出三藏記集 15.20

15.20

Shi Zhimeng was a native of Xinfeng County in Jingzhao Commandery, Yongzhou. By nature upright and discerning, he polished his conduct with purity. In his youth he donned the Dharma robes, pursuing his studies with dedicated focus, his chanting continuing by day and into the night. Whenever he saw foreign monastics speak of Śākyamuni's relics and sites, and heard that the Vaipulya scriptures were dispersed throughout the Western Regions, he was consistently stirred with feeling and sent his thoughts racing to far-off lands, believing that ten thousand miles were like a foot away and a thousand years could be overtaken. Consequently, in the wuchen year, the sixth year of the Hongshi era of the illegitimate Qin, he gathered fifteen like-minded śramaṇas and set out from Chang'an. Crossing rivers and following valleys through thirty-six fords, they reached the city of Liangzhou. Then, heading west through Yangguan, they entered the shifting sands. For more than two thousand li there was neither water nor grass; travelers were entirely cut off. In winter the cold was severe, and in summer pestilential heat prevailed. Dead bodies piled up their bones to mark the trail; camels carried rations through utmost hardship and peril. They subsequently passed through various realms such as Shanshan, Kucha, and Khotan, observing customs everywhere. Going two thousand li southwest from Khotan, they began to ascend the Pamir Mountains (Congling), where nine companions turned back. Zhimeng then proceeded more than one thousand seven hundred li to the realm of Bolun. They crossed snow-capped mountains three times; the sheer ice cliffs were brilliantly white, rising hundreds of thousands of spans high. Flying ropes served as bridges, and they crossed riding over the void: looking down one could not see the bottom, and looking up one could not see the sky. The bitter cold was atrocious; shadows trembled and souls shuddered. It was a place neither Zhang Qian nor Gan Ying of the Han dynasty had ever reached. Moving south again for a thousand li, they reached the realm of Kapiśa and crossed the Sindhu River a second time. The snow mountains stood like sheer walls, far worse than before. Below, pestilential vapours were abundant, and ferocious demons blocked the way, causing many travelers to die. Zhimeng's sincerity penetrated unseen realms, allowing him to tread dangers and achieve passage. When he arrived at the city of Kapiśa, five hundred arhats constantly dwelt in this realm, regularly traveling back and forth to Lake Anavatapta. A venerable arhat, seeing Zhimeng arrive and dwell there, rejoiced and praised him. Zhimeng inquired about the land, and the arhat recounted for him the matters of the four Sons of Heaven, all detailed in his biography. Earlier, in the realm of Qisha, Zhimeng had seen the Buddha's patterned stone spittoon; also, in this realm, he saw the Buddha's alms bowl, whose radiance was deep lapis-blue and shone brilliantly on all four sides. Zhimeng made offerings with flowers and incense, carried it upon his head, and made a vow. The bowl responded accordingly, able to become light or heavy: it then grew heavier until his strength could no longer bear it, yet when he placed it back down upon the table, he did not feel it heavy at all. Such was the response to his religious mind. Proceeding southwest for one thousand three hundred li, he reached the realm of Kapilavastu (Jialuowei), where he saw the Buddha's hair, the Buddha's tooth, the uṣṇīṣa-bone, the Buddha's shadow, and the Buddha's footprints, all splendidly preserved. He also beheld the resolute grove of Nirvāṇa (śāla trees) and the bodhi tree where Māra was vanquished. Zhimeng's mind was filled with joy within, and he provided offerings for a day, also covering the statue of Māra's defeat with a jewelled canopy and great robes. The marvelous transformations he witnessed during his travels, and the matters of the heavenly stairs and the dragon lake, were beyond counting. Later he reached Pāṭaliputra, the old capital of King Aśoka. There was a brāhmaṇa of great wisdom named Luoyuezong, whose entire clan propagated the Dharma and whom the king revered; he had made a stupa of pure silver thirty feet tall. The śramaṇa Faxian had earlier obtained the six-fascicle Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] at his home. When he met Zhimeng, he asked: 'Is there study of the Mahāyāna in the land of Qin?' Zhimeng replied: 'All study the Mahāyāna.' Luoyuezong was astonished and exclaimed: 'Rare indeed! Rare indeed! Could it be that bodhisattvas have gone to transform them?' Zhimeng obtained one Hu manuscript of the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] at his home, and further found one manuscript of the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya and Hu manuscripts of other scriptures, vowing to disseminate them. Thereupon he returned. Setting out from Tianzhu in the jiazi year, four fellow monks died on the way; only Zhimeng and Tancuan returned together to Liangzhou. They translated the Nirvāṇa original, producing twenty fascicles. In the fourteenth year of the Yuanjia era, he entered Shu. On the seventh day of the seventh month in the sixteenth year, he composed his biography at Dinglin Monastery on Mount Zhong. Zhimeng died at the end of the Yuanjia era.