佛祖統紀 13.17

13.17

法師繼忠字法臣。永嘉丘氏。父母求嗣佛祠。同夢一僧授以好子云。螺溪尊者寄汝養之。母娠即厭葷血。幼見佛像必致敬。八歲入開元。蒙恩得度。即詣南湖依廣智學。勞苦得疾。乃行請觀音三昧。蒙大士放光以水灌頂其疾即愈。既而洞悟教觀無所凝滯。廣智深器之。時令代講。雪竇顯禪師。見而歎曰。四明之道為有傳矣。永嘉士庶。請居開元東閣。遷妙果慧安。退隱江心研精禪觀。出主西湖法明。學者驟集。有欲革大其居者。師曰。施者方受其福。吾忍毀之乎。每歲正月上八。於郡中授菩薩戒行放生事。士庶嘗至數萬人。每誓於眾曰。入吾道場而歸命三寶者。縱未得道。願生生世世不失人身。正見出家求無上道。行法華光明彌陀觀音三昧。日不虛過。誦呪救疾神應莫測。每入市。坐者避席。行者避路。舉首加敬。稱為戒師。元豐五年十月八日。沐浴更衣。集眾說法。結印坐亡。人見赤光徹照空表。淨社全教。夢金甲士告曰。今夜得道人入滅。慶恩希妙夢。神人告曰。忠法師已生兜率。師久行施食。後雖有繼。鳥雀悲鳴。三日不下。葬於瑞鹿山。傳法者及百人。著扶宗集五十卷。集十諫。指迷。抉膜。十門析難。及十義書等。用昭四明獨得祖道之正。至於所錄二師口義。後人頗怪其冗雜。

Dharma Master Jizhong's courtesy name was Fachen. He belonged to the Qiu clan of Yongjia. His parents prayed for an heir at a Buddhist shrine, and both dreamed of a monk presenting them with a fine son, saying, 'The Venerable of Luoxi entrusts him to you to rear.' As soon as his mother became pregnant, she felt an aversion to meat and blood. From childhood, whenever he saw a Buddha image, he unfailingly paid reverent homage. At the age of eight, he entered Kaiyuan [Monastery], and was ordained through imperial favor. He immediately went to Nanhu to study under Guangzhi. Suffering from illness due to hard toil, he practiced the Invocation of Guanyin Samādhi. Receiving the Great Being's radiance and anointing of his crown with water, his illness was cured at once. Soon afterwards, he had a penetrating awakening to the doctrine and contemplation without any obstruction. Guangzhi held him in high esteem and frequently had him lecture in his place. Chan Master Xuedou Xian saw him and sighed with praise, saying, 'The Way of Siming has indeed found a successor!' The gentry and commoners of Yongjia invited him to reside in the eastern pavilion of Kaiyuan. He then moved to Miaoguo and Hui'an, and later retired in seclusion to Jiangxin to investigate the subtleties of meditative contemplation. Coming forth, he presided over Faming at West Lake, where students gathered in great numbers. When someone wished to renovate and enlarge his residence, the master said, 'The donor is just now receiving his merit; how could I bear to tear it down?' Every year on the eighth day of the first month, he conferred the bodhisattva precepts and performed the release of living beings in the commandery; the gentry and commoners who gathered often numbered in the tens of thousands. He would always make a vow to the assembly, saying, 'May all who enter my bodhimaṇḍa and take refuge in the Three Jewels, even if they have not yet attained the Way, not lose human rebirth life after life, leave home with right view to seek the unsurpassed Way, and practice the Lotus, Golden Light, Amitābha, and Guanyin samādhis without passing a single day in vain.' When he recited dhāraṇīs to cure ailments, the divine efficacy was unfathomable. Whenever he walked into the marketplace, those seated stood up, and those walking yielded the path, raising their heads in deep reverence and hailing him as the Precept Master. On the eighth day of the tenth month in the fifth year of Yuanfeng, he bathed, changed his robes, assembled the congregation to preach the Dharma, formed a mudrā, and passed away seated. People saw a red radiance illuminating the open sky. Quanjiao of the Pure Society dreamed of a warrior in golden armor who told him, 'Tonight a man of the Way enters extinction.' Ximiao of Qing'en dreamed of a divine being who told him, 'Dharma Master Zhong has already been born in Tuṣita.' The master had long practiced the distribution of food [to spirits]; though someone continued it afterwards, birds chirped mournfully and did not descend for three days. He was buried at Mount Ruilu. Those who received his Dharma numbered up to a hundred. He composed the *Fuzong ji* (Collection for Supporting the Tradition) in fifty fascicles, compiled the *Shijian* (Ten Remonstrances), *Zhimi* (Pointing out Delusion), *Juemo* (Removing the Cataract), *Shimen xinan* (Resolving Difficulties in Ten Sections), and the *Shiyi shu* (Book on the Ten Meanings), so as to illustrate that Siming alone obtained the orthodoxy of the patriarchal way. As for the recorded *Kouyi* (Oral Meanings of the Two Masters), later people found it somewhat redundant and mixed.