The non 論[99] says the teaching of Buddha[100] is everlasting in its nature and function[101] and vast and deep in its vow of compassion (karuna-pranidhāna). [1015b] It exhaustively fulfills the Three Divisions of time (tryadhvan)[102] and embraces the Ten Directions;[103] it is nourished by rain and dew[104] and aroused by thunder and lightning.[105] It reaches its goal without walking, hurries without haste.[106] The Five Visions (pañca-caksus)[107] cannot discern its appearance; the Four Special Branches of Knowledge (catasrah pratisamvidah)[108] cannot describe its form. Its substance is without coming or going, yet it functions with the display of coming and going.[109]
On the eighth day of the fourth month of the year chia-yin 甲寅 (1027 B.C.)[110] of King Chao, of Chou 周昭王 (1111-256 B.C.), Śākya Tathāgata entered the womb of Māyā, riding on the Candana Tower[111] 桷檀樓閣 from Tusita Heaven, and was born from the Māyā’s right side, in the palace of King Śuddhodana.[112] That night, an emanation of five colors cut across the T‘ai-wei 太微[113] constellation, illuminating the West. King Chao asked the Grand Astrologer Su Yu蘇由 for the reason, and the latter answered, “A great sage is born in the West.” [When the king] asked about the effect of this birth, Su Yu remarked, “There is no reason other than the following: his teaching will reach our land one thousand years hence.”[114]
[Śākymuni] at first lived in the palace as no more than a worldly person. On the eighth day of the fourth month of the year chia-shen 甲申 (997 B.C.),[115] when he was thirty,[116] he left home and went out of the city. He then sat under the tree, attained enlightenment, and expounded the Law for the benefit of living beings. It was as if the udumbara 優曇花[117] had made one of its appearances. He preached first the Avatamsaka,[118] then the Hīnayāna [doctrine], or the Prajñā[pāramitā][119] and Sandhinirmocana,[120] or the Saddharmapundarīka[121] and Nirvāna.[122] He bestowed benevolence on all, taking advantage of opportune conditions[123] to spread the teaching and matching his teaching to the peculiarities of each listener.[124] It was like one gust of wind causing ten thousand holes to resound or like the lonely moon casting its reflection upon a thousand rivers.[125] For forty-nine years he enlightened and saved men of various capacities. Lieh Tzu’s “sage in the Western Regions”[126] was he. Meanwhile Mañjuśrī[127] and Mahāmaudgalyāyana 目連[128] in order to convert men, planted their footprints on Chinese soil.[129] When Buddha was seventy-nine, on the fifteenth day of the second month of the year jen-shen 壬申 (949 B.C.) of King Mu 穆王,[130] he entered nirvāna in the grove of śāla trees 瓊林.[131] Twelve white rainbows appeared and stayed night after night in the sky. The king asked the Grand Astrologer Hu To 扈多 for an explanation, and the latter answered, “The great sage of the West has just entered nirvāna.”
Thereupon Ānanda and other disciples gathered and edited the Buddha’s sayings and recorded them on pattra leaves.[132] The Buddha’s teachings were organized into sūtra, vinaya, śāstra, śilā, samādhi, and prajñā,[133] which thus opened the way for their dissemination.[134] But the eternal truth of the Avatamsaka sūtra[135] was buried in the Dragon Palace 虬宮.[136] Heterodox teachings flourished and competed clamorously with one another.[137] Later, however, Aśvaghosa 馬鳴[138] rose; then, when Dignāga 陳那 (ca. A.D. 400-480)[139] and Dharmapāla 護法 (530-631)[140] preached in harmony,[141] the false [teachings] were discarded, the true [law] revealed itself, and the doctrine was extended and clarified. Buddhism was thus well established[142] in the Western Regions, and awaited [only] a proper occasion to spread eastward.
One hundred and sixteen years after the Buddha’s demise, King Aśoka (268-232 B.C.)[143] of East India collected the Buddha’s relics and mobilized spirit soldiers to erect 84,000 stūpas,[144] which extended all over [the continent of] Jambudvīpa.[145] This time was equivalent to the twenty-sixth year, ting-wei 丁未, of King Ching of Chou (494 B.C.).[146] The stūpas flourished during the Chou, lasting through [the reigns of] twenty-two kings,[147] but finally disappeared when the First Emperor of Ch‘in (260-221-210 B.C.) burned the books in his thirty-fourth year (213 B.C.).[148] The stūpas of King Aśoka were thus destroyed. At that time, eighteen worthies, including śramana Li-fang 利方,[149] carrying scriptures, came to convert [the people of] Hsien-yang 咸陽. But the First Emperor of Ch‘in would not allow them to preach and imprisoned them. [1015c] At night, a bearer of the vajra-staff broke into the prison, released them, and went away, because the time for propagation was not yet ripe.
In the twelfth year of the era yung-p‘ing (A.D. 69)[150] of the Later Han, [Kāśyapa] Mātanga 摩騰[151] and Dharmaratna 竺法蘭[152] arrived at the Han court. Compassionate clouds spread over the nine provinces[153] and the rain of compassionate Law fell on the four seas. According to the biography of Ho Ch‘ü-ping 霍去病,[154] however, Ho obtained a “golden man” 金人[155] (120 B.C.), which King Hsiu-ch‘u 休屠王 used in worshiping Heaven. Thus it appears that the worship of idols had long prevailed in the desert. [We also know that] during the reign of Emperor Ai (26-7-1 B.C.) of the Former Han (202 B.C.-A.D. 9) Ch‘in Ching 秦景[156] was sent to the country of the Yüeh-chih[157] (2 B.C.) and that upon his return he transmitted the teaching of Buddha.[158] We conclude, therefore, that Buddhism had already been practiced in the Former Han. Only sixty-three years later did Emperor Hsiao-ming (A.D. 28-58-75) dream of “a golden man.”[159]
As for our country Haedong 海東,[160] Sundo 順道 arrived in P‘yŏngyangsŏng 平壤城 during the reign of King Haemiryu 解味留王[161] (371-384) of Koguryŏ 高句麗. Following him, *Mālānanda 摩羅難陀[162] came to Paekche 百濟 from [Eastern] Chin (317-420) during the reign of King Ch‘imnyu 枕流王[163] (384-385). Later, after the enthronement of the twenty-third king of Silla 新羅, Pŏphŭng 法興王[164] (514-540), on the eleventh day of the third month of the first year of the era ta-t‘ung 大通 (April 27, 527) of Liang, Ado[165] arrived in Ilsŏn County 一善郡[166] and was secretly hidden by a believer, Morye 毛禮. The ambassador from Wu (222-280) brought incense as a gift,[167] and Ado, because he showed people the rites of burning incense, was invited to court. But the teaching of Buddhism was not yet expounded. The Grand Secretary Yŏmch‘ok 厭髑 (503-527)[168] dispelled his countrymen’s doubts by a brave martyrdom. Ah, were it not for him, what religion would I follow now? Since men like Wŏn‘gwang 圓光 (d. 640)[169] and Chajang 慈藏 (fl. 636-645)[170] journeyed to the West and transmitted the Law, both high and low have believed in Buddhism, and people both within and without the court have followed and practiced it. As time went on, more and more responded and joined the faith. Buddhism thus became popular in the Three Han 三韓.[171]
Our August Progenitor[172] (877-918-943) dropped old customs and initiated reform;[173] he respected Buddhism especially, and most of his institutions were set up in accordance with that religion.[174] His heirs succeeded to the government and preserved its culture,[175] losing nothing. The National Preceptor Taegak 大學國師 (1055-1101),[176] the fourth-generation descendant of T‘aejo,[177] seeking the Law, sailed eastward in the fourth month of the third year,[178] ŭlch‘uk 乙丑, of King Sŏn [jong] 宣宗 (1049-1084-1094).[179] He guided a hundred schools, each to its proper place, within the Five Doctrines,[180] so that once again they reverted to orthodoxy.
[Buddhism] therefore had its source in Chou, formed streams in Han, became broad and deep in Chin and Wei (220-265), overflowed in Sui (589-618) and T‘ang (618-906), undulated in Sung (960-1279), and gushed in swift commotion in Korea.[181] Since Buddha’s nirvāna to the present year, ŭrhae 乙亥 (1215), 2, 164 years have passed. It has been 1,151 years since Buddhism was introduced into the Later Han, 1,014 years after Buddha’s demise. And since Sundo came to Koguryŏ [182] it has been 844 years. The Law cannot promulgate itself; it must be propagated by men.[183] I therefore wrote this section on “propagators” for the sake of posterity. The biographies of eminent monks of Liang, T‘ang, and Sung all have [sections on] translators; but since no translation has been made in our country I have omitted such a section.