Sundo順道
1Sundo — Fu Jian sends an image of the Buddha and the scriptures with his envoy
釋順道。不知何許人也。邁德高標。慈忍濟物。誓志弘宣。周流震旦。移家就機。誨人不倦。句高麗第十七解味留王〔或云小獸林王〕二年壬申夏六月。秦符堅發使及浮屠順道。送佛像經文。於是君臣以會遇之禮。奉迎于省門。投誠敬信。感慶流行。尋遣使迴謝。以貢方物。或說．順道從東晉來。始傳佛法則秦晉莫辨。何是何非。師既來異國。傳西域之慈燈。懸東暆之慧日。示以因果。誘以禍福。蘭薰霧潤。漸漬成習。然世質民淳。不知所以裁之。師雖蘊深解廣。未多宣暢。自摩騰入後漢。至此二百餘年．後四年。神僧阿道至自魏〔存古文。〕始創省門寺。以置順道。記云以省門為寺。今興國寺是也。後訛寫為肖門。又剏伊弗蘭寺。以置阿道。古記云興福寺是也。此海東佛教之始。惜乎．之人也．之德也。宜書竹帛以宣懿績。其文辭不少概見。何哉。然世之使於西方。不辱君命。必侍賢者而能之。則特至他邦肇行未曾有之大事。非其有大智慧．大謀猷。得不思議通力。其何以行之哉。以此知其為異人。斯亦法蘭．僧會之流乎。
The monk Sundo (順道) — it is not known what country he was from. He pressed on in virtue and set a high mark; with pity and patience he delivered others. He vowed to spread the Law abroad, and went about all through Zhendan (震旦). He moved his house to meet men where their capacity lay, and he did not grow weary of teaching them.
In the sixth month, in summer, of the second year of King Haemiryu, the seventeenth of Goguryeo〔he is also called King Sosurim〕, the year imsin, Fu Jian of Qin sent an envoy and the monk Sundo with him, and sent an image of the Buddha and the text of the scriptures. At this the king and his officers welcomed them with the rites of a meeting at Seongmun (省門), and they gave their whole heart in reverence and belief, and gladness flowed and spread. Then an envoy was sent back to give thanks, offering the products of that land. Some say that Sundo came from Eastern Jin; so for the first passing on of the Law of the Buddha one cannot tell Qin (秦) from Jin (晉). Which is right and which is wrong?
The master had now come to another country. He passed on the lamp of pity of the Western Regions and hung up the sun of wisdom over Dongi (東暆). He showed them cause and fruit and drew them on with blessing and calamity, and like the scent of orchid and the wetting of mist it soaked in little by little and became a habit. But the age was plain and the people were simple, and they did not know how it should be cut and shaped. Though the master had gathered deeply and understood widely, he could not spread it much. From Moteng's entering the Later Han down to this is more than two hundred years.
Four years later the holy monk Ado came from Wei.〔This is left as the old text has it.〕 Then Seongmunsa (省門寺) was first built and Sundo was placed there. The record says that Seongmun was made into a monastery, and that is the Heungguksa of today. Later it was wrongly copied and became Chomun (肖門). Ibullansa was built as well, and Ado was placed there. What the old record calls Heungboksa is this. This was the beginning of Buddhism in Haedong.
What a pity — such a man, such virtue! It ought to have been written on bamboo and silk so that his fair deeds might be spread abroad, yet not the least outline of that writing is to be seen. How did this come about? Still, in this world, to go as envoy to the west and not put the king's command to shame is something only a worthy man can do. How much more to reach another country and be the first to do a great thing that had never been done before! If he had not had great wisdom and great counsel, and gained a power of spirit past all thought, how could he have done it? By this we know that he was no common man. Was he not also one of the company of Zhu Falan and Kang Senghui?
2In praise — Sundo is made the first of these lives
贊曰：古者三韓鼎峙。開國稱王。彼佛聲光蔑有其兆。及感應道交。賢德聿來。以赴機叩。易曰．感而遂通。天下之故。順道有之矣。始予躬詣所謂興國興福。因有綴文記事之志。無緣以發之。今謬承景命。乃以順道為傳首云。
In praise it is said:
In the old days, when the Three Han stood up like the three feet of a cauldron, opened their countries and called themselves kings, of the voice and the light of the Buddha there was not even a sign. Only when the road of feeling and answer came to meet did that worthy virtue at last come and go to the knocking of men's capacity. The Book of Changes says, "To feel and so at last to reach through is the reason of all under heaven." Sundo had this in him.
At first I went myself to the places called Heungguksa and Heungboksa, and from that I had a mind to put words together and write down what happened, but there was no means to bring it out. Now that I have presumed to take up a great command, I make Sundo the first of these lives.