior-most monk down to the junior-most, and once it had visited them all, it transformed and vanished; it appeared once each year. Faxian also witnessed this dragon in person. Later, reaching Central India, at the Tianwang Monastery south of King Aśoka's stūpa in Pāṭaliputra, Magadha, he obtained the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya. He also obtained the Sarvāstivāda-vinaya excerpts, the *Miśraka-abhidharma-hṛdaya-sūtra*, the *Vaipulya-nirvāṇa-sūtra*, and other texts. Faxian remained for three years, learning Indian script and Indian speech and copying texts with his own hand. Thereupon, taking the sūtras and images, he boarded a merchant vessel and arrived in the Lion Country (Śrī Laṅka). Of Faxian's ten or so companions, some had remained behind and some had died; seeing only his own shadow, he was constantly gripped by sorrowful grief. Suddenly, before an image of a jade king [Buddha], he saw a merchant make an offering of a white silk fan from the Jin land, and he could not help weeping in sorrow. He stayed there for two years and further obtained the Mahīśāsaka-vinaya, the *Dīrgha-āgama*, the *Saṃyukta-āgama*, and a collection of miscellaneous scriptures, all of which were lacking in the land of Han. Subsequently, he boarded a large merchant ship to return east. There were about two hundred people aboard. They encountered a violent tempest; the ship was damaged and took on water. Terror-stricken, the passengers took miscellaneous goods and cast them overboard. Fearing that the merchants would cast away his sūtras and images, Faxian single-mindedly recollected Avalokiteśvara and took refuge in the monastic assembly of the Han land. The fierce wind blew for thirteen days and nights, carrying the ship to an island, where they repaired it and set out again. The sky was overcast with rain and dark gloom, so that none knew where they were heading; they could only drift with the wind. Had they struck submerged rocks or pirates, not one in ten thousand would have survived. After sailing for ninety days, they reached the country of Yavadvīpa (Java). He remained for five months, and then followed other merchants heading toward Guangzhou. After hoisting sail for over a month, they suddenly encountered a great gale at midnight. The whole ship trembled with fear. The company consulted together and said, 'It is because we carry this śramaṇa that we are driven into this plight; we cannot let the entire company perish for the sake of one man!' They wished to cast him overboard. Faxian's dānapati berated the merchants in a stern voice, saying, 'If you set this śramaṇa ashore, you must set me ashore too! If not, you will have to kill me! The emperors and kings of the Han land revere the Buddha and honor the Saṅgha; when I reach there and report to the king, he will surely punish you!' The merchants looked at one another, pale with fear, and reluctantly desisted. With water and provisions exhausted, they drifted entirely at the whim of the wind and current. Suddenly reaching shore, they saw goosefoot herbs, and from this recognized that it was the land of Han, though they could not tell what region. They immediately boarded a small boat to enter an inlet, and following a village encountered two hunters. Faxian asked, 'What land is this?' The hunters said, 'This is the southern shore of Mount Lao in Changguang Commandery of Qingzhou.' The hunters returned and reported this to the grand administrator Li Yi. Li Yi had long been a devout believer; suddenly hearing of a śramaṇa arriving from afar, he personally welcomed and comforted him. Faxian took his sūtras and images and returned with him. Shortly thereafter, he wished to go south. At that time, the inspector requested that he remain for an extended period, but Faxian said, 'This poor monk cast himself into places of no return out of a determination to propagate the Dharma. Since my aims are not yet accomplished, I cannot remain long.' He then traveled south to the capital and joined the foreign meditation master Buddhabhadra at Daochang Monastery, translating the six-fascicle *Nirvāṇa-sūtra*, the *Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya*, the *Vaipulya-nirvāṇa-sūtra*, the *Sūtra on the Web*, and the *Miśraka-abhidharma-hṛdaya*; those texts not yet translated approached one million words. After Faxian produced the *Great Nirvāṇa-sūtra*, it circulated widely in teaching and conversion, and everyone was made to see and hear it. There was a family whose name is lost, living near the Vermilion Bird Gate, who had generationally revered the correct teaching; they copied a text of it themselves for chanting and offering. Having no separate sūtra room, it was kept in the same chamber as miscellaneous books. Later, wind and fire suddenly broke out and spread to their house; all their goods were destroyed, yet the *Nirvāṇa-sūtra* alone remained solemn and intact, unblemished by embers and ashes, its scroll color unchanged. This was spread abroad throughout the capital, and all proclaimed it miraculous. Later, arriving in Jingzhou, he died at Xin Monastery at the age of eighty-two. The assembly mourned and lamented him. The customs he heard and saw are separately recorded in his travels.