開元釋教錄 9.3.4

9.3.4

The śramaṇa Śi Mingquan was a monk of Foshouji Temple in the Eastern Capital. He was especially versed in the study of vinaya and also conversant with sūtras and śāstras. In the first year of Tiancewansui under the Heavenly Empress (yiwei, 695), an imperial edict ordered the collation and determination of the catalogue of sūtras. Mingquan compiled the entries and arranged the sequence from beginning to end, consulting and establishing it together with more than twenty translation-virtuosos. Although it is termed a collation and determination, it contains much superfluity and confusion; although seen to circulate, it is truly difficult to rely on as a standard, and its internal errors are as described elsewhere.

*Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra*, eighty fascicles (second translation; same text as that translated by Buddhabhadra under the Eastern Jin; translation began on the fourteenth day of the third month of the first year of Zhengsheng in Dabiangong Temple within the Imperial Palace of the Eastern Capital, with the Heavenly Empress personally taking up the brush to edit, and was completed on the eighth day of the tenth month of the second year of Shengli in Foshouji Temple);
*Mañjuśrī-vyākaraṇa-sūtra*, three fascicles (translated in Qingchan Temple; third translation; same text as the *Mañjuśrī-buddhakṣetra-guṇavyūha-sūtra* and others; now incorporated into the *Ratnakūṭa* as the fifteenth assembly);
*Tathāgatagñānaguṇācintyaviṣayāvatāra-nirdeśa-sūtra*, one fascicle (translated in Foshouji Temple in the Eastern Capital; fourth translation; same text as the *Sarvabuddhaviṣayāvatārajñānālokālaṃkāra-sūtra* and others);
*Sarvabuddhaviṣayāvatāra-sūtra*, one fascicle (second translation; same text as the Viṣayavibhāga translated by Divākara);
*Sūtra Spoken by Samantabhadra Bodhisattva*, one fascicle;
*Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra of the Mahāyāna*, seven fascicles (fourth translation; same text as that translated by Guṇabhadra under the Song and others; translation began on the fifth day of the fifth month of the first year of Jiushi in Sanyang Palace in the Eastern Capital, and transcription was completed on the fifth day of the first month of the fourth year of Chang'an);
*Avalokiteśvarabodhisattva-guhyagarbha-dhāraṇī-sūtra*, one fascicle (first translation; same text as that translated by Ratnacinta and others);
*Bāhumudrā-dhvaja-dhāraṇī-sūtra*, one fascicle (second translation; same text as the *Dhvajāgrakeyūra-dhāraṇī-sūtra*);
*Śatasahasramudrā-dhāraṇī-sūtra*, one fascicle;
*Dhāraṇī-mantra Sūtra for Saving the Flaming-Mouth Hungry Ghost*, one fascicle;
*Sūtra on the Merit of Circumambulating a Stūpa to the Right*, one fascicle (also called *Sūtra on the Merit of Circumambulating a Stūpa*);
*Mahāyāna-caturdharmaka-sūtra*, one fascicle (although its title is identical to that translated earlier by the Tripiṭaka Master Divākara, the text of the sūtra is completely different);
*Daśakuśalakarmapatha-sūtra*, one fascicle;
*Mahāyāna-śraddhotpāda-śāstra*, two fascicles (second translation; same text as that translated by Paramārtha);
*Mahāprajñāhṛdaya-sūtra*, one fascicle;
*Ajātānirjāta-sūtra*, one fascicle;
*Sūtra on the Tathāgata's Inconceivable Realm*, one fascicle;
*Raśmivimalaviśuddhaprabhā-dhāraṇī-sūtra*, one fascicle (first translation; same text as that translated by Mitraśānta);
*Sūtra on the Four Dharmas Generated by Bodhisattvas*, one fascicle.

The above nineteen works in one hundred and seven fascicles (the fourteen works in one hundred and two fascicles above the *Śraddhotpāda-śāstra* are extant; the five works in five fascicles below the *Mahāprajñāhṛdaya-sūtra* are lost texts).

The śramaṇa Śikṣānanda, in the language of the Tang meaning "Delighting in Learning," was a native of Khotan. His wisdom and discernment were vast and extensive, and he made benefiting living beings his intention. He was skilled in both the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna, as well as heterodox treatises. The Heavenly Empress, brightly propagating the sun of the Buddha, revered the Mahāyāna. Because the old translation of the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra* was incomplete in its locations and assemblies, and having heard from afar that this Sanskrit text was in Khotan, she dispatched envoys to seek it out, while also requesting translators. Śikṣānanda arrived at the imperial court together with the sūtra. In the first year of Zhengsheng (yiwei, 695) under the Heavenly Empress, he translated the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra* at Dabiangong Temple within the Imperial Palace of the Eastern Capital. The Heavenly Empress personally attended the Dharma seat, brilliantly promulgating a preface, and wielding her divine brush, inscribed the names of the chapters at the head. The South Indian śramaṇa Bodhiruci and the śramaṇa Yijing jointly recited the Sanskrit text. Later, it was entrusted to the śramaṇas Fulī, Fazang, and others to translate at Foshouji Temple, and the work was completed in the second year of Shengli (jihai, 699). Furthermore, in the first year of Jiushi (gengzi, 700), he translated the *Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra of the Mahāyāna* in Sanyang Palace, and translated sūtras such as the *Mañjuśrī-vyākaraṇa* at Qingchan Temple in the Western Capital and Foshouji Temple in the Eastern Capital. In all, he translated nineteen works. The śramaṇas Bolun, Xuangui, and others recorded the text; the śramaṇas Fulī and others styled the composition; the śramaṇas Fabao, Hongjing, and others verified the meaning; and the Crown Prince's Assistant Secretary Jia Yingfu supervised and safeguarded [the work]. By the fourth year of Chang'an (704), Śikṣānanda, on account of his mother's advanced age, requested to return to pay his respects. Only after submitting memorials twice was he granted permission, and an imperial decree directed the Censor Huo Siguang to escort him to Khotan. Later, when Emperor Zhongzong ascended the throne and the sun of the Buddha shone again, an imperial edict summoned him once more, whereupon he arrived at the imperial capital in the second year of Jinglong (708). The Emperor humbled his ten-thousand-chariot majesty to welcome him in person outside the Kaiyuan Gate. The monastics of the capital prepared banners and pennants to guide him along the route, and decorated a blue elephant for him to ride into the city. An imperial edict lodged him at Dajianfu Temple. Before he had leisure to undertake translations, he fell ill and lingered. On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the first year of Jingyun (710), lying on his right side with feet crossed, he passed away at Dajianfu Temple at the age of fifty-nine. The clergy sobbed in grief, lamenting that the pillar of the Dharma had been so suddenly felled; the laity wept aloud, sorrowing that the multitude of living beings had lost their guide. An imperial decree permitted his burial according to foreign custom. On the twelfth day of the eleventh month, he was cremated outside the Kaiyuan Gate at the Ancient Dīpaṅkara Terrace. When the firewood was consumed and the flames extinguished, his tongue remained intact: this was an auspicious omen of his propagation of the Dharma. On the twenty-third day of the twelfth month, his native disciple Beizhi and the imperial commissioner Geshu Daoyuan escorted his remaining bones and this miraculous tongue back to Khotan, where a stūpa was erected to pay offerings. Later, a seven-tiered stūpa was also built at the site of his cremation.

*Amoghapāśa-dhāraṇī-sūtra*, one fascicle (also named *Samantamukha*; this has sixteen chapters and is a translation of a Sanskrit text with a preface by the śramaṇa Bolun; second translation; same text as the three-fascicle version translated by Ratnacinta);

The above one work in one fascicle is currently extant.

The Brahman Li Wuchan was a native of the country of Lampāka in North India. His intellect was acute, and he was thoroughly versed in both inner and outer learning, with a clear and unimpeded understanding of both Chinese and Sanskrit. When the Tripiṭaka Masters Ajitasena, Bodhiruci, and others translated various sūtras, Wuchan consistently translated the oral speech. In the third month of the third year of Shengli (gengzi, 700) during the reign of the Heavenly Empress, there was a monk of Silla named Myeonghyo. Having observed the civilization of the Tang from afar, he was about to set out on his return journey; having previously focused his attention on the gateway of dhāraṇī, he earnestly and resolutely requested the translation of this mantra so that those in that border region might equally hear the secret teaching. Thereupon, at the Translation Bureau of Foshouji Temple, [Wuchan] translated one work, the *Amoghapāśa-dhāraṇī-sūtra*, with the śramaṇa Bolun recording the text. In the eighth month of the first year of Jiushi, they further collated the translated sūtra against a Sanskrit text from Jibin, and only then was it copied and circulated.

*Raśmivimalaviśuddhaprabhā-mahādhāraṇī-sūtra*, one fascicle (second translation; same text as the *Raśmivimalaviśuddhaprabhā-dhāraṇī* of Śikṣānanda);

The above one work in one fascicle is currently extant.

The śramaṇa Mitraśānta, in the language of the Tang meaning "Tranquil Friend," was a native of Tokharistan. Leaving home in his youth, he traveled through the regions of India, studying sūtras and śāstras everywhere. In the *Laṅkāvatāra* and the *Kośa* he was most