古今譯經圖紀 3.37

3.37

沙門求那跋摩。此言功德鎧。罽賓國人。即其國王之少子也。洞明九部博曉四含。深達律品妙入禪要。誦經百餘萬言。罽賓王薨眾請紹位。恐為戒障遂林栖谷飲。孤行山野遁迹人世。儀形感物見者發心。以宋文帝元嘉年中達于建業。文帝慇懃問曰。弟子常欲齋而不殺。迫以身徇物不獲從志。法師將何以教之。跋摩曰。夫道在心不在事。法由己非由人。且帝王與匹夫所修各異。匹夫身賤名劣言令不威。若不剋己苦躬將何為用。帝王以四海為家兆民為子。出一嘉言則士女咸悅。布一善政則人神以和。刑不夭命役無勞力。則使風雨適時寒暖應節。百穀滋繁桑麻欝茂。如此持戒齋亦大矣不殺亦眾矣。寧在闕半日之食全一禽之命。然後方為弘濟耶。帝大悅曰。跋摩法師開悟明達。可與談於天人之際矣。勅住祇桓寺供給隆厚。即以元嘉年。於楊都譯菩薩善戒經（二十卷）。雜阿毘曇心論（十二卷）。四分比丘尼羯磨（一卷）。優婆塞五戒略論（一卷）。三歸及優婆塞戒（一卷）。沙彌威儀（一卷）。五門禪要用（一卷）。經律分異記（一卷）。總七部合三十八卷證第二果。

The śramaṇa Guṇavarman (which means "Armor of Merit") was a native of Kaśmīra, being the youngest son of the king of that country. He possessed a penetrating comprehension of the ninefold scriptures and was widely learned in the four Āgamas; he had deep insight into the sections of the vinaya and exquisite mastery of the essentials of dhyāna, chanting over one million words of sūtras from memory. When the king of Kaśmīra died, the assembly asked him to succeed to the throne. Fearing it would obstruct his precepts, he took up residence in the forests, drank from the valleys, walked alone through mountains and wilderness, and hid his traces from the human world. His deportment moved all beings, and those who saw him generated the aspiration [for awakening]. During the Yuanjia era of Emperor Wen of the Song, he arrived in Jianye. Emperor Wen earnestly inquired of him: "I have always wished to observe fasts and refrain from killing, but constrained by worldly duties, I have been unable to follow my inclination. What would the Dharma master instruct me?" Guṇavarman said, "The Way resides in the mind, not in outer matters; the Dharma comes from oneself, not from others. Moreover, the practices of an emperor and those of a commoner are each different. A commoner is lowly in status and inferior in reputation; his commands carry no authority. If he does not restrain himself and subject his body to hardship, what else could he do? An emperor, by contrast, takes the four seas as his home and the millions of people as his children. When he issues one good word, men and women all rejoice; when he spreads one virtuous policy, humans and spirits are brought into harmony. When punishments do not cut short lives and corvée labor does not exhaust strength, then the wind and rain are timely and the cold and warmth accord with the seasons; the hundred grains flourish and the mulberry and hemp grow luxuriantly. In this manner, keeping the precepts is indeed grand, and refraining from killing is indeed widespread! Must one only skip half a day's meal and save the life of a single fowl before it counts as great salvation?" The emperor was greatly pleased, saying, "Dharma Master Guṇavarman is enlightened and thoroughly perceptive; one may converse with him on the boundary between Heaven and man!" An imperial order bade him reside at Zhihuan Monastery, where he was provided for lavishly. Thus, in the Yuanjia era, he translated in the capital Yangdu: the Bodhisattva-śīla Sūtra (twenty fascicles), the Saṃyuktābhidharmahṛdaya Śāstra (twelve fascicles), the Dharmaguptaka Bhikṣuṇī Karmavācanā (one fascicle), the Abridged Treatise on the Five Precepts for Upāsakas (one fascicle), the Three Refuges and Upāsaka Precepts (one fascicle), the Dignified Deportment of Śrāmaṇeras (one fascicle), the Essentials and Practice of the Five Gates of Dhyāna (one fascicle), and the Record of Distinctions between Sūtras and Vinayas (one fascicle)—seven works in total, thirty-eight fascicles altogether. He attained the second fruit [of the śramaṇa].