貞元新定釋教目錄 17.4.4

17.4.4

[... so that all] beings in all the oceans of worlds of the realm of phenomena, without exception, will be just like the youth Sudhana: attaining the Buddha's correct view, being endowed with wisdom, giving rise to joy upon seeing unfathomable true spiritual friends, obtaining the Buddha's vast and universal illumination to be freed from all covetous attachments, and accomplishing the untainted, supreme practices and vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. We humbly pray that by the merit of writing and presenting this Mahāyāna scripture, when the Tathāgata Maitreya achieves Buddhahood, we may behold him early at the assembly under the Dragon Flower Tree; that the Great Sage Celestial King may obtain knowledge of past lives, recognize [him] upon beholding [him], and jointly receive the Buddha's prediction; and that to the exhaustion of empty space and pervading the realm of phenomena, he may widely deliver all future sentient beings so that they quickly achieve Buddhahood. Humbly consulting Chapter Ten of the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, it says: 'The country of Wuḍa is more than seven thousand li in circuit. The great capital of the country is more than twenty li in circuit. The soil is fertile, and grain crops flourish. The various fruits are rather large, and the strange grasses and famous flowers from various lands are difficult to describe. The climate is warm and hot; the customs are wild and fierce. The people are tall and stalwart in appearance, with dark complexions. Their speech and tone differ from Central India. They are tireless in their fondness for study, and mostly have faith in the Buddha's Dharma. There are more than one hundred monasteries and more than ten thousand monks, all of whom study the Mahāyāna Dharma teachings. There are fifty Deva temples where different paths live intermingled. There are more than ten stūpas in all; all are places where the Tathāgata preached the Dharma, established by King Aśoka. On the southeastern border of the country, bordering the great sea, is the city of Caritra (translated in Tang [speech] as "Departure-and-Travel"), which is more than twenty li in circuit. It is the transit route where seafaring merchants and long-distance travelers come and go and stop. The city is fortified and precipitous, possessing many rare treasures. Adjacent outside the city are five monasteries; their terraces and pavilions are towering and lofty, and the revered statues are exquisitely magnificent. Going south to the country of Siṅghala (translated in Tang [speech] as "Lion-Holding Country") is more than twenty thousand li. Gazing far away on a quiet night, one sees the jewel light atop the Buddha's tooth-relic stūpa of that country, radiant as a brightly burning torch hung up in suspension.' Now this palm-leaf manuscript of the Avataṃsaka was copied by the hand of the ruler of that country of Wuḍa himself, who dispatched an envoy to cross the sea by ship and offer it as a tribute. From this it is known that the King of the Dharma who governs the imperial calendar does not value foreign goods or rare pearls; he faithfully honors the Mahāyāna, regarding the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha as the supreme treasures. This indeed rescues those who are sinking and enables the realization of Bodhi. On the eighth day of the eleventh month in the eleventh year of the Zhenyuan era, cyclical year yihai (795), [the envoy] reached Chang'an and presented it to the enlightened sovereign. The Emperor, having reviewed the memorial, gave rise to deep faith. Since the writing was different, it had to be translated; the Tripiṭaka [master] Prajñā was the very man for it. The Tripiṭaka Dharma master was named Prajñā; he was a person of Kashmīr (the Indic sound is corrupt and abbreviated; correctly it is Kapisi). Chapter One of the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions says: 'The country of Kapiśa is more than four thousand li in circuit. To its north it backs against the snowy mountains, and on three sides it hangs over the Black Mountains. The country's great capital is more than ten li in circuit. It is suitable for wheat and cereals, has many fruit trees, and produces fine horses and saffron. Rare goods of foreign lands mostly assemble in this country. The climate is windy and cold; the nature of the people is violent and wild. Their speech is vulgar and obscene, and their marriages are promiscuous and disorderly. In general it is like the country of Tokhāra, but their customs, spoken language, and manners differ somewhat. For clothing they wear cotton clothes along with leather and coarse wool. For currency they use gold coins, silver coins, and small copper coins; their shapes and patterns differ from those of the Middle Kingdom. The king is of the Kṣatriya caste. He has intelligence and strategy, is brave and fierce by nature, and intimidates neighboring borders, governing more than ten countries. He loves and nurtures the common people, respectfully venerating the Three Jewels. Each year he makes an eighteen-foot Buddha statue and also sets up a Great Non-Obstruction Assembly to provide for the impoverished and give relief to widowers and widows. There are more than one hundred monasteries and more than six thousand monks, who mostly study the Mahāyāna Dharma teachings. The stūpas and saṅghārāmas are towering, grand, spacious, vast, and adorned in purity. There are several tens of Deva temples and more than a thousand heterodox practitioners, who either go naked or smear themselves with ashes, stringing together human skulls to make crowns and garlands.' The Tripiṭaka [master] Prajñā was born in this country. His secular surname was Gautama, or by his maternal clan his surname was Luo. Endowed with natural intelligence, he left his home country at fourteen. Following a master in Northern India, he received the full precepts upon coming of age. He studied the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya, the Abhidharmakośa, and the Mahāvibhāṣā. Next he traveled to Central India, studying the five sciences (vidyā) and the Mahāyāna teachings. Residing in the Nālandā Monastery, from time to time he went around to venerate the sacred traces of the eight stūpas. In this manner he studied for eighteen years. Next he proceeded to the King's Monastery of Wuḍa in Southern India, where he studied the Yoga teachings, ascended the consecration altar, and received instruction in all the mantras of the five divisions. Hearing from afar that the Great Sage Mañjuśrī, the Five-Tufted Youth, resides upon the Five Peaks of Mount Qingliang to quench the blazing heat of defilements, protecting the Great Tang alongside a host of ten thousand bodhisattvas, he thereupon took up Indic scriptures and sailed across the seas and scaled the mountains, risking his life to cross through Java. In the final year of the Jianzhong era (783), he arrived in the superior country. In the fourth year of the Zhenyuan era (788), he received the imperial edict to translate and transmit the Sūtra of the Six Pāramitās; this affair is recorded in full detail in a separate account. Then in the sixth year (790) he was sent on an imperial mission to Northern India, returning to the imperial palace in the eighth year of Zhenyuan (792). Reflecting on how his past vow remained unfulfilled and how he had not had the leisure to pay homage to the Great Sage Mañjuśrī, his original intent burned in his heart: if there were no opposition to the imperial order, he swore he would go in person. In the third month of the tenth year (794), he departed for Qingliang, touring and venerating Mount Wutai until the beginning of autumn. In the fourth month of the eleventh year (795), he returned to the Upper Capital. On the eighteenth day of the eleventh month, the king of the country of Wuḍa in Southern India presented two palm-leaf packets of Indic scriptures to the Great Tang. On the last day of the month, an imperial edict was handed down to the Commissioners' Bureau, ordering the Tripiṭaka Dharma master and the various venerable elders to examine the titles, translate the names, and submit them. The Tripiṭaka master then rendered the Sanskrit into the Central Asian language (Hu), and the śramaṇa Zhizhen translated it into Chinese. Submitting an official report on this retranslation to the Commissioners' Bureau, [it stated]: 'The Indic manuscript of the Mahāvaipulya-buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra has six packets in total, comprising one hundred thousand verses. The Great Tang has already translated eighty rolls, which correspond to the conclusion of the second packet. What has now been offered by the king of the South Indian country corresponds to the third packet, having sixteen thousand seven hundred verses. The aforementioned scripture corresponds to the ninth assembly of the eighty-roll Avataṃsaka-sūtra of the old translation, preached in Śrāvastī. The Tripiṭaka śramaṇa Prajñā from the country of Kashmīr will recite the Indic text; the śramaṇa Zhizhen of Guangzhai Monastery, an Attendant in the Hanlin Academy, will translate the spoken words; and the sūtra-translating śramaṇa Yuanzhao of Ximing Monastery will take down the brush-notes.' When the Commissioners' Bureau obtained this report, they presented it fully to the throne. His Majesty, reviewing its background, decreed that it be translated. Messengers were dispatched frequently to urge haste, but there was no translator into Chinese. Discovering that in the Eastern Capital (Luoyang) there was someone skilled in the language, the Tripiṭaka master submitted an official petition requesting to memorialize the throne. The Commissioners' Bureau, upon receiving the petition, recorded it in full and memorialized the throne. The Heavenly Grace granted consent, ordering Du Ya, the Senior Administrator of Henan Prefecture, to issue travel passes to proceed to court. Commencing on the twelfth day of the third month, [the translator] departed from Eastern Luo, and reached the Upper Capital at Ximing Monastery on the twenty-seventh day. The Commissioners' Bureau memorialized the throne. On the second day of the fourth month, the Palace Emissary Zhang Chaojin delivered imperial condolences, conveying the imperial decree to the monk Master Guangji: 'Travelling far to the imperial court and trekking along the roads, you must have been greatly exhausted. In this summer heat, have you been in peace and good health lately?' On that day, respectfully conveyed through the Palace Emissary Zhang Chaojin...