大明高僧傳 2.27

2.27

Shi Zhide had the style name Yunyan. He was a son of the Liu family of Dongchang in Shandong. At twelve, he received the scriptures under the preceptor Haiwen at Kaiyuan Monastery in Shunde. Hearing that Dharma Master Fazhaoxi of Zhending was greatly propagating the Ci'en school at Longxing Monastery, he directly went to study with him and completely mastered its profound depths. In the twenty-fifth year of the Zhiyuan reign period, an edict ordered the various circuits of Jiang-Huai to establish thirty-six imperial lecture seats, striving to find those whose lineage was correct and whose practice was cultivated to share the abbacy over them. De was selected; Emperor Shizu granted him an audience, bestowed a banquet together with a purple square robe, and ordered him to preside over the two monasteries of Tianxi and Jingzhong. Daily he lectured on commentaries to the Lotus Sūtra, Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Diamond Sūtra, Vijñaptimātra, and others for thirty-one years. He was specially granted the title Master of Buddha-Light. Whenever he conferred the precepts upon the seven assemblies, he invariably required parents and siblings to instruct one another not to violate them. They even went so far as burning incense [scars] on their crowns and fingers as lifelong vows. After residing there for a long time, he gave away all his robes and bowls to renovate its halls, corridors, and multi-storied pavilions. During lean years, he cooked gruel to feed tens of thousands of starving people. The popular customs of Jiankang favored strong liquor and fond relations with government officials; De alone restrained himself with the vinaya. His disciples were cautious and proper in going out and dwelling. If someone mistakenly used communal property, a single mistake was penalized by a hundredfold; those who intentionally violated it were expelled. Dwelling at Tianxi for more than thirty years, he did not change his single patched robe and single pair of sandals for his entire life. He did not eat past noon, and at night sat upright until dawn. From the hardship of chanting, he lost his sight. Suddenly, he dreamed of an Indian monk welcoming him to dwell on a high seat in the Inner Court, while flowers fell from the sky like rain. He then manifested a slight illness. On the seventh day of the second month in the second year of the Zhizhi reign period, he still recited scriptures without ceasing. Shortly after, taking leave of the assembly, he sat peacefully and transformed. His worldly age was eighty-eight. The shrine was kept for twenty-one days, his facial features remaining as ruddy and moist as when alive. At the jhāpita, the relics were countless. Several tens of thousands attended. A stupa was erected at Mount Zhangjia in Jiangning. Academician Zhao Mengfu composed the inscription.