60. Shih Ling-yü
[OMITTED]
The nun Shih Ling-yü (Esteemed Jade) (in the lineage of
Shākyamuni) (434-509) of Southern Chin-ling Convent
Ling-yü's secular surname was Ts'ai, and she was from [the capital
city of] Chien-k'ang. While still very young she left secular life and
went to live in the meditation hall of Empress Ho Convent as a disciple
of the nun Ching-yao, whose adherence to the monastic precepts
was perfect and whose intellect was superior to others.
Ling-yü as a young girl served her instructor with great respect and
diligence, and, when she first received the ten initial precepts of a novice,
one could already behold her great dignity of behavior. After she
received the obligation to keep all of the monastic precepts, her observation
of the prohibitions was as pure as snow.
She widely perused the texts of the five sectarian divisions of Buddhist
monastic rules, admirably delving into the deep teachings with
an excellent capacity for transmitting them to others.[70]
The prince of Shao-ling (?470-479) of the Sung dynasty [seventh
son of Emperor Ming (439-465-472)], very much respected her and
requested her to serve as abbess of Southern Chin-ling Convent, but
she firmly declined to accept the position.[71] Because the prince was
unable to make her submit to his request, he reported it [to his elder
brother who was the emperor] during the yüan-hui reign period (473477).[72]
[When the emperor] during the yüan-hui reign period issued
an imperial decree repeating the request she was unable to avoid
accepting the position that she then held for many years. During that
time she maintained a dignified but not overbearing manner and was
serious without being severe.
In the eighth year of the t'ien-chien reign period (509), Ling-yü died
at the age of seventy-six.
In the same convent there were also the nuns Ling-hui, Chieh-jen,
and Hui-li, all of whom had illustrious reputations. Ling-hui chanted
the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law,[73] the Vimalakīrti, the Shrīmālā,[74]
and other scriptures, kept a rigorous vegetarian diet, and was
an eminent example for the Assembly of Nuns. Chieh-jen was very
bright and excelled in studies; whatever she read she did not forget.
Hui-li was spiritually accomplished and not given to contention.
[70]
The five sectarian divisions most likely refers to the schools of the Dharmaguptaka,
Sarvāstivāda, Mahīshāsaka, Kāshyapīya or Mahāsāmghika, and
Vātsīputrīya. These divisions of the Disciples' Vehicle Buddhism provided the
books of monastic rules on which early Chinese Buddhist monasticism was
based. Buddhism in China was Mahāyāna or Great Vehicle Buddhism, but,
although doctrinally Mahāyāna, depended at this time on the monastic codes
of the Disciples' Vehicle. The approach was eclectic. Thus Ling-yü would
study all texts of monastic codes available to her. By about a.d. 500, the
major texts had been translated and were generally although not necessarily
universally available.
[71]
Shao-ling prince (Sung shu, chap. 90; Nan shih, chap. 14).
[72]
This emperor is Hou-fei, posthumously degraded to the title prince of
Ts'ang-wu, who died in 477 at the age of fifteen, stabbed to death by a group
of men fed up with his decadence and cruelty that had terrorized all within his
reach. This peculiar way of referring to him may indicate the original biographer's
repugnance for the emperor's despicable, degenerate character (Nan
shih, chap. 3).
[73]
This is the first mention of the complete title of the translation done by
Kumārajīva (350-409) in Ch'ang-an in north China.
[74]
Shrīmālā Scripture, see biography 41, chap. 3 n. 25, and bibliography,
Shrīmālā-devī-simhanāda-sūtra; Vimalakīrti Scripture, see biography 9, chap.
1 n. 73, and bibliography, Vimalakīrti's Preaching Scripture.
