續高僧傳 5.20

5.20

釋法寵。姓馮氏。南陽冠軍人。後遭世難寓居海鹽。少有絕俗之志。二親愛而弗許。執志固請。乃曰。須待為汝婚竟隨意所欲。十八納妻。經始半年。捨家服道住光興寺。成辦法式習學威儀。其後出都住興皇寺。又從道猛曇濟學成實論。二公雅相歎賞。日夜辛勤不以寒暑動意。吳郡張融與周顒書曰。古人遺放故留兒女。法寵法師絕塵如棄唾。若斯之志大矣遠矣。又從長樂寺僧周學。通雜心及法勝毘曇。又從莊嚴曇斌歷聽眾經。探玄析奧妙盡深極。高難所指罕不倒戈。音吐蘊藉風神秀舉。齊竟陵王子良。甚加禮遇。嘗於西邸義集選諸名學。事委治城智秀。而競者尤多。秀謂寵曰。當此應對卿何如我。答曰。先悅後拒我不及卿。詮名定賞卿不及我。秀有慚色。年三十八。正勝寺法願道人善通樊許之術。謂寵曰。君年滿四十當死。無可避處。唯有祈誠諸佛懺悔先愆。趒脫或可冀耳。寵因引鏡驗之。見面有黑氣。於是貨賣衣鉢資餘。併市香供。飛舟東逝。直至海鹽居在光興。閉房禮懺杜絕人物。晝忘食息夜不解衣。迄年四十。歲暮之夕忽覺兩耳腫痛。彌生怖懅。其夜懺禮已達四更。聞戶外有人言曰。君死業已盡。遽即開戶都無所見。明晨借問僉言黑氣都除。兩耳乃是生骨。斯實懺蕩之基。功不虛也。末又從東夏慧基聽其講導。言論往復旬日之間。文疑理滯反啟其志。又鼓棹西歸住道林寺。開宇臨磵敞軒映水。解帙尋經每自惆悵而不能已。及東昏在位。多請遊於北山。因而移寓天保寺。天監七年齊隆寺法鏡徂歿。僧正惠超啟寵鎮之。勅曰。法寵法師造次舉動不逾律儀。不俠性欲不事形勢。慈仁愷悌雅有君子之風。匡政寺廟信得其人矣。上每義集以禮致之。略其年臘勅常居坐首。不呼其名號為上座法師。請為家僧。勅施車牛人力衣服飲食。四時不絕。寺本陜小。帝為宣武王修福。下勅王人繕改張飾以待寵焉。因立名為宣武寺也。門徒敦厚常百許人。普通四年忽感風疾不能執捉。舒經格上晝夜不休。赴諸法事坐輿講說。未疾禮佛常以百拜為限。後不能起居。猶於床上依時百過俯仰虔敬。所懺所願與本無異。後疾甚中使參候相望於道。以普通五年三月十六日卒。春秋七十四。皇上傷悼道俗悲戀。勅葬定林寺墓。一切凶事天府供給。舍人主書監視訖事。復有沙門智果。管氏。吳人。住海鹽光興寺。清直平簡善諸經術。又剡縣公車寺沙門僧淑。捃採眾師並為己任。隨問隨答思慮周廣。雖有徵覈而未盡其要妙。

Shi Fachong's secular surname was Feng, and he was a native of Guanjun in Nanyang. Later, encountering turbulent times, he resided in Haiyan. From his youth he had the ambition to renounce worldly life, but his parents loved him dearly and would not permit it. As he held firmly to his resolve and repeatedly pleaded with them, they eventually said: "You must wait until we have arranged your marriage; after that you may follow your wish." At the age of eighteen he took a wife. After barely half a year had passed, he abandoned household life to practice the Way, staying at Guangxing Temple. There he mastered the monastic regulations and studied the deportment. Afterwards, he traveled out to the capital and stayed at Xinghuang Temple. He then studied the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra under Daomeng and Tanji, both of whom greatly admired and praised him. Day and night he labored diligently, his determination unmoved by heat or cold. Zhang Rong of Wu Commandery wrote in a letter to Zhou Yong: "The men of antiquity cast aside worldly attachments yet still left behind sons and daughters; but Dharmabhāṇaka Fachong severed mundane dust as easily as spitting. An aspiration such as this is truly great and far-reaching!" He also studied under Sengzhou of Changle Temple, mastering the *Saṃyuktābhidharmahṛdaya-śāstra* and the Abhidharma of Dharmottara (*Abhidharmasāra*). Furthermore, he attended lectures on various scriptures under Tanbin of Zhuangyan Temple, probing mysteries, analyzing obscurities, and exhausting their profoundest depths. Wherever his lofty counter-questions pointed, opponents seldom failed to yield their ground. His spoken delivery was refined and resonant, his bearing outstanding and elevated. Xiao Ziliang, Prince of Jingling under the Qi dynasty, treated him with profound courtesy and honor. Once, at a doctrinal assembly in the Western Mansion, renowned scholars were selected for debate; the affair was entrusted to Zhixiu of Zhicheng Temple, and the contenders were exceptionally numerous. Xiu said to Chong: "In such encounters, how do you compare to me?" Fachong replied: "In winning others over first and fending them off later, I do not match you; but in analyzing concepts and settling interpretations, you do not match me." Xiu showed shame in his countenance. At the age of thirty-eight, the practitioner Fayuan of Zhengsheng Temple, who was skilled in the divination arts of Fan and Xu, said to Chong: "When you reach forty years of age, you are destined to die. There is nowhere to escape. Your only recourse is to pray with sincere devotion to all the Buddhas and repent your past transgressions; leaping out and escaping might perhaps still be hoped for." Chong then fetched a mirror to examine himself, and saw a black aura upon his face. Thereupon, he sold off his robes, bowls, and remaining assets, using the proceeds entirely to purchase incense and offerings. Setting out on a swift boat toward the east, he went straight to Haiyan and resided at Guangxing Temple. Locking himself in his room to practice prostrations and repentance, he cut off all contact with people; by day he forgot to eat and rest, and by night he did not loosen his garments. When he reached forty, on the final evening of the year, he suddenly felt swelling and pain in both ears, and grew increasingly terrified. That night, after continuing his repentant prostrations through the fourth watch, he heard someone outside the door say: "Your karma of death is now exhausted." He hastily opened the door, but saw nothing at all. The next morning, when he inquired of others, all agreed that the black aura was entirely gone, and that bone had grown upon his ears. This was indeed the fruit of purging through repentance; the effort was not in vain. Later, he also listened to the lectures and instruction of Huiji in the eastern region; as their discussions went back and forth over a period of ten days, what had seemed textual doubts and conceptual blockages instead opened up his mind. He then rowed west to return and resided at Daolin Temple. Opening up a dwelling facing a mountain stream with wide verandas overlooking the water, he unrolled his scrolls and explored the scriptures, yet was often seized by an unsettled melancholy that he could not quell. When the Marquis of Donghun was on the throne, he was frequently invited to visit the Northern Mountains, and in consequence he moved his residence to Tianbao Temple. In the seventh year of Tianjian, after Fajing of Qilong Temple passed away, the Director of Monks Huichao petitioned to have Chong take charge of it. The Emperor decreed: "Dharmabhāṇaka Fachong's every move, even in moments of haste, does not transgress the Vinaya rules. He harbors no selfish desires and pays no court to influence and power. Benevolent, kind, easygoing, and gracious, he truly possesses the demeanor of an exemplary person. To oversee and regulate the monastery, we have indeed found the right man." Whenever His Majesty held doctrinal assemblies, he invited him with high courtesy. Setting aside considerations of seniority, the Emperor decreed that he should always occupy the seat of honor, addressing him not by his personal name but by the title "Elder Dharmabhāṇaka," and invited him to be an imperial court monk. By imperial order, carriages, oxen, manual laborers, clothing, and food were bestowed upon him continuously through all four seasons. The monastery had originally been cramped and small; the Emperor, intending to cultivate merit on behalf of King Xuanwu, issued an imperial order commanding imperial officials to renovate, expand, and decorate it to accommodate Chong. Because of this, it was renamed Xuanwu Temple. His disciples were sincere and earnest, numbering around a hundred at all times. In the fourth year of Putong, he suddenly suffered from a wind ailment and could no longer hold objects. He spread the scriptures upon a rack and read day and night without cessation. When attending various Buddhist assemblies, he was carried in a palanquin to give his lectures. Before his illness, he had always made a hundred prostrations to the Buddha his set practice; later, when he was no longer able to rise and walk, he still performed a hundred acts of bowing and prostrating upon his bed at the designated hours with deep reverence and devotion. His repentance and vows remained no different from before. Later, as his illness worsened, palace envoys sent to inquire after him stood in sight of one another along the road. On the sixteenth day of the third month of the fifth year of Putong, he passed away at the age of seventy-four. The Emperor mourned with sorrow, and both monks and laypeople grieved in longing. By imperial decree, he was buried at the Dinglin Temple cemetery, and all funeral expenses were provided by the imperial treasury, with Gentlemen of the Palace and Clerks supervising the proceedings until completion. There was also the śramaṇa Zhiguo, surname Guan, a native of Wu, who resided at Guangxing Temple in Haiyan; he was pure, upright, unpretentious, and skilled in various scriptural methods. In addition, there was the śramaṇa Sengshu of Gongche Temple in Shan County, who took it upon himself to collect and adopt the teachings of various masters; he replied as questions arose, and his thinking was comprehensive and wide-ranging, yet although he conducted rigorous examinations, he had not fully exhausted the essential subtleties.