續高僧傳 29.20

29.20

釋智興。俗緣宋氏。洛州人也。謙約成務厲行堅明。誦諸經數十卷并行法要偈數千行。心口相師不輟昏曉。住禪定寺。今所謂大莊嚴也。初依首律師隨從講會。思力清澈同侶高之。徵難鱗錯詞鋒驚挺。又能流靡巧便不傷倫次。時以其行無諍也。大業五年仲冬。次掌維那。時鍾所役奉佩勤至僧徒無擾。寺僧三果者。有兄從帝南幸江都。中路亡沒。初無凶告。忽通夢其妻曰。吾行從達於彭城。不幸病死。生於地獄。備經五苦。辛酸叵言。誰知吾者。賴以今月初日蒙禪定寺僧智興鳴鍾發聲響振地獄。同受苦者一時解脫。今生樂處思報其恩。可具絹十匹奉之并陳吾意。從睡驚覺怪夢所由。與人共說初無信者。尋又重夢。及諸巫覡咸陳前說。經十餘日凶問奄至。恰與夢同。果乃奉絹與之。而興自陳無德。並施大眾。有問興曰。何緣鳴鍾乃感斯應。興曰。余無他術。見付法藏傳。罽膩吒王劍輪停事。及增一阿含鍾聲功德。敬遵此轍。苦力行之。每冬登樓寒風切肉。僧給皮袖用執鍾槌。余自厲意露手捉之。嚴寒裂肉掌中凝血。不以為辭。又至諸時鳴鍾之始。願諸賢聖同入道場。然後三下。將欲長打。如先致敬。願諸惡趣聞此鍾聲俱時離苦。如斯願行志常奉修。豈惟微誠遂能遠感。眾服其言。以貞觀六年三月。遘疾少時自知後世。捨緣身資召諸師友。因爾陳別。尋卒莊嚴。春秋四十有五。葬於杜城窟中。弟子善因。宗師戒範講四分律。講法華經冥神福慧著聞京邑。

Śramaṇa Zhixing, secular surname Song, was a native of Luozhou. Modest and frugal, he achieved his duties; his disciplined conduct was firm and pure. He recited several tens of fascicles of various sūtras together with thousands of lines of gāthās on the essentials of ritual practice. Mind and mouth taught each other without pause night and day. He resided at Chanding Monastery, now known as Da Zhuangyan Monastery. At first he relied on Vinaya Master Shou, attending his lectures; his power of reflection was limpid and penetrating, and his peers held him in high esteem. When cross-examinations arose in tangled abundance, the blade of his words stood out startlingly; moreover, he could be fluent and skillful without harming logical coherence. In his day he was praised because his practice was free of contention. In the midwinter of the fifth year of the Daye era, it became his turn to serve as karmadāna (weina). At the times when his duty was to ring the bell, he attended to it with diligent reverence, and the community of monks was never disturbed. A monk of the monastery named Sanguo had an elder brother who had followed the Emperor on an imperial tour south to Jiangdu and perished en route. Initially there had been no news of his demise. Suddenly he appeared in a dream to his wife, saying: 'On my journey I reached Pengcheng and unfortunately died of illness. I was reborn in hell and underwent all five sufferings; the agony was indescribable. Who knew of my plight? Thanks to the first day of this month, when Śramaṇa Zhixing of Chanding Monastery struck the bell, its reverberations shook the hells, and all who suffered together were at once liberated. Now reborn in a place of joy, I wish to repay his kindness. You should prepare ten bolts of silk to offer to him, and convey my sentiments.' Startled awake from sleep, she wondered at the origin of this dream. When she spoke of it to others, at first no one believed her. Soon she had the dream again, and various diviners and shamans all gave the same account as before. More than ten days later, the tidings of his death suddenly arrived, matching the dream precisely. Sanguo then offered the silk to him, but Zhixing stated that he had no virtue of his own, and gave it all away to the great assembly. Someone asked Zhixing: 'What cause enabled your striking of the bell to produce such a resonance?' Zhixing said: 'I have no special art. I only saw in the *Fu fazang zhuan* the matter of the sword-wheel halting for King Kaniṣka, as well as the merit of the bell's sound in the *Ekottarāgama*. Reverently following this path, I painstakingly practiced it. Every winter when climbing the bell tower, the cold wind cut into the flesh; the monks offered leather mittens with which to hold the bell mallet, but I resolved to take hold of it with bare hands. In the bitter cold, flesh cracked and blood congealed in my palms, but I never made an excuse of it. Furthermore, at the start of ringing the bell at the various hours, I vow that all holy sages together enter the place of the Way, and only then strike three times. When about to strike continuously, as before I pay reverence, vowing that all beings in the evil destinies who hear this bell sound may simultaneously leave suffering behind. Such vows and practice I have always constantly cultivated in my aspiration. How could it be that mere meager sincerity alone was able to resonate so far?' The assembly was swayed by his words. In the third month of the sixth year of the Zhenguan era, after falling ill for a short while, he knew of his next life. Giving away his belongings and resources, he summoned his masters and companions, taking leave of them thereby. Soon he died at Zhuangyan Monastery at the age of forty-five. He was buried in the caves of Ducheng. His disciple Shanyin revered his master’s precepts and models, lectured on the *Dharmaguptaka Vinaya*, lectured on the *Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra*, and was renowned in the capital for his profound spiritual merit and wisdom.