宋高僧傳 7.44

7.44

釋義楚，俗姓裴氏，祖相州安陽人也。楚七歲來省歷下，臨壇大德修進因為出家師也。進乃楚之諸父也。季父省倫居香嚴院。進也誦〈觀音普門支經〉向十萬遍，立禮《法華經》，字字各拜，拜且徹部焉。倫則青丘主宰，禪居誦《大悲》、《佛頂》俱一億遍。楚執柯伐木，熏習相資，登此近圓，勤學不懈，敏慧夙成，「俱舍」一宗，造微臻極。遂傳講《圓暉疏》十許遍。後該覽大藏三遍，乃慨儒家為佛教之文而多謬解，解既謬歟，事多誤用。擬白樂天《六帖》，纂釋氏義理、文章、庶事、群品，以類相從，建其門目，總括大綱，計五十部。隨事別列四百四十門，始從〈法王利見部〉，終〈師子獸類部〉，其間物類，檢括周旋，令供筆之時必無告乏矣。一十年中，孜孜罔倦。起晉開運二年至顯德元年畢，進呈，世宗勅付史館，賜紫衣，仍加號明教大師。以開寶中終于龍興伽藍。俗壽七十四，法臘五十四。楚始謀此作，隨得便書，裒多益寡，日居月諸，欝成編錄。忽因本院門古石上有「六帖」二字，天然分明。覩此靈符，乃知宿定，搜今斡古，筆不停綴。時樞密相國王公朴為楚作序，冠于編首，今行于寰海矣。初，楚著述心亦勞止，而雙目喪明，醫工莫療。遂冥心懺過，慮刪碎教文，裁量差脫，如是虔虔更無間息，再歲還明，人謂其徵感焉。

Śramaṇa Yichu, whose secular surname was Pei, was ancestrally from Anyang in Xiangzhou. At the age of seven, Chu came to visit Lixia, where the Great Virtue of the ordination altar, Xiujin, became his master of ordination (pravrajyā). Jin was Chu's paternal uncle. His youngest paternal uncle, Shenglun, resided in Xiangyan Cloister. Jin recited the "Universal Gate Chapter of Avalokiteśvara" nearly one hundred thousand times, and performed standing prostrations before the Lotus Sūtra, bowing to each individual character until he had completed the entire text. Lun, on the other hand, was the director of Qingqiu; dwelling in meditation, he recited the Great Compassion Dhāraṇī and the Uṣṇīṣa Dhāraṇī each one hundred million times. Taking an axe handle to fell timber [by following their model], Chu was supported by their fragrant conditioning; ascending to full ordination (upasampadā), he studied diligently without slackening, his keen intelligence maturing early, and reached the ultimate subtleties in the single school of the Abhidharmakośa. He subsequently lectured on and transmitted the Commentary of Yuanhui some ten times. Later, having comprehensively examined the Tripiṭaka three times, he lamented that Confucian writers, when dealing with Buddhist texts, committed many erroneous interpretations; their interpretations being erroneous, the matters were often mistakenly applied. Modeling his work on Bai Letian's Liutie (Six Notebooks), he compiled Buddhist principles, writings, miscellaneous affairs, and various classes of things, grouping them by category, establishing sections and headings, and summarizing the grand outlines into a total of fifty divisions. In accordance with the subject matter, he separately arranged four hundred and forty rubrics, beginning with the "Section on the Dharma King's Beneficial Appearance" and ending with the "Section on Lion and Animal Classes." The categories of things within were comprehensively gathered and integrated so that when taking up the brush to write, there would never be any deficiency. For ten years he worked diligently and without weariness. Beginning in the second year of the Kaiyun era of the Jin [945] and completed in the first year of the Xiande era [954], he presented it [to the throne]. Emperor Shizong ordered it to be deposited in the Historiographical Office, bestowed upon him the purple robe, and additionally granted him the title of Grand Master Mingjiao. During the Kaibao era [968–976], he passed away at Longxing Monastery. His worldly age was seventy-four, and his saṅgha age was fifty-four. When Chu first planned this work, he wrote down whatever was at hand, gathering the abundant to supplement the scarce; as the days and months passed, it grew abundantly into an organized compilation. Suddenly, on an ancient stone at the gate of his cloister, the two characters "Liu Tie" (Six Notebooks) appeared naturally and clearly. Beholding this wondrous omen, he knew it was predestined, and he combed through the present and stirred the ancient, his brush never ceasing to compose. At that time, the Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs and Prime Minister, Lord Wang Pu, wrote a preface for Chu, placing it at the head of the work, and today it circulates throughout the empire. Earlier, as Chu's mental labors in writing were unremitting, he lost his sight in both eyes, and no physician could heal him. He then focused his mind in repentance of his faults, fearing that his abridgment and fragmentation of doctrinal texts had introduced errors and omissions in judgment; praying with such wholehearted devotion without a moment's pause, after two years his sight was restored, which people regarded as a miraculous sign.