[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) › 21.23 # 續高僧傳 21.23 續高僧傳 21.23 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [21.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21.23) 釋智文。姓陶。丹陽人。母齊中書完韜女也。懷文之始夢覩梵僧。把松枝而授曰。爾後誕男與為麈尾。及文生也卓異恒倫。志學之年依寶田智成。以為師傅。既受具後專講玄津。以戒足分為五乘。律檢開成七眾。豈止通衢生死。亦乃組轡道場。義須先精方符佛意。值奉誠僧辯。威德冠眾解行高物。傳業之盛獨步江表。推其領袖則大明彖公。文初依辯學。後歸彖下。十誦諸部罔弗通練。以梁大同七年。靈味凡官諸寺啟勅。請文於光業寺。首開律藏。陳郡殷均為之檀越。故使相趨常聽二百許人。屬梁末禍難。乃避地于閩下。復光嶺表。時僧宗法准。知名後進。皆執卷請益。又與真諦同止晉安。故得講譯都會交映法門。邊俗信心於斯風革。酒家毀其柞器。漁者焚其罟網。僧尼什物於是備焉。有陳馭㝢江海廓清。講授門徒彌繁梁季。宣帝命旅剋有淮淝。一戰不功千金日喪。轉輸運力遂倩眾僧。文深護正法不懼嚴誅。乃格詞曰。聖上誠異宇文廢滅三寶。君子為國必在禮義。豈宜以勝福田為胥下之役。非止延敵輕漢。亦恐致罪尤深。有勅許焉。事即停寢。爾後凡所詳奏莫非允愜。理眾擯罰咸符時要。尚書令濟陽江總。𡺍道造房無爽旬月。是知學而有祿德必有隣。法位宜昇眾望悅矣。大隋革運別降綸言。既屏僧司憲章律府。大軍之後荊棘攸生。十濫六群滋彰江表。文又案法澄剪。尋得無聲深。可謂少壯免白髮之妖。稊莠絕青田之薉矣。前後州將。甫及下車。皆尊仰年德罕不修敬。柱國武山公郭衍。祇敬倍常。躬携妻子到寺檀捨。盛設法齋請敷律題。抑揚剖析有克壯之姿。聽侶千餘罔不嗟服。以開皇十九年二月二十日。遷于住寺。春秋九十有一。即窆寺之南山東壟。與辯律師墓相望。自文之據道也器宇剛物風範肅人。戒品圓淨處斷明白。然剖折章句詞省義富。眾家修撰罕有能出其右者。又金陵軍火遺燼莫留。乃誓志葺治惟新舊趾。講十誦八十五遍。大小乘戒心羯磨等二十餘遍。金光遺教等各有差焉。著律義疏十二卷。羯磨疏四卷。菩薩戒疏兩卷。學門傳貴以為口實。僧尼從受戒者三千餘人。學士分講者。則寶定慧峙慧巘智昇慧覺等。惟道志法成。雙美竹箭擁徒建業。文昔夢泛舟海釣獲二大魚。心甚異之。及於東安寺講。麈尾纔振兩峯俱落。深怪其事。以詢建初瓊上。乃曰。斯告之先見。必有二龍傳公講者。其言果矣。志名解最優。大尉晉王。家僧禮待。以仁壽之歲。志為樹碑內。慧日道場釋法論為文。 > Śramaṇa Zhiwen, whose secular surname was Tao, was a native of Danyang. His mother was the daughter of Wan Tao, Palace Secretariat Drafter of the Qi dynasty. At the beginning of her pregnancy with Zhiwen, she dreamt of an Indic monk holding a pine branch, who handed it to her, saying: 'After you give birth to a boy, give this to him as a chowrie.' When Zhiwen was born, he was far superior to ordinary people. In the year he set his mind upon learning, he relied upon Zhicheng of Baotian as his preceptor. After receiving full ordination, he devoted himself to lecturing on the profound ferry. Considering that the feet of the precepts are divided into the five vehicles, and the regulations of the Vinaya unfold to establish the seven assemblies—how could they merely serve as a thoroughfare through birth and death? They are also the bridles and reins of the bodhimaṇḍa. In principle, one must first master them to accord with the Buddha's intent. He met Sengbian of Fengcheng, whose awe-inspiring virtue surpassed the multitude and whose understanding and practice were elevated above ordinary people, whose flourishing transmission of the lineage was unmatched in the region south of the Yangtze. As for the foremost leader of this lineage, it was Master Tuan of Daming. Zhiwen initially relied upon Sengbian to study, and later turned to Master Tuan. He thoroughly mastered all the divisions of the Daśabhāṇavāra-vinaya. In the seventh year of the Datong era of the Liang dynasty, when Lingwei, Fanguan, and other monasteries submitted a petition for an imperial edict, Zhiwen was invited to Guangye Monastery to open the Vinayapiṭaka for the first time, with Yin Jun of Chen Commandery serving as the dānapati. Consequently, those who came in succession to regularly hear his lectures numbered around two hundred. Meeting with the upheavals and disasters at the end of the Liang, he took refuge in the region of Min, once again illuminating the area south of the ranges. At that time, Sengzong and Fazhun, renowned younger scholars, all brought their scrolls to request instruction. He also resided together with Paramārtha in Jin'an; thus, lectures and translations met in the same assembly, mutually reflecting within the Dharma gate. The faith of the peripheral populace was transformed by their influence: tavern keepers destroyed their wine-pressing vessels, and fishermen burned their nets. Utensils and requisites for monks and nuns were provided in abundance. When the Chen dynasty ruled the realm and the rivers and seas were cleared of turmoil, the disciples attending his lectures became even more numerous than in the late Liang. Emperor Xuan commanded the army to capture the Huai and Fei river regions; but when a single battle was unsuccessful, a thousand pieces of gold were lost daily. When transport labor was required, the community of monks was subsequently drafted. Zhiwen, deeply protective of the true Dharma and unafraid of severe punishment, framed his protest in these words: 'Your Majesty is truly different from Yuwen, who abolished and destroyed the Three Jewels. A gentleman's governance of the state must rely upon propriety and righteousness. How could it be appropriate to subject the supreme field of merit to the menial labor of petty underlings? Not only will this invite enemies and demean the Han people, but I fear it will also incur exceedingly deep guilt.' An imperial decree granted his request, and the matter was promptly dropped. Thereafter, whatever matters he deliberated upon and memorialized were consistently fitting and satisfactory; his management of the community and execution of expulsions and penalties all accorded with the needs of the time. Jiang Zong, Director of the Department of State Affairs and a native of Jiyang, admiring the Way, visited his room without missing a month. From this one knows that scholarship brings office, and virtue will always have neighbors; when the Dharma position is elevated, the hopes of the multitude are satisfied. When the Great Sui dynasty changed the mandate, it specially issued an imperial decree; once the monastic administration was disbanded, regulations were modeled on the vinaya courts. After the grand armies passed, briars and thorns sprang up; the ten violations and six groups of depraved monks flourished south of the Yangtze. Zhiwen again used the Dharma to weed out and purge them, and soon serenity was achieved. Truly it can be said: 'In their youth they escaped the calamity of white hair, and darnel was eradicated from the purity of green fields.' Successive regional commanders, as soon as they arrived at their posts, all revered his age and virtue, and scarcely failed to pay their respects. Guo Yan, Pillar of State and Duke of Wushan, showed respect that was twice the ordinary; he personally took his wife and children to the monastery to make dāna, richly provided a Dharma feast, and invited him to expound upon the themes of the Vinaya. Zhiwen's intonation and analytical dissection exhibited a robust vigor; among the more than a thousand listeners, none failed to sigh in admiration. On the twentieth day of the second month of the nineteenth year of the Kaihuang era, he passed away at his resident monastery at the age of ninety-one. He was interred on the eastern ridge of the southern mountain behind the monastery, facing the tomb of Vinaya Master Sengbian. From the time Zhiwen took his stand in the Way, his vessel and deportment were firm toward worldly matters, and his demeanor inspired reverence in people. His precepts were complete and pure, and his judgments were lucid and definitive. In dissecting sentences and phrases, his words were concise while their meanings were rich; among the compositions of various masters, rarely could any surpass him. Furthermore, when the army set fire to Jinling and nothing of the former remains was left, he made a vow to repair it, renovating the old sites. He lectured on the Daśabhāṇavāra-vinaya eighty-five times, and on the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna precept-essences, the Karmavācanā, and other texts more than twenty times, with varying numbers for the Suvarṇaprabhāsa-sūtra, the Bequeathed Teaching Sūtra, and so forth. He authored a commentary on the Vinaya in twelve fascicles, a commentary on the Karmavācanā in four fascicles, and a commentary on the Bodhisattva Precepts in two fascicles. His lineage of disciples prized them and took them as authoritative. The monks and nuns who received ordination from him numbered more than three thousand. Among his students who lectured on different subjects were Baoding, Huizhi, Huiyan, Zhisheng, Huijue, and others. Only Daozhi and Facheng were likened to a pair of fine bamboo arrows, gathering disciples in Jianye. In the past, Zhiwen dreamt that he was fishing from a boat at sea and caught two large fish, which he considered very wondrous. Later, while lecturing at Dong'an Monastery, just as he waved his chowrie, both of its side-peaks fell off. Finding this event deeply strange, he asked Master Qiong of Jianchu, who said: 'This is an advance notice; there will surely be two dragons who transmit your lectures, Venerable Sir.' His words proved true. Daozhi's renown and understanding were the most exceptional; the Grand Commander, the Prince of Jin, treated him with the courtesy due to a family preceptor. In the Renshou era, Daozhi erected a stele for Zhiwen, the text of which was composed by Śramaṇa Falun of the Huiri Bodhimaṇḍa. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 21.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21.22) - [Next: 21.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21.24) - [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.21.23) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.21.23) · Pramāṇa