貞元新定釋教目錄 17.4.3

17.4.3

… vehicle of the principle and purport, termed the 'six pāramitās.' Your Majesty reverently believed in it and specially decreed that it be translated. Without pausing in laborious exertion, the wraps have now been completed. You specially bestowed banners and flowers, and further commanded that it be presented again. For an insignificant monk this is fortunate indeed, and I am deeply humbled in prostrating before such favour. My family is from the Western Barbarians, yet has come to reside in the Middle Kingdom. Having my name entered among the palace guards, the honour extends to my private household. Father and son rejoice together, feeling truly ashamed before Heaven and Earth. What virtue does a monk possess to receive further such meticulous and immense grace? I wish to cultivate and uphold [the teaching] so that its merit may support the imperial reign; this is my great fortune. Vowing to repay this kindness with my life, I am filled with joy and delight, unable to contain the utmost leaping of my heart. I have respectfully proceeded to the Guangshun Gate to submit this memorial and report it to your hearing. Your servant Haoxin, with true trepidation and true fear, bows his head, bows his head, and respectfully speaks." The Emperor endorsed it, saying: "Your cousin early on realized the Mahāyāna, and came from the distant West to enter our Superior State, proclaiming the profound meaning of the six sense bases and expounding the subtle words spoken beneath the twin trees. Considering his sincerity, he ought to be respected and honoured. It is for this reason that I ordered the translation, so that it may circulate. You, sir, have long excelled in loyal merit and held office in the palace guard. Reading your memorial, I fully see your feelings, and what you have thanked me for is noted." Then on the second day of the twelfth month, General Wang Xiqian announced the imperial decree: "The monk's Contemplation Courtyard at Liquan Monastery should be assigned to accommodate Prajñā, the monk from the country of Kashmīr who presented the Indic text of the Six Pāramitās." Further, on the twenty-third day, an imperial decree [was issued]: Feng Guoqing, Administrative Assistant of the Right Shence Army and Palace Attendant Director, announced the delivery to the courtyard of the monk Prajñā of the country of Kashmīr of: three eight-foot beds, each with double-layered pads, mats, coarse woolen covers, and official coarse silk mattresses; white meditation felts; two pairs of white hand towels; one bronze water flask; two iron pots; one three-dǒu cauldron; ten white porcelain bowls; one tea kettle; one cattail cushion; twenty strings of new tea; and one set of tea grinders. On the day the scripture was presented, an imperial decree had previously been received, ordering a re-translation of the dharma gate of mantras, mudrās, and seals within the Six Pāramitās Scripture, presenting them with the Chinese and Indic placed side by side. On the fourth day of the second month of the fifth year, the copying was completed, and it was presented together with the śramaṇa Liangxiu and others. An imperial decree bestowed thirty strings of tea. Furthermore, because the śramaṇa Yuanzhao of Ximing Monastery had received the order to serve as scribe during the translation, and within the scripture's praises of the Buddha every single passage had the 'eighty-four thousand six hundred and sixty-three kinds of Nārāyaṇa's strength'—though seeing this statement, he did not know its origin. He therefore requested Tripiṭaka Master Prajñā to translate this secret text, titled the *Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on the Elder of the Great Avataṃsaka Asking the Buddha About Nārāyaṇa's Strength*. The śramaṇas who proclaimed and translated the words, served as scribes, polished the text, and certified the meaning were entirely the same as those for the *Six Pāramitās Sūtra*, without addition or subtraction. On the fifteenth day of the second month of the fourth year of Zhenyuan, the copying was completed; it was only a little over one sheet. At that time, due to the rush of writing the commentary, it could not yet be reported to the throne. The details are respectfully recorded, and an imperial decree ordered it to be included [in the catalogue]. Then, on the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month of the sixth year, an imperial decree bestowed the title of Tripiṭaka and a purple kāṣāya: "An imperial decree: Concerning the śramaṇa Prajñā of the country of Kashmīr who presented the Indic pothi of the *Six Pāramitās Sūtra*, it is appropriate to bestow upon him the name 'Tripiṭaka Prajñā' and further bestow purple robes." Furthermore, there was the śramaṇa Zhirou, a venerable lecturer at Qianfu Monastery, whose vinaya practice was rigorous and ascetic, and who was fond of the Mahāyāna, transmitting the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra* and the *Śūraṅgama-sūtra*, and also constantly chanting and reciting the *Heart Sūtra*. This scripture had been translated by Kumārajīva under the title *Great Illumination Dhāraṇī Sūtra*. When Master Xuanzang was about to depart for the Western Regions, a divine being bestowed it upon him. When passing through the perilous sand dunes, he chanted and maintained it with wholehearted devotion, and disasters and obstacles were kept far away. It is a 'great divine spell'—these words are not false. Later, when he obtained an Indic pothi, the translation he produced did not differ, only lacking the introductory section and the concluding transmission section. Next, at the end of the Kaiyuan era, Tripiṭaka Master Dharmacandra again translated this sūtra, and both texts had them. Now meeting Tripiṭaka Master Prajñā, whose pothi completely possessed this, it was the same text but a different translation from Dharmacandra's sūtra. With sincere earnestness, he requested that the authentic text be produced again. Before they could examine it thoroughly, the Tripiṭaka Master was dispatched on an embassy. On the eleventh day of the eighth month, the certification of meaning, polishing of style, and copying were completed, and a memorial was prepared and presented, desiring its circulation. Śramaṇa Zhirou said: "I humbly consider that the sagely wisdom is vast and profound, relying on propagation to become all the more widespread; the wondrous ultimate of the true source borrows words and images to be transmitted. This is the master and model of all saints, the root and mother of the host of scriptures. Formerly, the śramaṇa Xuanzang translated and circulated it; although the meaning was complete and without omission, its text lacked the beginning and end. Recently, meeting the monk Prajñā of Kashmīr and personally viewing the Indic text, I firmly requested its transmission and again added support. Only then did we know that the Vulture Peak monastery truly opened the golden words; those who chant it have their doubts dispelled, and the true style travels even farther. I humbly reflect that Your Majesty has personally received the Buddha's entrustment and follows every good; your Dao reaches sentient beings, and among people none are untransformed. Zhirou, not reckoning his own mediocrity and shallowness, presumptuously presents his foolish sincerity, hoping to assist the imperial style and wishing to support the sagely longevity. I humbly beg that the Heavenly Gaze bend down to view this golden text; if it may be permitted, I humbly request that it be promulgated within and without [the court], so that all deluded beings through eternal kalpas may be exceedingly fortunate. Unable to contain the utmost pouring out of my sincere devotion, I respectfully attach this memorial and submit it for your hearing. Śramaṇa Zhirou. On the eleventh day of the eighth month of the sixth year of Zhenyuan, submitted by Śramaṇa Zhirou, Overseer of Merit at the Baizhang Courtyard of the Imperial Commentary on the Vajracchedikā-sūtra at Qianfu Monastery." The Emperor endorsed it, saying: "The *Heart Sūtra* contains the secret purport of the Mahāyāna. Formerly, Xuanzang's translation was already comprehensive in words and meaning, but regarding its beginning and end, it was perhaps not fully detailed. Recently, because the monk Prajñā of Kashmīr came to China transmitting this surviving text, it is sufficient to assist and support it. What the master has requested is deeply agreeable and fitting. Now, following the submitted memorial, let it be used to broaden the authentic scripture." *The Great and Vast Buddha Avataṃsaka Sūtra*, one work in forty fascicles. The above work in forty fascicles currently exists. In the past, Emperor Ming of the Han dreamed of a golden man, and dispatched envoys to seek the Buddha's teaching in the Western Regions. Today, our Emperor's sagely transformation resonates and connects, so that a king of Southern India presented an Indic sūtra to the Superior State. Though the ages differ in past and present, the reverent faith is without distinction; yet discussing their resonance and connection, they cannot be spoken of in the same year! I humbly reflect that the Emperor's might extends over the Northern Di, his benevolence blankets the Eastern Yi, reaches south to the Eight Man, and extends west to India. Having enlightened virtue and conduct, the four kingdoms submit to it; what the *Book of Odes* speaks of is precisely this matter. Thus the vow text presenting the scripture says: 'The one who deeply believes in the teaching of the supreme Sugata, who cultivates the supreme Mahāyāna practice, the Auspicious Sovereign, King of Pure Lions of the Country of Oḍra in Southern India, presents this, hand-copied by himself, to the Great Auspicious Son of Heaven of the Great Country of Mahācīna and the Great Tang, the Great King among Great Sovereign Lion Kings: the "Chapter on the Practices and Vows of Samantabhadra Entering the Inconceivable Realm of Liberation of the Fifty-five Holy Good Spiritual Friends", within the practice of the youth Sudhana attending and serving good spiritual friends numbering as the finest dust motes of Buddha-lands, expounded in the hundreds of thousands of gāthās of the *Great and Vast Buddha Avataṃsaka Sūtra*. It is respectfully presented. We humbly pray that the Great Kingdom's Sagely King's accumulation of merit may be exalted and surpass Mount Sumeru, and his wisdom be deep and wide, surpassing the four great oceans, and that the lands of the ten directions may become as one family. Through the merit of copying this sūtra, may we gather that measureless accumulation of blessings, equal to empty space…