1.13 (Tsai no.13) Tao-i
The nun Tao-i (Dignity of the Way)
of Empress Ho Convent
Tao-i's secular surname was Chia. Her family was
originally from the town of Lou-fan in Yen-men Commandery [in north China].
She was the paternal aunt of the famous monk
Hui-yüan.
Tao-i was married to a certain Hsieh Chih of the
same commandery, who died when he was the administrator of Hsün-yang
Commandery
[on
the Yangtze River some distance southwest of the Chin capital of Chien-k'ang].
Tao-i was then twenty-two years old. At that time she cast off secular bonds
and donned the robe of religion.
The nun Tao-i was intelligent, bright,
quick-witted, and wise; she was widely learned and had an excellent memory,
being able to chant by heart the Flower of the Law
Scripture and to expound the meaning of the
Vimalakīrti and Smaller Perfection
of Wisdom. She achieved enlightened understanding of the subtle points and
transcendent principles of Buddhist doctrine by means of her own mind [without
having to rely on teachers].
Her
practice of the monastic regulations was eminent; her spiritual nature was
profound.
When Tao-i heard that in the region of the capital
of Chin the [Buddhist] doctrinal scriptures and the texts of monastic rules
were gradually being collected, translated and given explanatory commentaries,
she went there at the end of the t'ai-yüan reign
period (376-396) and took up residence in Empress Ho Convent.
Once there Tao-i devoted herself to the study of
the collection of texts of the monastic rules and regulations, investigating in
a most marvellous way the subtlest of points. All the while she retained her
usual humility and reverence, never relaxing her discipline even in solitude,
wearing rough and ragged monastic robes and carrying with her own hands the
begging bowl and staff [of a Buddhist religious mendicant].
Because of her
total lack of arrogance and pride, both monastics and householders highly
esteemed the nun.
When Tao-i was seventy-eight years old, she fell
seriously ill. She even more fervently concentrated her mind and chanted the
scriptures without becoming exhausted, but her disciples requested of her, "We
wish that you would try to find a treatment for this disease so that you might
overcome your debility."
Tao-i replied, "That is not a proper thing [for a
Buddhist disciple] to say." As soon as she had spoken, she died.
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