高僧傳 2.29

2.29

Shortly after, he went south to Jiangling, where he spent the summer retreat at Xin Temple and lectured on the Daśādhyāya-vinaya. As he was already fluent in the Chinese language and skilled in conveying its comprehension, the wondrous foundation of non-action was greatly propagated at that time. Those who analysed the text to seek its principles gathered like a forest; those who understood the articles and knew the prohibitions were also exceedingly numerous. That the Vinayapiṭaka flourished greatly was indeed the work of [Vimala]rākṣa. Huiguan of Daochang Temple thoroughly grasped its central tenets, recorded the weights of the monastic prohibitions he had established, compiled them into two fascicles, and sent them back to the capital. Monks and nuns studied them and vied with one another to copy and circulate them. At that time, those who heard it had a proverb: “Vimalarākṣa's rustic words, Huiguan's talented record; copied by the people of the capital, paper became as precious as jade.” It still circulates in the world today as a model for later generations. [Vimala]rākṣa cultivated virtue and loved seclusion, casting aside clamour and departing from the secular. In the winter of that year, he returned to Shijian Temple in Shouchun and passed away in the temple at the age of seventy-seven. [Vimala]rākṣa had blue eyes, and people of the time also called him the “Blue-eyed Vinaya Master.”