開元釋教錄 3.7.5

3.7.5

When the Grand Commandant returned to the capital, he invited him to return together with him, and settled him at Daochang Temple. [Buddhabhadra's] rules of deportment were plain and simple, different from the customs of China, yet his aspirations and spirit were lofty and remote, possessing refined and profound depth. The master of the law Sengbi of the capital of Yang wrote in a letter to the eminent and virtuous śramaṇa Baolin: "The Chan Master of the Fighting Ground (Daochang) possesses a truly vast mind, being indeed a person of elegant distinction such as Wang and He in Tianzhu." Such was the praise he received. Prior to this, the śramaṇa Zhi Faling had obtained in the kingdom of Khotan a Sanskrit text of the Avataṃsaka in thirty-six thousand verses, which had not yet been translated. When it came to the fourteenth year of Yixi, the Inner Officer of Wujun, Meng Yi, and the General of the Right Guard, Chu Shudu, invited Buddhabhadra to serve as the master translator. Holding the Sanskrit text in his hands, together with over a hundred śramaṇas including Faye, Huiyan, and Huiyi, he translated it and finalized its formulation at Daochang Temple. The phrasing and doctrine harmonized the Chinese and foreign, wonderfully capturing the substance of the sūtra. For this reason, Daochang Temple still has an Avataṃsaka Hall. Furthermore, for the Sanskrit text of the Mahāsāṃghika[-vinaya] that the śramaṇa Faxian had obtained in Tianzhu, Buddhabhadra was again invited to translate it. From the second year of Long'an of Emperor An, a wuxu year, up to the second year of Yongchu of the Song, a xinyou year, across the two locations of the capital of Yang and Mount Lu, he translated a total of thirteen works of sūtras such as the Avataṃsaka. In all of them, he penetrated their abstruse purport and fully captured the sense of the text. Buddhabhadra entered nirvāṇa in the sixth year of Yuanjia of the Song, at the age of seventy-one. (The two catalogues of Sengyou and Changfang also state that Buddhabhadra produced the *Xin weimi chi jing*, which is the *Chusheng wuliangmen chi jing*. It should not be recorded twice; because it was translated after Zhi Qian's earlier translation, the word 'Xin' [New] was added. There are also the *Pusa shizhu* [bodhisattva-daśabhūmi] and the *Benye jing*. Both of these sūtras are separate chapters of the *Avataṃsaka*. Since Buddhabhadra already translated the great work, he should not have separately produced these sūtras. As for the *Benye jing*, the catalog of Zhou included it in the canon, but having not yet seen the text, we temporarily preserve it; the *Shizhu jing* is excised and not established.) / *Za wen lüshi* (Miscellaneous Inquiries on Vinaya Matters), two fascicles (first translation; see Changfang's catalogue). / The one work above, two fascicles, the text is lost. / The śramaṇa Tanmo, translated into Jin as Fa (Dharma). He was skilled in vinaya studies. On the second day of the third month of the fourth year of Long'an of Emperor An, a gengzi year, at the vihāra of the Prefect of the Masters of Writing Wang Fadu in the capital of Yang, the śramaṇa Shi Sengzun and more than twenty other virtuous monks invited him to translate the *Za wen lüshi*, whose preface is fully preserved at the beginning of the fascicle. It clarifies how the property of the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha are mutually involved, and that the distinctions and limits among them are extremely crucial and must be carefully safeguarded. / *Shisong lü pini xu* (Preface to the Vinaya of the Daśabhāṇavāra-vinaya), three fascicles (also called *Shisong lü xu*; now combined into the final three fascicles of the *Shisong lü*. Changfang says it is the *Pini song* [Vinaya Recitation] and notes that it is the *Shansong* [Good Recitation] at the end of the *Shisong*, which is incorrect. The *Shansong* has four fascicles, being the tenth recitation of the *Shisong*; see the catalogues of the Two Qin). / *Za wen lüshi* (Miscellaneous Inquiries on Vinaya Matters), two fascicles (Essential Uses of the Various Vinayas; second translation; see the catalogues of the Two Qin). / The two works above, five fascicles (the former *Pini xu* in three fascicles is extant; the latter *Za wen shi* in two fascicles is lost). / The śramaṇa Vimalākṣa, translated into Jin as Wugouyan (Stainless Eyes), was a man from the kingdom of Jibin. He was serene and resolute. Having left household life in his youth, he trod the path with arduous discipline and achieved success. Because he had blue-green eyes, the people of the time also referred to him as the Blue-Eyed Vinaya Master. He had previously propagated the Vinayapiṭaka in Kucha, and students from the four directions vied to go and take him as their master. Kumārajīva was also among them at that time. When Kucha fell, he took refuge in Uḍḍiyāna. Shortly thereafter, hearing that Kumārajīva was greatly propagating the scriptural canon in Chang'an, Vimalākṣa wished to cause the superior category of the vinaya to also pervade the eastern lands. Thereupon, grasping his monk's staff, he crossed the drifting sands, braved perils, and entered the east. In the eighth year of Hongshi of the Yao Qin, he arrived from the Guanzhong region. Kumārajīva welcomed and attended to him with the etiquette due to a teacher, and Vimalākṣa was also joyful at meeting him after such distance. When Kumārajīva passed away, Vimalākṣa, during the Yixi era of Emperor An, traveled east of the Pass, stopping at Shouxian where he stayed at Shijian Temple. Vinaya disciples gathered like clouds, grandly propagating the vinaya. The *Shisong* translated by Kumārajīva was in fifty-eight fascicles. The final recitation expounded the procedures for receiving the precepts as well as various virtuous rituals, and following its doctrinal significance, it was named the *Shansong* (Good Recitation). Vimalākṣa later renamed the *Shansong* as the *Pini song* (Vinaya Recitation); hence both titles still exist. He also produced a three-fascicle preface to the vinaya and placed it at the end, making sixty-one fascicles in total. (The *Gaoseng zhuan* and Changfang's catalogue state that the earlier fifty-eight fascicles were expanded into sixty-one fascicles, which is slightly lacking in scrutiny. As for the three fascicles of the *Pini xu*, in some modern scriptural editions they are arranged after the ninth recitation and before the tenth recitation, corresponding to fascicles 55, 56, and 57, which is incorrect. Now, examining the ancient copies of the *Shisong*, it is after the tenth recitation, corresponding to fascicles 59 through 61. We now follow the ancient editions as correct.) / Shortly thereafter, he went south to Jiangling, where he observed the summer retreat at Xin Temple and expounded the *Shisong*. Being fluent in the Jin language, he was adept at grasping and conveying [the meaning], and the marvelous root of unconditioned [morality] was extensively propagated. At that time, those who analyzed the text and sought the principles gathered like a forest, and those who understood the articles and knew the prohibitions were also numerous. That the Vinayapiṭaka was greatly propagated was through the effort of Vimalākṣa. Later, he produced the *Za wen lüshi* in two fascicles, with Huiguan of Daochang serving as scribe. (The *Gaoseng zhuan* states: 'Huiguan of Daochang deeply grasped the essential tenets, recorded the severity and lightness of the internal prohibitions he established, compiled them into two fascicles, and sent them back to the capital. Monks and nuns consulted them and competed to transcribe them. Those who were undiscerning at the time made a proverb: "The rustic speech of Vimalākṣa, the talented record of Huiguan; the people of the capital copy it until paper becomes as precious as jade."' I now maintain that the *Za wen lüshi* was actually composed because Huiguan of Daochang had doubts about the teachings, asked questions on various matters, and Vimalākṣa resolved them for him; upon hearing [the answers], he recorded them and compiled them into two fascicles to circulate in the world. It is not that there was a separate Sanskrit text translated by Vimalākṣa. The text produced by Tanmo is also just this text, which was mistakenly recorded by the cataloguers.) / Vimalākṣa cultivated virtue, loved seclusion, and abandoned clamor and left the secular world. In the winter of that year, he returned to Shijian [Temple] in Shouxian, where he died in the temple at the age of seventy-seven. / *Da banniehuan jing* (Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra), six fascicles (the scriptural note calls it *Fangdeng da banniehuan jing*, or in ten fascicles; fourth translation; produced together with Buddhabhadra at Daochang Temple on the first day of the tenth month of the twelfth year of Yixi, with Baoyun serving as scribe, completed on the second day of the first month of the fourteenth year; see the two catalogues of Daozu and Sengyou). / *Da banniepan jing* (Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra), three fascicles (or two fascicles; an alternate translation of the *Youxing jing* in the first division of the *Dīrghāgama*; the various catalogues all state that Faxian produced the *Fangdeng nihuan*, which is incorrect, as that is the earlier *Da nihuan jing* with the words 'Fangdeng' added; the text of this Hīnayāna *Nirvāṇa* resembles Faxian's translation, so this has been substituted in its place). / *Zazang jing* (Kṣudraka-piṭaka Sūtra), one fascicle (second translation; same original text as the *Gui wen M Compose lian egui baoying jing* and others; see the two catalogues of Sengyou and Baochang). / *Sengqi biqiuni jieben* (Mahāsāṃghika Bhikṣuṇī Prātimokṣa), one fascicle (also called *Biqiuni boluotidimucha sengqi jieben*; translated together with Buddhabhadra; see Changfang's catalogue). / *Liyou Tianzhu ji zhuan* (Account of Travels in Tianzhu), one fascicle (also called *Faxian zhuan*; Faxian's own account of his travels to and from Tianzhu; see Changfang's catalogue). / *Za apitan xin* (Saṃyuktābhidharmahṛdaya), thirteen fascicles (second translation; same original text as that produced by Saṃghadeva and others under the Fu Qin; see Sengyou's catalogue; Changfang says Faxian translated it together with Buddhabhadra). / *Fo you Tianzhu ji* (Record of the Buddha's Travels in Tianzhu), one fascicle (see Sengyou's catalogue).