廬山蓮宗寶鑑 4.59

4.59

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.