Sŏk Hyŏnt‘ae 釋玄太 was a native of Silla. His name in Sanskrit was Sarvajñā-deva, in Chinese, “Omniscient God” 一切智.[588] He was pensive as a child, and he had the marks (laksana) of a great man (Mahāpurusa).[589] He did not eat meat, nor. . . .[590]
He sailed to T‘ang to study, and his learning was remarkable. He was able to explain the profound and to exhaust the subtle.[591] During the era yung-huei 永徽 (650-655) of Kao-tsung 高宗 (628-650-683) he went to Central India to pay homage to the bodhi tree. Like a lion in his roaming, he never sought any company. He brandished the golden staff with five towers[592] and saw the precious ladders of the Three Steps.[593] He braved hardships to make a tour of different places he longed to see,[594] yet he was unable to exhaust the Way.[595] Finally he stayed[596] in the Mahābodhi monastery, studied carefully the scriptures and treatises, and observed the local [1023a] customs. Later he returned to China to preach conversion to the Law, and his achievement was then well recognized. Great and lofty was his success![597]
The eulogy says: The several persons mentioned above are as remote from us as the easternmost extremity.[598] Going directly to the Middle Kingdom, they traced the steps of Fa-hsien and Hsüan-tsang. They went back and forth to the deserted regions, regarding them as lanes and streets. They can be compared with the envoys Chang Ch‘ien 張騫[599] and Su Wu 蘇武.[600]