古今譯經圖紀 3.38

3.38

The śramaṇa Baoyun was a native of Xiliangzhou. He underwent pravrajyā from his youth, being diligent and vastly learned. His character and air were resolute and pure, not consorting with the worldly crowd. With earnest devotion in seeking the Dharma, he forgot his physical self to dedicate his life to the Way. Thus, in the beginning of the Long'an era of the Jin, he journeyed west in search of holy traces. Passing through the wilderness of rākṣasas, he heard the sound of heavenly drums; paying homage to the shadow-trace of Śākyamuni, he received the words of arhats. Traveling through the Western regions, he became skilled in Sanskrit script and language; he thoroughly understood the sounds of Indian characters and the semantic glosses of expressions and sentences. Later, he returned to Chang'an and then went to Jiangzuo. Among all the translators rendering Sanskrit into Chinese, Baoyun was foremost. At first, he translated scriptures together with Zhiyan; after Zhiyan passed away, Baoyun proclaimed and translated on his own. During the Yuanjia era of Emperor Wen of the Song, at Liuhe Mountain Monastery, he translated: the Biography of the Sūtra of the Praise of the Buddha's Deeds (seven fascicles), the Sūtra on the Transmission of the Dharma Pitaka (six fascicles), the Biography of the Buddhacarita Sūtra (five fascicles), the New Amitāyus Sūtra (two fascicles), and the New Sūtra of the Samādhi of Pure Deliverance (two fascicles)—four works in total, fifteen fascicles altogether. The śramaṇa Huiguan and others befriended and held him in high esteem.