弘贊法華傳 2.35

2.35

右。梁太學博士江泌女。小而出家。名僧法。年八九歲。有時靜坐閉目。誦出前經。楊州道俗。咸稱神授。費長房云。驗於經論。斯理皎然。是宿習來。非關神授。且據外典。天子有云。生而知者聖。學而知者次。此局談今生。昧於過往耳。若不爾者。何以得辯內外賢聖。淺深過現乎。故。高僧傳云。釋曇諦者。俗姓康氏。其先康居人。漢靈帝時。移附中國。獻帝末亂。移止吳興。諦父𭛓。甞為冀州別駕。母黃氏。晝眠。夢見一僧呼黃為母。寄一麈尾并鐵鏤書鎮。黃既眠覺。見二物具存。私密異之。因而懷孕生諦。諦年五歲。母以麈尾等弄示之。諦曰。秦王所餉。母曰。汝置何處。答曰。不憶。至年十歲出家。學不從師。悟自天發。此即其事矣。後隨父。之燓鄧。遇見關中僧[(丰*力)/石]道人。忽然喚[(丰*力)/石]。[(丰*力)/石]曰。童子何以呼宿士名。諦曰。阿上本是諦沙彌。會為眾僧採菜。被野猪所傷。不覺失聲耳。今何忘耶。然。僧[(丰*力)/石]經為弘覺法師弟子。為僧採菜。被野猪所傷。[(丰*力)/石]初不憶此。乃詣諦父。諦父具說諦生本末。并示[(丰*力)/石]書鎮麈尾等。[(丰*力)/石]乃悟而泣曰。即[(丰*力)/石]先師弘覺法師也。而經為姚萇講法華。貧道為都講。姚萇餉師二物。今遂在此。追計弘覺捨命。正是寄物之日。復憶採菜之事。彌增悲悼。諦後遊學內外。過目斯記。晚入吳虎丘山寺。講禮易春秋。各七遍。法花大品維摩。各十五遍。又善屬文翰。有集六卷。盛行於世。年六十餘終。宋元嘉末年也。費長房曰。弘覺法師弟子僧[(丰*力)/石]。師徒匠導。名重二秦。什物三衣。亦復何限。唯書鎮麈尾。保惜在懷。及移識託生。此之二物。遂得同往。神外質礙之像。尚得相隨。況心內慮知之法。而不憶念。所以鏡瑩轉明。刃砥彌利。渧聚為海。塵積成山。世世習而踰增。生生學而益廣。近𰺰初始之月。終至十五團圓。捨人還受人。即是次生事。憶而不忘。其神功乎。閉目靜思。自是女人情弱。讀誦相續。豈非前身時諷。而論神授。何乃愚瞽。昧智慧之道乎。

The above: The daughter of Jiang Mi, Erudite of the National University under the Liang, left the household at an early age, taking the name Sengfa. At the age of eight or nine, she would sometimes sit quietly with closed eyes and recite the aforementioned sūtra from memory. Monastics and laypeople in Yangzhou all called it a divine bestowal. Fei Changfang said: Examining this against the sūtras and treatises, the principle is as clear as day: it came from habituation in past lives and had nothing to do with divine bestowal. Moreover, relying on secular classics, the Son of Heaven has said: 'Those who are born with knowledge are sages; those who learn and know it are the next.' This narrowly discusses the present life, being ignorant of past existences. Were it not so, how could one discern between internal and external worthies and sages, or the depth and shallowness of past and present? Thus the Gaoseng zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Monks) states: Shi Tandi's lay surname was Kang. His ancestors were people of Kangju (Sogdiana). During the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han, they relocated and submitted to China. During the turmoil at the end of Emperor Xian's reign, they moved to settle in Wuxing. Di's father, Bang, once served as Attendant Officer in Jizhou. His mother, Lady Huang, was taking a daytime nap when she dreamed of a monk calling her 'Mother' and leaving in her care a chowry and an iron-inlaid paperweight. When Lady Huang awoke from sleep, she saw both objects completely present, and privately found it uncanny. Consequently she became pregnant and gave birth to Di. When Di was five years old, his mother brought out the chowry and other objects to tease and show him. Di said, 'These were given by the King of Qin.' His mother said, 'Where did you put them?' He replied, 'I do not remember.' At the age of ten he left the household; in his study he followed no master, his awakening arising naturally from heaven. This was precisely such a matter. Later, following his father to Fandeng, he happened to meet Daoren Sengtuo of Guanzhong and suddenly called out, 'Tuo!' Tuo said, 'Why does a child call a senior scholar by his name?' Di said, 'The Venerable One was originally Di's novice. Once, when gathering vegetables for the monastic assembly, you were injured by a wild boar; I involuntarily cried out. Why have you forgotten it now?' In truth, Sengtuo had been a disciple of Dharma Master Hongjue, and while gathering vegetables for the monks he had been injured by a wild boar. Tuo did not recall this at first; he then visited Di's father, who fully recounted the origin of Di's birth and showed Tuo the paperweight and chowry. Tuo then had an awakening and wept, saying: 'You are indeed Tuo's former master, Dharma Master Hongjue! You once lectured on the Lotus Sūtra for Yao Chang, with this poor monk serving as chief interlocutor (dujiang). Yao Chang presented my master with two objects, which have now ended up here.' Calculating backwards to when Hongjue cast off his life, it was precisely the day the objects were left in care. Remembering again the matter of gathering vegetables, he grieved and lamented all the more. Di later traveled and studied both internal and external texts, retaining everything that passed before his eyes. In his later years he entered the monastery on Mount Huqiu in Wu, lecturing on the Liji, Yijing, and Chunqiu seven times each, and on the Lotus, Larger Prajñā, and Vimalakīrti fifteen times each. He was also skilled in literary composition, with a collection of six scrolls that circulated widely in the world. He died at the age of over sixty, in the late Yuanjia era of the Song. Fei Changfang said: As for Dharma Master Hongjue's disciple Sengtuo, master and disciple guided others, their names carrying weight throughout the two Qin dynasties. What limit could there be to their implements and three robes? Yet he held in his mind the cherishing and safeguarding solely of the paperweight and chowry, so that when his consciousness transferred and took rebirth, these two objects could accompany him together. If even the material forms outside the mind could follow him, how much more so with the mental dharmas of cognition and understanding: how could he not remember them? Therefore, a polished mirror turns ever brighter, and a whetted blade becomes ever sharper. Droplets gather to form an ocean, and accumulated dust forms a mountain. Practiced life after life, it increases all the more; studied birth after birth, it broadens all the further. It is close to the moon in its early crescent, finally reaching round fullness on the fifteenth. Casting off human form and receiving human form again was merely a matter of the very next birth; to remember without forgetting, how could that be divine power? Closing the eyes and contemplating in quietness is simply the emotional weakness of a woman; reciting in unbroken continuity, how could it not be the recitation from a previous life? To speak of divine bestowal: how could one be so blind and ignorant of the way of wisdom?