續高僧傳 5.18

5.18

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.