續高僧傳 22.12

22.12

Shi Zhishou was of the Huangfu clan. His origin was in the lineage of Master Xuan’an of Anding. His family had for generations dwelled among hills and gardens, habitually living beyond worldly affairs. Following an official's posting, they wandered and moved their residence to the banks of the Zhang River. Yet from childhood he harbored rectitude and clarity, and early on displayed heroic excellence. In his youth he abandoned the secular world, his renown racing through his native region. At first he turned to Zhimin of Yunmen Monastery in Xiangzhou and took pravrajyā under him. Min was also a soaring dragon in the treasury of meditation, a prominent figure in the study of the mind, and the spiritual descendant of Venerable Chou. Because Shou was young in his years of study, Min briefly set aside the prohibitive rules and expediently instructed him in the five approaches to protect his three modes of action. Yet what Shou's spiritual wisdom aimed for did not admire inferior paths. Reviewing the bequeathal teachings, he saw that the precepts are the root of a teacher, and that samādhi, wisdom, and the host of good deeds proliferate from this. Since their principles coincided, how could he dare disobey the former injunctions? Therefore, whenever he met Vinaya students, he would inquire in low whispers, and following what he heard of the great standards, he practiced according to the teachings. Because of this, the five assemblies parted their tracks [to visit him], none failing to approach and seek an audience with him. Soon afterwards, his mother passed away. Then [a woman] entered the gates of the Way, named Fashi, who resided in an official monastery. She deeply cultivated the eight deferential rules and reverently observed the five comportments. Her aspiration was to take part in all of them; regarding the disciplinary guidelines, she made a vow to uphold and receive them as standards. However, when the assembly of nuns pursued the Way, their attachments and emotional ties were deep; and when it came to the strict precepts, most of them treated them with disdain and negligence. Yet Fashi severed her attachments, pursued the Way, walked the path of rectitude, and settled her mind. With majestic deportment she subdued the community of nuns, and her reputation rose high throughout the Wei region. Since the dark transformation had been transmitted eastward, there had never been such a model. Because she had been closely attached to Shou since early days and he had long garnered high renown, Fashi wished to taste the flavor of the Way early on and moisten her lips in the Vinaya tradition. Thereupon she asked Min to confer upon him the full precepts, but he did not yet permit it. She then inwardly reflected on correct discipline and externally inquired into the chapters of her peers, reverently adhering to and practicing them, bringing harmony to her community. Min observed her deportment, silently acknowledged it, and knowing that her character was firm and profound, he at last permitted him to receive the precepts. Shou considered that because the conditioned Dharma depends upon the wise and worthy, if the doors of practice were lightly abandoned, the vessel of the Way would sink. He therefore sought extensively among the great virtues and superior men of Zheng and Wei, taking no regard of the passing of years, resolved to invite them for his ordination. After three years had passed, his long-cherished wish was finally fulfilled. At twenty-two he at last received the great precepts. Although he received them from a master, he still did not know whether he had truly attained them or not. Thereupon, before an ancient stupa of the Buddha, he prayed for a visible confirmation. Receiving the blessing of the Buddha descending to rub the crown of his head, his body and mind became peaceful and relaxed, and only then did he know that his resonance with the precepts was real. From then on, day and night he inquired and investigated, standing out far above ordinary standards. Even where the teachings were something he had not yet heard, his deportment and propriety were already complete. When he searched through the Vinaya literature, he largely harmonized with its texts; as clear as if known from a past life, it further tempered his spiritual treasury. Wherever circumstances and principles had been obstructed or conflicting, they were all clarified, blended together, and invisibly harmonized like fitting tallies. Later, he attended the Vinaya lectures of Daohong. His fellows numbered seven hundred, sharp and eminent like a forest. When it came to searching out texts and comparing principles, he considered himself towering and distinct. And when it came to profound contemplation inspiring courage, comprehensively excelling all schools, and being steadfast, upright, strict, and brilliant, with a style like the wind bequeathing heritage, none surpassed Shou. Thus, before reaching the age of thirty, he frequently opened Vinaya halls. His splendid virtue and keen conduct were recognized as of great capacity by all. Master Lingyu, whose Way shook the eminent masters and whose standards transcended his peers, personally oversaw the monastic assembly and took part in the lower seats of his lectures. The contemporaries praised this together, further increasing the glorious spectacle. It happened that Emperor Gaozu of the Sui founded a monastery and summoned the meditation masters from afar. Desiring to broadly elevate the Vinaya teachings and spread their splendor through the imperial land, [Shou thought that] unless he conjoined dhyāna with a comprehension of the precepts, practice and study would have nowhere to rest. He consequently followed his teacher into the pass and stayed at Chanding Monastery. As his understanding was secretly penetrating, his renown radiated through the Three Auxiliaries. When he first arrived in the celestial capital, having fully reviewed the treatises and chapters, he broadened his reading even further. His new comprehension enriched what he had previously heard, and those with discernment realized his profound method. He opened another lecture hall, which fulfilled his original wish, and he immediately consented. Every day he expounded widely before the assembly, and in his spare time he swept the courtyard and read the texts. Thus, for four years he investigated and settled the various scriptures of the Tripiṭaka. Wherever their expressions and purports were related to the Vinaya, he compared them against the commentaries and resolved their past deficiencies. Since the eastern propagation of the Vinaya texts over some six hundred years, the transmission of ordination and precepts had mostly been confused regarding their substantive characteristics. The five divisions were mixed without distinction, and the two views were chaotically intertwined. When receiving the precepts throughout the realm, all recited the text of Dharmagupta. As for upholding the practices, they mostly relied on appearances and inherited customs handed down between masters and disciples, arbitrarily taking or discarding rules according to circumstance, and deciding light and heavy offenses inconsistently. Shou harbored grief over this; he opened and analyzed them, often illuminating the benighted, evaluating the ancient and modern, and completely presenting them to the world. He composed the *Twenty-One Fascicles of Notes on the Distinctions of the Five Divisions*. This was what may be called a high wall towering in brilliance, the net of heaven widely unfurled; once more opening disparate texts, comprehensively sorting out divergent methods. The various Vinayas translated amounted to over four hundred fascicles; in their inherited expositions, they had hitherto been in confusion. Now he summarized their similarities and differences and settled what should be discarded or established. The original commentary had been composed by Master Yun; his present compilation exceeded it by twice as much. Thus, that the various divisions could run side by side along the highway of the Tang, and the seven assemblies could gaze widely upon them during the Zhenguan era, was due to Shou's effort. However, within the pass they solely esteemed and customarily upheld the *Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya*. Vinayadhara Hongzun first opened the *Dharmaguptaka Vinaya*, yet he also taught the sūtras generally, so monks and laypeople rushed to follow him; but as for transmitting the text of the Vinaya deportments, it was virtually non-existent. Shou then disseminated this profound inquiry, and immediately opened both paths in parallel. Obscure texts and hidden meanings that had penetrated antiquity without being propagated, as well as great difficulties and massive doubts that had perplexed the host of masters, he highlighted in their core tenets and brought to unity, making for a clear and magnificent panorama. This was because his theoretical thought was deeply refined and harmonized, which enabled him to comprehensively elucidate and decide them. He caused students upholding the Vinaya to fill the halls day after day. Zun also personally attended the Dharma seat, commanding the assembly to take him as a teacher. The way of mutual fulfillment was not forgotten, and the meritorious deed of wide propagation was never neglected. Thus, when finding refuge in the land of Qin, all took him as the model guideline and Dharma mirror. Beginning in the late years of the Sui and ending before his final illness, for over thirty years he strode alone across the capital, with none daring to rival him. Those whom his expositions transformed into accomplished masters were more than one. Therefore, those of the practicing community whose traces were recognized and who gained renown in the Tang era were all guided and elevated by Shou, truly owing to his merit of rectification and assistance. Moreover, every time he ascended the Dharma hall, he laid down admonitions for the disciples: if anyone was slightly involved in irregularities, he would suspend the lecture seat for them; or if any slackened in their studies, he would summon and instruct them. Those who heard this wept, and none failed to discipline and reform themselves. At the beginning of Daye, he was summoned to reside in the Da Chanding Monastery (now known as Da Zongchi Monastery). As the offerings became increasingly generous, he abandoned and diminished them all the more. Reflecting that while the Way was revered in the imperial capital and the transformation had shifted within the pass, his old homeland had fallen into decline and the migrating spirits had nothing to rely upon, he withdrew more than a hundred items of goods. At the old ruins of Yunmen in Xiangzhou (now called Guangyanshan Monastery), he built twin stupas at the two places where he had taken pravrajyā and received the full ordination. Adorning them with jewels and decorating them with vermilion and azure, he made them a standard for generations and a resource for practice and study. Inscribing their illustrious deeds on each, he erected them to the right of the stupas. In the first year of Zhenguan, an Indian Tripiṭaka master brought a large collection of Indic manuscripts intending to translate them into the language of the Tang. An imperial edict was issued to the relevant authorities to search out and promote the eminent and proficient; by unanimous recommendation, he was assigned to the translation bureau. Wherever the meaning touched upon the Vinaya school, all consulted him to obtain the correct interpretation. In the eighth year, the Emperor, mourning the early passing of his sagacious mother, felt a distant grief difficult to express; although his transformation filled the realm, his boundless filial longing remained unfulfilled. For the sake of Empress Taimu, he built Hongfu Monastery to the west of the palace city, extensively inviting those of virtue and prestige to gather there. Fearing that some seeking opportunistic renown might improperly occupy positions, and because Shou's personal cultivation of the Way was austere and upright without unwarranted invitations, the ministers submitted his name to the throne. He was summoned to be the superior (sthavira) of Hongfu, thereby taking on the role of chief coordinator to select and promote monks. Those who were included in the imperial summons were all decided according to his advice on whether to accept or dismiss. He caused the gathered multitude to assemble like clouds, their uniform fragrance like orchids; without enforcing strict rules, their fragrance flowed without end. From when he first opened his lectures, he made a vow to complete a hundred cycles; if only he could fulfill this wish of his heart, he would be content to die in the evening. Beginning on the banks of the Zhang and ending by the Wei, instructing and guiding in accordance with each place, he precisely completed his original vow. Rejoicing in what he had originally aspired to, shortly afterwards he passed away. Inquiring into the consensus of all, he may indeed be called one who knew his destiny. On the twenty-second day of the fourth month in the ninth year of Zhenguan, his chronic illness returned. He passed away at his dwelling at the age of sixty-nine. The Emperor mourned and grieved, issuing an edict commanding the various bureaus to supply the necessities, ensuring that everything required for the funeral affairs was fully provided. From the Sui to the Tang, there had been no state funerals for monks; this set the precedent, and his contemporaries revered it together. Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs Fang Xuanling, Supervisor of the Household Du Zhenglun, and various ministers personally exhausted their grief and laments, honoring the standard of his precepts. On the twenty-ninth day, the preparations were just completed. At that time, in the midst of summer heat, the corpse did not decompose or smell; the crowd marveled together, attributing this to the power of his upholding of the precepts. Disciples from various monasteries vied to lead white banners, filling the streets and lanes. The government provided ten mu of land on Longshou Plateau on the western outskirts of the capital. Three hundred county corvée laborers piled up the earth to form the mound, and planted a thousand cypresses, which remain luxuriant to this day. Admirers of his righteousness and disciples of his school jointly erected a tall stele, inscribed at the gate of Hongfu Monastery, with the text written by Xu Jingzong. At first, the Vinayadhara's propagation of the teachings was renowned from beginning to end; such extensive erudition was rarely seen throughout antiquity. Ever since lecturing scholars competed with one another, holding on to past transmissions, their collations of the various traditions mostly contradicted name and reality. Had he not accumulated causes in past lives, how could his mind have been opened to the celestial vehicle? For several hundred years, it was only now that the settling of the traditions was finally established. In addition, he was diligent in listening and preaching, and placed heavy emphasis on practical affairs. Formulating deportments according to circumstances, he applied medicinal acupuncture to all. On the new and full moons of each month, before reciting the precepts, he first prepared the ritual requisites; flowers and incense were interwoven in decoration, illuminating the hall. The disciples present joined their palms and knelt in reverent fear. Ending the prior matters, explaining desires and declaring purity were especially his admonished moments. Every time he lectured on expiating offenses, he washed away all lingering burdens; thus, gentlemen who upheld the Vinaya mostly went to consult him. Since his demise, this practice has ceased. I once sat in the lowermost seat and observed his flourishing transformation for nearly ten years. Unawares, I took it for granted, not realizing at first what an extraordinary encounter it was. I then exerted myself beyond the pass and observed various other groups; few met my expectations, and when I was about to return to the capital, I suddenly heard that he had passed away and the marks of his practice had crumbled. Looking back at that time, it was higher than the shores of heaven. Alas, how profound is my sorrow!