神逈

《宋高僧傳》立其本傳，題「唐越州大禹寺神逈傳」〔T50n2061 0890c16〕，而首尾兩端俱不出：「釋神逈，未詳何許人也。幼入法流，齊莊自任，節高行峭，不惡而嚴。」〔T50n2061 0890c17〕其學所從出則有明文：「晚年慕稱心寺大義律師，同習三觀於天台宗，得旨於左溪禪師，即寶應年中也。」〔T50n2061 0890c18〕所繫之作二事而已：「加以辭筆宏贍，華藻紛紜，為《朗師真影讚》、〈法華經文句序〉，冠絕于時，為世所貴。不詳厥終焉。」〔T50n2061 0890c20〕——〈法華經文句序〉即本登錄所繫之〈天台法華䟽序〉；真影讚則見存於左溪玄朗傳末，「禹山沙門神逈著乎真讚矣」〔T50n2061 0876a16〕。（藏中別有同名者：《續高僧傳》「唐京師大莊嚴寺釋神逈傳」〔T50n2060 0521c28〕，「釋神逈。姓田氏。馮翊臨晉人」〔T50n2060 0526a11〕，姓氏、鄉里、寺屬俱異。）

The Song Lives of Eminent Monks does give him a biography of his own, headed "Biography of Shenjiong of Dayu Monastery in Yuezhou under the Tang" 〔T50n2061 0890c16〕, though it supplies neither end of his life: "Shi Shenjiong — it is not known where he was from. He entered the stream of the Dharma young, held himself in gravity and order, was high in observance and sheer in conduct, severe without ill will" 〔T50n2061 0890c17〕. Where his learning came from it does state plainly: "In his later years he was drawn to the vinaya master Dayi of Chenxin Monastery, studied the three contemplations of the Tiantai school along with him, and obtained the purport from the meditation master of Zuoxi; this was during the Baoying period" 〔T50n2061 0890c18〕. Two pieces only are credited to him: "Further, his brush was ample and his diction rich in ornament; he made the Encomium on the Portrait of Master Lang and the Preface to the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, which stood first in their time and were prized by the age. How he ended is not known" 〔T50n2061 0890c20〕 — the Preface to the Words and Phrases is the preface entered in this register; the encomium survives at the close of the biography of Xuanlang of Zuoxi, "the monk Shenjiong of Mount Yu composed the encomium on his portrait" 〔T50n2061 0876a16〕. (The canon has another man of the same name: the Continued Lives carries a "Biography of Shi Shenjiong of Da Zhuangyan Monastery in the capital under the Tang" 〔T50n2060 0521c28〕 — "Shi Shenjiong, of the Tian family, a man of Linjin in Pingyi" 〔T50n2060 0526a11〕 — differing in surname, in native place and in monastery.)

序中他自處甚低。既述朗和尚條倫之緣起，末乃連類自陳：「神逈等，並採綜文前輕安諦理」〔T34n1718 0001b13〕，而「誠愧雁門之筆，曷窺龍嚬之奧」〔T34n1718 0001b15〕；其所望者不在己名，唯在「庶探玄之士，沐道流而有本焉」〔T34n1718 0001b16〕。《法華文句》傳世之本，說者、記者、條倫者三重相承，而三者之名俱賴此一序而得存。

In the preface he places himself very low. Having told how master Lang came to set the text in order, he adds himself at the end only in the plural: "Shenjiong and the rest have gathered up what stands before the text and rested lightly in its true principle" 〔T34n1718 0001b13〕, and yet "I am truly ashamed before the brush of Yanmen, and how should I glimpse the depth at which the dragon knits its brow" 〔T34n1718 0001b15〕. What he hoped for was nothing of his own name, but only that "those who search the profound may bathe in the stream of the Way and have a source for it" 〔T34n1718 0001b16〕. In the transmitted text of the Words and Phrases of the Lotus three hands stand in succession — the one who spoke it, the one who recorded it, and the one who set it in order — and the names of all three survive only because of this preface.