University of Virginia Library

39. Seng-ching

[OMITTED]

The nun Seng-ching (Respect in the Sangha) (402-486) of
Exalted Sanctity Convent

Seng-ching's secular surname was Li. Her family was originally from
Kuei-chi [some distance to the southeast of the capital].[4] They resided,
however [in the immediate vicinity of the capital] at Mo-ling.

When Seng-ching was still in her mother's womb, the family
arranged a meeting, requesting the monk Seng-chao from Pottery
Office Monastery and the nun T'an-chih from Western Convent each
to point at the mother's belly and address the unborn baby as a disciple.
The mother, on behalf of her unborn child, addressed the two
monastics as teacher, thereby agreeing that the child, whether boy or
girl, would be committed to the religious life.

On the day when she was about the give birth, the mother dreamed
of a supernatural being who said to her, "You may sponsor a ceremony
of taking the eight precepts of the householder."[5] She forthwith
gave orders to begin the preparations, but, before the monks and the
statues had been gathered together, Seng-ching was born. A voice out
of nowhere said, "You may give her as a disciple to the nun Pai of
Establishing Peace Convent." The mother complied.

Seng-ching, by the age of five or six, was able to repeat from memory
scriptures that she had heard others chant. She read several hundred
scrolls of scripture, and her marvellous understanding of them
increased daily. Practicing sacrificial vegetarianism her pure manner
became more and more manifest.

In the yüan-chia reign period (424-453) [of the Sung dynasty],

when K'ung Mo went out as an officer to keep order in Kuang Province
[in south China], he took Seng-ching along in his retinue. Seng-ching
happened to meet the foreign nun Tessara and the others who
were on their way to the Sung capital. They were all of highly exceptional
conduct and appearance, and [Seng-ching, in order to accord
fully with the monastic regulations and tradition that required that she
receive the monastic obligation from both the Assembly of Monks and
Assembly of Nuns] went through a second ceremony [of receiving the
complete monastic obligation, accepting the rules from the foreign
nuns as well as from the monks].

Seng-ching, deeply awakened to the truth of impermanence,
wanted to embark on a pilgrimage across the ocean to seek out the
holy traces of the Buddha's life on earth. The monastics and householders
prevented her, however, and she remained in the Ling-nan
region in south China for more than thirty years.[6] Her manner gradually
changed the hearts of the barbarian peoples of the south among
whom she lived. A total of thirteen families donated land and went
together to build a convent for her at Ch'ao-t'ing, calling it Built by the
Multitude.[7]

Emperor Ming (439-465-472) of the Sung dynasty heard about
Seng-ching and issued an invitation all that distance to her, to welcome
her to his presence.[8] The monastics and householders of P'an-yü
[the region in south China where she lived] grieved at the thought of
losing her.

When Seng-ching returned to the capital, she lived by imperial
decree in Exalted Sanctity Convent, where monastics and householders
alike submitted to her instruction. A certain Yüeh Tsun of
Tan-yang donated land and built a convent for her to which she later
moved.[9]

The Ch'i heir apparent, Wen-hui (458-493) [who was the first son
of Emperor Wu], and the prince of Ching-ling, Wen-hsüan (460-494)
[who was the second son of Emperor Wu], both admiring her virtuous
practice, personally made donations without fail.[10]

Seng-ching died on the third day of the second month of the fourth
year of the yung-ming reign period (486) at the age of eighty-four and
was buried on the south side of Bell Mountain.[11] Her disciples erected
a memorial stone for which the vice president of the department of the
imperial grand secretariat, Shen Yüeh of Wu-hsing County,[12] wrote
the inscription.[13]