高僧傳 13.36

13.36

支曇籥，本月支人，寓居建業。少出家，清苦蔬食，憩吳虎丘山。晉孝武初，勅請出都，止建初寺。孝武從受五戒，敬以師禮。籥特稟妙聲，善於轉讀。嘗夢天神授其聲法，覺因裁製新聲。梵嚮清靡，四飛却轉。反折還喉疊哢，雖復東阿先變，康會後造，始終循環，未有如籥之妙。後進傳寫，莫匪其法。所製六言梵唄，傳響于今。後終於所住，年八十一。

Zhi Tanyue was originally a Yuezhi person who resided in Jianye. He left home in his youth, living an austere life on a vegetarian diet, and rested at Mount Huqiu in Wu. At the beginning of the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin, he was invited to the capital by imperial decree and resided at Jianchu Temple. Xiaowu received the five precepts from him and respected him with the rites accorded to a master. Tanyue was uniquely endowed with a wondrous voice and was skilled in cantillation. He once dreamed that a heavenly deity transmitted to him vocal methods, and upon waking he fashioned new melodies based on them. The Sanskrit chant was clear and delicate, soaring in all four directions and turning back upon itself. Reversing, bending, returning to the throat with layered trills—even though King of Dong'e first innovated and Kang Senghui later composed, in circulating from beginning to end, none matched the wonder of Tanyue. Later generations passed down and transcribed his art, and all took him as their model. The six-syllable Sanskrit chanting (fanbai) that he composed still echoes today. He later passed away at his dwelling at the age of eighty-one.