宋高僧傳 15.15

15.15

釋辯秀，俗姓劉氏，漢楚王交三十一代孫也。秀幼孤，諸父哀字，禮如教立，孝自天生。而宿植緣深，心田欲稔；因請伯氏，出家長行，哀而捨旃。事靈隱某禪師，便能問津，圖入道之意。所聞指訓，如涼風入懷，醒然清悟。天寶四年，受戒於東海鑒真大師，傳律於會稽曇一。至德中舉高行，隷名於吳郡開元寺。乾元中，下詔天下二十五寺，各定大德七人，長講戒律，秀應其數也。頃年於淨土一門，不愆于念。嘗謂人曰：「昔聞西方之行是有相大乘，此乃蓬心不直，非達觀之說。何邪？夫出言即性，發意皆如，而一色一香，無非中道，況我正念乎？」秀壇場一十六番，度人孤制，律樞正持，僧綱自胥，湖南、北皆宗仰焉。以建中元年六月十五日寢疾而終，春秋六十七，法臘三十五。當其逝日，有庭樹一本，枝葉扶疎，朝華正敷而遽萎瘁。其年七月五日，遷靈龕於武丘西寺松門之右。門人道亮、道該、清會，偕遶旃檀之香樹也。故觀察使韋元甫、李棲筠、虢州刺史李紓、御史中丞李道昌盡欽慕往德，亦林下之交。霅晝為碑頌焉。

Shi Bianxiu's secular surname was Liu, and he was a thirty-first generation descendant of Liu Jiao, King of Chu under the Han. Bianxiu was orphaned at a young age, and his paternal uncles raised him with compassion; his observance of ritual was established as taught, and his filial piety arose from his natural disposition. As his past roots were deep, the field of his mind was ready to ripen; he therefore petitioned his eldest uncle to leave household life forever, and his uncle compassionately yielded to his request. Serving a certain dhyāna master of Lingyin [Temple], he was already able to seek guidance, aspiring to enter the Way. What he heard by way of instruction was like a cool breeze entering his bosom, bringing clear and sober awakening. In the fourth year of Tianbao, he received the upasampadā from Grand Master Jianzhen of the Eastern Sea, and received the vinaya from Tanyi of Kuaiji. During the Zhide era, he was recommended for his lofty conduct and registered at Kaiyuan Temple in Wu Commandery. During the Qianyuan era, an edict ordered twenty-five temples throughout the realm to each appoint seven bhadantas to expound the vinaya continuously; Bianxiu was among their number. In recent years he devoted himself to the single gate of the Pure Land, never faltering in mindfulness. He once said to others: "Formerly I heard that practice directed toward the Western [Paradise] is Mahāyāna with characteristics, and that this represents a tangled mind lacking straightforwardness, not the discourse of penetrating insight. Why so? Uttered words are themselves [Buddha-]nature, arising thoughts are all suchness, and a single color or scent is nothing other than the Middle Way—how much more so our right mindfulness!" Bianxiu presided over sixteen platforms, uniquely ordaining people; holding firmly to the vinaya's pivot, the monastic order regulated itself, and both south and north of the lakes looked up to him as a master. On the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the first year of Jianzhong, he fell ill and passed away at the age of sixty-seven, with a dharma age of thirty-five. On the day of his passing, there was a tree in the courtyard with luxuriant branches and leaves; its morning blossoms, just in full bloom, suddenly withered. On the fifth day of the seventh month of that year, his sacred coffin was moved to the right of the pine gate of the Western Temple on Mount Huqiu. His disciples Daoliang, Daogai, and Qinghui together circumambulated the fragrant candana tree. The former Surveillance Commissioners Wei Yuanfu and Li Xiyun, Prefect of Guozhou Li Shu, and Palace Censor Li Daochang all admired his past virtue and were also his friends outside worldly affairs. Jiaozhou wrote a stele inscription and eulogy for him.