[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [續高僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060) › 21.18 # 續高僧傳 21.18 續高僧傳 21.18 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [21.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21.18) 釋法超。姓孟氏。晉陵無錫人也。十一出家住靈根寺。幼而聰頴篤學無倦。從同寺僧護修習經論。而雅有深思。幽求討擊學論歸仰。貧無衣食乞匃自資。心性柔軟勞苦非慮。晚從安樂寺智稱專攻十誦。致名命家語其折衷者。數過二百。自稱公歿後獨步京邑。中歲廢業頗失鴻緒。後復綴講眾重殷矣。帝謂律教乃是象運攸憑。覺慧階漸。治身滅罪之要。三聖由之而歸。必不得門如閉目夜行。常懼蹈諸坑塹。欲使僧尼於五篇七聚導意獎心。以超律學之秀。勅為都邑僧正。庶其弘扇有徒。儀表斯立。武帝又以律部繁廣臨事難究。聽覽餘隙遍尋戒檢。附世結文。撰為一十四卷。號曰出要律儀。以少許之詞網羅眾部。通下梁境並依詳用。普通六年。遍集知事及於名解。於平等殿勅超講律。帝親臨座聽受成規。以眾通道俗。恐陷於愆目。但略舉剛要宣示宏旨。三旬將滿文言便竟。所以導揚祕部弘悟當機。遂得四眾移心朝宰胥悅。至七年冬。卒於天竺住寺。春秋七十有一。天子下勅流慰。并令有司葬鍾山開善寺墓。 > Shi Fachao had the secular surname Meng and was a native of Wuxi in Jinling. At eleven he received pravrajyā and resided at Linggen Monastery. From his youth he was intelligent and keen, studying earnestly without fatigue. He studied the sūtras and treatises under Senghu of the same monastery, yet possessed refined and profound contemplation. In his quiet investigations and dialectical inquiries, his scholarly treatises earned wide admiration and reliance. Being poor and lacking food and clothing, he supported himself by begging for alms; his mind and nature were gentle and pliant, and toil and hardship were of no concern to him. Later he studied under Zhicheng of Anle Monastery, dedicating himself exclusively to the Sarvāstivāda-vinaya (Shisong lü). Those who gained renown as authorities in their own right and consulted him to settle doctrinal disputes numbered more than two hundred. After Master Cheng's death, Fachao strode without peer in the capital. In his middle years he abandoned his vocation and largely lost his grand mantle, but later he resumed lecturing, and his audiences grew exceedingly dense again. The Emperor considered that the teachings of the Vinaya are what the Semblance Dharma relies upon, the gradual steps toward awakening and wisdom, and the essentials for disciplining the body and eliminating transgressions, through which the Three Nobles attain their destination; if one does not obtain its gate, it is like walking at night with closed eyes, constantly fearing falls into pits and ditches. Wishing to guide the intentions and encourage the minds of monks and nuns regarding the five groups and seven classes \[of offenses\], and because Chao was the most distinguished in the study of the Vinaya, he issued an imperial decree appointing him Regional Chief Monk (Duyi Sengzheng), hoping that in spreading its influence among followers, behavioral models would thereby be established. Emperor Wu, further considering that the Vinaya divisions were vast and complex, making them difficult to investigate in practical circumstances, in the spare moments from imperial audiences thoroughly examined the disciplinary codes and, adapting them to secular literary style, compiled them into fourteen fascicles entitled Disciplinary Protocols for the Monastic Essentials (Chuyao lüyi). With concise phrasing, it encompassed all the different recensions, and it was promulgated throughout the Liang territories for detailed implementation. In the sixth year of the Putong era (525 CE), the Emperor gathered administrative officers and renowned scholars from everywhere, and at the Pingdeng Palace ordered Chao to lecture on the Vinaya. The Emperor attended the seat in person to receive the established rules. Because the gathering included both monastics and laity, Fachao was concerned they might fall into transgressions; thus he merely presented the overarching essentials and proclaimed the grand purport. Before thirty days had passed, the text and exposition were concluded. Thus he propagated the esoteric divisions and broadly awakened those responsive to the teaching, thereby transforming the hearts of the four assemblies and delighting all the ministers of the court. In the winter of the seventh year (526 CE), he died at his residential monastery, Tianzhu Monastery, at the age of seventy-one. The Son of Heaven issued an imperial edict conveying his condolences and ordered the authorities to bury him in the cemetery of Kaishan Monastery on Mount Zhong. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 21.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21.17) - [Next: 21.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21.19) - [Up: 21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.21.18) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21.18) · Pramāṇa