49. Ch'ao-ming
[OMITTED]
The nun Ch'ao-ming (Superior Clarity) (ca. 438-498) of
Brightness of Ch'i Convent in Ch'ien-t'ang
Ch'ao-ming's secular surname was Fan. Her family was from Ch'ien-t'ang
[southeast of the capital], and her father, Fan Hsien, as a young
man had been a student at the imperial academy.
[71] The family had
been Buddhist for a long time.
When a young girl, Ch'ao-ming had been very intelligent and had
exalted ambitions. She studied the five Confucian classics and was
well versed in literature.[72] Her polite and proper deportment drew the
respect of everyone both within and without her family.
When she was twenty-one, her husband died, leaving her a widow.
A neighbor sought to marry her, but she vowed not to allow it. Therefore
she left the secular life and took up residence in Venerating Seclusion
Convent. Of brilliant intellect, she well apprehended the body of
[Buddhist] knowledge, and, when she heard that Master of the Law
T'an-cheng of North Chang Monastery in Wu County [northeast of
Ch'ien-t'ang], was vigorously ascetic in his practice, she received from
him the full obligation to observe the monastic rules. Afterward she
went to Mud Mountain [a short distance southeast of Ch'ien-t'ang][73]
to receive instruction from the well-known master of the law Hui-chi
(412-496).[74] When he lectured on the various scriptures she comprehended
the meaning, and whatever she heard once she always remembered.
Everyone in the surrounding region, whether religious or lay,
held her in great esteem.
Ch'ao-ming subsequently returned to Ch'ien-t'ang to Brightness of
Ch'i Convent where she died in the fifth year of the chien-wu reign
period (498) at the age of sixty-some years.
There was also at that time the nun Fa-tsang, who was [like Ch'ao-ming]
well known for her learning and practice.
[71]
Ch'ien-t'ang, in present-day Chechiang Province, Hang Chou city.
See map.
[72]
The five classics are the Book of Changes, Book of Odes, Book of History,
Book of Rites, and Spring and Autumn Annals.
[73]
Mud Mountain. T'u Shan in Chechiang Province, Shao-hsing County.
[74]
Hui-chi (biography in Kao seng chuan 8:379.a). When he was a young
man just freshly received into the monastic community, he became a peripatetic
scholar, traveling around to inquire of various masters the meanings of
the many Buddhist scriptures. Later, he was famous in his own right for his
knowledge of the scriptures.
