宋高僧傳 7.34

7.34

釋宗季者，俗姓俞，臨安人也。稚齒瑰偉，心志剛直。甞天震隣家樹，季隨僵仆，有姊尼抱就膝，視之曰：「此非震死，且有生。」候至夜未央，甦而復作。遂勸令出家，事欣平寺僧。後往衢州，投巨信論師，學《名數論》，文義淹詳，且難詘伏，鋒芒如也。迨迴杭，龍興寺召講。時僧正蘊讓給慧縱橫，兩面之敵也，與閭丘方遠先生、江東羅隱為莫逆之交也。見而申問，季作二百語詶之，讓正賞歎，遂請開講，四十餘年，出弟子七、八百人。漢乾祐戊申歲，疾終于本房。初，季講次遇一異人，作胡語，問西域未來之經論，一眾驚然。季眇二目，曾夜行感神光引之，常覽古師之述作，曰：「可俯而窺也。」遂撰《永新鈔》，釋《般若心經》、《暉理鈔》，解《上生經》、《彌勒成佛經疏鈔》、《補猷鈔闕》，諸別行義章，可數十卷，並行于世。季道行孤僻，性情方正，寡言語，氣貌高邁，誓不趨俗舍。暨老，懇請亦罕赴白衣家。居唯屢空，衎然自任，而孜孜手不釋卷，樂道向終。至今此宗越多弟子，講導不泯焉。

Shi Zongji's secular surname was Yu, and he was a native of Lin'an. Even in youth he had a magnificent bearing, and his mind was upright and firm. Once, lightning struck a neighboring tree, and Zongji collapsed unconscious. A nun who was his elder sister took him onto her lap, examined him, and said, "This is not death by lightning; there is still life in him." Waiting until late into the night, he revived and returned to normal. She then urged him to leave household life, whereupon he served as a disciple under a monk of Xinping Temple. Later he went to Quzhou to study the Treatise on Nominal Categories (*Mingshu lun*) under the treatise master Juxin. He mastered its phrasing and meaning with thorough erudition, and he was so unyielding in debate that his intellect was sharp and penetrating. When he returned to Hangzhou, Longxing Temple invited him to lecture. At that time, the saṅgha controller Yunrang was overflowing with wisdom and eloquent in debate, an adversary formidable in all respects, who maintained close friendships with Master Lüqiu Fangyuan and Luo Yin of Jiangdong. Upon meeting Zongji, Yunrang posed questions to him, and Zongji answered him in two hundred words. Rectifier Rang admired and praised him, and immediately invited him to inaugurate a lecture series. For over forty years, he trained seven to eight hundred disciples. In the wushen year of the Qianyou reign of the Han dynasty, he fell ill and passed away in his own quarters. Earlier, during one of his lectures, an extraordinary man speaking a Central Asian language came and questioned him about scriptures and treatises yet to arrive from the Western Regions, astonishing the entire assembly. Zongji was blind in both eyes. Once, while walking at night, he was guided by a wondrous light that manifested. He often examined the writings of earlier masters and remarked, "They can be comprehended with but a glance." He then composed the Commentary of Yongxin (*Yongxin chao*) explaining the Heart Sūtra, the Commentary of Huili (*Huili chao*) explaining the Sūtra on Rebirth in Tuṣita (*Shangsheng jing*), the Exegesis and Commentary on the Sūtra of Maitreya's Attainment of Buddhahood (*Mile chengfo jing shuchao*), and the Supplement to Lacunae in You's Commentary (*Buyou chaoque*), along with various separate doctrinal treatises totaling several dozen fascicles, all of which circulated widely. Zongji's spiritual practice was secluded and unique; his character was upright and of few words, and his bearing was lofty and transcendent. He vowed never to enter lay residences, and in his old age he rarely went to the houses of white-robed laity even when earnestly invited. His dwelling was constantly impoverished, yet he remained joyful and self-possessed, never letting books out of his hands, delighting in the Way until the end. To this day in the Yue region, this lineage has many disciples, and its lecturing traditions have not waned.