[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [宋高僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061) › 16.4 # 宋高僧傳 16.4 宋高僧傳 16.4 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [16.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.16.4) 釋辯才，姓李氏，襄陽人也。母氏妊之，倏惡葷血，冥然一食，虛淡終辰。及其誕彌，異香盈室，宗黨怪焉。七歲依峴山寂禪師出家。厥長者明記，每受經法，必以等身為限，字不重問，義不再思。師甚器之。年十六，遂削髮，隷本州大雲寺。次乃周遊列郡，登陟名山，就荊州玉泉寺納具戒。聞長安安國寺懷威律師、報恩寺義頒律師，法門具瞻，師資表率，遂伏膺請業。有疑必決，無義不通，廁于二宗，推為上首。天寶十四載，玄宗以北方人也，稟剛氣，多訛風，列剎之中，餘習騎射，有教無類，何可止息。詔以才為教誡，臨壇度人。至德初，肅宗即位是邦也。宰臣杜鴻漸奏才住龍興寺，詔加朔方管內教授大德。俾其訓勵，革獫狁之風，循毘尼之道。復命為國建法華道場。及駕迴，既復兩京，累降璽書，末塗尤於大乘頓教留心。永泰二年，賊臣僕固懷恩外招誘蕃戎，內贔金革。才勸勉毳裘，不誅華族。大曆三載追入充章信寺大德。時府帥虢國常公素仰才名，與護戎任公，時親道論。十三年冬，現身有疾，至暮冬八日，垂誡門徒已，安坐繩床，默然歸滅，春秋五十六。越已未歲二月遷神於寺內西北隅。先是有邑子石顒從役于城上，其夜未渠，聞管絃之聲自西至，乃天樂也。異香從空散下，則生淨方之兆也。才自長安而旋于塞上，既受虢公知遇，大營福業，成此精廬，皆才之敦勸矣。勅諡大師曰能覺，仍賜紫衣一副，追遠之榮，聲聞塞外。天復中廷尉評王儋為碑頌德云。 > Shi Biancai was surnamed Li and was a native of Xiangyang. When his mother was pregnant with him, she suddenly developed an aversion to meat and blood; obscurely \[content with\] a single meal a day, she passed her days in pure austerity. When he was born, an extraordinary fragrance filled the room, and his kinsmen marveled at it. At the age of seven, he went to Dhyāna Master Ji of Mount Xian to leave home. As he grew older, his memory was brilliant: whenever he received the teachings of the scriptures, he always took his own height \[in scrolls\] as the limit; he never asked twice about a character, nor did he ponder a meaning a second time. His master regarded him as a great vessel. At the age of sixteen, he shaved his hair and was registered at Dayun Temple in his home prefecture. Next, he traveled through the various commanderies, climbed famous mountains, and went to Yuquan Temple in Jingzhou to receive the full precepts. Hearing that Vinaya Master Huaiwei of Anguo Temple in Chang'an and Vinaya Master Yiban of Bao'en Temple were the gaze of the Dharma gate and models for teachers and disciples, he submitted his heart to them and requested instruction. Where he had doubts, they were unfailingly resolved; no meaning failed to be penetrated; joining the two traditions, he was exalted as their foremost head. In the fourteenth year of the Tianbao era, Xuanzong considered that the people of the north were endowed with a unyielding temperament and prone to unruly customs; among the ranks of monasteries, there remained the habit of riding and archery. Yet as there should be instruction without distinction, how could it be stopped? An imperial edict appointed Biancai as instructor to preside over the ordination platform and ordain people. Early in the Zhide era, Suzong ascended the throne in this region. Grand Councilor Du Hongjian memorialized that Biancai should reside at Longxing Temple, and an edict conferred on him the title of Great Virtuous Instructor within the Shuofang jurisdiction, ordering him to admonish and encourage them, reform the customs of the northern tribes, and follow the path of the vinaya. He was also commanded to establish a Lotus Sanctuary for the state. When the imperial carriage returned after recovering the two capitals, imperial rescripts were repeatedly bestowed; in his final years, \[the emperor\] particularly paid attention to the sudden teaching of the Mahāyāna. In the second year of the Yongtai era, the treacherous minister Pugu Huai'en covertly enticed the foreign barbarians and internally brandished weapons of war. Biancai exhorted those clad in felt robes not to slaughter the Chinese people. In the third year of the Dali era, he was summoned to the capital to serve as Great Virtue of Zhangxin Temple. At that time, the military commissioner, Duke Chang, Duke of Guo, had long admired Biancai's renown, and together with Duke Ren, the military supervisor, frequently engaged with him in discussions on the Way. In the winter of the thirteenth year, he manifested illness in his body. On the eighth day of late winter, having given his final admonitions to his disciples, he sat peacefully on a rope-bed and quietly entered extinction at the age of fifty-six. In the second month of the following jiwei year, his divine spirit was relocated to the northwest corner inside the temple. Prior to this, a townsman named Shi Yong had been on corvée duty atop the city wall; before the night was spent, he heard the sound of pipes and strings coming from the west—it was heavenly music. An extraordinary fragrance scattered down from the sky, which was an omen of rebirth in the Pure Land. From Chang'an, Biancai returned to the northern border; having received the appreciation and patronage of the Duke of Guo, he greatly cultivated meritorious enterprises, and the completion of this monastery was entirely due to Biancai's earnest exhortations. An imperial decree posthumously bestowed on the Grand Master the title 'Nengjue' (Capable of Awakening) and granted a set of purple robes; the glory commemorating his passing made his fame heard beyond the frontier. During the Tianfu era, Wang Dan, Reviewing Judge of the Court of Judicial Review, composed an inscription praising his virtues. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 16.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.16.3) - [Next: 16.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.16.5) - [Up: 16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.16) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061~en-mt.16.4) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.16.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.16.4) · Pramāṇa