宋高僧傳 29.60

29.60

釋寧賁，姓李氏，隴西人也。家于亳州蒙城，幼奉釋尊，而不言乎簪組之緒，無得稱其代諱焉。賁所吐論，皆以覺了，不取諸相。心通定慧，而盡虛空，無以邊中可測，無以文字求我。因往洪州，尋道一祖師，見而奇之，語而異之，大乘法器得其人矣。遂乃具戒，作入室弟子。師資數歲，道議殊倫。欲往天台，至越呂后山岑𡽦曰：「即是諸佛住處，何必天台也？」賁菩提直幹，挺秀七尺。村豪里宿覩其異狀，歸依瞻仰，老幼爭先。同味醍醐，疾病皆愈。是時多有行路𦃓戾，欲暴僧徒，賁乃引之而前，威之而退，驚駭儀貌，禮足歸依。調御山林，魔邪懾伏。不下巖嶺近萬餘辰，德遠道高，僧徒彌眾。先時居處隘陋，兼無殿堂。眾議經營，任人資福，遠村窮墅亦競助緣。土石木工，程材售巧，約山橫棟，臨㵎飛簷，斤師斧子，鳥立猿䮍，揆景促力，星再迴天，殿堂成矣，佛像列矣。精耀俯仰，照山姹雲，人天不殊，別開佛土。大和二年六月七日，遠聞道場之內有鼓鞞絲竹之聲，是夜二更，恬然化滅。生形七十五，炎臘四十一。是月權殯于杉園，禮也。齋祭殊品，哀號震山，慘樹色於禪枝，咽水聲於石穴。物尚知感，人情可量。大和五年九月茶毘，建塔於道場巽山，稟先意也。

Śramaṇa Ningben, surnamed Li, was a native of Longxi. His family lived in Mengcheng in Bozhou. From his youth he venerated the World-Honoured Śākya, yet he never spoke of his family's official ancestry, so nothing can be said of his ancestors' names. The discussions that Ben voiced were all based on awakening and understanding, without grasping at marks. His mind penetrated concentration and wisdom, reaching throughout empty space, such that it could not be measured by the extremes or the middle, nor could he be sought through words. Thereupon he went to Hongzhou to seek out the ancestral master Daoyi, who, seeing him, regarded him as extraordinary and, speaking with him, deemed him exceptional, [saying that] the great vehicle's vessel of the Dharma had found its proper person. He subsequently received the full precepts and became an intimate disciple. Master and disciple stayed together for several years, his comprehension of the Way surpassing his peers. Wishing to go to Mount Tiantai, he reached the lofty crags of Mount Lyuhou in Yue and said, 'This is the dwelling place of all Buddhas; why must it be Tiantai?' Ben was a straight trunk of bodhi, standing tall and distinguished at seven feet. When village notables and local elders saw his unusual appearance, they took refuge and gazed upon him, young and old competing to be first. Together they tasted the ghee [of the Dharma], and their illnesses were all healed. At that time, many travelers along the road were rebellious and fierce, wanting to do violence to the saṅgha members; Ben would lead them forward and then subdue them into retreating with his majesty. Frightened by his demeanor and appearance, they prostrated at his feet and took refuge. Taming the mountains and forests, he struck terror into demons and evil ones. He did not descend from the craggy peaks for nearly ten thousand days; as his virtue spread afar and his Way rose high, the monastic assembly grew ever larger. Earlier, his dwelling was narrow and cramped, with no halls. The assembly discussed undertaking construction, leaving people free to contribute for their own blessings; even remote villages and poor hamlets vied to offer support. Earth, stone, and wood artisans evaluated materials and displayed their skill, traversing the mountains with horizontal beams and cantilevering eaves over the ravines; carpenters with axes perched like birds and scampered like apes, calculating the shadows and accelerating their labors; as the stars revolved twice in the heavens, the halls were completed and the Buddha statues arrayed. Sparkling and luminous above and below, illuminating the mountain and charming the clouds, human and heavenly realms were no longer different—a separate Buddha land was opened. On the seventh day of the sixth month in the second year of the Dahe era, the sounds of drums, bells, strings, and flutes were heard far away within the bodhimaṇḍa; during the second watch of that night, he peacefully passed away. His physical lifespan was seventy-five, with a saṅgha age of forty-one. In that month, his remains were temporarily entombed in the fir grove according to ritual. The offerings and vegetarian feast were of unusual abundance; wailing and lamenting shook the mountain, the color of the trees darkened on the dhyāna branches, and the sound of water choked in the rock caverns. If insensate things were still conscious of grief, how much more so human feelings? In the ninth month of the fifth year of the Dahe era, he was cremated and a stūpa was erected on the Xun mountain of the bodhimaṇḍa, following his prior intention.