高僧傳 6.37

6.37

Shi Huichi was Huiyuan's younger brother. He was placid, reserved, and had great magnanimity. At the age of fourteen he began to read texts, and what he mastered in a single day was equivalent to another's ten days. He was well-versed in literature and history, and possessed skill in composition. At the age of eighteen he entered the monastic life (pravrajyā) and, together with his elder brother, served Dharma Master Dao'an with devotion. He extensively studied various sūtras, wielding his blade with ease through the Tripiṭaka. When Dao'an, while in Xiangyang, dispatched Huiyuan down eastward, Huichi went with him as well. At first they rested at Shangming Temple in Jingzhou, and later went to Mount Lu, Huichi always accompanying Huiyuan and residing with him. Huichi was eight chi tall, with an outstanding and brisk demeanor; he often wore leather sandals, and his patched monastic robe came down halfway along his shins. Among the disciples on Mount Lu, not one was not an outstanding talent, and of the three thousand coming and going, all considered Huichi their foremost.