高僧傳 8.19

8.19

Shi Fayuan, surnamed Xin, was a man of Longxi and a descendant of Xin Pi. His eldest brother, Yuanming, served the northern Wei as Grand Minister of the Masters of Writing. His second brother, Fa'ai, was also a śramaṇa, versed in scriptures and treatises as well as numerology and mantic arts; he served as the national preceptor of Rouran and was granted an income from three thousand households. Yuan was broad-minded from youth, unconventional and distinguished above the crowd; whenever he saw the poor and cold on the road, he would strip off his clothes to give them. When he first left home, he served the śramaṇa Zhu Huikai of Liangzhou. Kai's virtue was divine and efficacious, and people of the time said he had attained the first fruit. Kai said to Yuan: "With your emotional insight, you will surely be able to guide and unify the latter-day teaching; you should strive with effort to become broadly learned, and not just cultivate personal goodness." Thereupon, Yuan took leave of Kai to travel and study, journeying through Yan and Zhao, and passing back and forth through Ye and Luoyang. Encountering the rampant incursions of barbarian forces and the turmoil across Guan and Long, Yuan braved perils and walked through dangers, never neglecting his studies.