高僧傳 13.50

13.50

釋慧忍，姓蕢，建康人。少出家，住北多寶寺。無餘行解，止是愛好音聲。初受業於安樂辯公，備得其法。而哀婉細妙，特欲過之。齊文宣感夢之後，集諸經師，乃共忍斟酌舊聲，詮品新異。製《瑞應》四十二契，忍所得最長妙。於是令慧滿、僧業、僧尚、超朗、僧期、超猷、慧旭、法律、曇慧、僧胤、慧彖、法慈等四十餘人，皆就忍受學，遂傳法于今。忍以隆昌元年卒，年四十餘。

Śramaṇa Huiren, whose secular surname was Kui, was a native of Jiankang. He left home in his youth and lived at North Duobao Temple. He had no other practice or doctrinal understanding, being merely fond of sounds and tones. Initially he studied under Master Sengbian of Anle and fully acquired his methods. Moreover, his mournful resonance and subtle finesse were such that he particularly sought to surpass him. After Prince Wenxuan of Qi was inspired by his dream, he gathered the scriptural masters, and together with Huiren they deliberated upon the old tunes and evaluated new variations. They composed forty-two sections of the Ruiying, of which Huiren's versions were the most sustained and marvelous. Thereupon, he ordered more than forty people—including Huiman, Sengye, Sengshang, Chaolang, Sengqi, Chaoyou, Huixu, Falü, Tanhui, Sengyin, Huituan, and Faci—to study under Huiren, and so the transmission continues to this day. Huiren died in the first year of Longchang [494 CE] at the age of forty-odd.