開元釋教錄 4.5.8

4.5.8

思八禪。遊心七覺。時人方之浮頭婆馱。孤行
山澤不避虎兕。獨處思念動移宵日。嘗於樹
下每自剋責。年將三十尚未得果。何其懈哉。
於是累日不寢不食。專精苦到以悔先罪。乃
夢見博叉天王。語之曰。沙門。當觀方弘化曠
濟為懷。何守小節獨善而已。道假眾緣復須
時熟。非分強求死而無證。覺自思惟。欲遊
方授道。既而踰歷諸國冒涉艱危。以晉隆安
中。初達廣州住白沙寺。耶舍善誦毘婆沙律。
人咸號為大毘婆沙。時有清信女張普明。諮
受佛法。耶舍為說佛生緣起。并為譯出差摩
經一卷。至義熙中來入常安。時姚興僭號。
甚宗佛法。耶舍既至深加禮異。會有天竺沙
門曇摩掘多（秦言法藏）來入關中。同氣相求宛
然若舊。因共出舍利弗阿毘曇。以秦弘始九
年丁未書出梵文。停至十六年甲寅。經師漸
閑秦語令自宣譯。至十七年乙卯方訖。凡二
十二卷。秦太子泓親管理味。沙門道標為之
作序。又出樂瓔珞經一卷。耶舍後南遊江陵。
止于辛寺大弘禪法。其有味靖之賓披榛而
至者三百餘人。凡士庶造者雖先無信心。見
皆敬悅。自說有一師一弟子。修業並得羅漢。
傳者失其名。又嘗於外門閉戶坐禪。忽有五
沙門來入其室。又時見沙門飛來樹端者。往
往非一。常交接神明而俯同矇俗。雖道迹
未彰。時人咸謂已階聖果。至宋元嘉中辭還
西域。而不知所終。

his thoughts in the eight dhyānas and roamed his mind through the seven factors of awakening (bodhyaṅga). Contemporaries compared him to Buddhaputra. He walked alone through mountains and marshes, avoiding neither tigers nor rhinoceroses. Dwelling in solitude, his contemplation often spanned days and nights. Once, beneath a tree, he severely reproached himself: "I am approaching thirty and have not yet attained the fruit [of the path]—how negligent I am!" Thereupon, for consecutive days he neither slept nor ate, practicing with total devotion and bitter earnestness to repent of his past transgressions. He then saw in a dream the Deva King Virūpākṣa, who said to him: "Śramaṇa, you should observe the regions and propagate the teachings, harboring the intention of widespread salvation. Why cling to minor discipline and merely cultivate personal perfection? The Way relies on a multitude of conditions and also requires the ripening of time. If you forcibly seek what is beyond your measure, you will die without realization." Upon waking, he reflected on this and wished to wander the regions to transmit the Way. Subsequently, traversing various lands and braving hazards and hardships, he first arrived in Guangzhou in the middle of the Long'an era of the Jin and stayed at Baisha Temple. Yaśas was skilled at reciting the Vibhāṣā-vinaya; people all called him the "Great Vibhāṣā." At that time, a female lay believer (upāsikā) named Zhang Puming inquired and received the Buddhist teachings. Yaśas explained for her the dependent origination of the Buddha's birth, and also translated for her the Cāma-sūtra in one fascicle. In the Yixi era, he entered Chang'an. At that time, Yao Xing held imperial titles and deeply revered the Buddhist teachings. After Yaśas arrived, he treated him with extraordinary courtesy and favor. It happened that the Indian śramaṇa Dharmagupta (in the language of Qin, Fazang [Treasury of Dharma]) came to the Guanzhong region. Like minds seeking each other, they were as familiar as old acquaintances. Together they produced the Śāriputrābhidharma. In the ninth year of the Qin Hongshi era (dingwei [407 CE]), they wrote out the Sanskrit text; it was held until the sixteenth year (jiayin [414 CE]), when the doctrinal master became progressively fluent in the Qin language and was asked to translate and expound it himself, completing it in the seventeenth year (yimao [415 CE]). In total, it is twenty-two fascicles. The Qin crown prince Hong personally managed the phrasing and meaning, and the śramaṇa Daobiao composed a preface for it. He also produced the Delightful Necklace Sūtra in one fascicle. Later, Yaśas travelled south to Jiangling and stayed at the Xin Temple, greatly promoting the methods of meditation (dhyāna). Those who appreciated tranquility made their way through the overgrown wilderness to come to him, numbering more than three hundred people. Whenever literati or commoners visited him, even if they had lacked faith previously, upon seeing him they became reverent and delighted. He himself said that he had a master and a disciple who both attained arhatship through their cultivation, but the transmitters lost their names. Furthermore, he once closed his doors to practice meditation in an outer building, and suddenly five śramaṇas entered his room; and at other times, śramaṇas were seen flying into the tree tops, which occurred more than once. He constantly consorted with divine beings while condescending to mingle with the ordinary populace. Though his holy traces were not displayed, contemporaries all believed he had already attained the holy fruit. In the Yuanjia era of the Song dynasty, he took his leave to return to the Western Regions, and his final end is not known.