宋高僧傳 15.30

15.30

釋省躬，睦州桐廬人也。為童強識，耆宿呼語，怪其志大而言高。每厭樊籠。忽投聖德寺慕道從師，勅恩得度。性靈天發，於毘尼道，學如溫習。復擇名師，得姑蘇開元道恒師。恒曰：「甚矣！吾得躬也，門人日益親。」及乎探賾精微，愈征愈遠。時有擊論互指為迷者，必請見躬為其判之，坐分曲直。諺曰：「義盡省躬。」言到躬義無不盡也。其博綜律乘，扞禦師門也若此。恒曰：「自吾有躬也，惡言不聞矣。」躬避席葉拱而對曰：「某不佞也，仰師之道，若採扶桑以啖𧔞蠶。所患者，未能嘔繁絲以報主耳。」恒曰：「視子吐園客五色絲，可供黼繡之資。言太謙矣。」晚赴維揚之召，廣訓徒焉。然其滿口雌黃，品藻否臧古今之義。生徒明敏者各錄之。都加潤色，號《順正記》十卷，行之。復著《分輕重物儀》別行，沿襲《十三章門條例》，外加近世現有物之重輕，頗為要用。躬復高儒學，作碑頌越多，以其曾化邗溝，故呼淮南記主，自號清冷山沙門焉。

Shi Shenggong was a native of Tonglu in Muzhou. As a child he possessed a formidable memory; when elders spoke to him, they marvelled at his grand ambition and elevated speech. He constantly detested the worldly cage. Suddenly he went to Shengde Temple, aspiring to the Dao to follow a master, and was ordained through imperial favor. His spiritual nature was endowed by heaven; in the path of the vinaya, his learning was like reviewing what he already knew. Choosing an eminent master once more, he obtained Master Daoheng of Kaiyuan Temple in Gusu. Heng said: 'How marvelous! Since I obtained Gong, my disciples grow closer day by day.' When he probed the deep and subtle, the further he investigated, the further he reached. When contemporaries debated and accused each other of delusion, they would surely ask to see Gong so he could resolve it, settling right and wrong where he sat. A proverb went: 'All meaning is exhausted in Shenggong,' meaning that once one reached Gong, all meaning was fully plumbed. Such was his broad mastery of the Vinaya vehicle and his defense of his master's school. Heng said: 'Since I had Gong, I have heard no harsh words.' Gong left his seat, joined his hands, and replied: 'I lack eloquence; I revere my master's Way like gathering mulberry leaves from Fusang to feed silkworms. My only worry is being unable to spin dense silk to repay my master.' Heng said: 'Seeing the five-colored silk you spit like the gardener, it is fit to provide material for embroidered vestments. You speak too modestly.' In his later years he answered a summons to Weiyang, where he extensively instructed disciples. Yet he boldly corrected and appraised the merits and flaws of interpretations ancient and modern. The brightest disciples each recorded them. All were polished and compiled into ten rolls entitled Shunzheng ji (Record of According with Rectitude), which was circulated. He also composed the Fen qingzhong wu yi (Protocols for Differentiating Light and Heavy Objects), which circulated separately; following the Shisanzhang men tiaoli (Regulations of the Thirteen Chapters), he added the weights and values of objects present in recent times, which proved quite essential and practical. Gong also esteemed Confucian learning, composing numerous stelae and eulogies. Because he had once taught at Hangou, he was called the Master of the Huainan Record, and styled himself the Śramaṇa of Mount Qingleng.