續高僧傳 16.43

16.43

釋曇相。姓梁氏。雍州藍田人。與僧實同房。素非師保而敦敬之。重禮逾和上。相聰敏易悟目覽七行。禪誦為心周給成務。而慈悲誘接偏所留心。因有行往見人弋繳網羅禽獸窮困者。必以身代贖得脫方捨。其仁濟之誠出于天性。實每美云。曇相福德人。我不及也。斯見禮如此。實嘗夜詣相房。恒預設座擬之。相對無言自陳道合。私有聽者了無音問。常以為軌乃經積載。有時大癘橫流。或旱澇凶險。人來問者。相皆略提綱目教其治斷。至時必有神効。人並異之。或問。李順興強練何人耶。相曰。順興胎龍多慾。強練遊行俗仙。助佛揚化耳。其幽記之明諒不可測也。住大福田寺。京華七眾師仰如神。以周季末曆正法頹毀。潛隱山中。開皇之初。率先出俗。二年四月八日卒於渭陰故都。圖像傳焉。今在京師禪林寺。其承緒禪學遺囑慧端。具見別傳。

Śramaṇa Tanxiang, surnamed Liang, was a native of Lantian in Yongzhou. He shared a room with Sengshi. Though originally not his master or teacher, Sengshi profoundly revered and respected him, honoring him with rituals exceeding [those for] an upādhyāya. Tanxiang was clever and quick to comprehend, his eyes taking in seven lines [of text] at a glance. Meditation and recitation were his mind's focus, and providing for others was his duty. Compassionate guidance and reception [of others] were his special concerns. Whenever he was traveling and saw someone shooting with tethered arrows or netting birds and beasts in desperate straits, he would always ransom them with his own body and release them only after they had escaped. The sincerity of his benevolent salvation stemmed from his inborn nature. Sengshi would often praise him, saying: 'Tanxiang is a man of merit and virtue; I do not match him.' Such was the esteem in which he was held. Sengshi once went by night to Tanxiang's room, and [Tanxiang] always arranged a seat in advance for him. Facing each other without speaking, their shared accord with the Way was expressed by itself. If anyone eavesdropped in secret, there was no sound of conversation whatsoever. They regularly kept this as their standard through many years. At times when great pestilence ran rampant or when there were droughts, floods, and dire perils, those who came to ask [for help] were given Tanxiang's brief summary of essentials and taught how to remedy and sever them; when the time came, miraculous efficacy was certain to ensue, and people were all astonished by it. Someone asked: 'What kind of persons are Li Shunxing and Qianglian?' Tanxiang said: 'Shunxing is a womb-born dragon full of desire. Qianglian is a roaming worldly transcendent. They merely assist the Buddha in spreading transformation.' The clarity of his hidden prognostications was truly unfathomable. He resided at the Dafutian Temple, and the seven assemblies of the capital revered and relied on him like a god. Because the correct Dharma deteriorated and was destroyed in the final years of the Zhou dynasty, he went into hiding deep in the mountains. At the beginning of the Kaihuang reign, he was the first to emerge from retirement. On the eighth day of the fourth month of the second year, he passed away in the old capital south of the Wei River. A portrait of him has been passed down; it is currently at the Shanlin Temple in the capital. The transmission of his dhyāna study was bequeathed to Huiduan, as fully seen in his separate biography.