卷二傳二十竹園寺慧濬尼

慧濬。本姓陳。山陰人也。幼而穎悟精進邁群。旦輒燒香運想禮敬移時。中則菜蔬一飯鮮肥不食。雖在居家有如出俗。父母不能割其志。及年十八許之從道。內外墳典經眼必誦。深禪祕觀無不必入。靜而無競和而有節。朋遊舊狎未嘗戲言。

宋宰江夏王義恭雅相推敬。常給衣藥四時無爽。不蓄私財悉營寺舍。竹園成立濬之功也。禪味之樂老而不衰。年七十三。宋大明八年而卒。葬于傅山。

同寺有化尼。聰穎卓秀。多誦經律。蔬食苦節。與濬齊名

2.20 (Tsai no.33) Hui-chün

The nun Hui-chün (Deep Wisdom) (392-464) of Bamboo Garden Convent

Hui-chün's secular surname was Ch'en. Her family was originally from Shan-yin [some distance southeast of the capital of Sung and very close to Kuei-chi].

When Hui-chün was still a child, she was quite intelligent, and her zeal in the practice of religion surpassed the multitude. In the morning she burned incense and engaged her mind in the act of worship, thus passing the time until noon when she ate her one meal of vegetables, eschewing the flesh of living creatures. Although she was living in her parents' house, she behaved as though she had already left the household life. Because her mother and father could not break her resolve, they permitted her to enter the religious life when she was eighteen years old.

She could recite from memory any classic text, whether Buddhist or non-Buddhist, after having read it once. There was no deep meditation or subtle contemplation she could not enter. Hui-chün was quiet and nonquarrelsome, agreeable, and modest; in her associations with friends and acquaintances she never engaged in banter or joking [behavior indeed forbidden by the monastic rules].

The chief minister of the Sung state, the Chiang-hsia prince, I-kung (413-465) [the fifth son of Emperor Wu], especially respected her and without fail supplied clothing and medicine for her throughout the year. Hui-chün did not keep these goods for herself but used them to build up the convent; the completion of Bamboo Garden was her achievement.

When she grew old, Hui-chün's joy in the flavor of meditation did not pall. In the eighth year of the ta-ming reign period (464) of the Sung dynasty she died at the age of seventy-three and was buried on Tutor Mountain.

In the same convent lived the nun Seng-hua, who was extremely intelligent and eminently accomplished, being able to chant many doctrinal scriptures and texts of monastic rules. Her renown for maintaining strict vegetarianism and ascetic practices was equal to Hui-chün's.