17. Tao-ch'iung
[OMITTED]
The nun Tao-ch'iung (Rare Jade of the Way) of Establishing
Blessings Convent
Tao-ch'iung's secular surname was Chiang. Her family was from Tan-yang
[near the capital of the Sung dynasty]. When she was a little more
than ten years old, she was already well educated in the classics and
history, and after her full admission to the monastic assembly she
became learned in the Buddhist writings as well and also diligently cultivated
a life of asceticism.[27] In the t'ai-yüan reign period (376-396) of
the Eastern Chin dynasty, the empress admired her exalted conduct,[28]
and, whenever she wished to gain merit by giving gifts or by listening
to religious exhortations, she most often depended on the convent
where Tao-ch'iung lived for such opportunities. Ladies of noble family
vied with one another to associate with Tao-ch'iung.[29]
In the eighth year of the yüan-chia reign period (431) [of Sung] she
had many Buddhist images made and placed them everywhere: in
P'eng-ch'eng Monastery, two gold Buddha images with a curtained
dais and all accessories; in Pottery Office Monastery, a processional
image of Maitreya, the future Buddha, with a jeweled umbrella and
pendants; in Southern Establishing Joy Monastery, two gold images
with various articles, banners, and canopies.[30] In Establishing Blessings
Convent, she had an image of the reclining Buddha made, as well
as a hall to house it.
[31] She also had a processional image of the bodhisattva,
P'u-hsien [or Samantabhadra], made. Of all these items, there
was none that was not extremely beautiful.
Again, in the fifteenth year of the yüan-chia reign period (438), Tao-ch'iung
commissioned a gold Amitāyus [or Infinite Life] Buddha, and in
the fourth month and tenth day of that same year a golden light shone
forth from the mark between the eyebrows of the image and filled the
entire convent.[32] The news of this event spread among religious and
worldly alike, and all came to pay honor, and, gazing at the unearthly
brilliance, there was none who was not filled with great happiness.
Further, using the materials bequeathed to her by the Yüan empress
consort, she extended the convent to the south to build another meditation
hall.[33]
[27]
The traditional classics and histories written or compiled mostly by
Confucian scholars.
[28]
The empress during 376-396, the reign of Emperor Hsiao-wu of Chin.
One empress died in 380 at age 21. The empress dowager died in 402, after
the death of Emperor Hsiao-wu of Chin in 396. We do not know to which
empress the biography is referring.
[29]
In Great Vehicle Buddhism, with its doctrine of bodhisattvas who
work to save all beings, the idea of transferable merit arose. The bodhisattvas
can give merit to devotees. Devotees can gain merit for themselves as well, but
it is more meritorious to gain merit for all living creatures. In this case, the
empress is gaining merit for herself probably so that she might be reborn into a
better life, or into one of the heavens or paradises.
[30]
The four monasteries or convents were all located in the capital. The
Pottery Office Monstery was very prominent, having been founded by
Emperor Ai of Chin (see Fa yüan chu lin [Forest of pearls in the garden of the
law], T. 49, no. 2035, p. 463.c.1.). Establishing Blessings Convent was the
home of six of the nuns in the Lives.
[31]
The Buddha entering nirvana.
[32]
This mark, a tuft of white hair curled clockwise that frequently emits a
light, is one of the thirty-two marks of a great, holy man such as the Buddha.
That the statue, too, emitted such a light was indeed cause for amazement
and joy.
[33]
Yüan empress consort during the Sung dynasty, otherwise unknown.
