續高僧傳 26.82

26.82

釋道生。蒲州人。延統是其師也。名父之子係迹厥師。雖雅尚未齊。而思力方遠。仁正致懷聲色無染。受持戒護耽詠文言。四分一律薄霑聲教。講誨時揚器法難擬。住興善寺。卓卓標異。目不斜眄。威儀安帖。眾敬憚之。仁壽二年。勅召送舍利于楚州。初停公館。感一野鹿直入城門。防人牽來詣舍利所。自然屈拜馴善安隱。生曰。爾為舍利可上升階。必若他緣隨意而去。鹿聞此語遂即升階。出入帳前往還無難。乃為說歸戒。鹿乃頓頭香案。如有聽受。因以繒帛繫之。即舐人手。夜臥輿邊。或往生房經停兩宿。自然退出還歸荒野。及當下日。白鶴兩雙飛旋塔上。覆訖方逝。生覩斯瑞。與諸僚屬具表以聞并銘斯事在于塔所。既還京室。不測所終。

Śramaṇa Daosheng was a native of Puzhou. Sengtong Tantong was his teacher. As the son of a renowned house following in the footsteps of his master, though his refined bearing was not yet fully the equal of his master's, his power of thought was far-reaching. Benevolent and upright in intention, he was untainted by sounds and sights; upholding the precepts and their protections, he immersed himself in chanting scriptural texts. Having lightly imbibed the teachings of the four-division vinaya, his lectures and instructions were often voiced, and his capacity for the Dharma was hard to match. Residing at Xingshan Temple, he was eminent and distinct; he never looked askance, and his deportment was composed, so that the assembly revered and held him in awe. In the second year of the Renshou era, an imperial decree summoned him to escort relics to Chuzhou. When he first halted at the official lodge, an extraordinary wild deer was moved to enter straight through the city gate. The guards led it to the place of the relics, where it naturally knelt and bowed, tame, gentle, and peaceful. Sheng said: 'If you came for the relics, you may mount the steps; if you came for any other reason, depart as you wish.' Hearing these words, the deer immediately mounted the steps, entering and exiting before the curtains without hindrance. Sheng then expounded the refuges and precepts for it; the deer tapped its head upon the incense table as if listening and receiving them. When they tied a silk cord to it, it licked human hands. At night it slept beside the carriage, or went to Sheng's chamber to stay for two nights, before departing naturally back to the wilderness. When the day of the enshrinement arrived, two pairs of white cranes wheeled in flight above the stupa, departing only after the burial was complete. Sheng observed these auspicious portents and, together with the officials, submitted a detailed memorial to report them, and inscribed the event at the site of the stupa. After he returned to the capital, the circumstances of his end were unknown.