續古今譯經圖紀 1.23

1.23

The śramaṇa Shi Zhiyan was a hostage prince of Khotan, surnamed Yuchi and named Le (pronounced luo/ge). Under the Tang, he was granted the title of Senior General of the Left Militant Guard and enfeoffed as Duke of Jinman Commandery. By nature pure and plain, he held firm faith in his heart. He resolutely requested permission to become a monk, hoping to repay the profound grace. On the fifth day of the eleventh month in the first year of Jinglong (707), Emperor Zhongzong's birthday, he renounced the household life and shaved his hair. He continued to reside in the hermitage of Zhixiang Monastery on the Southern Mountains to practice the Way. Thus emptying his mind and stilling his thoughts, he sat in peaceful meditation and practiced walking meditation, keeping ascetic diligence in his heart and accumulating mindfulness in seclusion. In addition, with his thorough understanding of Chinese and Sanskrit and his wisdom illuminating subtle obscurities, he was repeatedly honored with imperial decrees regarding the true teachings of the Ratnakūṭa and the esoteric verses of the Tathāgata, participating in their translation and collation for a long time; and frequently receiving imperial commands, he was also ordered to certify the translations. He regularly dwelt in a hermitage in Shibie Ravine, practicing the dhūta austerities. In the ninth year of Kaiyuan, a xinyou year (721), at the Shibie Hermitage and Feng'en Monastery, he translated: the Shuo miaofa jueding yezhang jing (1 fascicle), the Chusheng wubianmen tuoluoni jing (1 fascicle), the Shizi Sutuosuo wang duanrou jing (1 fascicle), and the Dacheng xiuxing pusa xingmen zhujing yaoji in one work (3 fascicles).