宋高僧傳 15.25

15.25

釋清江，會稽人也，不詳氏族。幼悟幻泡，身拘羈鞅，因入精舍，便戀空門，父母沮勸，建乎難拔。禮曇一律主為親教師，諷誦經法，寓目俱通。長者品量之曰：「釋門千里駒也。」於浙陽天竺戒壇求法，與同學清源從守直和尚下為弟子。還聽習一公《相疏》并南山《律鈔》。間歲，精義入神，舉皆通暢。而善篇章，儒家筆語，體高辭典，又擅一隅之美，時少倫儗。其褊懆之性，不與人類。嘗於一公少因不足，亦有捨和尚之譏。由是遊方服勤，凡云律筵，無不預者。自責己曰：「天下行半，少有如我本師者。」還會稽，一公猶老，當其僧大集時，擊木唱：「某再投和尚攝受。」時一公詬罵，江雨淚而懺悔曰：「前念無知，後心有悟，望和尚大慈，施與歡喜。苟不許收，則越人不可以強售章甫也。」一公憫其數四求哀，乃曰：「為汝含垢。」遂為師資如初。江有禪觀之學。大曆八年於汝濆遇忠國師，因弟子說自忠曰：「此律師是和尚鄉人。」乃欣然相會，尋往南陽，再謁國師，密傳心要焉。

Shi Qingjiang was a man from Kuaiji; his family name is unknown. From youth he realized that all is illusory foam. Constrained by the reins of worldly ties, when he once entered a monastery, he immediately longed for the gate of emptiness. Though his parents discouraged and remonstrated with him, his resolve was firmly established and hard to uproot. He paid homage to the Vinaya Master Tanyi as his preceptor (upādhyāya). When reciting scriptural texts, he mastered them all at a glance. Elders appraised him, saying: 'He is a thousand-li steed of the Śākya gate.' Seeking the Dharma at the Tianzhu Ordination Platform in Zheyang, he and his fellow student Qingyuan became disciples under the Upādhyāya Shouzhi. Returning, he attended lectures on Master Yi's Xiangshu (Commentary on the Forms) and the Nanshan Lüchao (Vinaya Commentary of Mount Nan). After a year, his grasp of subtle principles reached the spirit-like; he thoroughly mastered them all. He was also skilled in literary compositions: his Confucian writings possessed an elevated style and refined diction, dominating the beauty of a single region, with few equals in his time. Yet his impatient and irascible temper was unlike other men. Once over a slight matter with Master Yi he was dissatisfied, which incurred criticism for abandoning his upādhyāya. Thereupon he traveled through various regions and served diligently, never failing to attend any gathering on the Vinaya. He reproached himself, saying: 'I have traveled through half the realm, yet few match my original master.' He returned to Kuaiji when Master Yi was already old. When the saṅgha held a great assembly, Qingjiang struck the wooden clapper and called out: 'So-and-so returns to submit to the Upādhyāya for acceptance.' At that time Master Yi scolded and reviled him, but Jiang wept like rain, repented, and said: 'My previous thought was ignorant; my later mind has realized. I pray that the Upādhyāya, out of great compassion, will grant me joy. If you do not deign to receive me, it is merely that the man of Yue cannot force the sale of a Zhangfu cap.' Master Yi took pity on his repeated pleas for mercy, and said: 'For your sake I swallow my grievance.' They thus became master and disciple as before. Jiang also studied dhyāna contemplation. In the eighth year of Dali, he met National Teacher Zhong by the banks of the Ru River. Because a disciple said on Zhong's behalf, 'This Vinaya master is the Upādhyāya's fellow countryman,' they met with delight. Soon Jiang went to Nanyang, where he once again had an audience with the National Teacher and was secretly transmitted the essentials of mind.