佛說盂蘭盆經疏 2.102

2.102

Chan Master Guifeng Zongmi of Mount Zhongnan was a native of Xichong County, Guozhou, surnamed He. He was born in the first year of the Jianzhong reign of the Tang. In his youth he was versed in the Confucian classics, and at capping age he explored the Buddhist scriptures. In the second year of the Yuanhe reign, when he was about to sit for the civil examinations, he happened to visit the Dharma assembly of Venerable Daoyuan in Suizhou. Joyfully finding accord, he then requested tonsure, took full ordination in that same year, and had transmitted to him the mind-seal. He also visited famous and capable teachers everywhere, broadening his knowledge and views. He authored commentaries and subcommentaries on the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment, Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Nirvāṇa Sūtra, Diamond Sūtra, Awakening of Faith, Consciousness-Only, Ullambana Sūtra, Contemplation of the Dharmadhātu, and Samantabhadra's Aspiration Sūtra, and compiled the Chan sayings of various schools into the Chanyuan zhuquan [ji], as well as correspondence, verses, and doctrinal treatises, totaling over a hundred fascicles, all circulating in the world. During the Taihe reign of Emperor Wenzong, he was summoned to the court, granted the purple robe, and repeatedly questioned on the essentials of the Dharma; the court officials deeply admired him. Soon after, he requested to return to the mountain. On the sixth day of the first month of the first year of the Huichang reign, he passed away sitting upright in the pagoda courtyard of Xingfu Temple, while the fourfold assembly wept and cried out, filling the countryside. His whole body was conveyed to Guifeng. When cremated, several tens of relics were obtained, bright, lustrous, and large, which were stored in a stone chamber. His worldly age was sixty-two; his monastic age was thirty-four. Emperor Xuānzong posthumously bestowed on him the title Chan Master Dinghui, and his pagoda was called Qinglian. He once had a verse that said: / Performing meaningful deeds is an awakened mind; / Performing meaningless deeds is a wildly confused mind. / Wild confusion follows emotional thoughts, and at the end of life one is dragged along by karma; / Awakening does not depend on emotion, and at the end of life one can transform karma.