開元釋教錄 5.5.5

5.5.5

proceeded on his way; or when encountering tigers, he would press his staff on their heads, stroke them, and depart. Thereupon mountain-travelers and river-guests came and went without obstruction, and seven or eight out of ten submitted to his flourishing virtue and converted. Once, Guṇavarman entered samādhi in a separate room and did not emerge for several days. The monastery monks sent a novice to check on him. [The novice] saw a white lion climbing beside a pillar, while blue lotuses filled and spread through the open air. The novice cried out in terror; going to chase the lion away, it suddenly vanished, leaving nothing to be seen. His divine and extraordinary marvels were without bound, and mostly of this kind. Later, Emperor Wen repeatedly commanded [Huiguan] and others to urge and invite him again. He then sailed by boat down to the capital, arriving in Jianye in the first month of the eighth year of the Yuanjia era [431 CE]. Emperor Wen granted him an audience and inquired after his welfare with earnest courtesy, and thereupon also said, "This disciple has always wished to observe the fasts and abstain from killing, but constrained as I am by dedicating my person to state affairs, I have not been able to fulfill my wish. Since the Dharma Master has not considered ten thousand li too far to come and transform this land, by what shall you instruct me?" Guṇavarman said, "Now, the Way is in the mind, not in outer matters; the Dharma comes from oneself, not from others. Moreover, that which an emperor or king cultivates is different from what a common man cultivates. The common man's person is lowly and his reputation insignificant; his words and commands carry no majesty. If he does not restrain his person and endure hardships, what use could he be? An emperor or king takes the four seas as his home and the myriad people as his children. When he issues one auspicious word, all men and women rejoice; when he institutes one good policy, humanity and the spirits are brought into harmony. If punishments do not cut lives short and corvée labor does not exhaust physical strength, then the wind and rain will be timely, the cold and warmth will respond to the seasons, the hundred grains will flourish, and the mulberry and hemp will grow lush. To observe the fast in this manner—the fast is indeed great! The beings saved from slaughter are also numerous! How could it consist only in foregoing half a day's meal and preserving the life of a single fowl before it counts as widespread deliverance?" The Emperor then patted the table and sighed, saying, "Secular people are confused about profound principles, and śramaṇas are stuck on literal teachings. Those confused about profound principles claim the ultimate Way is empty talk; those stuck on literal teachings are bound and attached to texts and chapters. As for what Dharma Master Guṇavarman has spoken, it is truly to be called enlightening and penetrating; one could discuss with him the boundary between heaven and humanity!" He then decreed that [Guṇavarman] reside in Jetavana Monastery (Zhihuan si), where the provisions granted were most generous. The dukes, princes, and eminent talents all revered him. Soon afterward, he began lecturing on the Lotus Sūtra and the Daśabhūmika in the monastery. On the days of the Dharma assemblies, carriages and canopies filled the thoroughfares; spectators coming and going pressed shoulder to shoulder and heel to toe. Guṇavarman's spiritual faculty was natural and his wondrous eloquence heavenly and peerless; at times, even relying on an interpreter, his give-and-take was intuitively penetrating. Guṇavarman then translated ten works, including the Bodhisattva-bhadra-śīla-sūtra, at Jetavana Monastery (As for the Shanjié jīng [Bodhisattva-bhadra-śīla-sūtra], the catalogues of Changfang and others all say it has twenty fascicles, with a note below stating that his disciples later produced two more chapters at Dinglin, making thirty fascicles, which is incorrect. It now has only nine fascicles, or some say ten fascicles. This must be a scribal error that added the character 'twenty'. Sengyou's catalogue only says ten fascicles, thus we know the other catalogues have a scribal error. Furthermore, according to the Gaoseng zhuan, Huiyi of Jetavana Monastery requested the translation of the Pusa shanjie; at first only twenty-eight chapters were produced, and later disciples produced one chapter on his behalf, making thirty chapters. The catalogues of Fang and others stating that it was successively expanded into thirty fascicles are very much mistaken. Moreover, the catalogues of Changfang and others also say Guṇavarman translated the Saṃyuktābhidharmahṛdaya-śāstra in thirteen fascicles. But as Iśvara translated ten fascicles and Guṇavarman later supplemented it to make thirteen, it does not mean Guṇavarman made a separate translation. Recording it in both places is also incorrect. It is deleted here and recorded in the previous catalogue). All the texts and meanings were meticulous and accurate, with no divergence between the Indic and the Song [Chinese]. At that time, the nuns Huiguo, Jingyin, and others of Yingfu Temple jointly besought Guṇavarman, saying, "Six years ago, eight nuns from the Lion Country (Siṃhala) arrived at the capital, saying that because the land of Song had never previously had nuns, how could the precepts have been received from both assemblies? We fear the grades of precepts were not fully complete." Guṇavarman said, "The preceptual act is fundamentally generated from the assembly of great monks (bhikṣus). Even if the original procedure was not followed, this did not prevent the obtaining of the precepts, just as in the precedent of Mahāprajāpatī Gautami." The nuns still feared their years and months [of ordination] were incomplete and earnestly desired to receive them again. Guṇavarman praised them, saying, "Excellent! If you wish to make them brighter and clearer, I greatly rejoice in assisting you. However, the Western nuns have not yet attained the required monastic seniority, and their number does not reach ten. For now, let them learn the Song language, and via Western laymen, separately invite other foreign nuns to arrive and fulfill the number of ten." In the summer of that year, he observed the retreat at the Lower Dinglin Temple. At that time, believers picked flowers to spread on the seats; only the flowers upon which Guṇavarman sat became even fresher in color. The multitude all revered him with the rites accorded to a sage. When the summer ended, he returned to Jetavana Monastery. On the twenty-eighth day of the ninth month of that year, before the midday meal was over, he rose first and returned to his chamber. When his disciples arrived later, he had already suddenly passed away, at the age of sixty-five. Before his passing, he had composed in advance a testament of thirty-six lines of verse, revealing his own conditions and stating that he had already realized the second fruit [of the śramaṇa]. He personally sealed it and entrusted it to his disciple Aśoka, saying, "After my demise, you may take this text back and show it to the monks of Tianzhu, and you may also show it to the monks of this land." After his demise, he was propped up sitting on a rope couch; his facial expression did not differ [from life], appearing as if he had entered samādhi. More than a thousand clerics and laypeople rushed to attend. All smelled an intense fragrant scent, and all saw an object shaped like a dragon or serpent, about a bolt [of cloth] in length, rise from beside the corpse and soar straight into the sky, without anyone being able to name it. Then, before the ordination platform of Nanlin [Temple], he was cremated according to the foreign method. The fourfold assembly gathered like fish scales, and fragrant firewood was stacked into a pyre. Fragrant oil was poured over it to burn his mortal remains. Flames of five colors arose, and dense fragrance adorned the sky. At that time, the weather was clear and bright, and clergy and laity mourned and sighed. They thereupon erected a white stupa at that site. The nuns who wished to receive the ordination again wept bitterly and were brokenhearted, unable to contain their grief. Initially, when Guṇavarman arrived in the Song, Emperor Wen wished to receive the bodhisattva precepts from him, but before he could request them, [Guṇavarman] suddenly passed away. Because his original intention had not been fulfilled, [the Emperor's] grief and regret were all the deeper. He then commanded the assembly of monks to translate Guṇavarman's testament (The testament is in the biographical accounts; fearing verbosity, it is omitted here). Vinayamātṛkā, in ten fascicles (The first fascicle states: 'Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-mātṛkā; produced at Pingle Temple in Moling from the first month to the twenty-second day of the ninth month in the twelfth year of the Yuanjia era [435 CE], a yihai year; see Daohui's Song-Qi Catalogue and Sengyou's Catalogue'). Saṃyuktābhidharmahṛdaya-śāstra, in eleven fascicles (Also without the word 'śāstra', or called the Saṃyuktābhidharma-sūtra; Fang calls it the Saṃyuktābhidharma-vibhāṣā, or in fourteen fascicles; the fourth translation; produced at Changgan Temple in the ninth month of the eleventh year of the Yuanjia era [434 CE], a jiaxu year, and completed after a full year; see Sengyou's Catalogue and the preface to the text). Essential Verses for Exhorting the Various Kings, in one fascicle (Composed by Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna; second translation; see Sengyou's Catalogue and the Gaoseng zhuan). Summary of the Differentiation of Karmic Retribution, in one fascicle (Composed by Bodhisattva Mahāvīra; or called Bodhisattva Mahāvīra's Summary Compilation of the Differentiation of Karmic Retribution; see Sengyou's Catalogue and the Gaoseng zhuan). Text on Inviting the Holy Monks to Bathe, in one fascicle (See Sengyou's Catalogue and the Gaoseng zhuan). The five works above, in twenty-four fascicles (The first four works in twenty-three fascicles are extant; the latter one work in one fascicle is lost). Śramaṇa Saṅghavarman, translated into Song as Zhongkai ('Armor of the Assembly'), was a man of India. In his youth, he abandoned secular life. He was pure, aloof, and possessed preceptual virtue. He thoroughly understood the Vinayapiṭaka and was especially skilled in the Saṃyuktābhidharmahṛdaya. In the Yuanjia...