續高僧傳 9.17

9.17

Shi Baohai, surnamed Gong, was a native of Langzhong in Baxi. He went forth from home at an early age, having lofty aspirations. Hearing that the Buddha-Dharma was flourishing in the capital Yangdu, he made a resolute vow to travel down through the Gorges. Having arrived at Jinling, he relied on Dharmabhāṇaka Yun to study the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra (Chengshi lun); he also visited various lecture seats, frequently winning a sterling reputation. He then led his own community and lectured separately, attracting numerous followers. At that time, Emperor Gao of Liang revered the Dharma and personally lectured on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, inviting Baohai to discuss the meaning of Buddha-nature. Baohai ascended the debate couch; while engaging in verbal exchanges, he held a brass incense burner. The Emperor remarked: "Although the Dharmabhāṇaka has severed avarice, if an incense burner is not made of brass, you will not hold it." Baohai immediately replied: "Although Your Majesty occupies the celestial pinnacle, if a cap pin lacks a banner tassel, you will not wear it." The Emperor was delighted, and the assembly gasped in admiration. Later, he returned to Shu and resided at Xiezhen Temple, greatly expanding his lecture hall. Prince of Wuling, Xiao Ji, held military garrison over the Jingluo region and respected and cherished him without limit; he often stayed overnight with Baohai to engage in refined discourse on profound principles, forgetting day and night. At daybreak, as the Prince was about to wash his hands, the morning sun had just appeared. The Prince said: "The sunlight illuminating the whitewashed walls resembles the inside of a city; only when the wind moves the pagoda bells do I realize I am in a temple." That morning, the Prince's carriage was sent to receive him, and the horses whinnied. Baohai remarked: "Gazing from afar at the moving carriage canopy, I rejoice at meeting Prince Chensi; suddenly hearing the horses neigh, I am glad to encounter Nāgārjuna." Laughing together with delight, they went out. The Prince mounted his carriage and said to his attendants: "Listening to Dharmabhāṇaka Hai's words makes me linger so that I cannot bear to leave." His ready wit was inexhaustible, as shown in incidents of this kind. When the Zhou dynasty annexed Liang and Yi, Duke of Yong governed the region and respected him even more deeply, far above ordinary mortals. At the age of eighty, Baohai said to his disciple Faming: "My death is at hand. I have no anxieties about what lies ahead, but I only grieve that after I am gone, the monasteries and stupas will be destroyed. My corpse should be exposed to feed birds and beasts." In the Jianwu era, Buddhism was indeed abolished; the courtyards fell into desolation, leaving only a single hall containing images preserved there.