卷四傳七竹園寺淨淵尼

淨淵。本姓時。鉅鹿人也。幼有成人之智五六歲時嘗聚沙為塔刻木作像。燒香拜敬彌日不足。每聞人言。輒難盡取其理究。

二十出家。戀慕膝下。不食不寢。飲水持齋。諫曉不從。終竟七日。自爾之後蔬食長齋。 戒忍精苦不由課勵。師友嗟敬遠近稱譽。齊文帝大相欽禮。四事供養。信驛重沓。年七十一。 天監五年卒也

4.7 (Tsai no.58) Ching-yüan

The nun Ching-yüan (Pure Profundity) (436-506) of Bamboo Garden Convent

Ching-yüan's secular surname was Shih, and her family originally was from the Chü-lu region [in far north China]. When she was a child, she had the wisdom of an adult, and at the age of five or six she used to pile up sand to make little pagodas and carve wood to make little images. Burning incense and offering worship, the whole day was not long enough for her. Whenever she heard people discussing anything, she would relentlessly pursue the topic to grasp the essential principles.

When she was twenty, Ching-yüan left secular life to become a nun. Out of devotion to her parents she did not eat or sleep and drank only water to keep her fast. She went on like this, not acquiescing to remonstrances, until seven days were over, after which she always kept a vegetarian diet. Ching-yüan observed all the monastic precepts most diligently, needing no exhortation or encouragement from others. Her teachers and friends respected her; those far and near commended her. The Ch'i heir apparent Wen-hui (458-493) honored her greatly, giving her the four necessities of a monastic life, while messages and envoys came thick and fast.

Ching-yüan died in the fifth year of the t'ien-chien reign period (506) at the age of seventy-one.