高僧傳 1.21

1.21

康僧會，其先康居人，世居天竺，其父因商賈移于交趾。會年十餘歲，二親並終，至孝服畢，出家。勵行甚峻，為人弘雅有識量，篤至好學。明解三藏，博覽六經，天文圖緯，多所綜涉，辯於樞機，頗屬文翰。時孫權已制江左，而佛教未行。先有優婆塞支謙，字恭明，一名越，本月支人，來遊漢境。初，漢桓、靈之世，有支讖譯出眾經。有支亮字紀明，資學於讖，謙又受業於亮。博覽經籍，莫不精究，世間伎藝，多所綜習。遍學異書，通六國語。其為人細長黑瘦，眼多白而睛黃，時人為之語曰：「支郎眼中黃，形軀雖細是智囊。」

Kang Senghui's ancestors were people of Sogdiana (Kangju) who had resided in India for generations; his father moved to Jiaozhi because of commerce. When Senghui was over ten years old, both of his parents died; having completed the mourning with utmost filial piety, he left home (pravrajyā). His discipline was very rigorous, and as a person he was magnanimous, elegant, and possessed of insight and capacity, being dedicated and fond of learning. He clearly understood the Tripiṭaka and broadly read the Six Classics; in astronomy, prognostic charts, and apocrypha, there was much that he had mastered; he was eloquent and decisive, and quite skilled in literary composition. At that time Sun Quan had already brought Jiangzuo under control, but the Buddhist teaching was not yet practiced there. Earlier, there was the upāsaka Zhi Qian, whose courtesy name was Gongming and who had the alternative name Yue; he was originally a man of the Yuezhi who came to travel in the Han territory. Originally, in the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling of the Han, there was Zhi Chen who translated various scriptures. There was Zhi Liang, courtesy name Jiming, who received instruction from Chen; Qian in turn studied under Liang. He broadly read the scriptures and books, thoroughly mastering all of them, and mastered many worldly arts and crafts. He studied varied heterodox books everywhere and was fluent in the languages of six countries. As a person, he was tall, slender, dark, and lean, with much white in his eyes and yellow pupils; people of the time had a saying about him: 'Master Zhi has yellow in his eyes; though his frame is slender, he is a sack of wisdom.'