廬山蓮宗寶鑑 4.53

4.53

The master was named Zunshi, courtesy name Zhibai, surnamed Ye, a native of Linhai County in Taizhou, known by the title Repentance Master Ciyun. His mother prayed for divine response to an ancient Avalokiteśvara, and subsequently gave birth to the Dharma Master. Initially he resided at Dongye Mountain, taking Yiquan as his teacher. At eighteen, he shaved his head; first he studied vinaya at Chanlin Temple, and then before the statue of Samantabhadra at Guoqing Temple he burned a finger, vowing to study the Tiantai teachings. With lofty learning and austere practice, his fame topped both Zhe regions. Broadly studying doctrine and contemplation, he dedicated his will exclusively to Sukhāvatī. Once, he resolved on a ninety-day pratyutpanna-samādhi retreat; having long suffered from studying so hard that he vomited blood, and with the skin of both feet cracking in the practice hall, the master vowed [to continue] even unto death. Suddenly one day, as if in a dream, he saw the white-robed Avalokiteśvara lower a finger and point to his mouth, drawing out several worms. Moreover, sweet dew flowed from between the fingers and poured into his mouth, making his body and mind clear and cool, and from then on his chronic ailment was instantly cured. Emerging from the repentance retreat, the protuberance on his crown was over an inch higher, both hands hung past his knees, and his voice sounded like a ringing bell, all different from before; the multitude all sighed in admiration. The master built several hundred bays of Lower Tianzhu Temple; it thrice encountered disasters from bandits, yet whenever set ablaze, the fires extinguished on their own, brought about by the firmness of his vow power. On the day the master passed away, the people of the mountain saw a large star fall onto Vulture Peak. He ordained one hundred disciples and had thousands of students. Near death, he lit an incense stick, gazed upon the image, and prayed: "The buddhas of the ten directions dwell together in the limit of reality. May you, dwelling in this limit of reality, accept my single stick of incense. Buddhas bear witness to my rebirth in Sukhāvatī." When someone asked where he was returning, he answered with the Pure Land of Tranquil Radiance. That night, he passed away seated; this was during the Tiansheng era, at the age of sixty-nine, with fifty monastic years. He authored the Resolution of Doubts and the Two Gates of Practice and Vows for Rebirth in the Pure Land, as well as the Pure Land Repentance Ritual, Golden Light, and Avalokiteśvara repentance liturgies, which circulate in the world. That the Tiantai wind and teachings flourished even more in Wuyue was truly due to the virtue of Ciyun of Tianzhu. Looking at the Resolution of Doubts and the Two Gates of Practice and Vows, the sūtra says: "Seeking carefully throughout the ten directions, there are no other vehicles, only the one Buddha vehicle." Does this not speak of this? The Repentance Master awakened to the eternal tranquil radiance of original nature and walked upon the pure Buddha-land of Mind-only; benefiting himself and benefiting others, principle and phenomena were unobstructed. He wrote several hundred works, and whenever he spoke, he took the Pure Land as the guiding tenet, broadly expounding the doctrines of the various sūtras to convert all beings universally. Since his repentance texts have circulated in the world, those reborn in the Pure Land are unknown in their tens of millions. Carrying on the path of Tiantai and assisting the transformation of the Pure Land, there has never been his like in the world.