THE BUDDHIST CONNECTION BETWEEN CHINA AND ANCIENT CAMBODIA: ŚRAMANA MANDRA’S VISIT TO JIANKANG1
Wang Bangwei
Historians of Chinese Buddhism all know the importance of three bio- graphical books of prominent monks, Gaoseng Zhuan (The Biographies of Prominent Monks), Xu Gaoseng Zhuan (The Continued Biographies of Prominent Monks) and Song Gaoseng Zhuan (The Song Biographies of Prominent Monks). The second one, Xu Gaoseng Zhuan, being called Tang Gaoseng Zhuan (The Tang Biographies of Prominent Monks) as well, cov- ers the period from the beginning of the sixth century to the middle of the seventh century. It was written by Daoxuan, a well-known Buddhist monk-scholar, early in the Tang Dynasty. Though most of the figures in the book are Chinese Buddhist monks, in some chapters, particularly in the Chapter on Text Translators, a number of Buddhist monks from other countries are included. The experiences of these monks, either in their home places or in China, provide materials illustrating the connections between these countries and China. One example of these countries is an- cient Cambodia. In Daoxuan’s book, the first biography is of Sam ghapāla, a Buddhist Master from the country of Funan, that is, ancient Cambodia. Attached to the biography of Sam ghapāla are three short biographies of which the first one is of Mandra, or Mantuoluo in Chinese transliteration. It says as follows: Early in the time of Liang, there was another śramana called Mantuoluo (Mandra) from Funan. In the language of Liang (i.e. in Chinese) his name means “sounding lightly”. He brought a lot of Indian texts and presented them to the Emperor. The Emperor ordered him to join with Sam ghapāla
1 This article is partly created within the framework of the project “Mythology and legendaries in Buddhist literature” of the Research Centre of Eastern Literature at Peking University. Project number: 07JJD752087. 282 wang bangwei
in translating the texts of The Ratnamegha, The Dharmadhatu and The Mañjuśrīprajñāpāramitā. The texts they produced are altogether in eleven scrolls. Although he was involved in the translation work, he did not know the language of Liang very well, so the meaning of the translations produced by him is not easily understood.2 And in the Biography of Sam ghapāla it says as follows: In the language of Liang the name of Sam ghapāla means “keeper of sam gha” or “armour of sam gha (Sam ghavarman?)”. He is a native of Funan. He was very clever at an early age and inclined to Buddhism. At school age he joined the sam gha. He was especially skilled in studying the essays of Ab- hidharma. His great reputation was known in all of the South Sea area. Af- ter being fully ordained, he extensively studied the Buddhist Vinaya. He was so brave that he wanted to travel abroad and propagate Buddhism. Hearing that in the country of Qi (China) Buddhism was advocated, he got on a boat and arrived at the capital of China. He lived in the Monastery of Zhengguan and became a disciple of Gunabhadra.3 Under the guidance of Gunabhadra he studied the Mahāyāna texts intelligently. Within a short time, he learned a lot and became competent in the scripts and languages of several coun- tries. Just at this time the Dynasty of Qi fell and Buddhism was declining, but Sam ghapāla only cleaned his body, let his heart be quiet, and stopped connection with the outside. He stayed in his room and cultivated his own personality. While the Dynasty of the Great Liang was established, the gov- ernment searched for talents. Thus in the fifth year of Tianjian (506 C.E.), Sam ghapāla was invited to translate texts in the Hall of Shouguang, the Gar- den of Hualin, the Monastery of Zhengguan, the House of Zhanyun and House of Funan, all five places being located in Yangdu (Jiankang, the capi- tal of the Liang, today’s Nanjing). Until the seventeenth year of Tianjian (518 C.E.), he had translated eleven texts consisting of forty-eight scrolls. The ti- tles include The Sūtra of King Aśoka, The Vimuttimagga and others. 4
2 Taisho Tripitaka, No. 2060, p. 426b. 《續高僧傳》卷一《僧伽婆羅傳》：梁初又有 扶南沙門曼陀羅者，梁言弘弱。大齎梵本，遠來貢獻。敕與婆羅共譯《寶雲》、《法界 體性》、《文殊般若經》三部合一十一卷。雖事傳譯，未善梁言。故所出經文多隱質。 3 Gunabhadra is a Buddhist master scholar from Central India. His biography can be seen in Gaoseng Zhuan (The Biographies of the Prominent Monks), Taisho Tripitaka, No. 2059, pp. 344a-355a. 4 Taisho Tripitaka, No. 2060, p. 426a-b.《續高僧傳》卷一《僧伽婆羅傳》：僧伽婆 羅，梁言僧養，亦云僧鎧。扶南國人也。幼而穎悟，早附法津。學年出家，偏業阿毘曇 論。聲榮之盛，有譽海南。具足已後，廣習律藏。勇意觀方，樂崇開化。聞齊國弘法， 隨舶至都。住正觀寺，為天竺沙門求那跋陀之弟子也。複從跋陀研精方等，未盈炎燠， 博涉多通，乃解數國書語。值齊曆亡墜，道教淩夷。婆羅靜潔身心，外絕交故。擁室棲 閑，養素資業。大梁禦宇，搜訪術能。以天監五年被敕徵召于揚都壽光殿、華林園、正 觀寺、占雲館、扶南館等五處傳譯，訖十七年。都合一十一部，四十八卷，即《大（ 阿？）育王經》、《解脫道論》等是也。