續高僧傳 19.25

19.25

釋僧邕。姓郭氏。太原介休人。祖憲荊州刺史。父韶博陵太守。邕神識沈靜冥符上德。世傳儒業齒胄上庠。年有十三違親入道。於鄴西雲門寺依止僧稠而出家焉。稠公禪慧通靈戒行標異。即授禪法。數日便詣。稠撫邕謂諸門人曰。五停四念將盡此生矣。仍往林慮山中。栖託定門遊逸心計屬周武平齊像法隳壞。又入白鹿山深林之下。避時削迹餌飯松朮。三逕斯絕百卉為群。麕䴥伏其前。山禽集其手。初未之異也。後乃梵音展禮焚香讀誦。輒有奇鳥異獸。攢聚庭宇。貌如慕敬心疑聽受。自非行感所及。何以致斯。自爾屢降幽靈。勝言叵載。開皇之始弘闡釋門。重敘玄宗更聯榮問。有魏州信行禪師。深明佛法。命世異人。以道隱之晨。習當根之業。知邕遯世幽居。遣人告曰。修道立行。宜以濟度為先。獨善其身非所聞也。宜盡弘益之方照示流俗。乃出山與行相遇同修正節。開皇九年行被召入京。乃與邕同來至止帝城。道俗莫匪遵奉。及行之歿。世綱總徒眾。甚有住持之功。以貞觀五年十一月十六日。終於化度寺院。春秋八十有九。主上崇敬情深贈帛。為其追福。以其月二十二日。奉靈魄於終南山。遵邕之遺令也。門徒收其舍利。起塔於行之塔左。邕風範凝正行業精嚴。卑辭屈己體道藏用。及委質寒林悲纏朝野。僉以身死名滅世有斯人。敢樹玄石用陳令範。左庶子李百藥製文。率更令歐陽詢書。文筆新華多增傳本。故累誦野外矣。

Shi Sengyong's secular surname was Guo, and he was a native of Jiexiu in Taiyuan. His grandfather Xian was Regional Inspector of Jingzhou; his father Shao was Grand Protector of Boling. Sengyong's spirit and mind were calm and serene, secretly tallying with superior virtue. His family had passed down the Confucian heritage for generations, and he attended the imperial academy as an aristocratic student. At the age of thirteen, he departed from his parents to enter the Way, relying on Sengchou at Yunmen Temple west of Ye to renounce household life. Chou's dhyāna wisdom communicated with the spiritual realm, and his precept conduct was strikingly exceptional; he immediately transmitted the dhyāna method, which Sengyong mastered in just a few days. Stroking Sengyong, Chou told his disciples: 'The fivefold methods of stilling the mind and the four mindfulnesses will be exhausted in this lifetime!' Sengyong then went into the Linlü Mountains, resting in the gates of meditation and roaming with a tranquil mind. When Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou pacified Northern Qi and the Semblance Dharma was destroyed, he entered deep into the forests of Mount Bailu to evade the times, leaving no trace and nourishing himself on pine and atractylodes. His three paths were severed, and hundreds of plants were his companions. Deer knelt before him, and mountain birds gathered in his hands. At first, he did not find this strange; later, as he offered homage with brahma chanting and burned incense to recite scriptures, rare birds and wondrous beasts would invariably gather in his courtyard, their appearance full of longing and respect as though listening intently. Had this not been reached through the spiritual resonance of his conduct, how could it have occurred? From then on, profound spiritual phenomena repeatedly descended, far beyond what words can convey. At the beginning of the Kaihuang era, the Buddhist gates were widely propagated, the profound lineage was restated, and honorable inquiries were renewed. There was Dhyāna Master Xinxing of Weizhou, who deeply understood the Buddha's teachings and was an extraordinary man of his generation; in the twilight when the Way was obscured, he practiced the discipline suited to capacities. Learning of Sengyong's secluded life of retirement, he sent someone to tell him: 'In cultivating the Way and establishing conduct, delivering others should come first; merely perfecting oneself is not what is heard [of the Mahāyāna]. You should fully apply the methods of vast benefit to illuminate and instruct the common world.' Sengyong thereupon emerged from the mountain, met Xinxing, and jointly cultivated correct integrity. In the ninth year of Kaihuang, Xinxing was summoned to the capital, and he arrived in the imperial city together with Sengyong; both monastics and laity without exception revered and followed them. After Xinxing's death, Sengyong took overall charge of the assembly, rendering immense service in maintaining the community. On the sixteenth day of the eleventh month of the fifth year of Zhenguan, he passed away in the quarters of Huadu Temple at the age of eighty-nine. The Emperor revered him with profound affection and bestowed silk to seek posthumous blessings for him. On the twenty-second day of that month, his spirit and relics were interred on Mount Zhongnan, in accordance with Sengyong's dying instructions. His disciples gathered his relics and erected a stūpa to the left of Xinxing's stūpa. Sengyong's demeanor was dignified and correct, and his religious practice was pure and rigorous; he humbled his speech and bent his person, embodying the Way while concealing his function. When his body was laid in the cold forest, sorrow enveloped both court and countryside. Holding that this was a man whose name should never perish with the death of his body, they boldly erected a dark stone to display his excellent model. Left Assistant Secretary of the Heir Apparent Li Baiyao composed the text, and Director of the Department of the Clepsydra Ouyang Xun inscribed it; its prose was fresh and florid, repeatedly transcribed, and thus recited continually in the wilderness.