大宋僧史略 1.2

1.2

Zanning was surnamed Gao. His ancestors were from Bohai. He left home at Xiangfu Monastery in Hangzhou, studied the Nanshan Vinaya school, and wrote on the vinaya, being called at that time the "Tiger of the Vinaya." He was granted the title Mingyi Zongwen. In the third year of Taiping Xingguo, Emperor Taizong heard of his fame, summoned him for an audience at Zifu Hall, and prolonged his inquiries for entire days. He further bestowed upon him the title Tonghui, decreed that he reside at Tianshou Monastery on the Right Street, and ordered him to compile a history of the saṃgha. An imperial edict also ordered him to compile the thirty fascicles of the Da Song Gaoseng zhuan, as well as the Deeds of the Sages and Worthies of the Three Teachings in one hundred fascicles. He also authored the Collection of Inner Classics in one hundred and fifty fascicles and the Collection of Outer Learning in forty-nine fascicles. The Hanlin Academician Wang Yucheng wrote a preface to his collected works praising him to the utmost. During the Zhidao era, he manifested his passing. In the fourth year of Chongning, the posthumous title Yuanming was added. This is recorded in the Rhymed Biographies of Monks, fascicle 24, citing the Zheng tong of Shiwentan, fascicle 3; the Fozu tongzai, fascicle 18; and the Jigu lüe, fascicle 3. The author, with his wide-ranging and penetrating talent, arranged fifty-nine sections on the rise and decline of matters and things to instruct new students; it may well be called a jade disc of Zhao for a thousand ages. Among those who pursue the Buddha vehicle, who could fail to look up to his lingering light? However, this book existed only in a single old Keichō woodblock edition, and its circulation was exceedingly sparse. The scholars of the Bande Jiao Society secretly sighed in lamentation over this. Intending to recarve the blocks and spread it widely in the world, they entrusted me with collating and editing it. Clumsy and unrefined as I am, how could I achieve perfection? If there are any deficiencies, I must await future correction. Meeting the needs of this secluded land lacking in books, I have set forth a brief biography of the author and composed this preface for it.
Recorded by the śramaṇa Xingjie at the mountain lodge on Mount Sanyuan on the Buddha’s birthday, the fourth month of the sixteenth year of Jōji.