宋高僧傳 25.23

25.23

釋慧普，姓宋，本郡蘄水人也。性地疎朗，敏利桀然，既奉尸羅，氷雪任操。元和十二年，樂廣濟山秀地靈，願棲于此。始謀誦《大涅槃經》，歷稔彌年，卒通四十二卷。聞者憮然曰：「四帙大經，若為溫習，非揣量而可庶幾乎！」或疑其妄言徹部，有亂次舉品題以試驗之，且無澁滯、少遼、緩之，無不弭伏。普亦不戒意，躬刀耕火種，趣足而已；卉服布裘，度其伏臘，日夜經聲不絕。如是涉三十載，邑人學者，莫不推重，增修院宇。以大中三年冬，無疾，集眾告違，跏趺坐終，儼若凝思。弟子以香泥纏飾，遷于山椒塔中，號涅槃焉。于今香火不絕。

Śramaṇa Huipu, surnamed Song, was a native of Qishui in this commandery. His character was open and clear, quick-witted and outstanding. Having received the śīla, he observed them with the discipline of ice and snow. In the twelfth year of the Yuanhe era, delighted by the scenic mountains and spiritual vitality of Guangji, he wished to dwell there. He began by resolving to recite the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra; as years passed, he eventually mastered all forty-two fascicles. Those who heard of it said in amazement, 'A great scripture in four cases—how could it be reviewed [so thoroughly]? It is not something that ordinary reckoning could hope to achieve!' Some doubted that he had actually mastered the entire work, so they called out chapter titles at random to test him; yet he went through them without any hesitation, stumbling, or slackening, so that everyone yielded in submission. Huipu, however, paid it no mind; he personally engaged in slash-and-burn farming, seeking only enough to sustain himself; clad in rough plant fiber and padded cloth robes, he passed the winters and summers, the sound of his scriptural recitation continuing day and night without interruption. In this way he spent thirty years. The local people and scholars all held him in the highest esteem and expanded his cloister. In the winter of the third year of the Dazhong era, without illness, he assembled the community to bid farewell, sat cross-legged, and passed away, solemn as if deep in reflection. His disciples wrapped and adorned his body with fragrant mud and moved it into a pagoda on the mountain peak, naming it Nirvāṇa. To this day, the incense and lamps there have never ceased.