宋高僧傳 7.22

7.22

釋貞誨，姓包氏，吳郡常熟人也。年始十三，出家於本州龍興寺。其性沈靜，分陰是競。方踰一稔，誦徹《法華經》，如是恒業日周二部。年十九，於揚州擇名師受具足法。自爾西之伊洛，北抵晉郊，凡有講筵，下風求益，覈其經論，窮其性相，輩流之間，罕齊馳騖。至於非朋弱友，弃背如也。唐天祐元年，至今東京相國寺寓舍，講導《法華經》十許遍，人未歸重，則知奇貨之售亦有時焉。及梁氏都于是京，人物委輸。貞明二年，會宋州帥孔公仰誨風規，知其道行。便陳師友之禮，捨俸財，置長講法華經堂於西塔院，從此翕然盛集。誨旁讀大藏教文，二時行道，精進罔疲。凡世伎術百家之言，黜于議論之外，誡門徒曰：「異端之說，汩亂真心，無記不熏，何須習俗？吾止願為師子吼，不作野犴鳴也。」但專香燭塗掃，以內院為息肩之地。至後唐清泰二年二月十日，召弟子五十餘人，自具香湯澡浴，令唱《上生》禮佛，罄捨衣資，為非時，僧得施半齋僧。訖至十一日，望空合掌云：「勞其眾聖排空相迎。」滿百徒侶，爾日皆聞天樂之音，頃刻而卒，俗壽七十三，僧夏五十四臘。於寺講貫三十餘年，經講計三十七座，覽藏經二遍，修彌勒內院業。以其年二月十八日葬浚郊東寺莊之原，旛幢威儀，緇白弟子約千餘人會送焉。

Shi Zhenhui, surnamed Bao, was a native of Changshu in Wujun. At the age of thirteen, he went forth from home at Longxing Temple in his home prefecture. By nature quiet and reserved, he strove to make the most of every moment. After only a year had passed, he had completely memorised the Lotus Sūtra; his constant practice was to recite two full copies every day. At the age of nineteen, he selected a famous master in Yangzhou to receive the full precepts. From then on, he travelled west to the Yi and Luo river valleys and north to the borders of Jin; wherever there was a lecture hall, he took a humble seat to seek instruction, examining the sūtras and treatises and plumbing their nature and characteristics, so that among his peers, few could match his pace. As for unworthy and weak companions, he turned his back on them entirely. In the first year of Tianyou of the Tang, he arrived at lodgings in Xiangguo Temple in the present Eastern Capital and lectured on the Lotus Sūtra some ten times, but people had not yet come to revere him; thus one knows that even rare treasures have their proper season to be sold. When the Liang dynasty established its capital here, people and goods assembled in abundance. In the second year of Zhenming, Duke Kong, the military governor of Songzhou, admired Hui's deportment and recognized his practice of the Way. He thereupon offered the courtesies due to a master and friend, donated his stipend and wealth, and established a hall for the permanent lecturing on the Lotus Sūtra in the West Pagoda Cloister; from then on, crowds gathered in great numbers. Hui also read the textual teachings of the Tripiṭaka and practiced circumambulation during the two times, diligent and untiring. As for secular arts and the sayings of the Hundred Schools, he banished them from his discussions, admonishing his disciples, saying: "Heterodox theories confuse the true mind; what is indeterminate does not perfume [the seeds of awakening]—why must one practice worldly ways? I only wish to make the lion's roar, not the yelp of a jackal." He devoted himself solely to offering incense, lighting lamps, and sweeping the floor, taking the Inner Court as his resting place. On the tenth day of the second month in the second year of Qingtai of the Later Tang, he summoned more than fifty disciples, prepared scented water to bathe himself, instructed them to chant the Ascent [to Tuṣita] and pay homage to the Buddha, gave away all his robes and belongings, and held a non-regular meal so that the monks received a half-noon offering. When this was completed, on the eleventh day, he joined his palms toward empty space and said, "How I have troubled the host of holy ones to line the sky and welcome me!" His disciples, numbering fully a hundred, all heard heavenly music on that day, and in an instant he passed away. His secular age was seventy-three, and his monastic age was fifty-four summer retreats. He had lectured at the temple for more than thirty years, conducting thirty-seven full courses on the sūtra, read the Tripiṭaka twice, and cultivated the karma for Maitreya's Inner Court. On the eighteenth day of the second month of that year, he was buried on the plain of the East Temple Estate in the suburbs of Junyi; approximately a thousand monastic and lay disciples gathered to see him off with banners, canopies, and ceremonial retinues.