貞元新定釋教目錄 10.28.7

10.28.7

king was deeply fond of the Mahāyāna and attained many awakenings. His desire to retain and invite him arose morning and night. Dharmagupta, having his heart set on the Eastern Xia, had no intention of staying covertly. Taking one monk secretly with him, he traveled by secondary paths to the kingdom of Agni (Karashahr). Dwelling in an araṇya monastery, he lectured through the aforementioned treatises, which took another two years. Gradually reaching Gaochang, he traveled as a guest among the various monasteries. The monastics of that country mostly studied the Han language. Although he stayed for two years, he produced no translations. Next he reached Yiwu (Hami) and stayed for a year. Meeting with difficulties, he sought refuge from danger. The southwestern route was purely desert, devoid of both water and grass. The companions relied on each other, with nowhere to commit their lives. Thereupon they temporarily placed the scriptures and treatises they carried beside the road and crossed the mountains in search of water, hoping thereby to survive. As the search was unsuccessful, their fatigue and distress intensified. Devotedly reciting the Avalokiteśvara dhāraṇī, a sudden night rain fell. Reinvigorated in body and mind, they immediately returned to their original route. Looking around in all directions, the vast expanse was bewildered, and they lost their bearing. Hesitating whether to advance or retreat, they simply surrendered themselves to the forward journey, eventually reaching Guazhou. Only then did they realize they had taken a winding path along the northern route. Dharmagupta had longed from afar for the great country and traversed the terrain over many years. Of the companions with whom he originally pledged, some had stayed behind and some had died. Looking alone at his solitary shadow, he arrived at this superior land. Reflecting silently upon it, sorrow and joy mingled together. Soon he received an imperial decree inviting him into the capital, lodging him in a renowned monastery with abundant provisions; this was in the tenth month, winter, of the tenth year of Kaihuang [590 CE]. Not long after his arrival, he gained a general knowledge of the Chinese language. Furthermore, he received a special imperial decree commanding him to engage in scriptural translation. He relocated to Xingshan Monastery, holding the Indic original and translating against it, accurately verifying and eliminating redundancies. The Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna treatises he recited were all profound and essential; when he expounded and explained, he greatly illuminated subtle purports, repeatedly resolving accumulated doubts for the veteran scholars of this land. Moreover, he established himself with compassion and forbearance, and gentleness became his nature. His mind did not stray outside the Way, and his conduct preceded his words. The ground of his precepts was level and tranquil, and the waters of his wisdom were deep and pure. In sūtras he penetrated the origins of the words, and in treatises he exhausted phonetics and meaning. Furthermore, his dignified deportment was orderly and correct, and his diligent integrity was lofty and fierce. His chanting voices resonated through morning and night, and his Dharma discourses encompassed both Buddhist and non-Buddhist lore. In addition, by nature he loved dwelling in tranquility, severing emotional business, diminishing desires, and stopping all ambitions. Untiring in instructing others, he surpassed those who merely benefit themselves. Never did he show displeasure to the lowly or contempt to the humble, so that those who had not yet seen him were moved by his demeanor, and those who briefly met him felt reverence. From the time he occupied the head of the translators, he was dedicated solely to transmitting the teachings; all his collations and annotations were focused on the essentials. When Emperor Yang established his capital in the Eastern Capital, his respect was profound, and regarding the Buddha's Dharma, he elevated and planted it all the more. He then issued a decree to establish a Translation Hall on the southern bank of the Luo River within the Shanglin Garden, searching out and raising up eminent talents to permanently anchor the transmission of the Dharma. He immediately summoned Dharmagupta along with various scholars to assemble there, and their provisions of the four requisites were again maintained according to the standard rate. This enabled the translators to maintain their succession, and their completed tablets did not fall behind in their time. When the Sui dynastic order declined and the suburban ramparts were enveloped in smoke, the transmission of new Indic scriptures was interrupted for a time. Dharmagupta harbored his deep understanding and thus lacked the opportunity to set it forth and propagate it. When he first arrived in the capital in the middle of the Kaihuang era, he participated in translation alongside Jñānagupta. At that time, Jñānagupta held the preeminent authority and enjoyed the highest renown; when transmitting between Sanskrit and Sui, he was uniquely acclaimed by the era. Yet whenever it came to profound meanings, there was none who did not turn to Dharmagupta for clarification. Still, his demeanor was yielding and vast, uninvolved in worldly ways; hence in the prestige of translation, he humbled himself and elevated others. At the end of the Renshou era, Jñānagupta was exiled to Dongyue on account of another matter. Dharmagupta seized the opportunity to take sole charge of translation. From the early years of Daye to the final years of Daye, he translated nine works, including the Da fangdeng shanzhuyi jing, their texts and meanings clear and pure, elegant and substantial, lucid and fluent. The śramaṇas Yancong, Mingze, Xingju, and others recorded them brush in hand. In the third year of Wude of the Great Tang [620 CE], he passed away on the banks of the Luo River. The śramaṇa Yancong wrote a biography for him. Earlier, Dharmagupta translated the Jingang duange boreboluomi jing in one fascicle and the Pule jing in fifteen fascicles. Before they could be reviewed and finalized, they met with the collapse and usurpation of the pseudo-Zheng, leaving no leisure to revise them. At present, these fascicles and works reside in the capital; they mostly elucidate matters such as the eight aspects [of the Buddha's life]. I consider today that the twelve fascicles of the Fangguang dazhuangyan jing translated by the Tripiṭaka Master Divākara of the Great Tang share the same Indic original as the older Puyao jing, and in it the eight aspects are also explained; it should be the same Indic original as this Pule jing.