續高僧傳 17.23

17.23

釋智鍇。姓夏侯。豫章人。少出家在楊州興皇寺。聽朗公講三論。善受玄文。有名當日。開皇十五年遇天台顗公。修習禪法特有念力。顗歎重之。晚講涅槃法華及十誦律。弘敷之盛見重於時。又善外學。文筆史籍彌是所長。晚住廬山造大林精舍。締構伊始並是營綜。末又治西林寺。兩處監護皆終其事。然守志大林。二十餘載足不下山。常修定業。隋文重之。下勅追召。稱疾不赴。後豫章請講。苦違不往。云吾意終山舍。豈死城邑。道俗虔請。不獲志而臨之。未幾遂卒于州治之寺。時以為知命也。春秋七十有八。即大業六年六月也。氣屬炎熱。而加坐如生。接還廬阜形不摧變。都無臭腐反有異香。道俗歎訝。遂緘于石室。至今如初焉。

Śramaṇa Zhikai, whose secular surname was Xiahou, was a native of Yuzhang. In his youth he took pravrajyā and stayed at Xinghuang Monastery in Yangzhou, where he listened to Master [Fa]lang expound the Three Treatises. He was adept at receiving the profound texts and achieved renown at the time. In the fifteenth year of Kaihuang [595 CE], he met Master [Zhi]yi of Tiantai and cultivated dhyāna methods, exhibiting extraordinary mindfulness, for which Zhiyi held him in high esteem. In his later years, he lectured on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, and the Daśabhāṇavāra Vinaya; the flourishing expanse of his propagation was deeply respected in his era. He was also skilled in secular learning, with literary composition and historical records being his particular strength. In his late years, he resided at Mount Lu, where he founded the Dalin Hermitage; from its inception, its planning and construction were all organized by him. Later he also renovated Xilin Monastery; he oversaw and completed the tasks at both places. Nevertheless, he kept his aspiration fixed on Dalin, and for more than twenty years, his feet did not descend the mountain as he constantly cultivated the work of dhyāna. Emperor Wen of Sui esteemed him and issued an edict summoning him, but he pleaded illness and did not go. Later, Yuzhang requested him to lecture, but he stubbornly refused to go, saying, 'My intention is to end my days in a mountain hermitage; how could I die in a town or city?' When clergy and laity devoutly besought him, he could not maintain his wish and went there. Not long after, he passed away at the prefecture's monastery; people at the time considered that he had known his destiny. He was seventy-eight years of age, passing away in the sixth month of the sixth year of Daye [610 CE]. The weather was scorching hot, yet he sat cross-legged as if alive. When his body was brought back to Mount Lu, his form did not change or decay; there was no foul smell at all, but rather a remarkable fragrance. The clergy and laity marveled in admiration, and they sealed him within a stone chamber, where to this day he remains as he was at first.