續高僧傳 30.25

30.25

釋智凱。姓安。江表楊都人。家世大富奴僕甚多。年在童丱。雅重謿謔。引諸群小乃百數人。同戲街衢以為自得。陳氏臺省門無衛禁。凱乃率其戲侶。在太極殿前。號令而過。朝宰江總等。顧其約束銓敘駐步訝之。相視笑曰。此小兒王也。及至學年。總擲前緒。承沙門吉藏振宗禹穴往者談之光聞遠邇。便辭親詣焉從受三論偏工領疊。所以初章中假複詞遣滯。學人苦其煩拏。而凱統之冷然釋頓。各有投詣。及藏入京。因倍同住。義業通廢專習子史。今古集傳有關意抱輒條疏之。隨有福會因而標擬。至於唱導將半。更有緣來。即為敘引冥符眾望。隋末唐初。嘉猷漸著。每有殿會無不仰推。廣誦多能罕有其類。嘗於內殿佛道雙嚴。兩門導師同時各唱。道士張鼎雄辯難加。自恨聲小為凱陵架。欲待言了方肆其術。語次帝德。鼎延其語。凱斜目之。知其度也。乃含笑廣引古今皇王治亂濟溺得喪銓序。言無浮重文極鋪要。鼎搆既窮凱還收緒。一代宰伯同賞標奇。臨機之妙銛鋒若此。而情均貧富赴供不差。存念寒微多行針療。後以蠅點所拘申雪無路。徙於原部。乃冠服古賢。講開莊老時江夏王道宗。昔在京輦第多福會。至於唱敘無非凱通。後督靈州携隨任所。留連歲稔欣慕朋從。及巡撫燕山問罪泥海。皆與連騎情同比影。在蕃齋祀須有導達。乃隔幔令凱作之。至于終詞無不泣淚。王亦改容。遂卒於彼。

Śramaṇa Zhikai's secular surname was An. He was a native of the capital of Yang[zhou] south of the Yangtze. His family had been very wealthy for generations and had many servants. When he was still a youth with hair in tufts, he was exceedingly fond of teasing and banter. Leading a pack of young boys numbering into the hundreds, they played together in the streets and avenues, thoroughly enjoying themselves. The gates of the Department of State Affairs under the Chen dynasty were unguarded, so Kai led his playmates in front of the Taiji Hall, giving commands as they marched past. The court grandee Jiang Zong and others, observing his orderly commands and arrangement, stopped in their tracks in astonishment. Looking at one another, they laughed and said, "This is a king among boys!" When he reached the age for learning, he cast aside all his earlier pursuits. Having heard that the śramaṇa Jizang was revitalising the school at Mount Kuaiji and that those who went to listen to him spread his fame far and near, he took leave of his parents and went there to receive instruction in the Three Treatises from him. He was especially adept at synthesising and restructuring the doctrines. Thus, with the introductory chapters, middle [treatises], provisionally repetitive expressions, and removal of attachments, which other students found painfully tangled and perplexing, Kai grasped the overall thread, elucidating and resolving them instantaneously, so that each found its proper place. When Jizang entered the capital, Kai accompanied him to reside together. With his grasp of doctrinal studies fully established, he focused exclusively on the philosophical masters and histories, whenever finding something relevant to his interests in ancient and modern anthologies and biographies, he would excerpt and annotate it. Whenever there was an auspicious assembly, he would draw upon them for presentation. Even when the preaching was half over and new occasions arose, he would improvise narratives that secretly matched everyone's expectations. In the late Sui and early Tang, his splendid reputation gradually became renowned. At every palace assembly, all looked up to and deferred to him; in breadth of recitation and wide array of talents, there were few of his caliber. Once, in the inner palace, both Buddhism and Daoism were honoured together, and the leaders of the two traditions were to chant simultaneously. The Daoist master Zhang Ding, whose eloquence was formidable, was privately vexed that his voice was thin and overwhelmed by Kai. Wishing to wait until Kai had finished speaking before unleashing his rhetorical arts, when the topic turned to the imperial virtue, Ding spun out his words at length. Kai glanced at him from the corner of his eye and understood his strategy. With a smile, he broadly cited ancient and modern emperors and kings—their governance and chaos, rescue of the drowning, successes and failures—setting them out in order. His words were free of superficiality or heaviness, and his phrasing was exceptionally comprehensive and essential. When Ding’s constructs were exhausted, Kai gathered up his threads. The chief ministers of the era jointly praised his extraordinary talent. His presence of mind and sharp incisiveness were like this. Yet in his feelings he treated rich and poor alike, never failing to respond to invitations, and kept in mind the destitute and lowly, often practicing acupuncture and medical treatment for them. Later, bound by petty slander and having no way to clear his name, he was exiled to Yuanbu. There he donned the cap and robes of the ancient worthies and expounded upon the Zhuangzi and Laozi. At that time, Li Daozong, Prince of Jiangxia, when previously in the capital, had held many merit-making assemblies at his mansion; as for the chanting and narrative expounding, none could rival Kai's mastery. Later, when the prince was governing Lingzhou, he took Kai along to his administrative seat, lingering there year after year, delighting in his companionship. When patrolling and pacifying Mount Yan and punishing the offenders at Nihei, they rode side by side, their affection like body and shadow. During fasting rituals and offerings among the foreign tribes, which required a ritual leader to deliver prayers, the prince would place a screen between them and have Kai deliver them. By the concluding words, not one failed to weep, and the prince too was moved to solemnity. Kai eventually died there.