[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) › 8.22 # 續高僧傳 8.22 續高僧傳 8.22 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [8.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8.22) 釋法上。姓劉氏。朝歌人也。五歲入學。七日通章。六歲隨叔寺中觀戲。情無鼓舞。但禮佛讀經。而聲氣爽拔。眾人奔遶傾渴觀聽。年登八歲。略覽經誥薄盡其理。九歲得涅槃經披而誦之。即生厭世。至于十二投禪師道藥而出家焉。因遊相土尋還汲鄉。又往東都栖遑務道。神氣高爽照曉詞論。所在推之咸謂聖沙彌也。後潛林慮上胡山寺誦維摩法花。纔浹二旬兩部俱度。因誦求解。還入洛陽。博洞清玄名聞伊滏。年暨學歲創講法花。酬抗疑難無不嘆伏。善機問好徵覈。決通非據昌言勝負。而形色非美。故時人諺曰。黑沙彌若來。高座逢災也。後值時儉衣食俱乏。專意涅槃無心飢凍。故一粒之米加之以菜。一衣為服兼之以草。練形將盡而精神日進。乃投光師而受具焉。性戒夙成不勞師導。勤勤諦理無失寸陰。忽聞父病尋往覲之。既至即殂。一宿同止明旦赴洛。度母及姊將入鄴都。時屬大荒投寄無指。聽法心猛委而南旋。夏聽少林秋還漳岸。母子相見。不覺澘然。既慧業有聞眾皆陳請。乃講十地地持楞伽涅槃等部。輪次相續並著文疏。又偏洞算數明了機調。綱紀法化難繼其塵。故時人語曰。京師極望。道場法上。斯言允矣。年階四十遊化懷衛。為魏大將軍高澄奏入在鄴。微言一鼓眾侶雲屯。但上戒山峻峙慧海澄深。德可軌人。威能肅物。故魏齊二代歷為統師。昭玄一曹純掌僧錄。令史員置五十許人。所部僧尼二百餘萬。而上綱領將四十年。道俗歡愉朝庭胥悅。所以四方諸寺咸稟成風。崇護之基罕有繼釆。既道光遐燭。乃下詔為戒師。文宣常布髮於地令上踐焉。天保二年又下詔曰。仰惟慈明緝寧四海。欲報之德。正覺是憑。諸鷙鳥傷生之類。宜放于山林。即以此地為太皇太后經營寶塔。廢鷹師曹為報德寺。斯即碎蕩邪霧載清佛海。當時昌盛自古推焉。上總擔荷並得緝諧。內外闡揚皁白咸允。非斯柱石。孰此棟梁哉。且而景行既宣。逸嚮遐被。致有高句麗國大丞相王高德。乃深懷正法崇重大乘。欲播此釋風被于海曲。然莫測法教始末緣由西徂東壤年世帝代。故具錄事條。遣僧向鄴。啟所未聞事。敘略云。釋迦文佛入涅槃來。至今幾年。又於天竺幾年方到漢地。初到何帝年號是何。又齊陳佛法誰先傳告。從爾至今歷幾年帝。遠請具注。并問十地智論等人法所傳。上答略云。佛以姬周昭王二十四年甲寅歲生。十九出家。三十成道。當穆王二十四年癸未之歲。穆王聞西方有化人出。便即西入而竟不還。以此為驗。四十九年在世。滅度已來至今齊代武平七年丙申。凡經一千四百六十五年。後漢明帝永平十年。經法初來。魏晉相傳至今流布。上廣答緣緒。文極指訂。今略舉梗槩。以示所傳。末勅住相州定國寺。而容德顯著感供繁多。所得世利造一山寺。本名合水。即鄴之西山。今所謂修定寺是也。山之極頂造彌勒堂。眾所莊嚴備殫華麗。四事供養百五十僧。及齊破法湮。僧不及山寺。上私隱俗服習業如常。願若終後覲覩慈尊。如有殘年願見隆法。更一頂禮慈氏如來。而業行精專幽明感遂。屬隋運將動佛日潛離。深果宿心喜遍心府。羸瘦微篤。設輿坐之。袈裟覆頭。弟子扛舉往昇山寺。合掌三禮右遶三周。便還山舍誦維摩勝鬘。卷訖而卒於合水故房。春秋八十有六。即周大象二年七月十八日也。上形量過人苕然眾表。百千眾中孤起頸現。衣服率素納補為宗。五條祇支由來以布。法衣瓶盋以外更無餘財。生不履乘步以畢命。門人成匠。任情所學。不私己業。偏用訓人。言常含笑罪不加杖。自上未任已前儀服通混。一知綱統制樣別行。使夫道俗兩異。上有功焉。制寺立淨亦始於此。故釋門東敞。能扇清風。莫與先矣。初天保之中。國置十統。有司聞奏事須甄異。文宣乃手注狀云。上法師可為大統。餘為通統。故帝之待遇事之如佛。凡所吐言無不承用。又遵重戒禁。願常宣說盡報行之。每至布薩晨旦。致厚供設禮請僧。及年高聲變恐煩於眾。歲暮之夕猶遵此法。其奉信也如此。撰增一數法四十卷。並略諸經論所有名教。始從一法十百千萬有若數林。寔傳持之要術也。又著佛性論二卷大乘義章六卷。文理沖洽詳略有聞。又撰眾經錄一卷。包舉品類耳。並行於世。有弟子法存者。本是李老。監齊天保屏除歸于釋種。明解時事分略有據。上乃擢為合水寺都維那。當有齊之盛。每年三駕皆往山寺有所覲禮。六軍既至供出僧厨。存隨事指撝前後給濟三宮並足。後終於隋初。靈裕法師資學有承。為之本傳。 > Śramaṇa Fashang was surnamed Liu and was a native of Chaoge. At the age of five he entered school, mastering the texts in seven days. At six, following his uncle to a temple to watch the entertainments, his mind was not stirred by excitement; he only made obeisance to the Buddha and recited sūtras, his voice clear and extraordinary, so that the crowd rushed about in eagerness to watch and listen to him. Having reached the age of eight, he broadly examined the scriptures and treatises, largely exhausting their principles. At nine, obtaining the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, he opened and recited it, immediately giving rise to a renunciation of worldly life. At twelve, he underwent pravrajyā under Dhyāna Master Daoyao. He then traveled to the region of Xiang and soon returned to his home county of Ji. He also went to the Eastern Capital (Luoyang), actively pursuing the Way with diligent care, his spirit soaring and lofty, illuminating debates and discourses; wherever he went he was respected, all calling him a holy novice (śrāmaṇera). Later he withdrew to Linlü, ascending to Hushan Temple to recite the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra and the Lotus Sūtra; in barely two decades of days (twenty days), he had mastered both texts. Because of his recitation he sought their comprehension, and returned to Luoyang. With a broad penetration of the pure and profound, his renown was heard along the Yi and Fu rivers. Upon reaching the age of majority, he began lecturing on the Lotus Sūtra, responding to difficult objections so that all were filled with admiration. Skilled in dialectical inquiry and fond of precise examination, he overturned illegitimate premises and proclaimed victory and defeat. Yet his appearance was not handsome, so his contemporaries had a proverb: "If the black novice comes, disaster befalls the high seat." Later, encountering a time of scarcity when food and clothing were both lacking, he focused his mind entirely on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, unconcerned with hunger and cold. Thus he ate a single grain of rice supplemented with wild herbs, wore a single garment made with grass, and though his physical form was almost exhausted, his spirit advanced daily. He then went to Master Guang and received the full ordination. Possessing an inherent discipline from the past, he required no guidance from a teacher; diligently attending to the ultimate truth, he did not waste an inch of time. Suddenly hearing that his father was ill, he immediately went to visit him; having arrived, his father passed away. After staying for one night, he departed for Luoyang the next morning. Bringing his mother and elder sister, they were about to enter the capital of Ye. At that time, during a severe famine, there was no place to seek shelter; his resolve to hear the Dharma was so intense that he left them to turn south. In the summer he listened \[to lectures\] at Shaolin, and in the autumn returned to the banks of the Zhang. When mother and son met again, they could not help but weep. As his intellectual achievements became renowned, the assembly all presented requests; he then lectured on the Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna, the Bodhisattvabhūmi, the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, and other texts in successive cycles, composing written commentaries on them all. Moreover, he had an exceptional mastery of calculation and clearly understood management and administration; his regulation of Buddhist affairs was difficult to match. Thus his contemporaries said: "The pinnacle of expectations in the capital is Fashang of the Bodhimaṇḍa." This saying was indeed fitting. Approaching the age of forty, he traveled and taught in Huai and Wei. Gao Cheng, Generalissimo of Wei, memorialized that he be brought to Ye. As soon as the subtle teachings were sounded, the assemblies gathered like clouds. Shang's mountain of discipline towered loftily, and his ocean of wisdom was clear and deep; his virtue was worthy of serving as a model for men, and his dignity could inspire awe. Thus, through both the Wei and Qi dynasties, he repeatedly served as Monastic Superintendent. The Office of Buddhist Affairs (Zhaoxuan Cao) was solely in charge of the monastic registry, with an establishment of about fifty clerks, overseeing more than two million monks and nuns. Shang directed them for nearly forty years; monastics and laypeople were joyful, and the imperial court was pleased. Therefore, the monasteries in all four directions received his established customs, and the foundation of his veneration and protection was rarely equaled in subsequent times. Since the light of his Way shone far and wide, an imperial edict appointed him Preceptor of the Precepts. Emperor Wenxuan often spread his hair upon the ground and had Shang walk upon it. In the second year of Tianbao, an edict was again issued stating: "Looking up in reverence to his merciful brilliance that brings peace and tranquility to the four seas, in order to repay his virtue we rely upon the Right Enlightenment. All birds of prey and creatures that harm life should be released into the mountain forests; on this very site a precious pagoda shall be constructed for the Grand Empress Dowager, and the Falconers' Office (Yingshi Cao) shall be abolished to establish the Baode Temple." This was the shattering of heterodox mists and the clearing of the Buddha-ocean; its splendor at that time has been celebrated since ancient times. Shang carried this heavy responsibility and harmonized all things; propagating the teachings both within and without, both monastics and laity were content. Without this pillar and stone, who could be such a ridgepole and beam? Moreover, when his exemplary conduct was proclaimed, his exalted renown reached far and wide, leading Wang Gaode, the Grand Chancellor of the kingdom of Goguryeo, who deeply cherished the true Dharma and revered the Mahāyāna, to desire the spread of this Buddhist influence to the maritime corners of the world. However, he did not know the origins and development of the Buddhist teachings, nor the years, generations, and dynasties of its transmission from the West to the Eastern land. Therefore, he recorded a detailed list of inquiries and dispatched a monk to Ye to present questions on what he had not yet heard. The query briefly stated: "Since Śākyamuni Buddha entered nirvāṇa, how many years have passed until now? Moreover, how many years was it in Tianzhu before it reached the land of Han? Under which emperor and in what reign era did it first arrive? Furthermore, between Qi and Chen, who was first to receive the transmission of the Buddha's Dharma? From then until now, through how many years and emperors has it passed? We pray that you will write out full annotations from afar, and also ask about the transmission of doctrines and figures concerning the Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna, the Dazhidulun, and so forth." Shang briefly replied: "The Buddha was born in the twenty-fourth year (jiayin) of King Zhao of the Ji-Zhou dynasty. At nineteen he went forth into homelessness, and at thirty he attained the Way. This fell in the twenty-fourth year (guiwei) of King Mu. When King Mu heard that a transformed being had appeared in the west, he immediately went west and never returned; this serves as verification. He dwelt in the world for forty-nine years. From his parinirvāṇa until now, the seventh year of Wuping (bingshen) of the Qi dynasty, a total of 1,465 years have elapsed. In the tenth year of the Yongping era of Emperor Ming of the Later Han, the scriptures and Dharma first arrived, being transmitted and circulating through the Wei and Jin down to the present day." Shang replied in detail to the lineage and background, his text being extremely precise and conclusive; here I present only a brief outline to show what was transmitted. Later, he was imperially ordered to reside at Dingguo Temple in Xiangzhou. As his demeanor and virtue were prominent, the offerings inspired by him were manifold; with the worldly wealth he acquired, he constructed a mountain temple originally named Heshui, located in the Western Mountains of Ye, which is the present-day Xiuding Temple. At the very summit of the mountain, he built a Maitreya Hall, decorated by the assembly to the utmost magnificence, providing the four requisites of support for one hundred and fifty monks. When the Qi dynasty suppressed the Dharma and it was ruined, the monastics did not venture to the mountain temple; Shang privately concealed himself in secular clothes and pursued his religious practice as usual. He made a vow: "If I pass away, may I behold the Compassionate Honored One; if I have remaining years, may I see the prosperity of the Dharma and make one more obeisance to Maitreya Tathāgata." Because his religious practice was earnest and focused, he moved both the hidden and the manifest realms. As the Sui dynasty was about to rise, the sun of the Buddha emerged again; his longstanding wish was deeply fulfilled, and joy filled his heart. Emaciated and slightly unwell, he arranged a sedan chair to sit in; with his kāṣāya covering his head, his disciples lifted and carried him up to the mountain temple. Joining his palms, he made three prostrations and circumambulated thrice to the right; he then returned to the mountain dwelling and recited the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra and the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra. When the scroll came to an end, he passed away in his former chamber at Heshui on the eighteenth day of the seventh month in the second year of Daxiang of the Zhou dynasty, at the age of eighty-six. Shang's physical stature surpassed that of ordinary men, towering conspicuously above the crowd; in an assembly of hundreds of thousands, his neck stood out distinctly. His garments were simple and plain, making patched robes his primary attire; his five-strip robe and antarvāsa were consistently made of coarse cloth. Beyond his Dharma robes, water bottle, and bowl, he possessed no other property. Throughout his life he never rode in a vehicle, traveling entirely on foot until the end of his life. His disciples became masters, free to pursue their studies according to their own inclinations; he did not hoard his own expertise, nor did he use it exclusively to instruct others. He always spoke with a smile, and never applied a rod for offenses. Prior to Shang taking office, monastic demeanor and attire were mixed and undifferentiated; once he assumed administrative charge, he established distinct regulations and uniforms, causing the monastic and the secular to be distinguished from one another, which was due to Shang's merit. The regulation of monasteries and the establishment of purifications also originated with him. Thus, the broad opening of the gates of Śākya's lineage in the east, which fanned the pure breeze, had no predecessor equal to him. Earlier, during the Tianbao era, the state established ten monastic superintendents (tong); when the relevant officials memorialized that a distinction had to be made among them, Emperor Wenxuan personally inscribed on the document: "Dharmabhāṇaka Shang shall be the Grand Superintendent (Datong); the others shall be General Superintendents (Tongtong)." Thus the emperor treated him with reverence, serving him like a Buddha; whatever words he uttered were invariably adopted. Furthermore, he revered and observed the monastic prohibitions, wishing to proclaim them constantly and practice them for the rest of his life. Every morning on the poṣadha days, he prepared generous offerings to courteously invite the monks; even in his advanced age when his voice altered and he feared troubling the assembly, on the eve of the closing of the year he still followed this practice, such was the depth of his devotion. He compiled the Zengyi shufa (Numerical Dharma according to the Ekottarika) in forty fascicles, condensing all the doctrinal classifications of the various sūtras and treatises, starting from one dharma up to tens, hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands, like a forest of numbers; it was truly an indispensable guide for transmission and preservation. He also authored the Foxing lun (Treatise on Buddha Nature) in two fascicles and the Dacheng yizhang (Essays on the Meaning of the Mahāyāna) in six fascicles, whose literary style and principles were harmonious and thorough, renowned for their detail and conciseness. He also compiled the Zhongjing lu (Catalogue of All Sūtras) in one fascicle, embracing and categorizing their varieties; all of these circulate in the world. He had a disciple named Facun, who was originally a Daoist; upon observing the abolition of Daoism in the Tianbao era of Qi, he took refuge in the Śākya clan. Clear in his understanding of contemporary affairs, his divisions and outlines were well-founded. Shang then promoted him to be the Rector (duweina) of Heshui Temple. During the height of the Qi dynasty, the emperor visited the mountain temple three times each year to pay respects. When the imperial armies arrived, provisions were supplied from the monastic kitchen; Cun directed affairs in accordance with the circumstances, providing sustenance so that the three imperial palaces were all supplied. Later, he passed away in the early Sui. Dharmabhāṇaka Lingyu, who had inherited his learning, composed a biography for him. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 8.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8.21) - [Next: 8.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8.23) - [Up: 8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.8.22) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [大唐內典錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2149.5.15.3) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8.22) · Pramāṇa