竺法護

慧皎所傳其名作「竺曇摩羅剎，此云法護，其先月支人，本姓支氏，世居燉煌郡」〔T50n2059 0326c02〕；出家與受學之事作「年八歲出家，事外國沙門竺高座為師，誦經日萬言，過目則能」〔T50n2059 0326c03〕。僧祐所記略同而師名少一字，作「事外國沙門高座為師」〔T55n2145 0097c21〕——二錄一字之異，並錄不判。

Huijiao transmits his name thus: "Zhu Tanmoluocha, rendered in Chinese as Fahu, 'Dharma-Protector'; his forebears were Yuezhi, his family surname Zhi, and for generations they had dwelt in the commandery of Dunhuang" 〔T50n2059 0326c02〕. Of his going forth and his schooling: "At eight years old he left the household life and served the foreign śramaṇa Zhu Gaozuo as his master; he recited ten thousand words of scripture a day, and what passed once before his eyes he had" 〔T50n2059 0326c03〕. Sengyou records the same with one character fewer in the master's name — "he served the foreign śramaṇa Gaozuo as his master" 〔T55n2145 0097c21〕. The two records differ by a character; both are set down and neither is forced into the other.

轉折在於一部經之不可得。當時「方等」深經尚在葱嶺之外，「護乃慨然發憤，志弘大道，遂隨師至西域，遊歷諸國」〔T50n2059 0326c08〕。他在西域所辦的不只是取經：「外國異言三十六種，書亦如之，護皆遍學，貫綜詁訓，音義字體，無不備識」〔T50n2059 0326c09〕。學成而歸，「遂大齎梵經，還歸中夏，自燉煌至長安，沿路傳譯，寫為晉文」〔T50n2059 0326c11〕——一路走一路譯，這是漢地譯經史上少見的行狀。僧祐同記此事而作「胡本」〔T55n2145 0097c28〕。

The turn came from a text he could not get. In that day the deep scriptures of the extended teaching still lay beyond the Onion Range, and "Hu thereupon roused himself in indignation, resolved to spread the great Way, and so followed his master into the Western Regions, travelling through the several kingdoms" 〔T50n2059 0326c08〕. What he accomplished there was not merely the fetching of texts: "The foreign tongues are six-and-thirty, and their scripts likewise; Hu learned them all through, mastered their glosses, and of their sounds, senses and letter-forms there was nothing he did not know" 〔T50n2059 0326c09〕. Having learned, he returned: "He then took up a great load of Sanskrit scriptures and came back to the Middle Land; from Dunhuang to Chang'an he transmitted and translated along the road, writing them out in Jin Chinese" 〔T50n2059 0326c11〕 — translating as he travelled, a manner of working rarely seen in the history of the Han-land translations. Sengyou records the same journey but writes "foreign texts" 〔T55n2145 0097c28〕.

所出之數，二錄不同：慧皎作「所獲覽即《正法華》、《光讚》等一百六十五部」〔T50n2059 0326c13〕，僧祐作「賢劫大哀法華普耀等。凡一百四十九部」〔T55n2145 0098a01〕——並錄不判。二錄所同者，是對其功之判：「經法所以廣流中華者。護之力也」〔T50n2059 0326c15〕。支遁為之作像贊曰：「護公澄寂，道德淵美，微吟窮谷，枯泉漱水」〔T50n2059 0326c21〕。而其在世之號，出於鄉人之口——「護世居燉煌，而化道周給，時人咸謂」〔T50n2059 0327a11〕之為「燉煌菩薩」〔T50n2059 0327a12〕。

On the number of texts he brought out the two records differ: Huijiao writes "what he obtained and went through were the Lotus of the True Dharma, the Radiant Praise and the rest, one hundred and sixty-five works" 〔T50n2059 0326c13〕; Sengyou writes "the Worthy Aeon, the Great Lament, the Lotus, the Universal Radiance and the rest, one hundred and forty-nine works in all" 〔T55n2145 0098a01〕 — both are set down and neither is adjudicated. Where the two agree is in their verdict on what he did: "That the scriptures and the Dharma came to flow widely through China was the power of Hu" 〔T50n2059 0326c15〕. Zhi Dun composed an encomium for his image: "Master Hu, clear and still, deep and lovely in the virtue of the Way; he hummed low in the far valley, and the dried spring gave water again" 〔T50n2059 0326c21〕. But the title he bore in his own lifetime came from the mouths of his countrymen — "Hu dwelt for generations in Dunhuang, and his transforming teaching reached everyone, so the people of that time all called him" 〔T50n2059 0327a11〕 the "Bodhisattva of Dunhuang" 〔T50n2059 0327a12〕.