支婁迦讖

漢地譯經之始，其人多不可詳知，支婁迦讖尤然。僧祐《出三藏記集》卷十三為之立傳，起首但云「支讖。本月支國人也。操行淳深性度開敏」〔T55n2145 0095c23〕，繼云「稟持法戒以精勤著稱。諷誦群經志存宣法」〔T55n2145 0095c23〕。慧皎《高僧傳》卷一承其文而字句小異。至於來洛之年，三家所繫不一：祐錄作「漢桓帝末。遊于洛陽。以靈帝光和中平之間」〔T55n2145 0095c24〕，僧傳作「漢靈帝時遊于雒陽，以光和、中平之間，傳譯梵文」〔T50n2059 0324b15〕，智昇《開元釋教錄》卷一則實指其始末：「桓靈之代遊于洛陽。從桓帝建和元年丁亥。至靈帝中平三年景寅。於洛陽譯道行等經二十三部」〔T55n2154 0479a11〕。三說並存，此處並錄，不強為一。

Of the earliest translators in the Chinese lands little can be known with certainty, and of Lokakṣema least of all. Sengyou's Collected Records on the Making of the Tripiṭaka, fascicle thirteen, gives him a brief life that opens only thus: "Zhi Chen was a man of the country of the Yuezhi; upright in conduct, deep in nature, open and quick in disposition" 〔T55n2145 0095c23〕, and goes on, "He upheld the precepts of the Dharma and was known for his diligence; he chanted the scriptures through and set his will on proclaiming the Dharma" 〔T55n2145 0095c23〕. Huijiao's Lives of Eminent Monks, fascicle one, follows this text with small differences of wording. As to the year he came to Luoyang the three accounts do not agree: the Records have "At the end of Emperor Huan's reign he travelled to Luoyang, and between the Guanghe and Zhongping years of Emperor Ling" 〔T55n2145 0095c24〕; the Lives have "In the time of Emperor Ling of the Han he travelled to Luoyang, and between the Guanghe and Zhongping years transmitted and translated Sanskrit texts" 〔T50n2059 0324b15〕; while Zhisheng's Kaiyuan Catalogue of the Teaching, fascicle one, fixes both ends: "In the age of Huan and Ling he travelled to Luoyang; from the first year of Jianhe under Emperor Huan, the year dinghai, to the third year of Zhongping under Emperor Ling, the year bingyin, he translated at Luoyang the Practice of the Way and other scriptures, twenty-three works in all" 〔T55n2154 0479a11〕. The three stand side by side here, and none is forced into the others.

所出之數亦異。祐錄舉「傳譯胡文出般若道行品首楞嚴般舟三昧等三經」〔T55n2145 0095c26〕，別有阿闍世王、寶積等十部歲久無錄；開元錄則定為「右二十三部六十七卷」〔T55n2154 0479a07〕。三家所同者唯一事——道安對其譯筆的判語。祐錄記「安公挍練古今精尋文體云。似讖所出」〔T55n2145 0095c28〕，僧傳全載其辭：「似讖所出，凡此諸經，皆審得本旨，了不加飾，可謂善宣法要弘道之士也」〔T50n2059 0324b19〕；開元錄雖略其文而不改其意：「審得本旨曾不加飾。可謂善宣法要弘道之士也」〔T55n2154 0479a13〕。支慜度〈合首楞嚴經記〉所評亦同一路：「讖月支人也。漢桓靈之世。來在中國。其博學淵妙才思測微」〔T55n2145 0049a18〕、「凡所出經類多深玄。貴尚實中不存文飾」〔T55n2145 0049a20〕。傳末則唯五字：「後不知所終」〔T55n2145 0096a01〕。

The count of what he brought out differs likewise. The Records name "he transmitted and translated foreign texts, bringing out the Perfection of Wisdom: Practice of the Way, the Heroic March, and the Pratyutpanna Samādhi, three scriptures in all" 〔T55n2145 0095c26〕, with ten more — the Ajātaśatru, the Heap of Jewels and others — long unrecorded; the Kaiyuan Catalogue settles on "the above, twenty-three works in sixty-seven fascicles" 〔T55n2154 0479a07〕. On one thing only do the three agree: Daoan's verdict on his hand as a translator. The Records report, "Master An, collating old and new and searching closely into the style, said: it appears these were brought out by Chen" 〔T55n2145 0095c28〕; the Lives carry the whole sentence: "It appears these were brought out by Chen. In all these scriptures he has carefully caught the root intent and added no ornament whatever — he may be called one who well proclaimed the essentials of the Dharma, a man who spread the Way" 〔T50n2059 0324b19〕; and the Kaiyuan Catalogue, though it shortens the wording, does not alter the sense: "He carefully caught the root intent and added no ornament; he may be called one who well proclaimed the essentials of the Dharma, a man who spread the Way" 〔T55n2154 0479a13〕. Zhi Mindu's Note on the Combined Heroic March runs the same way: "Chen was a man of the Yuezhi. In the age of Huan and Ling of the Han he came and dwelt in the Middle Kingdom. His learning was broad and deep, his thought reached into the fine" 〔T55n2145 0049a18〕; "the scriptures he brought out were for the most part profound; he prized substance and kept no literary ornament" 〔T55n2145 0049a20〕. The life ends in five characters: "afterwards it is not known where he ended" 〔T55n2145 0096a01〕.

本編所譯《佛說無量清淨平等覺經》繫其名下，而古錄異說並存。開元錄卷一列此經於支婁迦讖二十三部之中，注云「亦直云無量清淨經第二出與大阿彌陀及寶積無量壽會等並同本見吳錄」〔T55n2154 0478c03〕；高僧傳卷一則於曇柯迦羅傳末別記沙門帛延，云其「以魏甘露中，譯出《無量清淨平等覺經》等凡六部經。後不知所終焉」〔T50n2059 0325a11〕。一經而二屬，古有異說，此處並錄不判；本登錄之著錄依卷端署名，見上〈年代依據〉。其生卒之年，三錄俱不出，故如實標不詳。

The Sūtra of Immeasurable Purity, Equality and Awakening rendered in this edition stands under his name, and the old catalogues preserve conflicting accounts of it. The Kaiyuan Catalogue, fascicle one, lists it among Lokakṣema's twenty-three works with the note, "also called simply the Immeasurable Purity; second issue; the same original as the Larger Amitābha and the Immeasurable Life Assembly of the Heap of Jewels; see the Wu catalogue" 〔T55n2154 0478c03〕. The Lives, fascicle one, at the close of the life of Dharmakāla, records instead the monk Bo Yan, that he "in the Ganlu years of the Wei brought out the Sūtra of Immeasurable Purity, Equality and Awakening and other works, six in all; afterwards it is not known where he ended" 〔T50n2059 0325a11〕. One scripture, two attributions: the divergence is ancient, and both are set down here without adjudication; the attribution entered in this registry follows the fascicle-head byline, as noted above under "Basis of dating." His birth and death years none of the three catalogues gives, and so they are honestly marked unknown.