Chapter 3 · Kumārajīva's Translation Hall and His School
第三章 · 羅什譯場與什門
Part One · Sources and Formation
Is translation not simply a matter of changing languages? How could one translation hall give rise to an entire school?
The translation hall in Chang'an's Xiaoyao Garden was a wonder in the history of Chinese Buddhism. It produced the Larger and Smaller Prajñāpāramitā, the Vimalakīrti and Lotus sūtras, and the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra. At the same time, it formed a generation of disciples—Kumārajīva's school. Among them, Sengzhao's four treatises marked the first time Chinese thinkers bore witness to prajñā in their own language and spoke it for themselves. This chapter asks how that happened: what occurred in the translation hall, what the teacher affirmed, what the disciple established, and how the learning then flowed out of Chang'an.
1 · An Eyewitness to the Translation Hall — Listening and Taking Notes
What happened inside the translation hall? The best testimony comes from someone who was there. In a letter to the recluse Liu Yimin of Mount Lu, Sengzhao records his ordinary routine almost in passing:
「In the wu year, Master Kumārajīva produced the Vimalakīrti Sūtra. This poor monk was then present among those listening; in the intervals between attending upon him and receiving instruction, I would make notes of his words and shape them into an exposition.」 〔僧肇〈答劉遺民書〉·《肇論》·T45 0155c〕
「Present among those listening」—Kumārajīva translated orally before the assembly, and his disciples listened from their places. 「In the intervals between attending upon him and receiving instruction, I would make notes of his words」—between sessions of asking and receiving instruction, Sengzhao recorded his teacher's oral explanations and made them into an exposition. These few phrases bring the translation hall's double identity to life: it was at once a workshop of translation and a classroom of learning. Sentence by sentence, the scriptures became Chinese there; sentence by sentence, their meaning entered human hearts. The school was not a by-product of the translation hall. The translation hall itself was where the school took form.
2 · The Teacher's Affirmation
On what did the school stand? On the teacher's affirmation. The documents preserve two such acknowledgments. Sengzhao's biography in the Biographies of Eminent Monks records that, born poor, he worked as a copyist; after reading an older translation of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra he went forth, followed Kumārajīva from Guzang to Chang'an, and helped settle the wording of sūtras and treatises at Xiaoyao Garden. When the Larger Prajñāpāramitā had been translated, he composed the Treatise on Prajñā without Knowing and presented it to his teacher. Having read it, Kumārajīva said—
「My understanding is no less than yours; in literary expression, I must yield to you.」 〔《高僧傳》僧肇本傳·T50n2059 0365a25–a26·待譯（本傳 0365a09–0366a29）〕
『My understanding is no less than yours; in literary expression, I must yield to you.』 This is a teacher's most solemn affirmation of a disciple. Later, in his preface to the Zhaolun, Huida recorded another exclamation of praise from Kumārajīva:
「Thus Kumārajīva exclaimed: 「When it comes to understanding emptiness, Sengzhao is foremost.」 This statement had its basis and was made manifest in written correspondence.」 〔慧達〈肇論序〉·T45 0150c〕
Kumārajīva was also known as Tongshou. 「When it comes to understanding emptiness, Sengzhao is foremost」—within Kumārajīva's school, Sengzhao was the foremost in understanding emptiness. The preface further says that this praise was 「made manifest in written correspondence」: it was documented evidence, not a title conferred by later generations.
3 · One Meaning at the Root of the Teaching — Prajñā Establishes a School in Chinese
What did the disciple establish? The opening Fundamental Meaning at the Root of the Teaching in the Zhaolun begins with a declaration:
「Fundamental non-being, true reality, dharma-nature, intrinsic-nature-emptiness, and the coming-together of conditions are one meaning. Why? All dharmas arise through the coming-together of conditions. Before the conditions come together, they do not exist; when the conditions disperse, they cease.」 〔《肇論》宗本義·T45 0150c〕
The three words 「one meaning」 mark the coming of age of Chinese Prajñā learning. Fundamental non-being, true reality, dharma-nature, intrinsic-nature-emptiness, and the coming-together of conditions—these five names had been watchwords claimed separately by schools of the period of matching concepts. Sengzhao gathered them in one sentence: five names, one meaning, all speaking of the same matter. On what ground could he gather them? On the reasoning that follows: dharmas arise when conditions come together; before their arising they do not exist, and when conditions disperse they cease—
「Their nature is always of itself empty, and therefore it is called intrinsic-nature-emptiness. Because their nature is empty, it is called dharma-nature.」 〔同篇〕
From conditioned arising he proceeds to emptiness of intrinsic nature; from emptiness of intrinsic nature, to dharma-nature. Passage after passage, the routes between these names are opened. From this point forward, Chinese was no longer limited to translating prajñā: it could speak prajñā for itself.
4 · Questions and Letters Travel South
How did this learning flow out of Chang'an? Through a letter. Zhu Daosheng traveled south, taking the Treatise on Prajñā without Knowing to Mount Lu. After reading it, the recluse Liu Yimin wrote to Sengzhao:
「At the end of last summer, the venerable Sheng first showed me the Treatise on Prajñā without Knowing. Its talent moves with clarity and grace; its purport strikes the profound and true. It ranges through the sacred texts with subtlety, yet always comes home. I read and savored it earnestly and could not put it down.」 〔劉遺民〈書問〉·《肇論》·T45 0155a〕
「I read and savored it earnestly and could not put it down」—and then followed a series of incisive challenges (their meaning is treated in chapter seven). Sengzhao's reply begins in humility:
「Your questions are subtle and searching; it is hard for me to play the man of Ying. This poor monk's thought does not reach the subtle, and I am clumsy with written words besides. Moreover, the ultimate purport is without words, and words necessarily depart from it. If one goes on speaking without end, what can finally be distinguished? I offer these wild words only to answer the intent of your letter.」 〔〈答劉遺民書〉·T45 0156a〕
Question and answer crossed between Chang'an and Mount Lu, and Prajñā learning spread north and south in the form of correspondence. What makes a school a school is not the number of its members, but exchanges such as these: a treatise to present, a teacher to affirm it, a friend to challenge it, and an answer to transmit. The doctrinal reading of the four treatises of Kumārajīva's school comes in chapter six (Emptiness of the Unreal) and chapter seven (Prajñā without Knowing). Its final treatise, Nirvāṇa Is Nameless, waits for the last chapter of this book.
Author · Shi Huijing CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · 二〇二六 · 夏