宋高僧傳 17.16

17.16

釋神悟，字通性，隴西李氏之子。其先屬西晉版蕩，遷家于吳之長水也。世襲儒素，幼為諸生。及冠，忽嬰惡疾，有不可救之狀。咎心補行，力將何施？開元中詣溪光律師，請耆域之方，執門人之禮。師示以遣業之教，一曰理懺，二曰事懺。此二者，聖之所授，行必有徵。遂於菩提像前，秉不屈之心，爇難捐之指。于時有異光如月，朣朧紺宮，極苦可以感神明，至精可以動天地。蓋人之難事歟！天寶四年，受具足戒，身始披緇。八年，舉尤異行，名隷于寺。逮其晚節，益見苦心。每置法華道場九旬，入長行禮念觀佛三昧，於斯現前因。語門人曰：「夫陰薄日以何傷，風運空而不動，苟達於妄，誰非性也。」方結宇於勞勞山東，中據石圯，達分仙徑。諸猛獸馴於禪榻，祥雲低於法堂。中夜有山神現形，謂悟曰：「弟子即隋故新成侯曹世安，生為列侯，死典南嶺。今師至止，願以此地永奉經行。」言訖隱而不見。故吏部員外李華、殿中侍御史崔益同謁悟，嘗問孔老聖教優劣，請陳題品。對曰：「路伽邪典籍皆心外法，味之者勞而無證，其猶澤朽思華，乾池映月，比其釋教，夫何遠乎？」如是往復，應答如流。華、益拱手，無以抗敵。其扞護釋門疆埸，疇敢侵軼乎？華乃一代之文宗，與蕭頴士齊名，筆語過之。若此之儒，孰能觝角也。凡諸不逞之徒疑經難法者，悟必近取諸身，遠喻於物，如理答酬，無不垂頭搭翼者。十年辛卯春，寢疾，加趺坐而逝。享齡六十三，法臘二十六。闍維之日，獲舍利五百餘粒，珠顆纍纍，粲然在矚。門人湛一、圓一等主之，遷塔焉。

Shi Shenwu, styled Tongxing, was a son of the Li clan of Longxi. During the turmoil of the Western Jin, his ancestors moved their household to Changshui in Wu. For generations, they followed Confucian modesty, and in his youth he was an academy student. When he reached adulthood, he was suddenly afflicted with a terrible disease, appearing incurable. Repenting his misdeeds and mending his conduct, what could his efforts avail? During the Kaiyuan era, he went to Vinaya Master Xiguang, sought Jīvaka's remedy, and observed the rites of a disciple. The master instructed him in the teachings of expelling karma: the first being repentance through principle, and the second, repentance through concrete practice. Both of these were bestowed by the sages; their practice surely brings signs [of efficacy]. Thereupon, before an image of Bodhi, holding fast to an unyielding mind, he burned his precious fingers. At that time, an extraordinary light appeared like the moon, dimly illuminating the dark-red temple hall. Extreme suffering can resonate with spiritual beings; utmost sincerity can move heaven and earth. Was this not indeed a difficult feat for a person! In the fourth year of Tianbao, he received the upasampadā and first donned monastic robes. In the eighth year, because of his exceptionally outstanding conduct, his name was registered in the monastery. Reaching his later years, his arduous dedication became even more apparent. Whenever he established a Lotus Bodhimanda for ninety days, he would enter upon the continuous circumambulation and mindfulness of the Buddha-contemplation samādhi, which manifested here as a causal condition. He said to his disciples: 'How can the dark obscure the sun and harm it? The wind sweeps through empty space without shaking it. If one but realizes delusion, what is not the true nature?' He then erected a dwelling east of Mount Laolao, occupying a stone bridge in its midst, from which an immortal's path bifurcated. Ferocious beasts became tame at his meditation seat, and auspicious clouds hung low over his Dharma hall. In the middle of the night, a mountain deity manifested in form and spoke to Shenwu, saying: 'Your disciple is Cao Shi'an, the former Marquis of Xincheng in the Sui dynasty. In life I was a marquis; in death I oversee the Southern Range. Now that you, Master, have arrived, I wish to offer this land forever for your walking meditation.' Having finished speaking, he vanished. The former Vice-Director of the Ministry of Personnel Li Hua and the Palace Censor Cui Yi visited Shenwu together, once asking about the relative superiority of the sacred teachings of Confucius and Laozi, requesting that he evaluate them. He replied: 'The scriptures of Lokāyata are all dharmas external to the mind. Those who relish them labor without realization, which is like longing for blossoms from a rotten bog, or the moon reflecting in a dry pool. Compared to the Buddhist teachings, how far apart are they!' As they went back and forth like this, his answers flowed like water. Hua and Yi cupped their hands, unable to oppose him. When he defended the boundaries of the Buddhist gate, who dared encroach upon them? Hua was the literary titan of an entire era, sharing fame with Xiao Yingshi, and surpassed him in literary brushwork. Facing such a Confucian, who could challenge him? Whenever mischievous fellows harbored doubts about the scriptures or challenged the Dharma, Shenwu would invariably draw analogies close at hand from their own bodies and distant ones from external things, responding in accordance with reason, so that none failed to bow their heads and droop their wings. In the spring of the tenth year, the xinhao year [751], he fell ill, sat cross-legged, and passed away. He lived to the age of sixty-three, with a dharma age of twenty-six. On the day of his cremation, more than five hundred grains of śarīra were obtained, pearl-like beads linked together, gleaming before their eyes. His disciples Zhanyi, Yuanyi, and others presided over it and moved them to a stupa.