[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [佛祖統紀](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035) › 12.8 # 佛祖統紀 12.8 佛祖統紀 12.8 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [12.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.12.8) 法師本如。四明句章人。受業本郡國寧。初依法智。於千眾中有少俊聲。史典詞翰有法則。為世所愛。嘗請益經正義。法智曰。為我作知事三年却向汝道。暨事畢復以為請。法智厲聲一喝。復呼云本如。師豁然有悟。為之頌曰。處處逢歸路。頭頭復故鄉。本來成現事。何必待思量。法智肯之曰。向來若為汝說。豈有今日。祥符四年。慈雲遷靈山。親往法智會下。求可為繼。法智曰。當於眾中自擇之。慈雲閱視至師即云。斯人可也。師至承天（東山能仁舊名）大振法道。歷三十年。眾常五六百。法華涅槃光明觀無量壽觀音別行玄止觀金錍觀心論等。皆講說六七過。嘗集百僧修法華長懺一年。瑞驗屢見。寶歷二年七月。駙馬李遵勗為請於朝。賜神照法師紫方袍。及賜智者教文四千五百卷。以資講說。嘗於寺西南隅。見一虎睡以杖擊之曰。此非汝睡處。虎俛首而去（今白蓮寺虎溪亭）後於虎臥處結屋為菴歸間其中。先是有五通神居於此。師每禪坐必連床舁行空中。師未嘗問。一日五神請曰。師既踞吾居。乞於此向山岡。建祠塑像。已備泥在山矣。師往視岡上。有新泥一垛。以之塑像無所餘。師慕廬山之風。與丞相章郇公諸賢結白蓮社。六七年來遂成巨剎。乃以能仁山林三之一。指嶺為界。以供樵薪。仁宗欽其道。遂賜名為白蓮。皇祐三年五月十八日微疾。即升座說法與眾訣別。其夕法堂藏閣方丈棟梁皆折。鍾鼓擊之無聲。江上漁人。見雲端有僧西向而去。詰旦右脇安庠而逝。時天氣盛熱異香非常。明年三月。塔全身於寺北。門人啟鑰視尊容如生爪髮俱長。有大蓮華產於塔前。壽七十。臘五十三。嗣法處咸等甚眾。師嘗於天台邑中為眾施戒。方秉羯磨忽有光明。自智者塔國清寺赤城山。交射於法座之上。又因供千佛。飯一千貧人。置華於席下。佛座華應不萎而反萎。貧人座華應萎而反不萎。舉眾為之歎異。嘗著仁王懺儀。撰行法經疏至十種境界而止。後咸法師續而全之。 > Dharma Master Benru was a native of Gouzhang in Siming. He received his training at Guoning in his native commandery. At first he relied on Fazhi, and among a thousand fellows he enjoyed a reputation for youthful excellence. He had a model discipline for historical classics and literary calligraphy, and was beloved by the world. Once, he requested further clarification of the correct meaning of the scriptures. Fazhi said, 'Serve as my rector (zhishi) for three years, and then I will explain it to you.' When his term of duty was completed and he made the request again, Fazhi gave a loud shout and called out, 'Benru!' The Master was suddenly awakened and composed a verse: 'Everywhere I encounter the way back; / In each thing I return to my native village. / It was an already-accomplished matter from the start; / Why must it depend on deliberation?' Fazhi approved him, saying, 'If I had explained it to you before, how could there be today?' In the fourth year of Dazhong Xiangfu, Ciyun relocated to Lingshan and went in person to Fazhi's assembly to seek someone who could succeed him. Fazhi said, 'You should choose for yourself from among the assembly.' Ciyun surveyed them, and when he came to the Master, he said, 'This man will do.' The Master arrived at Chengtian (the old name of Dongshan Nengren) and greatly invigorated the path of the Dharma. Over thirty years, his followers consistently numbered five or six hundred. He expounded six or seven times on texts such as the Lotus, the Mahāparinirvāṇa, the Suvarṇaprabhāsa, the Guan Wuliangshou, the Guanyin biexing xuan, the Zhiguan, the Jinbi, and the Guanxin lun. He once gathered a hundred monks to practice the year-long extended repentance of the Lotus, and auspicious omens appeared repeatedly. In the seventh month of the second year of Baoli, the Imperial Son-in-law Li Zunxu petitioned the court on his behalf, and he was bestowed the purple robe with the title Dharma Master Shenzhao, as well as four thousand five hundred rolls of Master Zhiyi's doctrinal writings to aid his lectures. Once, at the southwest corner of the monastery, he saw a sleeping tiger and struck it with his staff, saying, 'This is no place for you to sleep!' The tiger bowed its head and left (now the Huxi Pavilion of Bailian Monastery). Later, on the spot where the tiger had lain, he built a hut as a hermitage to retire in leisure. Formerly, there were five spirit-deities with supernatural powers residing here; whenever the Master sat in meditation, they would carry his seat through the air, but the Master never questioned them. One day the five spirits requested, 'Since you have occupied our abode, we beg that you build a shrine and sculpt images on the opposite ridge; we have already prepared mud on the mountain.' The Master went to look at the ridge, and there was a mound of new mud, which was used to sculpt the images with none left over. Admiring the spirit of Mount Lu, the Master formed the White Lotus Society with Chancellor Duke Zhang Xun and various worthies; within six or seven years it became a great monastery. He then set the mountain ridge as a boundary, designating one-third of the forests of Nengren to supply firewood. Emperor Renzong revered his path and bestowed on it the name White Lotus. On the eighteenth day of the fifth month of the third year of Huangyou, suffering a slight illness, he ascended the hall, preached the Dharma, and bade farewell to the assembly. That night, the main beams of the Dharma hall, scripture repository, and abbot's quarters all snapped, and the bells and drums produced no sound when struck. Fishermen on the river saw a monk heading west amidst the clouds. At dawn, resting on his right side, he peacefully passed away. The weather was sweltering at the time, but an extraordinary fragrance arose. In the third month of the following year, his entire body was entombed in a stupa north of the monastery. His disciples opened the lock and observed his revered countenance as if alive, with his nails and hair having grown long, and a great lotus blossom bloomed before the stupa. He was seventy years old and had fifty-three rains retreats. His Dharma successors, such as Chuxian and others, were very numerous. The Master once conferred the precepts upon the assembly in Tiantai county; while holding the karmavācanā, beams of light suddenly shot across from Zhiyi's stupa, Guoqing Monastery, and Mount Chicheng, intersecting above the Dharma seat. Furthermore, when making offerings to a thousand Buddhas and feeding a thousand poor people, flowers were placed beneath their seats; the flowers under the Buddha seats, which should not have withered, withered instead, while the flowers under the poor people's seats, which should have withered, did not. The entire assembly marveled at this. He once composed the Renwang chanyi and drafted the Xingfa jingshu up to the ten kinds of realms before stopping; later, Master Xian continued and completed it. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 12.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.12.7) - [Next: 12.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.12.9) - [Up: 12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.12) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035~en-mt.12.8) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.12.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.12.8) · Pramāṇa