開元釋教錄 4.5.8

4.5.8

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.