淨名經關中釋抄 1.21

1.21

什法師者。高僧傳云。什父天竺輔相之子。名炎姓鳩摩羅。祖亡次當襲位。避之東遊至龜茲。龜茲王妹白純體有赤黶。法生智子諸國聘之不受。及見炎心欲當之。王遂逼妻。炎納生什。什年七歲出家學小乘十三從師須利耶摩受業。摩為說阿耨達經。聞陰界入空無相。怪曰。何故此經破壞諸法。摩因為說諸法因成故無真實。什遂專務方等受誦三論。初得放光經。魔來蔽文唯見空紙。因發誓習誦。字出如常。復聞空聲。空聲曰。汝是智人。何故讀此。什遂呵叱令去也。又什母將什至北天竺。有一阿羅漢名達摩瞿沙。見而異之。謂其母曰。善守護之。若三十五不破戒。度人如優波毱多。如不然。可才明絕代而已。後欲東化。什母謂曰。方等深教。大闡真丹唯爾之力。但於自身無益。其可如何。什曰。大士之道利彼亡軀若使大教流傳能洗𥆐蒙俗。雖復身當鼎鑊苦而無恨。又錄云。前秦苻堅立十六年有德星現外國分野。當有知人入輔。中國得之者王堅乃使。苻丕攻襄陽取釋道安。呂光求龜茲取羅什。後堅伐晉敗為姚萇所戮。即姚萇立為後秦。呂光迴至姑臧。聞主既喪遂僭號關外稱後涼。萇崩興立弘始三年春有樹。連理生於廟庭。逍遙一園葱變為薤。咸稱嘉瑞。冬什到雍興。加禮遇待以國師。崇敬甚重。大興法化於大寺草堂及逍遙園。與什及三千碩德親自翻譯。至理之興其在前矣。什又著實相論注淨名經。雅好大乘嘗歎曰。吾操筆著摩訶衍阿毘曇。非迦旃延子比。餘廣如傳。

Regarding Dharma Master Shi: The Biographies of Eminent Monks states: Shi's father was the son of a prime minister of India, named Yan, of the surname Kumāra. When his grandfather died, he was next in line to inherit the position, but he avoided it and traveled east to Kucha. The King of Kucha's younger sister, Bai Chun, had a red mole on her body. By the rule of physiognomy, she was destined to give birth to a wise son; suitors from various states sought to betroth her, but she accepted none. When she saw Yan, her heart desired him. The king then compelled [Yan] to marry her; Yan took her as his wife, and she gave birth to Shi. When Shi was seven years old, he went forth from household life and studied the Lesser Vehicle. At thirteen, he received instruction from the master Sūryasoma. Soma preached the Anavatapta Sūtra for him. Hearing that the aggregates, sense realms, and sense bases are empty and signless, he was bewildered and said: "Why does this sūtra destroy all phenomena?" Soma then explained to him that because all phenomena are established by causal conditions, they lack true reality. Shi then devoted himself exclusively to the Fangdeng [Mahāyāna teachings] and received and recited the Three Treatises. When he first obtained the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Māra came and obscured the text so that he saw only blank paper. He then made a vow and practiced reciting it; the characters appeared as usual. He also heard a voice in the air saying: "You are a wise man; why do you read this?" Shi then rebuked it and made it depart. Furthermore, Shi's mother brought Shi to North India. There was an arhat named Dharmaghoṣa who, seeing him, found him extraordinary, and said to his mother: "Guarded him well! If he does not break the precepts before thirty-five, he will liberate people like Upagupta. If not, he will merely be an unmatched talent of his age." Later, when he wished to convert [the lands to] the east, Shi's mother said to him: "The profound teaching of the Fangdeng: to greatly proclaim it in the Land of Han depends solely on your strength. But for your own person there will be no benefit; what can be done about that?" Shi said: "The path of a great being is to benefit others and sacrifice oneself. If it allows the Great Teaching to spread and cleanse the blind and deluded common folk, even if my body should face the suffering of a boiling cauldron, I will have no regret." A catalogue also states: In the sixteenth year of the reign of Fu Jian of the Former Qin, an auspicious star appeared in the celestial sector of foreign countries, [indicating that] a man of wisdom should enter to assist [the realm]; whoever in the Central Land obtained him would reign. Jian then sent Fu Pi to attack Xiangyang and secure Shi Dao'an, and Lü Guang to seek Kucha and secure Kumārajīva. Later, Jian attacked Jin, was defeated, and was slaughtered by Yao Chang. Yao Chang then established the Later Qin. Lü Guang returned to Guzang; hearing that his lord was already dead, he assumed imperial titles beyond the pass and called [his state] Later Liang. When Chang died, Xing ascended the throne. In the spring of the third year of Hongshi, trees with intertwined branches grew in the ancestral temple courtyard, and scallions in the Xiaoyao Garden turned into Chinese chives; all acclaimed these as auspicious omens. In the winter, Shi arrived in Yong; Xing accorded him courteous treatment and received him as National Master, revering him with great esteem. He greatly promoted the transformation of the Dharma at the Great Monastery, the Thatched Cottage, and the Xiaoyao Garden, and together with Shi and three thousand eminent virtues, personally translated texts. The flourishing of the ultimate principle was truly unprecedented. Shi also composed the Treatise on the True Mark and annotated the Vimalakīrti Sūtra. He had an elegant taste for the Mahāyāna and once sighed: "Were I to wield the brush and compose a Mahāyāna Abhidharma, it would be no match for [the work of] Kātyāyanīputra." The rest is broadly as in the biography.