高僧傳 6.68

6.68

Shi Sengrui was a native of Changle in Weijun. In his youth he delighted in leaving household life, but only at eighteen was he able to fulfill his aspiration, taking refuge as a disciple of Dharma Master Sengxian. Humble and inwardly sharp, his learning competed with his contemporaries. By age twenty-two, he was broadly versed in the sūtras and treatises. Once, while listening to Dharma Master Senglang lecture on the Fangguang jing, he repeatedly raised probing objections. Senglang had a close bond of mutual understanding with Sengxian and said to him, "Rui recently raised challenging points; I pondered them repeatedly and could not resolve them. He can truly be called a worthy disciple of the worthy!" At age twenty-four, he traveled through famous regions, lecturing everywhere, and men of understanding gathered in groups carrying their book-cases. He often lamented, "Though the sūtras and Dharma are few, they suffice to recognize cause and effect; yet dhyāna methods have not been transmitted, and my mind has nowhere to rest." Later, when Kumārajīva arrived in Guanzhong, Sengrui requested him to produce the Essentials of Dhyāna Methods in three fascicles; the first part was composed by Kumāralāta, the end was expounded by Aśvaghoṣa, and the middle was co-authored by various holy ones of foreign lands, also called the 'Bodhisattva Dhyāna'. Having obtained it, Sengrui cultivated it day and night, thoroughly mastering the five gates and entering smoothly into the six purities. Yao Song, the false Minister of Education, held him in deep esteem and honor. Yao Xing asked Song, "What kind of man is Master Rui?" Song replied, "He is truly a pine and cypress of Ye and Wei." Xing summoned him for an audience, and the dukes and ministers all assembled wishing to observe his talent and capability. Rui's deportment flowed like rain, and his discourse was cultured and radiant. Xing was greatly delighted and immediately ordered that he be provided with an official stipend, staff, and a carriage. Xing later said to Song, "He is a foremost leader of the four seas; why merely a pine and cypress of Ye and Wei?" Thereupon his fine reputation spread afar, and people from near and far turned to his virtue.