宋高僧傳 4.31

4.31

Shi Yizhong's surname was Yin, and he was a native of Xiangyuan in Lu Prefecture. When he was only nine years old, because of his predispositions cultivated in past lives, he resolved to become a monk. He took Master Zhao of Zizhou as his teacher, like a young phoenix chick born in a phoenix nest. From youth he maintained extraordinary conduct, and his insightful understanding was peerless. Master Zhao taught him the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra when he was thirteen years old. He recited all forty rolls consecutively; the assembly was astonished and called him the "Miraculous Child of the Emptiness Gate." At twenty he took the precepts, studied the Four-Part Vinaya, and thoroughly mastered its principles. Concurrently he studied two versions of the Twelve Gate Treatise, and was immediately able to lecture on them. Master Zhao knew he was a thousand-li steed, and fearing his study might miss its opportune time, he heard that Master Ji of Chang'an had newly composed commentaries and treatises, students were filling his gates, and his renown shook the empire. Master and disciple thus went together to Ji's lecture hall. In less than five years, he had mastered two sūtras and five treatises, namely the Lotus, the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, and the Hundred Dharmas, Hetuvidyā, Kośa, Cheng weishi lun, and Weishi dao. Henceforth he opened his teaching, his disciples multiplied, his lecture tree branched out with distinct luxuriance, and the portals of doctrine opened lateral apertures. He then authored the Essentials of the Cheng weishi lun, the Commentary on the Cheng weishi lun in thirty rolls, the Commentary on the Lotus Sūtra in twenty rolls, and the Commentary on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra in twenty rolls. His Commentary on the Hundred Dharmas Treatise was the most essential and appropriate; he moved the explanation of the "two kinds of selflessness" to the end, thereby surpassing the verbosity of Cien [Ji]. To this day, nothing in circulation surpasses Zhong's version. It was indeed a display of jade arrays and strung flowers, jades adorning a forest of jeweled trees, flowers embellishing the brocades of Shu looms. His peers submitted to him, and his fame resonated far and wide. While Master Ji shone directly like the sun, Zhong held the dragon candle alongside; his fair reputation spread in all directions, and those whose hearts turned to him from a thousand li away were beyond count. He transmitted and maintained [the teachings] without indolence for more than fifty years, lecturing on the various teachings an estimated seventy-odd times. When he reached seventy-two, he suddenly longed for his native land and returned to Zhaoyi, where, as in early summer, he recited the precepts and practiced the Way. Every time he sat, he faced northwest and looked up at Tuṣita Heaven, focusing his mind on the inner court, wishing that when shedding his lifespan he might see the Lord of Heaven, forever leave behind worldly defilements, and ultimately achieve the transformation of the basis. One day, after rising in the morning and bathing, he adjusted his robes and bearing, bowed toward the sky, and seemed to offer a mournful prayer. Shortly thereafter, he sat in the lotus posture, and having finished entrusting the propagation of the teachings, an extraordinary fragrance suddenly filled the room, and colorful clouds hung in the sky. Zhong joined his palms, looked up, and said, "How could a defiled and weak monk trouble the Great Sage to come in person to guide and receive him?" With these words, he passed away. Locals, monastics and laity alike, built a stūpa to make offerings to him; his whole body remained undecayed, and it still exists today on a high hill in his native village of Hedong.