續高僧傳 20.51

20.51

釋普明。姓衛氏。蒲州安邑人。十三出家。事外兄道愻法師。愻道會晉川。備如別傳。又以明付廷興寺沙門童真為弟子。明抗志住持以大法為己任。性聰敏解冠儕流。講聽相仍無法不學。周游肆席曾無住房。固使勤而有功。經論滿抱。十八講勝鬘起信夙素聽之知成大器。進具已後專師涅槃四分攝論。年二十四講涅槃。三十解攝論。凡所造言賓主兼善。使夫妙義積散。出言傳旨聲流遠近。大業六年。召入大禪定道場。止十八夏。名預上班。學功所位。四事既備不闕二嚴。武德元年。桑梓傾音欣其道洽。以事聞上。有旨令住蒲州仁壽寺。鎮長弘道無憩寒暄。晝談夜坐語默依教。心神爽迅應對雲雨。曾未聞經一披若誦。斯則宿習博聞故能若此。不可比擬也。日常自勵戒本一遍般若金剛二十遍。六時禮懺所有善根迴向淨土。至終常爾。凡造刻檀像數十龕。寫金剛般若千餘部。請他轉五千餘遍。講涅槃八十餘遍。攝論勝鬘諸經論等。遍數難紀。以年月終于住寺。春秋八十有六。有弟子義淹。戒潔清嚴見知可領。乃遷葬蒲坂東原。鑿穴處之。樹碑其側。

Shi Puming had the secular surname Wei and was a native of An'yi in Puzhou. At age thirteen he underwent pravrajyā, serving his maternal cousin, Dharma Master Daoxun. Xun's Way was widely recognized in Jinchuan, as detailed in his separate biography. Xun also entrusted Ming to the śramaṇa Tongzhen of Yanxing Temple as his disciple. Ming maintained high aspirations to sustain [the Dharma], taking the Great Dharma as his personal responsibility. By nature intelligent and sharp, his understanding surpassed that of his peers. Lecturing and listening went on continuously; there was no Dharma he did not study. Traveling among lecture seats, he never had a fixed residence. Thus his diligence brought success, and he held scriptures and treatises in abundance. At age eighteen, he lectured on the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra and the Awakening of Faith; elders who listened to him knew he would become a vessel of great capacity. After receiving full ordination, he devoted himself to mastering the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, the Sifen lü, and the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. At age twenty-four he lectured on the Nirvāṇa, and at thirty he explained the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. In all his formulations, both the host and guest were equally accomplished, causing wondrous meanings to be gathered and dispersed; when he spoke to convey the import, his reputation spread far and near. In the sixth year of the Daye era, he was summoned into the Great Chanding Bodhimaṇḍa, where he stayed for eighteen summer retreats. His name was placed in the highest rank; his scholarly attainments had reached their status. The four requisites being fully supplied, he lacked neither of the two adornments. In the first year of the Wude era, his native region raised voices of admiration, rejoicing that his Way had spread smoothly. When the matter was reported to the emperor, an imperial edict ordered him to dwell at Renshou Temple in Puzhou. He long propagated the Way there without rest in cold or heat. By day he discussed, and by night he sat, speaking or remaining silent strictly according to the teaching. His mental faculties were swift and clear, responding like clouds and rain. Even for scriptures he had never heard, opening them once was as if reciting them from memory. Such was his past cultivation and broad learning that he could be like this, beyond compare. Every day he spurred himself on: the Prātimokṣa once, the Diamond Prajñā twenty times; during the six periods of the day and night he bowed in repentance, dedicating all roots of goodness toward the Pure Land. He maintained this constantly until the very end. In total, he crafted and carved several tens of niches of sandalwood statues, copied more than a thousand scrolls of the Diamond Prajñā, and commissioned others to chant it more than five thousand times. He lectured on the Nirvāṇa more than eighty times, while the number of times he lectured on the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, Śrīmālādevī, and various other scriptures and treatises was hard to record. He died in that temple in the [specified] year and month, at the age of eighty-six. He had a disciple named Yiyan, whose precept-keeping was pure and strict, and whose insight and knowledge were capable of leadership. He then moved [Puming's remains] to be buried on the eastern plateau of Puban, excavating a cave to inter him, and erected a stele beside it.