續高僧傳 20.55

20.55

釋玄爽。姓劉。南陽人。早修聰行見稱鄉邑。弱冠成婚。妻少而美。然爽貞誠清拔志高蹈。視如革囊。情逾厭離。既無所偶棄而入道。遊習肆道有空俱涉。末聽龍泉寺璇法師。欣然自得。覃思遠詣頗震時譽。又往蘄州信禪師所。伏開請道亟發幽微。後返本鄉唯存攝念。長坐不臥繫念在前。時本邑沙門藹明稜法等。並禪府名宗。往結投分。以永徽三年十月九日。遷神山谷。時襄部法門寺沙門惠普者。亦漢陰之僧傑也。研精律藏二十餘年。依而振績風霜屢結。七眾齊肅屬城挹歸。晚專入定門廓銷事惱。紀王作鎮。將修追聖廢寺綱總須人。眾舉於普。王深賞會。又楚俗信巫殺為淫祀。普因孚化比屋崇仁。又修明因道場凡三十所。皆盡輪奐之工。仍彫金碧之飾。以顯慶三年終於本寺。春秋八十。

Śramaṇa Xuanshuang, whose secular surname was Liu, was a native of Nanyang. Early on, he cultivated an intelligent conduct and was praised in his home village. When he came of age, he married; his wife was young and beautiful. Yet Xuanshuang was of pure integrity, lofty and outstanding, with high-reaching aspirations; he regarded her as a skin-bag of filth, his heart increasingly overwhelmed by revulsion and renunciation. Lacking any worldly match, he abandoned home to enter the Path. He traveled around studying various avenues, delving into both existence and emptiness. Later, he listened to Dharma Master Xuan of Longquan Monastery; rejoicing in self-attainment, his profound reflections reached distant depths, and his fame resonated considerably in his time. He also went to Qizhou to the place of Dhyāna Master Xin, prostrating himself to request the Path, frequently uncovering obscure and subtle insights. Later, returning to his native village, he was mindful only of preserving focused contemplation, sitting constantly without lying down, fastening his mindfulness before him. At that time, local śramaṇas such as Aiming and Lengfa, all eminent masters of the meditation tradition, went to form bonds of fellowship with him. On the ninth day of the tenth month in the third year of the Yonghui era, his spirit passed away in a mountain valley. At that time, Śramaṇa Huipu of Famen Monastery in the Xiang region was also an outstanding monk south of the Han River. He had investigated the Vinayapiṭaka meticulously for more than twenty years; relying on it, he developed his practice, enduring the chill of wind and frost through repeated winters. The sevenfold assembly respected his discipline, and the surrounding towns revered and turned to him. In his later years, he devoted himself exclusively to the gate of meditative absorption, broadly dispelling worldly vexations. When the Prince of Ji served as regional commander, he was about to restore the abandoned temple of Zhisheng and needed someone to direct the overall affairs; the assembly recommended Pu, and the prince appreciated and agreed with him deeply. Furthermore, local custom in Chu placed faith in shamans, slaughtering animals for illicit sacrifices; Pu brought about transformation through sincere influence, so that house after house came to venerate benevolence. He also renovated thirty Mingyin practice halls, all of which displayed exquisite craftsmanship and were adorned with gold and emerald. In the third year of the Xianqing era, he passed away at his home monastery at the age of eighty.