宋高僧傳 15.40

15.40

釋曇清，未詳何許人也。幼持邊幅，罔或迷方，以謹昏呶，究窮佛旨。乃負笈來吳北院道恒宗師法會，與省躬猶滕、薛之前後也。旋留南嶽化徒，適會元和中閬州龍興寺結界，時義嵩講素新《疏》，傑出輩流，因云：「《僧祇律》云：『齊七樹相去，爾所作羯磨者，名善作羯磨。』準此四面，皆取六十三步等，如是自然界約，令作法界上僧。」須盡集時，清遂廣徵難。如是往返，經州涉省，下兩街新、舊章、南山三宗共定奪，嵩公虧理。時故相令狐楚猶為禮部外郎，判轉牒，據兩街傳律斷曇清義為正，天下聲唱「勇執紀綱，清能干城矣」。後著記號《顯宗》焉。

Shi Tanqing's origins are unknown. From his youth, he maintained strict discipline, never going astray; scrupulous in avoiding delusion and clamor, he thoroughly investigated the Buddha's purport. Carrying his book satchel, he came to the Wu region to attend the Dharma assembly of Master Daoheng of the North Cloister, being in succession with Shenggong just as Teng and Xue were. Soon he stayed at the Southern Peak to convert disciples. It happened that in the Yuanhe era, the boundary was demarcated at Longxing Temple in Langzhou. At that time, Yisong was lecturing on Su's new Commentary and stood out among his peers. He therefore claimed: "The Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya states: 'If a karman is performed at a distance equal to seven trees, it is called a well-performed karman.' According to this, all four sides should take sixty-three paces and the like; such natural boundary regulations require all monks on the ritual-bound territory to assemble completely." At that time, Qing raised extensive refutations. Thus the debate went back and forth, traversing prefectures and provinces; it was referred down to the Two Streets, where the New and Old Commentaries and the Nanshan School all deliberated together, and Master Song's reasoning proved deficient. At that time, the late Chancellor Linghu Chu was still a Vice Director in the Ministry of Rites; he adjudicated the official dispatch, and based on the transmission of the vinaya in the Two Streets, determined Tanqing's interpretation to be correct. Throughout the realm, people proclaimed, "In courageously upholding the discipline, Qing is capable of serving as a bulwark!" Later he composed a record entitled Revealing the School (Xianzong).