貞元新定釋教目錄 7.28.8

7.28.8

Later, during a leisurely conversation, the Emperor jokingly asked him, "Do you miss the Chancellor?" He replied, "Having received his offerings for ten years, how could I forget his kindness? Now I beg of Your Majesty the wish to burn incense for the Chancellor for three years." The Emperor, deeply moved and sorrowful, appreciated his righteousness and granted it. When Zhongxing Monastery was completed, an imperial decree ordered him to move and reside there, opening three rooms for him. Later, at a banquet in the Eastern Headquarters where the princes and dukes were all assembled, an imperial decree summoned Guṇabhadra to an audience. At that time he had not yet had time to shave his hair, and his head was stark white. Emperor Xiaowu looked at him from afar and, turning to the Chief Minister of the Secretariat Xie Zhuang, said, "Mahāyāna is intelligent and quick-witted, but old age has arrived. Let me test him; he will surely understand my intent." As Guṇabhadra came up the stairs, the Emperor went to meet him and said to him, "Mahāyāna has not betrayed the intention of your long journey, yet only one thing remains!" He immediately answered in response, "This poor monk has returned from afar to the imperial capital for nearly thirty years; the Son of Heaven's gracious favor leaves me boundlessly ashamed. But at seventy, old and sick, only death remains!" The Emperor admired his quick wit and ordered that he be invited to sit before the imperial presence, with the entire court watching. Later, he founded a monastery west of the Fenghuang Tower in the Moling area. Every midnight, someone would push the door and call out, but looking, no one was seen; the community frequently suffered nightmares. Guṇabhadra burned incense, made vows, and uttered incantations, saying, "By past affinity you reside here; now I establish a monastery to practice the Way and perform repentance, constantly on your behalf. If you stay, be good spirits protecting the monastery; if you cannot dwell in goodness, follow whatever brings you peace." Thereupon, more than ten monastics and laypeople that same night dreamed of seeing thousands of ghosts and spirits, all carrying loads on their shoulders, leaving the monastery; the monastic assembly was subsequently at peace. In the seventh year of the Daming era, there was a severe drought under heaven; prayers to the mountains and rivers were without effect for months. The Emperor then requested him to pray for rain, requiring that there must be an effect: "If there is no effect, there is no need to see each other again." Guṇabhadra replied, "Relying on the Three Jewels and Your Majesty's heavenly majesty, I hope it will surely bring down moisture; if nothing is obtained, I shall not appear before you again." He then went to the fishing terrace at the North Lake, burned incense, and prayed; he took neither food nor drink, silently reciting sūtras and adding secret mantras. The next day at the late afternoon hour, clouds arose in the northwest corner, initially like a carriage canopy; as the sun reached the mulberries and elms, the wind roared, clouds converged, and rain fell for consecutive days. The next morning, the dukes and ministers entered to offer congratulations and console him. An imperial decree granted an audience to comfort him, and donations and offerings followed in succession. From his youth onward, Guṇabhadra was a vegetarian throughout his life; he always held an incense burner in hand, never letting it go. Every time he finished eating, he would set aside a portion of food for flying birds, and the birds would alight on his hand to take the food. By the reign of Emperor Ming, the ritual offerings to him became even more abundant. In the first month of the fourth year of the Taishi era, he felt unwell in body and bid farewell in advance to Emperor Ming, the dukes, and the ministers. On the day of his passing, he stood gazing into the distance, saying that he saw heavenly flowers and holy images; by mid-morning he passed away, at the age of seventy-five. Emperor Ming grieved bitterly and bestowed generous funeral gifts; the dukes and ministers attended the burial, and honor and mourning were complete. The Banniyuan jing, 1 fascicle (sometimes without the character Ban; translated at Xin Monastery in the first year of Xiaojian; seen in Daohui's Song and Qi catalogues; now examining this single-fascicle Niyuan, the sentences throughout are not translated by Guṇabhadra, but resemble the translations of Qian and Hu; now having located the two-fascicle version, it is provisionally appended to the Eastern Jin catalogue);
Shimonan ben jing, 1 fascicle (translated by Zhi Qian of Wu);
Sanzang fashi zishu yu, 1 fascicle (not translated from an Indic text, so also deleted);
Danglai xuanze zhu'e shijie jing;
Guoqu xing tanboluomi jing (the above two scriptures both derive from the Beihua jing);
Shalong ji yiguo jing (derives from the Liudu ji);
Sanguo yuan jing (derives from the Chang ahan);
San xiaojie jing (derives from the Loutan jing);
Fo ru ganlu tiaozhengyi jing (derives from the Da shi'ermen jing);
Alanna jing (derives from the Zhong ahan);
Shelifo deng biqiu de shenzuozheng jing (derives from the Za ahan);
Nalai jing;
Suizhu zhu haizhong jing;
Jiusheng jing;
Shelifo banniyuan jing;
Fuzhai wei niu jing;
Junchen jing (the above six scriptures all derive from the Sheng jing);
Sishi jing (miscellaneous Hīnayāna excerpts);
Anan jian jiye tikui wuchang jing;
Fo wang wei Jiaye bing jing;
Fo ming Anan yi Zuisheng zhangzhe jing;
Er qiaoshi jing;
Moulian di bushi wang jibao jing (the above five scriptures all derive from the Chuyao jing).
The twenty-three works in twenty-three fascicles, from the Banniyuan down, are either separate extracted scriptures or not produced by Guṇabhadra; for this accurate catalogue, they are now all deleted.