A number of other accounts exist concerning the life of Sengzhao, though they rarely shed any new light on his work or activities. The Weishou [a collection of canonical texts] accords Sengzhao preeminence among the eight hundred or so scholars gathered at Chang’an: “Daorong and his fellows were of knowledge and learning all-pervasive, and Sengzhao was the greatest of them. When Kumrajva made a translation, Sengzhao would always take pen in hand and define the meanings of words. He annotated the
Vimalakrtinirdesha Stra and also published several treatises. They all have subtle meaning, and scholars venerate them.” (Hurvitz 54) While adding nothing substantively new, this version highlights Sengzhao's importance as a liaison between the Indian
Kumarajiva and the Chinese language. All indications point to the foreign master's reliance on Sengzhao's ability to “translate” the Indian terminology into stylistically acceptable Chinese. The
gong’an (meditation puzzle) collection known as the
Blue Cliff Record contains a tale concerning Sengzhao's death which by all accounts is apocryphal. Despite its spurious legend regarding Zhao's demise, within the ''gong'an
commentary supplied by the Chan master Yunmen, we find another reference to his life that provides some insight into his correspondence with Liu Yimin. According to the Blue Cliff Record
, Sengzhao not only took Kumrajva as his teacher, but "he also called upon the bodhisattva Buddhabhadra at the Temple of the Tile Coffin, who had come from India to transmit the mind-seal of the twenty-seventh Patriarch. Sengzhao then entered deeply into the inner sanctum." (Cleary, Thomas, and J.C. Cleary, trans. The Blue Cliff Records''. Boulder, CO: Shambala, 1978.) ==Footnotes==