高僧傳 8.11

8.11

Shi Sengzhong, surnamed Sun, was a man of Lu Commandery. He left home at sixteen, living in poverty while practising the Way. He once arrived in Shouchun, where Master Dao met him and marveled at him. Ye, the Prince of Qiao Commandery, respected his moral resolve and made him the four requisites offerings. Later, the prince invited him to lecture on the *Śata-śāstra*. Dao went to listen and said to people: "That 'the younger generation inspires awe' is indeed not an empty phrase!" Zhong was wonderfully adept in the *Tattvasiddhi-śāstra*, the Three Treatises, the *Nirvāṇa-sūtra*, the *Daśabhūmika*, and other texts. Later he travelled south to the capital and stayed at Zhongxing Temple. In the beginning of the Yongming era, the Wei envoy Li Daogu came on a diplomatic mission and met him in the temple. Because of Zhong's virtuous renown, the Emperor decreed that he engage in debate. The exchanges lasted for some time, and in his speech there was no misstep. When the shadows lengthened and it was a bit late, Zhong did not eat. Gu asked: "Why do you not eat?" Zhong replied: "By the Dharma of the ancient Buddhas, one does not eat after noon." Gu asked: "Why take up the role of a śrāvaka?" Zhong replied: "To those who should be delivered as a śrāvaka, I manifest as a śrāvaka." People of the time considered it a famous reply. Thereafter he remained lecturing, and his disciples gathered in crowds. Crown Prince Wenhui and Prince Wenxuan of Jingling of the Qi dynasty repeatedly invited him to take the south-facing seat. He died in the seventh year of the Yongming era of the Qi dynasty at the age of sixty.