大唐內典錄 2.5

2.5

Preface: Ever since the Han dynasty, all under Heaven had been unified. At the beginning of the Jian'an era, it split apart like the legs of a tripod. Yuan and Cao contended in the Central Plains; Liu and Sun divided their courses along the Yangtze gorges. Dust shrouded the Five Sacred Peaks, and armies gathered like clouds across the Nine Regions. Some launched an imperial design lasting but two years, while others deployed a hegemonic enterprise dividing the realm in three. Thus, the founder of Wei controlled the Son of Heaven to command the feudal lords, the scion of Liu relied on the Jiange pass to eye the carriages of the western capital, and the Sun family, through brilliant strategy, rested securely by the long Yangtze River. With fierce martial retainers and the mighty prowess of a crouching dragon, each occupied a domain, intent on devouring the other, striding across borders and mutually fortifying passes. They widely invited eminent talents to serve as their right and left hands, and treated the virtuous and capable with lavish courtesy, honouring them as treasures of state. Skillful craftsmen of the wondrous Dharma likewise came forth amidst this. Sengui travelled to Wu, and the relics shone their brilliance in the region south of the Yangtze; Saṃghavarman wandered to Wei, and the prohibitory vinaya was first initiated in the capital of Luoyang. From this point, taking refuge and the precepts flourished widely, and images and stupas were uniquely erected. The translators adapted to local customs, following regional vernaculars, and titled their productions according to the occasion, resulting in such titles as the *Wu Recension* and the *Shu Lalitavistara*. Repetitive retranslations began from this; the scattering of textual streams into lost translator attributions was truly rooted here. Although the Three Kingdoms stood in confrontation, Western Shu alone has no dynastic catalogue. How could this be anything other than the Buddha-sun shining brightly in the heavens while those lacking karmic affinity cannot see it, or the Dharma-thunder shaking the earth while adjacent houses fail to hear it? Moreover, although old catalogues note sūtras such as the *Shu Lalitavistara* and *Śūraṅgama*, they lack the source texts, the translators, and the dates; if one wished to record them, one would not know what to rely on. Assigning them to the category of lost translations, there is consequently no separate catalogue. We now recount what was transmitted in the Central Plains under the Cao-Wei dynasty. Emperor Wen, personal name Pi, courtesy name Zihuan, was a native of Qiao in Pei Commandery, and the heir of Cao Cao, the Prime Minister and King of Wei. On the day of his birth, there was a bluish cloud as large as a carriage canopy, hanging directly over him all day long in vibrant emerald. Physiognomists took it as a portent of supreme nobility, not the image of a mere subject. At eight years of age, he was adept at composition. He initially succeeded to the position of Prime Minister as the King of Wei. Receiving the abdication of the Later Han, he changed the dynastic title to Wei. He initially held court as Prime Minister in Luoyang; as Duke of Wei, his capital was Ye; his royal base was in Qiao; furthermore, he accepted the abdication at Fanchang; later, he made Luoyang his capital. From the first year of Emperor Wen's Huangchu era (gengzi) to the first year of Emperor Yuan's Xianxi era (jianshen), spanning five rulers and forty-five years, there were six monks who produced thirteen works of sūtras, vinaya, and karmavācanā texts, totaling twenty-five fascicles, which constitute the scripture catalogue for the single era of the Wei dynasty. Those various sūtras with lost translator attributions are summarized collectively at the end of the Wu catalogue and are detailed therein.