續高僧傳 9.20

9.20

釋法安。姓田。枝江人。神彩俊越見稱僮幼。年十八遊學金陵。初聽成實。後學中觀於興皇座下。十有餘年庶乎屢空智乎特秀。三千學侶獨標三絕之名。形長八尺風儀挺特一也。解義窮深二也。精進潔己三也。時聽涅槃每立異義。令眾難之。人雖巨眾無能屈者。由是聲聞楚越。一時朗公知其穎拔令論義。應命搆擊問領如嚮。往復既久便止。朗曰。爾義窮乎。對曰。義若恒沙何可盡也。時學門名安者多。目之為沙安。三論四經皆講制廣初章及鹿角章等。理致宏遠流傳江漢。年過不惑。迴情在定更不談說。時往成禪師所共論定道。琢磨心性。動經晨夕。而不噉僧食。不飲濁漿。春秋六十五終於等界寺。寺在私洲之上。西望沙洲。即劉虬注法華之地。今經臺餘基尚在。

Śramaṇa Fa'an's secular surname was Tian. He was a native of Zhijiang. His spiritual radiance was outstanding, and he was praised even as a youth. At the age of eighteen, he travelled to study in Jinling. He first listened to the Tattvasiddhi (Chengshi), and later studied Madhyamaka (Zhongguan) under Master Lang of Xinghuang Monastery. For more than ten years, he was almost continually free of mundane concerns, and his wisdom was exceptionally prominent. Among the three thousand fellow students, he alone bore the renown of the 'Three Perfections': first, he was eight chi tall and his bearing was exceptionally dignified; second, his doctrinal understanding was exhaustive and profound; third, he was vigorous and purified himself. When he listened to lectures on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, he would often raise novel propositions and have the assembly challenge them; though the people were a vast multitude, none could bend him. Because of this, his fame was heard throughout Chu and Yue. At one time, Master Lang, knowing his brilliance, instructed him to debate doctrinal points. Responding to the summons, his arguments and counterarguments answered questions like an echo. After back-and-forth debate had gone on for a long time, he stopped. Lang said, 'Are your arguments exhausted?' He answered, 'Arguments are like the sands of the Ganges; how could they ever be exhausted?' Among the students of that time, many were named An, so they designated him 'Sha'an' (Sand-An). In the Three Treatises and the Four Sūtras, he authored the Guangchuzhang (Expanded Initial Chapter) and the Lujiaozhang (Deer Horn Chapter), and their principles were broad and profound, circulating throughout the Jiang and Han regions. When he was past forty, he turned his sentiments toward dhyāna and spoke no further on doctrines. He occasionally went to Dhyāna Master Cheng's place to discuss the path of meditation and polish the mind-nature, which often lasted from morning till evening. Yet he would not eat the saṅgha's food, nor drink turbid porridge. At the age of sixty-five, he passed away at Dengjie Monastery. The monastery was on an islet in the river, facing Sand Islet to the west, which was the place where Liu Qiu had annotated the Lotus Sūtra; today the remaining foundation of his sutra terrace still exists.