古今譯經圖紀 2.20

2.20

The śramaṇa Buddhabhadra, translated as Juexian (Enlightened Virtue), originally had the surname Śākya and was a native of Kapilavastu, a descendant of King Amṛtodana. He underwent pravrajyā at the age of five and recited several thousand words each day. Widely learned in the various sūtras, he was thoroughly versed in many matters, and his fame spread far for his mastery of dhyāna and vinaya. Once, when his fellow disciple Saṅghadatta was sitting in meditation behind closed doors, he suddenly saw Buddhabhadra enter. Startled, he asked where he had come from. He replied, 'I briefly went to Tuṣita to pay homage to Maitreya.' Having spoken, he vanished. Later, he performed supernormal transformations several times, whereupon it was known that he had realized the fruit of an anāgāmin. At that time, Zhi Rui, a monk of the Qin, invited Buddhabhadra to return with him to his country, and Buddhabhadra agreed. They boarded a ship and sailed along the sea, stopping beneath an island. Buddhabhadra pointed and said, 'We may stop here.' The ship's captain refused; but after being blown by the wind for over two hundred li, they returned to the place Buddhabhadra had pointed out. Only then did the crowd recognize his supernatural abilities. Later, when they encountered a favorable wind, all their companions set sail, but Buddhabhadra would not allow [his group] to move. Those who sailed first all capsized and were lost. Also, in the middle of the night, he suddenly set off, but the crowd was unwilling; Buddhabhadra hauled one boat himself and departed alone, and those who did not set off were all slaughtered by bandits. Once he reached here [China], he met with Kumārajīva. Whenever Kumārajīva had doubts, he always consulted him to resolve them. He vigorously promoted the practice of dhyāna. Later he went to Mount Lu and also visited Jiangling. Whenever he traveled, he frequently made predictions about the future; at first people did not believe him, but later everything turned out as he had said. His conduct was simple and unadorned, not relying on embellishment; his refined character was serene and aloof, possessing an elegant and profound nature. From the second year of the Long'an era of Emperor An of the Jin (wu-xu) [398 CE] to the second year of the Yongchu era of the Song (xin-you) [421 CE], at the two locations of the capital Yangdu and Mount Lu, he translated the Mahāvaipulya Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra (sixty fascicles), the Guanfo sanmei jing [Buddhānusmṛtisamādhi Sūtra] (eight fascicles), the Guoqu yinguo jing (four fascicles), the new Wuliangshou jing [Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra] (two fascicles), the Damoduoluo chan jing [Dharmatrāta Dhyāna Sūtra] (two fascicles), the Dafangdeng rulai zang jing [Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra] (one fascicle), the Wenshushili fayuan ji jing (one fascicle), the Chusheng wuliangmen chi jing [Anantamukhanirhāra-dhāraṇī Sūtra] (one fascicle), the Benye jing (one fascicle), the new Weimi chi jing (one fascicle), the Jing liu boluomi jing (one fascicle), the Pusa shizhu jing [Daśabhūmika Sūtra] (one fascicle), the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya (forty fascicles), the Sengqi da biqiu jieben (one fascicle), and the Upāyahṛdaya-śāstra (one fascicle); totaling fifteen works in 125 fascicles. All of them thoroughly plumbed subtle meanings and fully captured the sense of the original text. The śramaṇas Faye, Huiyi, Huiyan, and others served as scribes.