明僧绍与栖霞立寺史实——重读《摄山栖霞寺碑》与《明征君碑》

南京栖霞寺的创立与南齐征君明僧绍有十分密切的关系。明僧绍出生于山东平原郡一个有信佛传统的世族家庭里。他有很高的儒学修养,自宋至齐,多次拒绝朝廷的征辟。最初,他在长广郡即今山东青岛一带聚徒讲学。泰始二年(466),由于淮北四州沦于北魏,他随家族南下建康,升明元年(477),又随其弟明庆符到郁州。三年后,他回到建康,并定居摄山,修筑栖霞精舍。永明二年(484)明僧绍去世后,他的儿子明仲璋舍宅为寺,永明七年(489)法度禅师以栖霞精舍为基础,正式创立了栖霞寺。

Ming Sengshao and the Foundation of Qixia Temple

The foundation of Qixia Temple was closely related to the famous scholar Ming Sengshao who was born into a great family with the tradition of professing Buddhism in Shandong province.However, he himself was of great attainments on Confucianism and rejected the public offices for several times.He taught at Qingtao of Shangdong province during his earlier years and moved in 466 with his family to Nanjing,the capital at that time,when Shandong was taken over by Northern Wei.He left Nanjing in 477 and came back three years later.This time he settled down in Qixia Mountain and built for himself a study called Qixia.After he died in 484 his son Ming Zhongzhang donated the study to the monk Fadu and on its basis the monk founded Qixia Temple eventually in 489.