A BIOGRAPHY OF THE TRIPITAKA MASTER OF THE GREAT CFEN MONASTERY OF THE GREAT TANG DYNASTY dBET Alpha PDF Version © 2017 All Rights Reserved BDK English Tripitaka 77 A BIOGRAPHY OF THE TRIPITAKA MASTER OF THE GREAT CFEN MONASTERY OF THE GREAT TANG DYNASTY Translated from the Chinese of Sramana Huili and Shi Yancong (Taisho, Volume 50, Number 2053) by Li Rongxi Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research 1995 © 1995 by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise— without the prior written permission of the publisher. First Printing, 1995 ISBN: 1-886439-00-1 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 94-073928 Published by Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research 2620 Warring Street Berkeley, California 94704 Printed in the United States of America A Message on the Publication of the English Tripitaka The Buddhist canon is said to contain eighty-four thousand different teachings. I believe that this is because the Buddha’s basic approach was to prescribe a different treatment for every spiritual ailment, much as a doctor prescribes a different medicine for every medical ailment. Thus his teachings were always appro­ priate for the particular suffering individual and for the time at which the teaching was given, and over the ages not one of his prescriptions has failed to relieve the suffering to which it was addressed. Ever since the Buddha’s Great Demise over twenty-five hundred years ago, his message of wisdom and compassion has spread throughout the world. Yet no one has ever attempted to translate the entire Buddhist canon into English throughout the history of Japan. It is my greatest wish to see this done and to make the translations available to the many English-speaking people who have never had the opportunity to learn about the Buddha’s teachings. Of course, it would be impossible to translate all of the Buddha’s eighty-four thousand teachings in a few years. I have, therefore, had one hundred thirty-nine of the scriptural texts in the prodigious Taisho edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon selected for inclusion in the First Series of this translation project. It is in the nature of this undertaking that the results are bound to be criticized. Nonetheless, I am convinced that unless someone takes it upon himself or herself to initiate this project, it will never be done. At the same time, I hope that an improved, revised edition will appear in the future. It is most gratifying that, thanks to the efforts of more than a hundred Buddhist scholars from the East and the West, v M essage this monumental project has finally gotten off the ground. May the rays of the Wisdom of the Compassionate One reach each and every person in the world. NUMATAYehan Founder of the English August 7,1 9 9 1 Tripitaka Project VI Editorial Foreword In January, 1982, Mr. NUMATA Yehan, the founder of the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai (Society for the Promotion of Buddhism), decided to begin the monumental task of the complete translation of the Taisho edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon into the English language. Under his leadership, a special preparatory committee was organized in April, 1982, and by July of the same year the Translation Committee of the English Tripitaka (Scriptures) was officially convened. The initial Committee consisted of the following thirteen mem­ bers: HANAYAMA Shoyu (Chairman); BANDO Shojun; ISHIGAMI Zenno; KAMATA Shigeo; KANAOKA Shuyu; MAYEDA Sengaku; NASA Yasuaki; SAYEKI Shinko; (late) SHIOIRI Ryotatsu; TAMARU Noriyoshi; (late) TAMURA Kwansei; URYUZU Ryushin; and YUYAMA Akira. Assistant members of the Committee were as follows: KANAZAWA Atsushi; W a t a n a b e Shogo; Rolf Giebel of New Zealand; and Rudy Smet of Belgium. Holding planning meetings on a monthly basis, the Committee has selected one hundred thirty-nine scriptures and texts for the First Series of translations, an estimated one hundred printed volumes in all. Scriptures and texts selected are not necessarily limited to those originally written in India but also include works written or composed in China or Japan. All the volumes in the First Series are scheduled for publication within the twentieth century. While the publication of the First Series proceeds, the scriptures and texts for the Second Series, which is expected to be published in the following ten- or twenty-year period, will be selected from among the remaining works; this process will continue until all the scriptures and texts, in Japanese as well as in Chinese, have been published. Frankly speaking, it will take perhaps one hundred years or more to accomplish the English translation of the complete vii - Editorial Foreword Chinese and Japanese scriptures and texts, which consist of thousands of works. Nevertheless, as Mr. NUMATA wished, it is the sincere hope of the Committee that this project will continue unto completion, even after all its present members have passed away. It must be mentioned here that the final object of this project is not academic fulfillment but the transmission of the teaching of the Buddha to the whole world in order to create harmony and peace among mankind. More than eighty Buddhist scholars in the West and in the East, all well qualified to be translators of the Chinese and Japanese scriptures and texts, have agreed to translate certain selected works. It is really a great pleasure for the Committee to announce that more than forty-five translations have already been received as of the end of September, 1992. The present members of the Translation Committee of the B D K English Tripitaka are HANAYAMA Shoyu (Chairman); BANDO Shojun; ISHIGAMI Zenno; ICHISHIMA Shoshin; KAMATA Shigeo; KANAOKA Shuyu; MAYEDA Sengaku; NARA Yasuaki; SAYEKI Shinko; TAMARU Noriyoshi; URYUZU Ryushin; and YUYAMA Akira. Assistant members are WATANABE Shogo and SUZUKI Koshin. Commemorating the ninety-fourth birthday of Mr. NUMATA Yehan, the Committee published the following three texts in a limited edition in April, 1991: (1) The Lotus Sutra (Taisho No. 262) (2) The Sutra on Upasaka Precepts (Taisho No. 1488) (3) The Summary o f the Great Vehicle (Taisho No. 1593) In December, 1991, the Publication Committee headed by Prof. Philip Yampolsky was organized. New editions of the above vol­ umes and the remaining texts will be published under the super­ vision of this Committee. HANAYAMA Shoyu Chairman Translation Committee of September 10,1992 the BDK English Tripitaka viii Publisher’s Foreword It was in December, 1991, at the Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research in Berkeley, California, that a publi­ cation committee was established for the purpose of seeing into print the translations of the Chinese and Japanese Buddhist works in the BDK English Tripitaka Series. This committee will perform the duties of copyediting, formatting, proofreading, indexing, consulting with the translators on questionable pas­ sages, and so on—the routine duties of any publishing house. Represented on the committee are specialists in Sanskrit, Chi­ nese, and Japanese, who will attempt to ensure that fidelity to the texts is maintained. This Publication Committee is dedicated to the production of lucid and readable works that will do justice to the vision of Mr. NUMATA Yehan in his desire to make available to Western readers the major works of the Chinese and Japanese Buddhist canon. “Taisho” refers to the Taisho Shinshu Daizokyd (Newly Re­ vised Tripitaka Inaugurated in the Taisho Era), which was pub­ lished during the period from 1924 to 1934. This consists of one hundred volumes, in which as many as 3,360 scriptures in both Chinese and Japanese are included. This edition is acknowledged to be the most complete Tripitaka of the Northern tradition of Buddhism ever published in the Chinese and Japanese languages. The series number on the spine and title page of each volume will correspond to the number assigned to the work by the Trans­ lation Committee of the BDK English Tripitaka in Tokyo. A list of the volume numbers is appended at the end of the text. For the convenience of scholars who may wish to turn to the original texts, Taisho page and column numbers are provided in the left-hand margins of each volume. No attempt will be made to standardize IX Publisher’s Foreword the English translations of Buddhist technical terms; these are left to the discretion of the individual translators. Those participating in the work of this committee are Diane Ames, William Ames, Brian Galloway, David Hall, Nobuo Haneda, and Rev. Kiyoshi S. Yamashita. Philip Yampolsky Chairman September 10,1992 Publication Committee Contents A Message on the Publication of the English Tripitaka N U M ATA Yehan v Editorial Foreword HANAYAMA Shoyu vii Publisher’s Foreword Philip Yampolsky ix Translator’s Introduction Li Rongxi 1 Preface Shi Yancong 5 Fascicle I Beginning from His Birth at Goushi and Ending with His Arrival at Gaochang in the West 11 Fascicle II Beginning with the Country of Agni and Ending with the Country of Kanyakubja 37 Fascicle III Beginning with the Country of Ayodhya and Ending with the Country of Iranaparvata 75 Fascicle IV Beginning with the Countiy of Campa and Ending with the Invitation of the King of Kamarupa 107 Fascicle V Beginning with the Prediction of a Nirgrantha about His Homeward Journey and Ending with His Arrival at the Western Canal in the Imperial