高僧傳 13.73

13.73

Shi Daoru, whose secular surname was Shi, was a native of Bohai. He lodged in Guangling. In his youth he cherished pure faith and longed to leave household life. Meeting Liu Yiqing, Prince of Linchuan of the Song, who was governing South Yan, Daoru informed him of his intention. The Prince supported his aspiration and petitioned for him to be ordained. After leaving household life, he ate vegetarian food and recited sūtras; wherever he went, he exhorted people to abandon evil and cultivate good. Reaching far and near, they honored and followed him, and he thereby became a chanting leader. His words were not prepared in advance; whatever sound came forth formed a composition. At the end of the Yuanjia era, he went to the capital and stayed at the Jianchu Temple. The Prince of Changsha invited him to be his precept master. Chancellor Lu, his brothers, and grandsons jointly bought the old shrine of Zhang Jing'er and built a temple for Daoru, which is the present Qifu Temple. Daoru died in the eighth year of the Yongming era of the Qi (490) at the age of eighty-one.