開元釋教錄 8.6.7

8.6.7

even long-standing scholars of venerable years could not surpass him. As for probing the depths and reaching the far-reaching, disclosing subtleties and uncovering what was hidden—domains untouched by the multitude—his solitary comprehension of the abstruse was by no means limited to a single principle. At that time in Chang'an there were the two Dharma masters Daochang and Sengbian, master craftsmen of the Dharma in the supreme capital. Xuanzang also consulted and received instruction from them; yet all the profound depths they possessed were completely acquired by him at once. Both venerable figures deeply sighed in admiration and said to Xuanzang: “You may truly be called a thousand-li steed of the Buddhist fold! The reigniting of the sun of wisdom must surely rest upon your person. We only regret our decrepitude and fear we shall not live to see it.” From this point on, fellow students looked upon him with new eyes, and his fame filled the capital. The Vice Director of the Right of the Department of State Affairs, Duke of Song Xiao Yu, revering his preeminence, submitted a memorial requesting that he reside at Zhuangyan Temple. Yet this was not his original aspiration; his mind dwelled beyond worldly matters. He further reflected: “I have traveled through Wu and Shu, reached Zhao and Wei, and ended in Zhou and Qin. Wherever there were lecture halls, I attended them all; the teachings already expounded now fill my heart, but regarding the teachings not yet uttered, there is nowhere to resolve doubts and interpret signs. If I do not disregard life and dedicate myself to the vow of traveling to India, how can I fully behold the authentic words and achieve an intuitive, penetrating understanding? If I could but once gaze upon the illuminating Dharma and the definitive scriptures, I would return to the East to propagate and proclaim the sacred teachings. Then how could earlier worthies and exalted figures ever need to resolve doubts with Maitreya, or future keen minds abandon their yearnings for the Yogācāra?” Thereupon, acting with resolute purpose on his own, he went to the palace gates to present a memorial, but the officials would not transmit it. Halting his steps in the capital suburbs, he broadly approached various foreigners and comprehensively studied their scripts and tongues; whether walking or sitting, he pursued instruction, achieving fluency in only a few days. Edging forward on his seat and facing west, he contemplated waiting for an opportune moment. It happened that in the third year of the Zhenguan era, there was frost and famine, and an imperial decree permitted clergy and laity to disperse in all directions to follow the harvests. Fortuitously taking advantage of this opportunity, he proceeded directly to Guzang and gradually reached Dunhuang. His route led through heavenly frontiers; packing provisions and condoling with his own shadow, he looked ahead into the far distance and saw only flat sands devoid of human trails. Hesitant and anxious, he entrusted his life to karma and pressed on. Proceeding by stages, he arrived at the borders of Gaochang. The king, Qu Wentai, had faith in the Buddha; extending extraordinary rites, he made offerings, looked after him, and implored him to remain and propagate the Dharma. Xuanzang conveyed his sincere dedication with utmost devotion, and the king finally permitted him to journey west, bestowing generous gifts to provide for his provisions and gear. The king further commanded the Vice Director of the Palace Domestic Service, Shi Huan, to take five hundred bolts of damask silk and two carts of fruits and delicacies, and present twenty-four letters to the Yabghu Qaghan, requesting passage through twenty-four countries including Kucha. To each letter was attached a bolt of large damask as a pledge of good faith; he also provided thirty horses and twenty-five laborers, escorting him to the encampment of the Turkic Yabghu. Because the sixty-odd kingdoms north of the Great Snowy Mountains were all under his command and governance, generous gifts were conveyed so that he would open the way ahead for Xuanzang. The Qaghan then issued orders to all countries under his command to provide provisions and escort him. Moving from stage to stage, he finally reached the kingdom of Kaśmīra. All this was due to the efforts of King Qu of Gaochang and the Yabghu Qaghan. Xuanzang traveled through the five regions of India, taking eminent masters everywhere as his teachers. When it came to scriptures such as the five sciences and four āgamas, the snare of the three piṭakas and twelve divisions, the sounds of the seven cases and eight inflections, and the phrasings of the three voices and six compounds, he completely exhausted their subtleties and fully investigated their wonders. Initially, the venerable Śīlabhadra and Lion of Light (Siṃharaśmi) and others at Nālandā Monastery established the tenets of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Śata-śāstra to refute the doctrines of Yogācāra and so forth. Xuanzang said: “When the sages composed treatises, they never contradicted each other; it is merely that scholars have their preferences and aversions.” Thereupon he composed the Huizong lun (Treatise on Reconciling the Teachings) in three thousand verses, harmonizing the tenets of Yogācāra, Madhyamaka, and the Śata-śāstra. Earlier, there had been a royal consecration master of South India named Prajñāgupta who was well-versed in the Saṃmatīya school; he had composed a Treatise Refuting the Mahāyāna in seven hundred verses. Xuanzang expounded the Mahāyāna teachings to refute it, calling his work the Zhi ejian lun (Treatise Refuting Evil Views) in one thousand six hundred verses. The various masters all said: “This treatise exhausts the mightiest adversaries under heaven; what rival could stand against it?” Furthermore, King Kumāra of East India, having been converted through Xuanzang, began to open the gates of faith and inquired about the virtues of the Buddhas. Xuanzang praised the Tathāgata’s three bodies for benefiting sentient beings, and consequently composed the Sanshen lun (Treatise on the Three Bodies) in three hundred verses to present to him. The king said: “This is unprecedented!” and received it with veneration and took refuge. The treasury of meanings in these three treatises is profound and abstruse, and they circulated widely throughout the five regions of India. From this it is known that his religious reputation was manifest and his virtuous conduct exalted; his learning accumulated over three winters, and his renown galloped ten thousand li. The scholars of India all looked up to his exalted virtue: they called him a “case of scriptures” and also praised him as a “general of the Dharma.” The disciples of the Hīnayāna called Xuanzang Mokṣadeva, which in Chinese means “Deity of Liberation”; the Mahāyāna community called him Mahāyānadeva, which in Chinese means “Deity of the Mahāyāna.” These were illustrious titles conferred because of his exalted virtue, and auspicious appellations deliberated out of reverence for the man. Furthermore, Great King Śīlāditya had subjugated the five regions of India; hearing of Xuanzang's fame, he sent emissaries to invite him. When Xuanzang first arrived, the king immediately asked, saying: “I have heard that in your country of Cīna there is the musical, vocal, and dance performance of 'The Prince of Qin Smashes the Battle Formations.' What manner of man is the Prince of Qin to have earned such praise?” Xuanzang replied: “He is our present Son of Heaven who rules the state. Before ascending the imperial throne, he was enfeoffed as the Prince of Qin. He is a great sage: he quelled disorder, restored rectitude, and his grace soaked the six directions; hence there is this celebration of him.” The king said: “For such a man, Heaven has indeed endowed him to be the sovereign of beings!” The king devoted all his mind to serving Xuanzang as his teacher with reverence. Desiring to spread his fragrant renown far and near, he established a grand debate arena in Kanyākubja, assembling the eloquent śramaṇas and brahmins of the five regions of India, and ordered Xuanzang to establish his thesis. For eighteen days to the end, no one dared to challenge it. The king deeply sighed in admiration and offered ten thousand gold coins, thirty thousand silver coins, and one hundred sets of fine cotton robes, none of which Xuanzang accepted. In the five regions of India, King Śīlāditya and others earnestly implored him to remain to glorify the abstruse transformation; but Xuanzang's aspiration lay in bringing broad benefit and transmitting what had not yet been heard, so he firmly intended to return east and declined without accepting. The king again implored him to stay briefly to observe the seventy-five-day grand almsgiving arena. When the event ended, Xuanzang took his leave to return. The king ordered the territories under his command to convey him by relays out of the borders, and presented him with an elephant along with tens of thousands of gold and silver coins each. King Śīlāditya, Kumāra, and the kings of eighteen great kingdoms shed tears as they held his hand in farewell. Xuanzang promptly declined and would not accept the gifts. The monks urged him to accept the gift of the elephant, all saying: “This is an auspicious sign! Since the Buddha entered nirvāṇa, although kings have revered the Dharma and made various donations, we have never heard of an elephant being offered to the Buddhist fold. An elephant is a state treasure; now that it has been bestowed, it is the utmost expression of faith.” Thereupon he accepted the elephant and returned the money and valuables. Now as for that elephant, its form was massive and round, about thirteen feet high and twenty-odd feet long, capable of carrying eight people on top along with various gear. Traveling north along the borders of the kingdoms, he exited India; the various countries through which Xuanzang traveled, his viewing and veneration of sacred traces, and the miraculous responses he elicited are fully and clearly detailed in the Da Tang Xiyu ji, the Xu Gaoseng zhuan, as well as the biography of Dharma Master Xuanzang. In the Western Regions, Xuanzang obtained through request one hundred and fifty grains of the Tathāgata’s flesh-relics; one golden statue of the Buddha, sixteen inches high including the halo and pedestal, modeled after the shadow image in the Dragon Cave of Mount Prāgbodhi in Magadha; one golden statue of the Buddha, three feet three inches high including the halo and pedestal, modeled after the image of the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma in the Deer Park in Vārāṇasī; and one carved sandalwood statue of the Buddha, fifteen inches high including the halo and pedestal, modeled after the sandalwood portrait carved when King Udayana of Kauśāmbī yearned for the Tathāgata.