高僧傳 8.50

8.50

Shi Huilong's secular surname was Cheng, and he was a native of Yangping. In youth he lived in poverty and studied without teachers or companions; outstandingly awakening on his own, he was twenty-three years old before he went forth from home. For over ten years, he focused his mind on the Buddhadharma and mastered the various scriptures. In the Taishi era of the Song, he went to the capital and stayed at Heyuan Temple. Since Long's thought penetrated beyond the literal expressions and he was skilled in pure conversation (qingtan), whenever an opportunity arose to counter and critique, he was certain to overcome his opponents' positions. Emperor Ming of the Song invited him to open a lecture on the Tattvasiddhi at Xianggong [Temple], and more than eight hundred people carried their book-bundles to seek the Dao. Thereafter, princes, nobles, and elites repeatedly invited him to lecture. Wherever prior interpretations had become stuck and stagnant, Long revealed and expanded upon them, making them clearly understandable; he established doctrines such as 'real phenomena' (shifa) and 'severing defilements' (duanjie). Zhou Yong of Runan described him saying: 'Master Long is relaxed and elevated, like pines and bamboo beneath the frost.' In the eighth year of the Yongming era (490 CE), he died at the age of sixty-two.