[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) › 22.44 # 續高僧傳 22.44 續高僧傳 22.44 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [22.44](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.22.44) 釋道興。姓劉。本住秦州。八九歲時常念出家。私詣僧寺不肯還。二親恐失。年十九。決意定詣大光寺求出家。僧眾愍之。二親苦求隱避不失。眾為解喻便許剃落。時天下大亂賊𡨥交橫。死者山積。興為沙彌語諸徒曰。人身難得持戒第一。母為賊掠將去。離城六十里。興沒命尋逐。至已被傷未絕。賊見曰。此僧誠為至孝。逐母至此。便不盡命。乃背負母還城。城中咸怪。賊路兇險何因得返。避難投蜀至河池縣。逢贊皇公蒙被安慰。送至梁州。興與一老僧相隨。彼有金十兩。謂興曰。吾有金可為負至蜀共分。興曰。此危身物。佛又不許。不可將行。若不信者善惡應驗。逐捨而獨往。彼持金者至三泉縣逢賊致死。既至蜀川年滿進具。常行蘭若頭陀乞食。智舜律師當衢講匠。依聽五遍便能覆述。每有異見舜深奇之。後至京師首律師下伸大義。如別所引。後還蜀川。廣聽經論。不爽光陰。又於江禪師下稟受禪道。以為徵心要術也。自舜沒後接構律筵。每年講席極為稽引。三十二度來請者方許開宗。每歎云。佛法漸替輕慢日增。余不敢輕。所以為重法故爾。即以慇懃鄭重為善法種子。若無此種何由可遇。所以每講律部。及發菩提心。以此勵眾。聽者垂泣恩誨。興待眾涕泣靜已。久久方令唱文。如此非一。四遠來投無客主。興知都維那。于時官府急切不許客住。諸寺無停者咸來。即安撫。寺主曰。依官制不許。何得停之。興曰。官不許容針。私容車馬。寺主豈不聞耶。寺主大怒曰。年少不用我語。興曰。此三寶也。敬則見善。嫌則感惡。寺主憤恚還房。眼看袈裟不見。又往三門王家會。受飯謂言。是血食。人喻之竟不食。返寺向興懺悔。尋終行蘭若。時鬼來惱亂。興出繩床。鬼退為受三歸已。為禮佛名。鬼亦隨禮。貞觀中。青城戴令。來慕欲與興同房宿。夜中眠驚走出房外云。見一赤衣僧。執杖打背云何因在此宿。以火照背。如三指大。隱軫赤色。因求悔過。興遇疾甚。聞室中音樂聲。自念。我所求者本在佛果。不願人天。所願不虛諸有魔亂自應消滅。言已聲滅。自此便差。常禮千佛日別一遍。永徽三年。玄奘法師送舍利令供養。興獲已於房內立道場發正願曰。若一生傳法。并禮賢劫千佛。如契聖心請放光明。如語一室並為金色。弟子咸見。以顯慶四年月日。終於福勝。春秋六十有七。興自在道行節在懷。晝夜恒坐曾不偃亞。未常詣市不受別利。乞食之外不出寺門。不乘畜生不服非。法益部五象敬而重之。 > Shi Daoxing, surnamed Liu, was originally a resident of Qinzhou. When he was eight or nine years old, he constantly thought of entering the monastic life (pravrajyā). He went in secret to a monastic monastery, refusing to return. His parents feared they would lose him. At the age of nineteen, his resolution was firmly set, and he went to Daguang Monastery to seek ordination. The monastic assembly took pity on him. Because his parents bitterly pleaded with him, he hid away so as not to be caught. The community explained matters to them, and his parents finally allowed his head to be shaved. At that time, the world was in great disorder: bandit insurgents ran rampant, and corpses piled up like mountains. As a śrāmaṇera, Xing said to his fellow disciples, "A human rebirth is difficult to obtain; upholding the precepts is foremost!" His mother was abducted and carried off by bandits, sixty li away from the city. Xing risked his life in pursuit. When he reached her, she had already been wounded, though not yet dead. Seeing him, the bandits said, "This monk is truly supremely filial, following his mother all the way here!" They therefore spared his life. He carried his mother on his back and returned to the city. Everyone in the city was astonished: the bandits' road was fraught with peril—how had he managed to return? Fleeing the upheavals, he headed toward Shu. Arriving in Hechi County, he met the Duke of Zanhuang, receiving solace and comfort from him, and was escorted to Liangzhou. Xing traveled in company with an elderly monk. That monk possessed ten ounces of gold and said to Xing, "I have gold; if you will carry it for me to Shu, we shall share it." Xing said, "This is an object that endangers the body, and moreover the Buddha does not permit it. You must not take it along. If you do not believe me, good and bad will have their retribution!" He thereupon parted ways and traveled alone. That bearer of gold met with bandits at Sanquan County and was killed. Once Xing arrived in the riverlands of Shu, having reached full age, he received the full precepts. He regularly practiced in the araṇya, observed dhūta practices, and begged for food. Vinaya Master Zhishun was then the leading expositor in the bustling thoroughfares. After listening to him five times, Xing was able to rehearse the lectures. Whenever he voiced a distinctive insight, Shun was deeply amazed by him. Later, he went to the capital to explain the great import under Vinaya Master Shou, as cited in another account. Afterward, he returned to Shu, where he listened extensively to sūtras and treatises, never wasting an instant of time. He also received the path of dhyāna under Dhyāna Master Jiang, regarding it as the essential method for scrutinizing the mind. After Shun passed away, Xing succeeded him in establishing the Vinaya platform. Each year his lecture assemblies were conducted with the utmost rigor and delay: only after thirty-two requests had been made would he grant permission to open the doctrinal school. He would often sigh, saying, "The Buddhadharma is gradually waning, and disdain increases day by day. I dare not treat it lightly; it is precisely because I hold the Dharma in high esteem!" He held earnestness and solemnity to be the seeds of wholesome phenomena. If one lacks such seeds, by what means could one encounter it? Therefore, whenever he lectured on the Vinayapiṭaka or aroused the bodhicitta, he used this to inspire the assembly. Those listening wept tears at his gracious instruction. Xing would wait for the assembly's weeping to quiet down, and only after a long while would he order the text to be recited; this was not an isolated occurrence. When monks arrived from far and wide seeking refuge, he made no distinction between guests and hosts. Xing served as the chief karmadāna (dū-karmadāna). At that time, the government authorities were strictly pressing the matter, forbidding traveling monks from staying; no monasteries would harbor them, so they all came to him, and he immediately welcomed and comforted them. The monastery prior said, "According to the government regulations, this is not permitted. How can you harbor them?" Xing said, "The government does not allow room for a needle, but privately there is room for carts and horses. Has the monastery prior not heard this?" The monastery prior flew into a great rage, saying, "Young man, you do not heed my words!" Xing said, "These are members of the Triratna! If you respect them, you will see goodness; if you despise them, you will bring upon yourself evil!" The monastery prior returned to his room in fury. Looking with his eyes at his kāṣāya, it had vanished. He went to a feast at the house of the Wang family at Sanmen, and receiving the food, he claimed that it was food made with blood; people tried to explain it to him, but in the end he would not eat it. He returned to the monastery and repented before Xing, soon afterward passing away. Xing practiced in an araṇya. Once, ghosts came to harass and disturb him. Xing stood up from his rope-chair; the ghosts retreated, whereupon he conferred the three refuges upon them. He then chanted the names of the Buddhas, and the ghosts bowed along with him. During the Zhenguan era, Magistrate Dai of Qingcheng admired him and wished to lodge in the same room with Xing. In the middle of the night, he woke in fright, ran outside the room, and said, "I saw a monk in red robes, holding a staff and beating my back, saying, 'Why are you lodging here?'" Illuminating his back with fire, there was a mark the size of three fingers, swollen and red. He therefore begged to repent of his error. Xing fell gravely ill. Hearing musical sounds within his room, he reflected to himself: "What I seek has always resided in the fruit of Buddhahood; I do not desire rebirth among humans or gods. If my aspiration is not in vain, whatever demonic disturbances there are should naturally vanish!" When he finished speaking, the sounds vanished, and from then on he recovered. He regularly bowed to the Thousand Buddhas, once every day. In the third year of the Yonghui era, Dharma Master Xuanzang sent relics for him to make offerings to. Having received them, Xing established a sanctuary in his room and made a true vow: "If my lifelong transmission of the Dharma and my veneration of the Thousand Buddhas of the Auspicious Eon (bhadrakalpa) accord with the holy mind, may you emit bright light!" As soon as he spoke, the entire room turned golden; the disciples all saw it. On the \[gap in date\] of the fourth year of the Xianqing era, he passed away at Fusheng Monastery at the age of sixty-seven. By nature, Xing maintained discipline and restraint in his conduct along the path. Day and night he constantly sat, never reclining. He never went to the market, nor did he accept private donations. Except to beg for food, he never stepped outside the monastery gates. He never rode draught animals, nor did he wear illicit clothing. The five elephants of the Yizhou region respected and revered him. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 22.43](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.22.43) - [Next: 22.45](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.22.45) - [Up: 22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.22) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.22.44) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.22.44](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.22.44) · Pramāṇa