[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [續高僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060) › 15.22 # 續高僧傳 15.22 續高僧傳 15.22 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [15.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.15.22) 釋僧辯。俗姓張。南陽人也。渚宮陷沒入關住於馮翊焉。年甫七歲日誦千言。時以奇之。聲于鄉壤。十歲欣仰道法思欲出家。局以公憲。未蒙剃落。乃聽維摩仁王二經。文義俱收。昇座覆述。宣吐教理有稱於時。先學大德相顧曰。吾等沒後不足憂也。此人出家紹隆遺法矣。開皇初年。勅遣蘇威。簡取三千人用充度限。辯年幼小最在末行。輕其行業召令口誦。言詞清囀章句契斷。神明朗正。見者屬目。由是大蒙嗟賞。餘並不試。同得出家。受具已後專尋經論。時有智凝法師。學望京華德隆岳表。辯從問知津乃經累載。承席覆述允合同倫。遂使旁疏異解曲有正量。識者僉悟擊其大節。大業初歲。召入大禪定道場。眾復屯之欣其開解。武德之始。步出關東蒲虞陝虢。大弘法化。四遠馳造倍勝初聞。嘗處芮城將開攝論。露縵而聽。李釋同奔序王將了。黃巾致問酬答乃竟。終誦前關。辯曰。正法自明邪風致翳。雖重廣誦不異前通。黃巾高問轉增愚叟謂其義壯。忽旋風勃起徑趣李宗。縵倒掩抑身首煩擾。冠幘交橫衣髮紊亂。風至僧倫怗然自滅。大眾笑異其相。一時便散。明旦入文。𧹞然莫集。辯雖乘此勝。而言色不改。時共服其异度也。貞觀翻經被徵證義。弘福寺立又召居之。雖屢處以英華而情不存得喪。約時講說不替寒溫。異學名賓皆欣預席。故使海之內外僧雜華夷不遠萬里承風參謁。俱舍一論振古未開。道岳法師命章搆釋。辯正講論廢而聽之。隨聞出鈔三百餘紙。或聞初開法肆或中途少閑。但有法坐無論勝負。咸預位席橫經而聽。斯渴法之。深良未儔矣。而謙讓知。足不重榮勢。名滿天下。公卿咸委。而不識其形也。皆來覓之。辯如常威儀不變其節。任其來去曾無迎送。時儕倫諸德。以此懷尚而不能行也。以貞觀十六年六月十三日卒於弘福寺。春秋七十有五。于時炎曦赫盛停屍二旬。而相等生存形色不變。迄至于葬日亦不腐朽。于時亢旱積久埃塵涱天。明當將送夜降微雨。故得幢蓋引列。俱得升濟。七眾導從不疲形苦。殯於郊西龍首之原。鑿土為龕處之。于內門通行路。道俗同觀。至今四年鮮明如在。自辯置懷慈濟。愛法為功。路見貧苦不簡人畜。皆盡其身命濟其危厄。講聽之務惟其恒習。其攝論中邊唯識思塵佛性無論。並具出章疏在世流布。 > Shi Sengbian, secular surname Zhang, was a native of Nanyang. When Zhugong fell, he entered the passes and resided in Fengyi. At only seven years of age, he recited a thousand words a day; people of the time marveled at him, and his fame spread across his home district. At ten years of age, he delighted in and revered the Dharma, desiring to leave household life (pravrajyā). Restricted by public laws, he was not yet permitted tonsure. He then listened to the two scriptures, the \*Vimalakīrti\* and the \*Benevolent Kings\* (Kāruṇikarāja), taking in both the text and the meaning. Ascending the seat to recapitulate them, his expounding of the doctrinal principles was acclaimed at the time. Senior venerable elders looked at one another and said: "After we pass away, there is no need to worry: this person, upon leaving household life, will inherit and exalt the bequeathed Dharma." In the early years of the Kaihuang reign, an imperial decree dispatched Su Wei to select three thousand individuals to fulfill the ordination quota. Sengbian, being young and small, was at the very end of the line. Disparaging his practice, \[the examiners\] summoned him to recite by mouth. His speech was clear and melodious, his phrasing apt and decisive, his spirit luminous and upright; all who saw him fixed their gaze upon him. For this reason, he received great praise and admiration, while the rest were not even tested; they were all permitted to leave household life together. After receiving the full precepts (upasampadā), he devoted himself exclusively to investigating the sūtras and treatises. At that time, there was Dharma Master Zhining, whose learning was looked up to in the capital and whose virtue was loftier than the peaks. Sengbian studied under him to seek the ford of knowledge for several years. Following from the seat to recapitulate \[the lectures\], his expositions accorded with his peers. As a result, marginal commentaries and variant interpretations all acquired a correct standard. Discerning persons all awakened and marveled at his great moral caliber. In the first year of the Daye reign, he was summoned to the Da Chanding Bodhimaṇḍa. The multitude gathered around him again, rejoicing in his explanations. At the beginning of the Wude reign, he walked east of the passes through Pu, Yu, Shan, and Guo prefectures, widely propagating the Dharma's transformation; from all four quarters people rushed to him, outstripping even his initial reputation. Once, while in Ruicheng preparing to lecture on the \*Mahāyānasaṃgraha\*, a crowd listened under an open canopy, Daoists and Buddhists rushing in together. As the preface was about to conclude, a Daoist ("yellow turban") raised a question. When the reply was finished and Sengbian ended up reciting the previous crux, Sengbian said: "The true Dharma is intrinsically luminous; heterodox winds bring obscurity. Although I recite it again at length, it does not differ from the earlier understanding." The Daoist's haughty inquiry increasingly bolstered the foolish elders, who deemed his argument robust. Suddenly, a whirlwind surged up, heading straight for the Daoist congregation. The canopy collapsed, bearing down upon them; bodies and heads were thrown into confusion, caps and turbans crossed awry, clothes and hair disheveled. When the wind reached the monks' assembly, it subsided and extinguished of itself. The great assembly laughed in amazement at this omen, and immediately dispersed. The next morning, when they entered upon the text, the Daoists were crestfallen and did not gather. Although Sengbian availed himself of this victory, his words and expression did not change; all at the time admired his extraordinary demeanor. During the translation of scriptures in the Zhenguan reign, he was summoned to serve as an verifier of the meaning (zhengyi). When Hongfu Monastery was established, he was also summoned to reside there. Although repeatedly placed in prominence, his heart harbored no thought of gain or loss. Lecturing on schedule, he never neglected it in cold or heat. Renowned guests of different persuasions all rejoiced to attend his sessions. Consequently, monastics and laity, Chinese and barbarians, from within and beyond the seas, did not consider ten thousand leagues too far to follow his renown and pay their respects. The single treatise of the \*Abhidharmakośa\* had not been expounded since ancient times; when Dharma Master Daoyue was commissioned to compose an explanation of it, Sengbian set aside the treatise he was lecturing on and went to listen to it. Recording as he heard, he produced notes on more than three hundred sheets of paper. Whether hearing of the opening of a teaching venue or during a brief break along the way, wherever there was a Dharma seat—regardless of whether it was superior or inferior—he would take a seat, laying the scripture across his knees to listen. Such profound thirst for the Dharma was truly unmatched. Yet he was humble, yielding, and content, placing no weight on glory or power. His name filled the empire, and high ministers were all devoted to him, yet without recognizing his face. They would all come looking for him, but Sengbian maintained his ordinary deportment without altering his standards; allowing them to come and go, he never welcomed or escorted them. The venerable elders among his peers at the time esteemed this, yet could not practice it. On the thirteenth day of the sixth month in the sixteenth year of the Zhenguan reign, he died at Hongfu Monastery at the age of seventy-five. At that time, the blazing sun was scorching, and his corpse remained laid out for twenty days, yet its appearance was as if alive, its form and color unchanged; even up to the day of burial, it did not decay. At that time, a drought had persisted for long, and dust filled the sky; on the night before the funeral procession, a gentle rain fell, so that banners and canopies could be led forth in array and all crossed over smoothly. The seven assemblies forming the retinue suffered no weariness or physical toil. He was entombed on the Longshou Plain west of the suburbs, where a niche was carved out of the earth to house him. A passageway opened through the inner door, and monastics and laypeople together viewed him; to this day, four years later, he is as fresh and bright as if alive. In his conduct, Sengbian harbored compassion to succor others, taking love of the Dharma as his merit. Seeing the poor and suffering on the road, without distinguishing between humans and beasts, he would exhaust his own life to rescue them from distress and peril. The labor of lecturing and listening was his constant practice. On the \*Mahāyānasaṃgraha\*, the \*Madhyāntavibhāga\*, the \*Vijñaptimātratā\*, the \*Alambanaparīkṣā\* (Sichen), the \*Buddhadhātu\*, and the \*Prajñāpāramitā\* (Wulun), he produced complete treatises and commentaries that circulate in the world. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 15.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.15.21) - [Next: 15.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.15.23) - [Up: 15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.15) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.15.22) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.15.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.15.22) · Pramāṇa