Ekō

A monk from the Liang Dynasty in China. A native of Shangyu, Kuaiji (Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province). He was knowledgeable at home and abroad, and studied the sutras and vinaya widely. He lived at the Jiaxiang Temple in Kuaiji, spreading Buddhism in the spring and summer, and devoting himself to writing in the fall and winter, and wrote ten volumes of the Nirvana Sutra Commentaries and the Brahma Net Sutra Commentaries. In 519 (the 18th year of Tianjian), he also wrote the 14 volumes of the Gaoseng Biography. While based on the earlier Famous Monks Biography by Baoshang, this work attempted to correct its shortcomings, and became a model for monk biographies in later generations, and is the most reliable source for the history of Chinese Buddhism. To escape the rebellion of Hou Jing at the end of the Liang Dynasty, he came to Fucheng (Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province) in 553 (the second year of the Chengsheng era) and passed away the following year in 554 at the age of 58.

[Takahisa Ito January 19, 2017]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、梁(りょう)代の僧。会稽上虞(かいけいじょうぐ)（浙江(せっこう)省紹興(しょうこう)）の人。学は内外に通じ広く経律(きょうりつ)を究めた。会稽の嘉祥寺(かじょうじ)に住し、春夏には仏法を広め、秋冬には著述に専念し、『涅槃経疏(ねはんぎょうしょ)』10巻、『梵網(ぼんもう)経疏』などを撰(せん)した。また519年（天監18）に『高僧伝』14巻を著した。これは、先に成立した宝唱(ほうしょう)の『名僧伝』などに拠(よ)りつつも、その不備を改めようとしたもので、後世の僧伝の範となり、中国仏教史のもっとも信頼すべき資料である。梁末の侯景(こうけい)の乱を避けて、553年（承聖2）に湓城(ぼんじょう)（江西省九江(きゅうこう)市）にきて、翌554年58歳で入寂した。

［伊藤隆寿　2017年1月19日］

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