廬山蓮宗寶鑑 4.59

4.59

師諱子元、號萬事休、平江崑山茅氏子。母柴氏夜夢佛一尊入門、次旦遂生、因名佛來。父母早亡、投本州延祥寺志通出家、習誦《法華經》。十九歲落髮，習止觀禪法。一日正定中，聞鴉聲悟道，乃有頌曰「二十餘年紙上尋，尋來尋去轉沈吟，忽然聽得慈鴉叫，始信從前錯用心。」於是利他心切發廣度願，乃慕廬山遠公蓮社遺風，勸人歸依三寶、受持五戒，一不殺、二不盜、三不婬、四不妄、五不酒，念阿彌陀佛五聲以證五戒，普結淨緣，欲令世人淨五根、得五力、出五濁也。乃撮集大藏要言，編成《蓮宗晨朝懺儀》，代為法界眾生禮佛懺悔祈生安養。後往澱山湖，剏立蓮宗懺堂，同修淨業。述圓融四土三觀、選佛圖，開示蓮宗眼目。四十六歲障臨江州，逆順境中未嘗動念，隨方勸化即成頌文，目曰「西行集」。乾道二年壽聖高宗詔至德壽殿，演說淨土法門，特賜勸修淨業蓮宗導師慈照宗主，就錢塘西湖昭慶寺。祝聖謝恩佛事畢回平江，嘗發誓言：「願大地人普覺妙道。」每似四字為定名之宗，示導教人專念彌陀同生淨土，從此宗風大振。師集彌陀節要、法華百心、證道歌、風月集行于世。三月二十三日，於鐸城倪普建宅告諸徒曰：「吾化緣已畢，時當行矣。」言訖合掌辭眾奄然示寂。二十七日荼毘，舍利無數，塔于松江力及市五港吾覺昌宅。勅諡最勝之塔。

The master's taboo name was Ziyuan, and his style was Wanshi Xiu ("All Affairs Cease"); he was a son of the Mao family of Kunshan in Pingjiang. His mother, Lady Chai, dreamed one night that a Buddha entered her gate, and on the following morning he was born, hence he was named Folai ("Buddha Has Arrived"). His parents passed away early, and he went to Yanxiang Temple in his home prefecture under Zhitong to go forth from household life and study and chant the *Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra*. At nineteen, his head was shaved, and he practiced samatha-vipaśyanā and dhyāna methods. One day in right concentration, he awakened to the Way upon hearing the cry of a crow, whereupon he composed a verse: "For over twenty years I searched upon the paper, / searching back and forth, sinking ever deeper into contemplation. / Suddenly hearing the cry of a filial crow, / I finally believed that all along I had wrongly applied my mind." Thereupon, his mind to benefit others became ardent and he gave rise to vows of universal deliverance. Admiring the surviving tradition of Master Yuan's Lotus Society on Mount Lu, he exhorted people to take refuge in the Three Jewels and uphold the five precepts: first, not killing; second, not stealing; third, not engaging in sexual misconduct; fourth, not lying; and fifth, not taking intoxicants. They were to recite Amitābha Buddha's name five times to confirm the five precepts, broadly forging pure bonds, intending to enable worldly people to purify the five sense faculties, attain the five powers, and emerge from the five turbidities. He then gathered essential words from the great canon and compiled the *Morning Repentance Ritual of the Lotus School*, bowing to the Buddha and repenting on behalf of the sentient beings of the dharmadhātu to pray for rebirth in Sukhāvatī. Later he went to Dianshan Lake and founded a Lotus School repentance hall, jointly cultivating pure karma. He composed the *Harmonious Integration of the Four Lands and Three Contemplations* and the *Chart of Buddha Selection*, revealing the essential vision of the Lotus School. At age forty-six, he encountered an obstruction and arrived at Jiangzhou; amid adverse and favorable circumstances, his mind was never stirred, and whatever he exhorted in accordance with circumstances turned into verses, entitled *Collection of the Western Journey*. In the second year of the Qiandao reign, the Longevity and Sagely Emperor Gaozong summoned him to the Deshou Palace to expound the Pure Land Dharma-gate, specially bestowing upon him the title "Lineage Master Cizhao, Guide of the Lotus School for Exhorting the Cultivation of Pure Karma" at Zhaoqing Temple by the West Lake in Qiantang. After completing the Buddhist services of praying for the Emperor and offering thanks for imperial favor, he returned to Pingjiang, where he once made the vow: "May all people across the great earth universally awaken to the wondrous Way." He frequently took four words as the foundational lineage name, guiding and teaching people to focus exclusively on reciting Amitābha to be reborn together in the Pure Land, and from this the school's tradition flourished greatly. The master compiled the *Essentials of Amitābha*, the *Hundred Minds of the Lotus*, the *Song of Enlightenment*, and the *Breeze and Moon Collection*, which circulated in the world. On the twenty-third day of the third month, at the residence of Ni Pujian in Duocheng, he told his disciples: "My karmic conditions for transforming others are finished; the time has come to depart." Having spoken, he joined his palms, took leave of the assembly, and peacefully manifested passing away. On the twenty-seventh day, cremation was performed, yielding countless relics, which were enshrined in a stūpa at the residence of Wu Juechang at Wugang, Liji Market, Songjiang. By imperial decree, it was posthumously named the Stūpa of Supreme Victory.