續高僧傳 5.18

5.18

釋智欣。姓潘。丹陽建康人也。稚而聰警稟懷變躁。率爾形儀過無修整。年七八歲。世間近事經耳不忘。曾入栖靜寺正值上講。聞十二因緣義。云生死輪轉無有窮已。便慨然有離俗之志。他日即就栖靜僧審禪師求出家焉。篤好博學多集近事。師訓之曰。觀汝神明人非率爾。所可習學皆非奧遠何耶。答曰。欲廣其節目耳。及具足後。從東安寺道猛聽成實論。四遍雖周未曾注記。結帙而反亭然獨悟。莫與為群不交當世。無因得參其門者也。及至講說文義精悉。四眾推服。聽者八百餘人。陳心序事貴在可解不務才華有異流俗。客問未申酬答已罷。皆美其豐贍名重四海。齊永明末。太子數幸東田。携諸內侍亟經住寺。欣因謝病鍾山居宋熙寺。確然自得不與富貴遊往。行不苟合交不委親。䞋施之物構改住寺。以天鑑五年卒。春秋六十一。葬于山墓。

Shi Zhixin was surnamed Pan and was a native of Jiankang in Danyang. As a child, he was perceptive and alert, yet possessed an excitable temperament; his conduct was casual and unkempt. At seven or eight years of age, he never forgot secular events once he heard of them. He once entered Xijing Monastery just as a lecture was taking place. Hearing the doctrine of the twelvefold causal conditions and that the wheel of birth and death turns without end, he was overcome with emotion and conceived the resolve to abandon the secular world. Another day, he went to Xijing Monastery to request pravrajyā from Dhyāna Master Sengshen. Truly fond of broad learning, he gathered many worldly details. His master instructed him, saying: 'Seeing your spiritual clarity, you are no ordinary person. Why is everything you study not profound and far-reaching?' He replied: 'I merely wish to broaden the details.' After taking the full precepts, he attended the lectures on the *Tattvasiddhi-śāstra* by Daomeng at Dong'an Monastery. Though he listened through it four times, he never took notes. Closing the scroll-case and returning, he was uniquely enlightened in solitude; he did not associate with others and avoided society, so no one could gain access to his door. When he lectured, the textual meaning was precise and comprehensive; the four assemblies respected and deferred to him, and his audience numbered more than eight hundred. Expressing his thoughts and ordering matters, he valued being easily understood and did not pursue worldly brilliance. Before guests had even finished asking questions, his answers were already complete; all praised his abundant eloquence, and his name was renowned across the four seas. At the end of the Yongming era of the Qi, the Crown Prince frequently visited Dongtian and brought along his inner attendants, repeatedly passing by Zhixin's monastery. Zhixin took leave on grounds of illness, withdrew to Zhongshan, and lived at Songxi Monastery. Firmly self-content, he did not mingle with the wealthy and noble. His conduct did not compromise with worldly conventions, and his social dealings never led to entangling intimacies. He used offerings of wealth to renovate the monastery where he lived. In the fifth year of the Tianjian era, he died at the age of sixty-one and was buried in a mountain tomb.