大唐內典錄 5.17

5.17

聖人利見應籙在期。隋煬末齡天地同閉。鵄張鵲起蟻結蛇盤。人不聊生物無寧止。皇唐勃舉義動天心。四海廓清三寶雲搆。爰初武德之祀。迄今龍朔之元。天下大同四十餘載。高祖創基定業。太宗廓靜方維。今上垂拱巖廊方享無窮之祚度僧立寺廣事弘持翻譯新經備諸史錄總撮略此隨緣廣之。將用傳布未聞龜鏡今古。然則皇運之始天步猶難。薛舉起兵於豳岐。王充擁甲於河洛。東西引寇各擅威雄。自餘偏裨蜂飛蝟峙。國家守本銳意誅除。至於佛理彌隆顧及。故高祖一代仍舊尊崇。至於翻譯未遑銓品。貞觀之始兵荐猶存。玁狁飲馬於渭涇。關輔寄食於樊汴。螟螣布野穀洛侵宮。文帝解網思政日旰忘食。瞻言寺塔務事經營。所以四方壁壘咸置伽藍。立碑表德以光帝業（如破薛舉立昭仁寺。破王充立昭覺寺。破武周立弘濟寺。破宋剛立慈雲寺。破隺老生立普濟寺。破建德立等慈寺。破劉闥立昭福寺。並官給供度佛事弘敞。立碑頌德為萬代之大歸焉）及天下清平思弘仁教。乃捨舊宅為興聖寺。為先妣立弘福寺。為東宮立慈恩寺。於昭陵立瑤臺寺。躬幸弘福手製疏文。垂泣對於僧徒。優言陳於肅敬。每下明勅監造有司。經像締搆畢存精妙。至於老宗鮮聞褒顯。時有波頗梵僧。帝所尊重迎入內殿優問頻仍。翻度新文天府供給。今上之嗣位也。信重逾隆。先皇別宮咸捨為寺。傳度法本更甚由來。有沙門玄奘。觀方遊國還返帝京。二帝欽承徵入宮闕。為制教序布所譯經。官供豐華于今不絕。故爰初貞觀迄於龍朔之年。三十餘祀。傳經道俗沙門。唐梵略有一十餘人。綴文筆受備如下列。所出經論記傳行法等。合一百餘部。一千五百餘卷。結為皇朝內典經錄。流之遠代永作揩摸。同軌光揚長存不朽。冀將來明哲乘此續修述三寶之神功。遍忍土而施化。弘千佛之成教。歷賢劫而無窮焉。

When the sage brings benefit and appears, it accords with the prophetic mandate in due season. At the close of Emperor Yang's reign under the Sui, heaven and earth were as if shuttered. Owls spread their wings and magpies rose; ants formed clusters and serpents coiled. The people had no livelihood to rely upon, and living beings found no peace or respite. The August Tang arose with vigor, its righteous cause moving the heart of Heaven. The four seas were swept clear, and the triratna rose like lofty clouds. From the initial sacrificial year of Wude down to the first year of Longshuo, the realm has been greatly unified for over forty years. Gaozu established the foundation and settled the imperial enterprise; Taizong expanded and pacified the cardinal directions; and the present Emperor lets fall his robes in the imperial halls, enjoying unending fortune, ordaining monks and erecting monasteries, broadly engaging in propagation and support. Newly translated sūtras have been fully recorded in the various historical records, and I now compile them here in brief, expanding upon them as circumstances allow. This shall serve to spread what has not yet been heard, and to act as a mirror for both present and antiquity. Yet at the inception of the imperial fortune, the course of Heaven was still beset with difficulties. Xue Ju raised troops in Bin and Qi; Wang Shichong assembled armored hosts in the Yellow River and Luo regions. Drawing foes from east and west, each held tyrannical sway; beyond them, petty commanders swarmed like bees and bristled like hedgehogs. The state safeguarded its root and concentrated its resolve on punitive destruction; hence it was not yet able to attend to the further elevation of Buddhist principles. Thus, throughout Gaozu's reign, the court continued to venerate [the religion] as of old, but had not the leisure to evaluate and catalog translations. In the beginning of the Zhenguan era, remnants of warfare still lingered. The Xianyun watered their horses in the Wei and Jing rivers; the capital regions sought sustenance in Fan and Bian. Locusts covered the wilderness, and the Luo river flooded the palace. The Civil Emperor (Taizong) opened the nets and contemplated governance, forgetting his meals as the sun sank late. Reflecting upon monasteries and stupas, he applied himself to their construction. Thus, garrisons in all four quarters were all converted into monasteries, and stelae were erected to manifest virtue so as to glorify the imperial enterprise. (For instance, upon crushing Xue Ju he established Zhaoren Si; upon crushing Wang Shichong he established Zhaojue Si; upon crushing Liu Wuzhou he established Hongji Si; upon crushing Song Gang he established Ciyun Si; upon crushing Song Laosheng he established Puji Si; upon crushing Dou Jiande he established Dengci Si; upon crushing Liu Heita he established Zhaofu Si. All were provided with official offerings and ordinations, and Buddhist ceremonies were performed magnificently. Stelae were erected praising virtue to serve as a great sanctuary for ten thousand generations.) When the realm became peaceful and clear, he contemplated propagating the benevolent teaching: he thereupon donated his old residence to become Xingsheng Si, erected Hongfu Si for his late mother, established Ci'en Si for the Crown Prince, and founded Yaotai Si at Zhaoling. He personally visited Hongfu Si and composed the memorial text with his own hand; shedding tears before the assembly of monks, he delivered gracious words with solemn respect. Whenever he issued clear edicts overseeing construction through the relevant officials, the completion of sūtras and images was invariably exquisite. As for the ancestral teachings of Laozi, praise and prominence were seldom heard. At that time, there was the Indian monk Prabhākaramitra, whom the Emperor deeply honored, welcoming him into the inner palace and repeatedly inquiring after him with favor. Newly translated texts were supplied by the imperial treasury. When the present Emperor succeeded to the throne, his faith and veneration became even more profound. The secondary palaces of the late emperor were all donated to become monasteries, and the transmission and translation of the Dharma texts flourished far more than ever before. There was the śramaṇa Xuanzang, who observed the regions, traveled abroad, and returned to the imperial capital. The two emperors respectfully received him and summoned him into the palace; they composed prefaces to the teachings for him, disseminating the sūtras he translated. Official provisions have been rich and magnificent down to the present day without cessation. Thus, from the beginning of the Zhenguan era down to the years of Longshuo, over a span of more than thirty years, there were roughly more than ten masters, lay and clerical, śramaṇas of China and India, who transmitted the sūtras. Those who collated texts and took down translations with brush are fully listed below. The sūtras, śāstras, records, biographies, liturgies, and so forth produced by them total more than one hundred works in more than 1,500 fascicles. These are compiled as the Catalogue of Buddhist Scriptures of the August Dynasty, to be transmitted to distant generations and forever serve as a model, glorifying the same track and abiding imperishably. It is hoped that wise persons of the future will rely on this to continue the compilation, recording the divine merits of the triratna, spreading transformation throughout the Sahā world, propagating the established teachings of the thousand Buddhas, and continuing endlessly throughout the Bhadrakalpa.