開元釋教錄 3.7.6

3.7.6

The above seven works comprise twenty-six fascicles (the first five works, in twelve fascicles, are extant; the latter two works, in fourteen fascicles, are lost).
Śramaṇa Shi Faxian, originally surnamed Gong, was a native of Wuyang in Pingyang. Faxian had three elder brothers, all of whom died in childhood one after another. His father was terrified and sent Faxian out [to the monastery] to become a monk when he was only a few years old. After staying there several years, he fell gravely ill and was near death; he was therefore sent back to the monastery, and after two nights he recovered. He was unwilling to return home again. His mother wished to see him but could not, so she built a small cottage outside the monastery gate to watch his comings and goings. At the age of ten, he suffered the loss of his father. His uncle, considering that his mother was a widow living alone and unable to support herself, pressured him to return to secular life. Faxian said: "I originally became a monk not on account of my father; it was solely because I wished to leave the dust behind and depart from worldly life that I entered the Way." His uncle considered his words good and desisted. Shortly thereafter his mother died; his innate devotion surpassed that of ordinary men, and as soon as the funeral was concluded, he returned immediately to the monastery. Once, together with several dozen fellow disciples, he was harvesting rice in the fields. At that time, hungry bandits arrived intending to steal their grain. The other novice monks all fled, but Faxian alone remained and addressed the bandits, saying: "If you need grain, take as much as you wish. It is only because in past lives you did not practice generosity that you suffer hunger and poverty in this life. If you now rob others again, I fear that in future lives it will be even worse. I, a poor monk, worry for you beforehand, which is why I tell you this." Having spoken, he turned back. The bandits abandoned the grain and departed; of the several hundred monks, none did not sigh in admiration. When he received the full precepts, his aspirational conduct was pure and spotless, and his deportment orderly and solemn. Often lamenting that the scriptures and vinayas were contradictory and incomplete, he vowed to seek them out. In the third year of the Long'an era of Emperor An, together with his fellow students Huijing, Daozheng, Huiying, Huiwei, and others, he set out from Chang'an and crossed the desert sands to the west. Above there were no flying birds, below no running beasts; gazing in all four directions, vast and boundless, none could tell where to go. They looked only to the sun to determine east and west, and to human skeletons to mark the path. Often there were scorchingly hot winds and evil spirits; those who encountered them inevitably died. Entrusting himself to conditions and resigning his life to fate, Faxian pressed straight through the perilous difficulties. After a while they reached the Congling (Pamir Mountains). In those mountains, snow accumulates in both winter and summer; there are venomous dragons that spit toxic winds, rain, sand, and gravel. The mountain paths were precipitous and hazardous, with sheer cliffs rising thousands of fathoms. In the past, people had chiseled into the rock to open a path and installed ladders along the sides. In all, they traversed more than seven hundred ladders, and crossed suspension ropes over rivers in several dozen places—all places that Zhang Qian and Gan Fu of the Han dynasty had never reached. Next they crossed the Little Snow Mountains, where a cold wind abruptly arose. Huijing trembled with cold and could go no further; he said to Faxian: "I am going to die. You must leave at once, lest we perish together." His words broke off and he died. Faxian stroked his body and wept, saying: "Our original aim is unfulfilled; it is fate, what can be done!" Again exerting his own strength, he journeyed alone and finally crossed the mountain perils. In all, he passed through more than thirty countries, reaching Northern India and then proceeding to the Central Realm. When he was more than thirty li from Rājagṛha, there was a monastery, and as evening approached he stayed there. The next morning Faxian wished to visit Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain. The monastery monks admonished him, saying: "The road is extremely steep and dangerous, and there are many black lions that frequently devour men; how could you possibly reach it?" Faxian said: "I have traveled tens of thousands of li from afar, vowing to reach Vulture Peak. Life and limb are not guaranteed, nor can the outgoing breath be assured; how could the sincere resolve accumulated over years be abandoned just when I have arrived? Though there be perils and hardships, I have no fear." None could stop him, so they sent two monks to escort him. When Faxian reached the mountain, the sun was about to set, and he wished to remain overnight. Fearful of the danger, the two monks abandoned him and returned. Faxian remained alone on the mountain, burning incense, prostrating, and gazing with emotion upon the ancient traces as if beholding the holy presence. In the night, three black lions came and squatted before Faxian, licking their lips and wagging their tails. Faxian recited scriptures without pause, single-mindedly mindful of the Buddha. The lions then lowered their heads, drooped their tails, and crouched before Faxian's feet. Faxian stroked them with his hand and said with a spell: "If you wish to harm me, wait until I finish reciting. If you have come to test me, you may withdraw at once." After a long while, the lions departed. The next morning he returned along the road, which was secluded and deep; tangled brush obstructed the way, and birds and beasts crossed back and forth, with only a single narrow path allowing passage. When he was not quite a li away, he suddenly encountered a practitioner of the Way, about ninety years of age, whose appearance and clothing were coarse and plain, yet whose spirit was noble and lofty. Although Faxian perceived his elevated demeanor, he did not realize he was a divine person. Shortly after proceeding forward, he met a young practitioner of the Way. Faxian asked: "Who was that elderly man just now?" He replied: "It was the disciple of dhūta practices, Mahākāśyapa." Faxian then sighed in regret for a long while. When he reached the front of the cave, there was a large boulder blocking the entrance, so he could not enter. Faxian thereupon shed tears, paid homage, and departed. (It is now considered that the mountain Faxian climbed was Cockfoot Mountain, the place where Mahākāśyapa entered into extinction, not Vulture Peak Mountain, the former dwelling place of the Buddha.) He also arrived in the country of Kāśī. Inside the monastery there was a white-eared dragon that always made an agreement with the monastic assembly to cause the crops in the realm to be abundant and ripe, and all of these had verifiable proof. The śramaṇas built a dragon shrine for it and made offerings of merit-food. Whenever the day of the conclusion of the summer retreat arrived, the dragon would transform into a small snake with both ears entirely white. The community all recognized it as the dragon, filled a bronze bowl with curds, and placed the snake inside, carrying it from the senior seat down through the ranks, as if paying respects; when this was completed, it transformed away. It appeared once every year, and Faxian personally saw this dragon. Later he returned to Central India. At the Devarāja Temple south of King Aśoka's stūpa in the city of Pāṭaliputra in Magadha, he obtained the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya; he also obtained an extract of the Sarvāstivāda-vinaya, the *Saṃyuktābhidharmahṛdaya-sūtra*, the *Vaipulya-nirvāṇa-sūtra*, and other scriptures (this *Vaipulya-nirvāṇa* is the Sanskrit manuscript of the six-fascicle *Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra*; according to the colophon following the scripture, its title is *Vaipulya-mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra*, not meaning the three-fascicle *Vaipulya-nirvāṇa*). Faxian remained there for three years, learning the Sanskrit script and Sanskrit language, and copying manuscripts himself. Thereupon, taking the scriptures and images, he entrusted himself to merchants and reached the Lion Country (Siṃhala). Of Faxian's ten or so companions, some had remained behind and some had died; looking upon only his own shadow, he constantly harbored grief. Suddenly, before a jade image, he saw a merchant offering a white round fan from the land of Jin, and he could not help weeping sorrowfully. Staying for two years, he further obtained the Mahīśāsaka-vinaya, the Dīrgha-āgama and Saṃyukta-āgama, as well as a manuscript of the *Kṣudrakapiṭaka*, none of which were extant in the Han land. In that Lion Country was a tooth of the Buddha. Every year in the third month, the king of that country would adorn a white elephant ten days in advance and dispatch a noble, eloquent, and wise minister. Wearing the king's robes, mounted upon the elephant, he would beat a drum and proclaim in a loud voice: "The Tathāgata dwelt in the world for forty-five years, expounding the Dharma and delivering an immeasurable number of people; when his conditions with sentient beings were exhausted, he entered Parinirvāṇa. From that time until now, it has been one thousand four hundred and ninety-seven years. The world has long been darkened, and sentient beings are pitiable! Ten days from now, the tooth of the Buddha will be brought forth to the Abhayagiri Monastery; you may prepare incense and flowers and come to make offerings!" At that time it was the first year of the Yixi era of the Jin. Calculating from the first year of the Yixi era, the cyclical year yisi, until now, the eighteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, the cyclical year gengwu, it makes one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two years. Afterward, he boarded a large merchant ship and returned eastward along the sea; on the ship there were about two hundred people.