[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) › 29.15 # 續高僧傳 29.15 續高僧傳 29.15 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [29.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.29.15) 釋明達。姓康氏。其先康居人也。童稚出家嚴持齋素。初受十戒便護五根。年及具足。行業彌峻。脇不著席日無再飯。外肅儀軌內樹道因。廣濟為懷遊行在務。以梁天鑒初。來自西戎至于益部。時巴峽蠻夷。鼓行抄劫。州郡徵兵克期誅討。達愍其將苦。志存拯拔。獨行詣賊。登其堡壘。慰喻招引。未狎其情。俄而風雨晦冥雷霆振擊。群賊驚駭惻爾求哀。達乃教具千燈祈誠三寶。營辦始就昏霾立霽。山澤通氣天地開朗。翕然望國並從王化。繈負排藪獺弁前趨者。其徒充澤。遂使江路肅清往還無阻。兵威不設而萬里坦然。達之力也。後因行汶中。路逢有人縛㹠在地。聲作人語曰。願上聖救我。達即解衣贖而放之。嘗於夜中索水洗脚。弟子如言。而泥竟不脫。重以湯洗。如前不去。乃自以水灌之。其脚便淨。達曰。此魚膏也。更莫測其所從。行至梓州牛頭山。欲構浮圖及以精舍。不訪材石直覓匠工。道俗莫不怪其言也。于時二月水竭。即下求水。乃於水中得一長材。正堪剎柱。長短合度。僉用欣然。仍引而竪焉。至四月中。涪水大溢木流翳江。自泊村岸都無溜者。達率合皂素通皆接取。縱橫山積。創修堂宇架塔九層。遠近併力一時繕造。役不逾時。欻然成就。而躬襲三衣並是麁布。破便治補寒暑無革。有時在定據于繩床。赫然火起。眾往撲滅。惟覺清涼。有沙門僧救者。積患攣躄。來從乞差。達便授杖令行。不移晷景驟步而返。斯陰德顯濟功不可識。其例甚矣。又布薩時身先眾坐。因有偷者穿牆負物。既出在外迷悶方所還來投寺。遂喻而遣之。故達化行楚蜀。德服如風之偃仆也。故使三蜀氓流或執爐請供者。或散花布衣者。或捨俗歸懺者。或剪落從法者。日積歲計又不可紀。以天鑒十五年。隋始興王還荊州。冬十二月終于江陵。春秋五十有五。達形長八尺。容式偉然敷弘律訓及以講誦。乍諷俗書用悟昏識。銓序罪福無待重尋。故詳略而傳矣。 > Shi Mingda, surnamed Kang, was of an ancestry originating from Kangju (Sogdiana). He went forth into homelessness as a young child and strictly maintained the vegetarian fasts. As soon as he received the ten precepts, he guarded the five sensory faculties. When he reached the age for full ordination, his religious practice became all the more austere: his ribs never touched the mat, and he never ate twice in a single day. Outwardly he was strict in ritual deportment, and inwardly he established the causes for the Way; cherishing the salvation of many, his duty lay in wandering through the lands. In the early Tianjian era of the Liang dynasty, he arrived from the western borderlands at Yibu. At that time, the Man and Yi barbarians of the Ba Gorges were marching aggressively to raid and plunder, and the prefectures and commanderies raised troops, setting a date to exterminate them. Pitying the suffering they were about to endure and harboring the resolve to rescue them, Mingda went alone to the bandits, ascended their stronghold, and comforted and exhorted them to induce their submission. Before their sentiments were pacified, suddenly wind and rain turned the sky pitch-black, and thunderbolts crashed and shook. The band of bandits was terrified and, filled with sorrow, begged for mercy. Mingda then instructed them to prepare a thousand lamps and pray with sincerity to the Triratna. As soon as the preparations were completed, the dark haze immediately cleared; the mountains and marshes exchanged their vapors, and heaven and earth became bright and clear. Unanimously turning toward the state, they all submitted to the royal transformation. Carrying their children on their backs, pushing through the thickets, and wearing otter-skin caps, those who hastened forward filled the marshes in their bands. Thus, the river routes were cleared of danger, and travelers came and went without hindrance. Without deploying military might, ten thousand leagues were rendered peaceful: this was due to Mingda's power. Later, while traveling through Wenzhong, he encountered someone on the road who had bound a piglet to the ground. The creature uttered human speech, saying, 'I pray the supreme sage will save me!' Mingda immediately unfastened his garments, ransomed it, and set it free. Once, in the middle of the night, he asked for water to wash his feet. His disciple did as told, but the mud would not come off. Washing them again with hot water, it still would not come off as before. Mingda then poured water over them himself, and his feet immediately became clean. Mingda said, 'This was fish grease.' No one could ever fathom where it had come from. When he reached Mount Niutou in Zizhou, he wished to construct a stupa and a vihāra. Without inquiring about timber or stone, he directly sought craftsmen; both monastics and laity were puzzled by his words. At that time, in the second month, the waters were dried up, so he went down to seek water and found a long timber in the water that was perfectly suitable for a central pillar, its length matching the right measure. Everyone was delighted and hauled it up to erect it. When the fourth month arrived, the Fu River flooded massively, and drifting timber covered the river. They grounded themselves along the village shores without a single one drifting away. Mingda led both monastics and laity to salvage them all; piled up crisscross like mountains, they founded and built halls and erected a nine-story stupa. People far and near combined their efforts to build it all at once; the labor took less than a season and was abruptly completed. Mingda personally wore the three robes, all of coarse cloth; when torn, he mended them, making no changes through cold or heat. At times, while sitting in dhyāna on a corded chair, a blazing fire suddenly erupted; the assembly rushed to extinguish it, but he felt only coolness. There was a śramaṇa named Sengjiu who had suffered for a long time from paralysis and lameness, who came to beg him for a cure. Mingda handed him a staff and told him to walk; before the shadow of the sun shifted, he returned at a brisk pace. Such manifestations of his secret virtue and overt rescue were of unfathomable efficacy, and cases like this were exceedingly numerous. Furthermore, during the poṣadha, he would sit before the assembly. There was a thief who dug through the wall and carried off goods, but once outside, he became disoriented and confused about directions, and ended up returning to the monastery; Mingda then admonished him and sent him away. Therefore, Mingda's transformative influence spread through Chu and Shu, and people submitted to his virtue like grass bending before the wind. Thus, among the displaced commoners of the Three Shu, those who held incense burners to request offerings, those who scattered flowers or spread garments, those who abandoned secular life to return to repentance, and those who shaved their hair to follow the Dharma were, counted by days and years, beyond reckoning. In the fifteenth year of the Tianjian era, when Prince of Shixing of the Sui returned to Jingzhou, Mingda passed away in the twelfth month of winter in Jiangling at the age of fifty-five. Mingda was eight feet tall, of magnificent appearance and bearing. He extensively propagated the disciplinary precepts as well as lecturing and chanting. Occasionally, he would recite secular books to awaken confused minds, clarifying sins and blessings without having to seek them repeatedly. Therefore, his biography has been compiled here in summary. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 29.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.29.14) - [Next: 29.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.29.16) - [Up: 29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.29) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.29.15) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.29.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.29.15) · Pramāṇa