續高僧傳 25.113

25.113

釋僧安。不知何人。戒業精苦坐禪講解。時號多能。齊文宣時。在王屋山。聚徒二十許人講涅槃。始發題有雌雉。來座側伏聽。僧若食時出外飲啄。日晚上講依時赴集。三卷未了遂絕不至。眾咸怪之。安曰。雉今生人道。不須怪也。武平四年。安領徒至越州行頭陀。忽云。往年雌雉應生在此。徑至一家。遙喚雌雉。一女走出。如舊相識。禮拜歌喜。女父母異之。引入設食。安曰。此女何故名雌雉耶。答曰。見其初生髮如雉毛。既是女故名雌雉也。安大笑為述本緣。女聞涕泣。苦求出家。二親欣然許之。為講涅槃。聞便領解一無遺漏。至後三卷。茫然不解。于時始年十四。便就講說。遠近咸聽。歎其宿習。因斯躬勸。從學者眾矣。

Shi Seng'an: It is not known who he was. His monastic discipline was refined and rigorous, and he practiced dhyāna sitting and delivered lectures on the scriptures; in his time he was praised as having many abilities. During the reign of Emperor Wenxuan of the Qi, he was at Mount Wangwu, gathering some twenty disciples to lecture on the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra]. When he first opened the topic, a female pheasant came and crouched beside his seat to listen. Whenever the monks ate, it went outside to drink and peck. At dusk, when the evening lecture began, it arrived punctually for the assembly. Before three fascicles were completed, it suddenly ceased coming. The assembly all found it strange. Seng'an said: 'The pheasant has now been born into the human realm. You need not find it strange.' In the fourth year of Wuping, Seng'an led his disciples to Yuezhou to practice the dhūta austerities. Suddenly he said: 'The female pheasant from past years should have been born here.' He went straight to a certain house and called from afar, 'Female pheasant!' A girl ran out as if greeting an old acquaintance, bowing and singing with joy. The girl's parents found it extraordinary and led them inside to offer food. Seng'an asked: 'Why is this girl called Female Pheasant?' They replied: 'When she was first born, we saw that her hair was like pheasant feathers, and since she was a girl, we called her Female Pheasant.' Seng'an laughed heartily and recounted her previous karmic causes. When the girl heard this, she wept and pleaded earnestly for pravrajyā. Both parents gladly permitted it. He lectured on the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] for her; upon hearing it, she immediately grasped and understood it without a single omission. When it came to the final three fascicles, she was completely bewildered and did not understand. At that time, she was only fourteen years old, yet she went on to deliver lectures, and people from near and far all listened to her, marveling at her past practice. Because of this, [Seng'an] personally encouraged others, and those who followed him in study were numerous.