高僧傳 9.36

9.36

澄身長八尺，風姿詳雅。妙解深經，傍通世論。講說之日，止標宗致，使始末文言，昭然可了。加復慈洽蒼生，拯救危苦。當二石凶強，虐害非道，若不與澄同日，孰可言哉？但百姓蒙益，日用而不知耳。佛調、須菩提等數十名僧，皆出自天竺、康居。不遠數萬之路，足涉流沙，詣澄受訓。樊巧釋道安、中山竺法雅並跨越關、河聽澄講說。皆妙達精理，研測幽微。澄自說生處去鄴九萬餘里，棄家入道一百九年。酒不踰齒，過中不食，非戒不履，無欲無求。受業追遊，常有數百，前後門徒，幾且一萬。所歷州郡，興立佛寺八百九十三所，弘法之盛，莫與先矣。

Fotudeng was eight chi tall, with an elegant and composed bearing. He had a wondrous understanding of the profound sūtras and broad mastery of worldly treatises. When preaching and expounding, he would merely mark out the principal themes, so that the phrasing from beginning to end was made clearly evident. Moreover, his compassion was bestowed upon all living beings, rescuing those in peril and suffering. During the time when the two Shi rulers were fierce and violent, inflicting tyrannical and unprincipled cruelty, had it not been for their sharing the same era with Fotudeng, who can say what would have happened? Yet the common people received the benefits, making daily use of them without realizing it. Several dozen celebrated monks, including Fotiao and Subhūti, all came from Tianzhu and Kangju. Not daunted by a journey of tens of thousands [of li], they traversed the drifting sands on foot to visit Fotudeng and receive instruction. Shi Dao'an from Fanqiao and Zhu Faya from Zhongshan both crossed passes and rivers to hear Fotudeng expound [the scriptures]. All wondrously attained the refined principles and delved into the profound and subtle. Fotudeng himself recounted that his birthplace was more than ninety thousand li from Ye, and that he had forsaken household life and entered the Way a hundred and nine years earlier. Wine never passed his teeth; he did not eat after midday; he never took a step contrary to the precepts; and he was free of desires and seeking. Several hundred people continually followed him to receive instruction, and from first to last his disciples numbered nearly ten thousand. In the provinces and commanderies through which he passed, he founded eight hundred and ninety-three Buddhist monasteries; the flourishment of his propagation of the Dharma was unprecedented.