續高僧傳 5.20

5.20

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.