出三藏記集 9.36

9.36

The Record of the Madhyama-āgama states: In the past, the Dharma Master Shi [Dao'an] produced at Chang'an the Madhyama-āgama, Ekottarika[-āgama], the Great Exposition of Abhidharma, Saṅgharakṣa, the Abhidharma-hṛdaya, Vasumitra, the Tridharmaka, and the Pratimokṣa for the Two Assemblies. These sūtras and vinayas amounted to more than a million words in all, but they often contravened the original, lost the purport, and the terms did not correspond to the reality; relying on vague expressions, the phrasing and nuance were also flawed. This was truly because the translators were rushed and not yet well-versed in the language of Jin, which caused it to be so. It happened that Yan and Qin engaged in war, and the Guanzhong region was thrown into great chaos. Thereupon, the fine master passed away, and thus there was no opportunity to correct them. Several years passed until the region east of the passes had a slight peace. The Ji Prefecture cleric Shi Fahe and the Kapiśa śramaṇa Saṅghadeva gathered disciples and traveled together to the city of Luoyang. In the course of four or five years of study and lecturing, they attained mastery, and the man gradually came to understand the Chinese language; only then did they realize the previous errors. Thereupon, Fahe regretted the past errors, and immediately, together with Saṅghadeva, re-translated the Abhidharma and the Great Exposition. From this time on, these sūtras and vinayas were gradually all translated correctly; only the Madhyama-āgama, Saṅgharakṣa, Vasumitra, and the Pratimokṣa had not yet been re-translated. It happened that Saṅghadeva traveled further to the capital, answering the call to spread the teachings and bestow the Dharma gifts south of the Yangtze. At that time, the Great Elder of the Jin state, Prefect of the Masters of Writing, General of the Guard, Marquis of Dongting, and upāsaka Wang Yuanlin, who constantly took the protection and upholding of the true Dharma as his own duty, served as the dānapati. For the purpose of translating sūtras, he established a monastery and invited some forty doctrinal śramaṇas of virtue, such as Shi Huichi, providing them with all necessary comforts and the four requisites without lack. Moreover, he previously invited the sūtra master Saṅgharakṣa, maintaining support for him for several years. Only then, on the tenth day of the eleventh month in the dingyou year, the first year of Long'an of the Jin, in the Jiankang county boundaries of Danyang commandery in Yang Prefecture, within his monastery, did they re-translate this Madhyama-āgama. They invited the Kapiśa śramaṇa Saṅgharakṣa to expound the Hu text, and invited Saṅghadeva to translate from Hu into Jin. The Yu Prefecture śramaṇa Daoci served as the scribal recorder, and Li Bao and Tang Hua of the state of Wu wrote it down together. By the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month in the wuxu year, the following second year, the rough draft was first finished. This Madhyama-āgama has five recitations in all, comprising eighteen chapters and two hundred and twenty-two sūtras, totaling 514,825 characters, divided into sixty fascicles. At that time, encountering a great crisis in the state, it was not immediately copied as a fair text; only by the xinchou year, the fifth year, could it finally be properly copied, collated, and circulated. This translator's rendering differed greatly when compared with the earlier translation. Among these two hundred and twenty-two sūtras, if one were to submissively follow [the old], one feared losing the holy purport; if one followed the original to establish the terminology, many terms differed from the old, thus running contrary to previous familiarity and displeasing the public sentiment. For this reason, the translator could not act on his own authority, and occasionally altered the text to follow the old terms. Yet, among the differences and similarities of the five divisions, who knows which is correct? In my, Daoci's, humble opinion, I felt vexed at contravening the original; therefore, all the altered names have been extracted and annotated below them. Preserving both the new and old, they form a separate fascicle connected to the catalogue, to show to those who come after, so that future worthies will know the similarities and differences and can investigate further; should they happen to meet an eminent foreigner who is skilled in both Jin and the Fan regional languages, they may consult on its successes and failures, and edit it to accord with correctness.