古今譯經圖紀 4.41

4.41

The śramaṇa Xuanzang was a native of Luoyang in Henan. His secular surname was Chen, and he was a descendant of Chen Zhonggong of Yingchuan. At the age of playing with dove carts he shed secular garb; at the years of riding bamboo horses he penetrated the profound. His wall-like towering virtue reached to the skies, and his bearing was like the bright moon. The eminent and virtuous of the capital and Luoyang all regarded him as a vessel of great talent. But as the Sui dynasty's destiny perished and the four borders were filled with fortresses, the eminent monks of masterly virtue mostly went to Western Shu. At the age when his will was set on learning, the Dharma Master proceeded there to inquire into the Way. Not long after arriving, he thoroughly penetrated the subtleties of both the half and the full [teachings]. Among the discerning disciples along the Two Rivers, there were none who were not delighted and astounded. When his full ordination was complete, he devoted himself especially to the vinaya. His deportment was auspicious and refined, serving as a wondrous model for the assembly. When Emperor Taizong established the dynastic seats and the standards of culture and governance were unified, [Xuanzang] traveled along the river seeking friends [in the Dharma], his path passing through Yan and Ying. At that time, Prince Hanyang, holding a regional command in Jingchu as a cornerstone of the realm, had long heard of his high reputation and earnestly requested him to preach and propagate. Thereupon, at Tianhuang Monastery in the prefecture of Jing, [Xuanzang] lectured on treatises such as the Mahāyānasaṃgraha and the abhidharma. Eminent monks from the Huai and sea regions admired his style and gathered like clouds. The prince and the various dukes attended the Dharma assembly in person. The Dharma Master dissected subtleties and resolved queries, exhausting the wondrous principles. The prince and dukes, men of profound knowledge, experienced what they had never had before. At that time, the virtuous Dharma Master Zhiyan and others, all brilliant talents of the Jiang and Han regions whose understanding exhausted the Tripiṭaka, upon beholding the Dharma Master's wondrous and unimpeded eloquence, wept and sighed, saying: 'How could we have expected, in the fading light of our twilight years, to encounter the morning radiance of the rising sun?' Thereupon, at the age of following his heart's desires, he took Xuanzang as his master and performed the full rites of discipleship. From then on, [Xuanzang] examined the snares and traps of the Nine Hills and probed the profound purport in the Eight Treasuries. He constantly lamented that the teachings were incomplete through lack of transmitting masters, and that the principles were obscured by translators, thereby causing the wish-fulfilling jewel to be incomplete and the Snow Mountain verse to remain halved. Thereupon, taking up his monk's staff and wrapping his feet, he trod dangers as if they were level ground. Having reached the Indic lands, he deliberated and consulted without weariness. In the scriptures of the five vidyās and four Āgamas, the snares of the three piṭakas and twelve divisions, the sounds of the seven cases and eight vibhaktis, and the syntax of the three voices and six samāsas, he exhausted every subtlety and probed their wonders completely. However, the Hīnayānists there, down to the tīrthikas, each constructed divergent treatises to slander and denigrate the Mahāyāna. The Dharma Master thereupon composed the Zhi ejian lun (Treatise Refuting Evil Views) to refute the eighteen schools of the Hīnayāna and destroy the ninety-five kinds of tīrthikas. He also composed the Hui zhong lun (Treatise on Reconciling the Middle), reconciling the subtle purports of the Yogācāra and the Madhyamaka, in order to quiet the disputes within the Mahāyāna. At that time, King Śīlāditya of Central India held overall sway over the various countries of the five Indias. Widely versed in internal and external learning, his talents and arts were outstandingly superior. Reading this treatise, he sighed and said: 'Although it possesses the extraordinary benefit of revealing the Great and crushing the heterodox, it nonetheless highlights that in our Great Xia there is no one [equal to him]. I am about to hold a great assembly of ninety days for grand charity; we can take advantage of this assembly to determine its merits.' He thereupon sent out couriers far and wide to proclaim it over ten thousand li, summoning all from the subject states who could debate to assemble completely. When the great assembly had gathered, the Dharma Master took the more than six thousand verses of the two treatises he had composed and wrote them on the gate of the great arena of charity, stating: 'If there is anyone who can refute a single verse, I will cut out my tongue and apologize to him.' Day after day the drum was struck to challenge disputants, for a full eighteen days, yet none dared confront him. At that time, King Śīlāditya and the other kings, the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna masters, and the various heterodox paths, internal and external, were all astounded and humbled. The Dharma Master engaged in debates and inquiries, traveling around for seventeen years through more than one hundred countries. In the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, he turned his reins homeward. Arriving at the capital, he had an audience with the Emperor in Luoyang. The Emperor was exceedingly pleased, and ordered that the 657 Sanskrit texts he brought with him be translated by imperial decree at Hongfu Monastery in the Western Capital. An edict was further issued to Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs Fang Xuanling to summon widely more than fifty monks of masterly learning in the realm, such as Huiming and Lingrun, to assist in illuminating the Dharma transformation. An edict was also issued to Xu Jingzong, Left Deputy Supervisor of the Crown Prince's Household, and others, to take charge of supervising the translation. By the twenty-second year, the translated sūtras were presented to the throne. At that time, Emperor Taizong the Civil, with an enlightened and discerning mind, gave free rein to his profound contemplation and composed a preface. The celestial writing burst forth in splendor, outshining the sun and moon in radiance. His Majesty [Gaozong], admiring and understanding with literary thought, gave expression to his sagacious reflections and composed a record; the imperial prose gleamed with patterned embroidery, radiating like clouds and mist and spreading its colorful splendor. Furthermore, in the twelfth month of that year, while His Majesty was in the Eastern Palace, mindful of great filial devotion and moved by feelings of reverence for his sage mother, he respectfully founded Da Cien Monastery and the Translation Hall on behalf of Empress Dowager Wende. The halls were magnificent and grand, exhausting the craftsmanship of Lu Ban and Gongshu Duan; their lustrous adornments were gorgeous and fine, reaching the utmost wonder of precious painting. At that time, both the Western and Eastern Palaces brought out banner-streamers and images on a grand scale, and ordered the music of the nine sections, as well as the precious banners, canopies, fine silks, and wondrous perfumes from the various monasteries of the capital, along with the precious carriages and performers of the wards of Wannian and Chang'an, to escort the sūtras and images brought by Xuanzang and the virtuous monks of Cien to reside in Cien Monastery and the Translation Hall. At that time, the Emperor went in person to the Anfu Gate and made offerings of flowers and incense. On the twenty-fourth day, the Crown Prince visited Cien in person, ordained one thousand monks, and granted a general amnesty to the capital. Then in the first year of Xianqing, by imperial edict, Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs Yu Zhining, Palace Attendant Xu Jingzong, Heads of the Secretariat Lai Ji, Li Yifu, and Du Zhenglun, and Vice Director of the Chancellery Xue Yuanchao polished the style; and Erudite of the National University Fan Yiyun, Groom of the Crown Prince's Stables Guo Yu, and Academician of the Institute for the Advancement of Literature Gao Ruosi and others assisted in managing the translation. He translated: the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra in 1 text (600 fascicles); the Mahābodhisattvapiṭaka Sūtra in 1 text (20 fascicles); the Mahāyāna Da ji dizang shilun jing in 1 text (10 fascicles); the Itivṛttaka (Benshi jing) in 1 text (7 fascicles); the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra (Wugoucheng jing) in 1 text (6 fascicles); the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra (Jie shenmi jing) in 1 text (5 fascicles); the Fenbie yuanqi chusheng famen jing in 1 text (2 fascicles); the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Buddhabhūmi Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Pratītyasamutpādāryamārga Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Tathāgatāvadāna-jayanāgarāja Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Bhaiṣajyaguru-vaiḍūryaprabharāja Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra (Chengzan jingtu foshesou jing) (1 fascicle); the Zui wubi jing (1 fascicle); the Shen xiyou jing (1 fascicle); the Chengzan dasheng gongde jing (1 fascicle); the Xian wubian fotu gongde jing (1 fascicle); the Ṣaṇmukhī-dhāraṇī Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Sarvabuddhāṅgavatī-dhāraṇī Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Bajiji kunan tuoluoni jing (1 fascicle); the Dhvajāgrakeyūra-dhāraṇī Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Aṣṭanāma-dhāraṇī Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Amoghapāśahṛdaya-dhāraṇī Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Ekadaśamukha-dhāraṇī Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Vasudhārā-dhāraṇī Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Śoutchi qifo minghao suosheng gongde jing (1 fascicle); the Devatāparipṛcchā Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Fo lin niepan ji fazhu jing (1 fascicle); the Jizhao shenbian sanmodi jing (1 fascicle); the Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Pratītyasamutpāda Sūtra (1 fascicle); the Zhou wu shou (1 fascicle); the Bodhisattvaprātimokṣa (1 fascicle); the Bodhisattvakarmavācanā (1 fascicle); the Yogācārabhūmiśāstra in 1 text (100 fascicles); the Prakaraṇāryavācāśāstra in 1 text (20 fascicles); the Abhidharmasamuccayavyākhyā in 1 text (16 fascicles); the Abhidharmasamuccaya in 1 text (7 fascicles); the root text of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha in 1 text (3 fascicles); the Vasubandhu commentary on the Mahāyānasaṃgraha in 1 text (10 fascicles); the Asanga/Nirvikalpa [recte: Asabhāva] commentary on the Mahāyānasaṃgraha in 1 text (10 fascicles); the Catuḥśataka-ṭīkā (Guang bai lun) in 1 text (10 fascicles); the Karatalaratna (Zhangzhen lun) in 1 text (2 fascicles); the Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa (1 fascicle); the Buddhabhūmisūtraśāstra in 1 text (7 fascicles); the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhiśāstra in 1 text (10 fascicles); the Nyāyamukha (1 fascicle); the Nyāyapraveśa (1 fascicle); the Mahāyānaśatadharmāvidyādvāra-śāstra (1 fascicle); the Pañcaskandhaka-śāstra (1 fascicle); the Catuḥśataka-kārikā (1 fascicle); the Prakaraṇāryavācā-kārikā (1 fascicle); the Rājadharmanyāyapraveśa (1 fascicle); the Ālambanaparīkṣā (1 fascicle); the Triṃśikāvijñaptikārikā (1 fascicle); the Madhyāntavibhāga-śāstra in 1 text (3 fascicles); the Madhyāntavibhāga-kārikā (1 fascicle); the Viṃśatikāvijñaptimātratāsiddhi (1 fascicle); the Yogācārabhūmiśāstra-ṭīkā (1 fascicle); the Mahāvibhāṣā-śāstra in 1 text (200 fascicles); the Jñānaprasthāna in 1 text (20 fascicles); the Nyāyānusāra-śāstra in 1 text (80 fascicles); the Abhidharmadīpa / Samayapradīpikā (Xianzong lun) in 1 text (40 fascicles); the Abhidharmakośa-śāstra in 1 text (30 fascicles); the Vijñānakāya in 1 text (16 fascicles); the Dharmaskandha in 1 text (12 fascicles); the Pañcavastuka (1 fascicle); the Samayabhedoparacanacakra (1 fascicle); the Abhidharmāvatāra in 1 text (2 fascicles); the Abhidharmakośa-kārikā (1 fascicle); the Prakaraṇapāda in 1 text (18 fascicles); the Saṅgītiparyāya in 1 text (20 fascicles); the Dhātukāya in 1 text (3 fascicles); the Record of the Abiding of the Dharma Spoken by the Great Arhat Nandimitra (1 fascicle); the Daśapadārthaśāstra (1 fascicle); and the Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions in 1 text (12 fascicles).