開元釋教錄 4.5.7

4.5.7

secretly marvelled at him. By the age of fifteen, he could recite fifty to sixty thousand words of sūtras daily. The monastery where he stayed regularly sent [the monks] outside to beg for food (piṇḍapāta), which interrupted his recitations and studies. There was an arhat who prized his intelligence and constantly begged food to provide for him. At nineteen, he could recite several million words of Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna sūtras. However, by nature he was aloof and proud, rather fancying himself in his views and understanding, considering few fit to be his master; for this reason, he was not held in high regard by the monks. Yet his demeanor was elegant, and he was good at witty conversation, so that those who saw him forgot their deep resentment. When he reached the age for full ordination, no one would preside at the altar for him. Hence, at around thirty years of age, he remained a novice (śrāmaṇera). He then studied the treatises of the five sciences (pañcavidyā) under his maternal uncle and became well-versed in many worldly arts and methods. At twenty-seven, he finally received full ordination. He constantly took reading and recitation as his business, never letting scrolls leave his hands. Whenever he sat upright contemplating the meanings, he would unwittingly let hunger pass. Such was his devotion and concentration. Later, he arrived in the kingdom of Kaśgar (Śāle). At that time, the crown prince Dharmaputra (in Qin, "Fazǐ" [Son of Dharma]), seeing his dignified and graceful appearance, asked where he had come from. Yaśas replied with lucid eloquence. The crown prince was delighted with him and accordingly invited him to be supported in the palace, treating him with the utmost generosity. Kumārajīva arrived later and studied under him, showing him great reverence. When Kumārajīva returned east with his mother, Yaśas stayed behind. Before long, the king died, and the crown prince ascended the throne. At that time, Fu Jian sent Lü Guang to attack Kucha. The king of Kucha urgently requested aid from Kaśgar. The king personally led troops to relieve them and had Yaśas stay to assist the heir apparent, entrusting him with affairs at home. Before the relief army arrived, Kucha had already fallen. When the king returned, he recounted in full how Kumārajīva had been captured by Lü Guang. He sighed, saying, "Though Kumārajīva and I were together long, we did not fully express our feelings to one another. He has suddenly been taken captive; when shall we ever meet again?" After staying for over ten years, the king died. He thereupon went to Kucha, where his Buddhist propagation flourished greatly. At that time, Kumārajīva, who was in Guzang, sent a messenger to invite him. Packing his provisions, he was about to set out, but the people of the state pleaded with him to stay, so he remained for another year and more. Later, he said to his disciples, "I wish to seek out Kumārajīva. You may pack our bags in secret and depart at night, letting no one know." A disciple said, "We fear that pursuit will arrive by tomorrow morning, and we will not escape being brought back." Yaśas then took a bowl of clear water, put medicine into it, and muttered incantations over it several dozen times. He washed his disciples' feet with it, and they set out that very night. By dawn, they had travelled several hundred li. He asked the disciples, "What did you feel?" They replied, "We heard only the sound of rushing wind, and tears flowed from our eyes." Yaśas again gave them enchanted water to wash their feet and rest. The next morning, when the people of the state pursued them, they were already several hundred li apart and could not catch up. Traveling on, they reached Guzang, but Kumārajīva had already entered Chang'an. Kumārajīva, hearing that he had reached Guzang, urged [Yao] Xing to welcome him, but Xing did not take the advice. Soon after, he ordered Kumārajīva to translate the sūtra collection. Kumārajīva said, "To propagate and proclaim the teachings of the Dharma, the words and meanings should be made complete and unimpeded. Although this poor monk can recite the texts, I have not perfected [my grasp of] their underlying principles. Only Buddhayaśas deeply penetrates the purport of the sūtras. He is now in Guzang. I pray that an imperial decree be issued to summon him, so that after examining each phrase three times we may then commit it to writing, ensuring that the subtle teachings do not fall to the ground and may win trust for a thousand ages." Xing complied and immediately dispatched envoys to summon and welcome him, presenting lavish gifts, none of which he accepted. Only after repeatedly sending messages and earnest persuasions did he come to Chang'an. Xing personally went out to greet and inquire after him, building a separate new chamber in the Xiaoyao Garden and providing the four requisites. He accepted none of them; when the time came, he simply begged for food (piṇḍapāta) and ate a single meal. At that time, Kumārajīva was translating the Daśabhūmika-sūtra; for over a month he had doubts and hesitated, not yet taking up the brush. Once Yaśas arrived, they verified and settled matters together, and the wording and meaning were finally established. Over three thousand people, both clergy and laity, sighed in admiration at his discernment. In appearance, Yaśas had a red beard and was adept at understanding the Vibhāṣā; therefore, his contemporaries called him the "Red-bearded Vibhāṣā." Because he had been Kumārajīva's master, he was also called the "Great Vibhāṣā." The four assemblies offered robes, bowls, and bedding that filled three rooms, but he paid them no heed. Xing sold them on his behalf and built a monastery south of the city. Yaśas had previously memorized the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya. The Colonel of Sili Yao Shuang (also written Yao Shi) requested that he translate it. Xing suspected he might omit or err, so he tested Yaśas by ordering him to memorize registers of the Qiang people and medicinal prescriptions, each over forty sheets of paper. After three days, he held the texts to check him; not a single character was wrong. The multitude admired his formidable memory. Thus, in the tenth year of the Hongshi era (wushen [408 CE]), he translated the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya (Four-Part Vinaya), the Dīrgha-āgama, and other sūtras, completing them in the fifteenth year (guichou [413 CE]). The Liangzhou śramaṇa Zhu Fonian translated them into the Qin language, and Daohan recorded them with brush. When the translation was completed and the assembly adjourned, Xing presented Yaśas with ten thousand bolts of cloth and silk, none of which he accepted. Fonian and Daohan each received a thousand bolts of cloth and silk, and five hundred monks of eminent virtue were all given heavy donations. Yaśas later returned to Jibin, and his end is not known. (The preface to the Four-Part Vinaya states: In the renshen year, there was the Jin śramaṇa Zhi Faling who crossed the drifting sands to the west, aiming far for Tianzhu. Passing through Khotan, he met Buddhayaśas, a tripiṭaka śramaṇa of the Dharmaguptaka school who embodied the Mahāyāna, whose talent was brilliant, who was widely learned, and who was skilled in the sūtras and vinaya, chanting and reciting fluently both the Tripiṭaka and the Vaipulya scriptures. Faling then gathered numerous sūtras in a vihāra in that country. Returning, he finally reached Qin in the wushen year. The Qin lord Yao [Xing] was delighted and immediately requested that he translate the Vinayapiṭaka in that year. At that time, over three hundred vinaya-master śramaṇas gathered at the Middle Temple in Chang'an for the translation, with Faling's disciple Huibian acting as translator. That renshen year was the seventh year of the Qin Jianchu era [392 CE], and the wushen year was the tenth year of Hongshi [408 CE]. There is also an account saying that Yaśas, together with Fonian and others, compared the Sanskrit text brought by Faling before translating it. The various accounts differ slightly, and it is not clear which is correct. Furthermore, according to Sengzhao's preface to the Dīrgha-āgama and the Biographies of Eminent Monks, both state that the Four-Part Vinaya was translated in the twelfth year of Hongshi; this perhaps refers to the time when the work was completed).
Cāma-sūtra, in one fascicle. (In the Long'an era of the Eastern Jin, he reached Guangzhou and translated it for the laywoman Zhang Puming at Baisha Temple. This should be entered in the Jin catalogue, but is appended to Qin following the person; see the Biographies of Eminent Monks and the Changfang Catalogue).
Sūtra of the Skillful Means Chapter of the Delightful Bodhisattva-Necklace Adornment, in one fascicle. (Also titled Sūtra of the Questions and Answers of the Bodhisattva Transforming a Female Body; this is the third translation, being the same text as Dharmarakṣa's Sūtra on Accordance with Expedient Means. Li Kuo's catalogue says it was translated by Kumārajīva, but following the postscript of the sūtra which states it was produced by Yaśas, it has been moved here).
Śāriputrābhidharma-śāstra, in twenty-two fascicles. (Some omit the word "śāstra", or have twenty or thirty fascicles; produced together with Dharmagupta at Shiyang Temple, with a preface composed by the monk Daobiao; see Sengyou's and Baochang's two catalogues and the Biographies of Eminent Monks).
The above are three works in twenty-four fascicles (the first work in one fascicle is a lost text; the latter two works in twenty-three fascicles are extant).
Śramaṇa Dharmayaśas, in the language of Qin translated as Facheng [Dharma-Fame] (the Biographies of Eminent Monks translates it as Faming [Dharma-Brightness], which is mistaken in meaning), was a native of Jibin. He loved learning from his youth. At age fourteen, he was recognized by Puṇyatāra. When grown, his demeanor was tall and bright, and he possessed exceptional spiritual wisdom. Comprehensively reading the sūtras and vinaya, his clear understanding surpassed the crowd. He immersed