佛祖統紀 13.26

13.26

法師有嚴。台之臨海胡氏。母將孕。號痛頓仆。其兄沙門宗本曰。是必有異。若生男當出家。母聞之合掌以許。既而痛止。果生男。六歲依靈鷲從師。十四受具戒。閱壽禪師心賦若有所悟。即往東山學於神照一心三觀之道。法華三昧之行。莫不神解。而躬行之。時法真同居會中。謂之曰。子雖晚出當大成器。嘗讀止觀至不思議境曰。萬法唯一心。心外無一法。心法不可得。故名妙三千。法真益嘉歎之。初主無相慧因法真。自赤城遷東掖。舉師以代。常謂去佛久遠人迷自性。凡宣演之際。必近指一心使之易領。聞者皆能有入。紹聖中。郡請主東掖。師曰。智者年未五十。已散徒眾。吾老矣可堪此耶。卒不赴。隱居故山東峯。廬於樝木之旁。因自號曰樝菴（文集中。有樝菴記。辭理極奇勝）畜一鉢無長物。躬拾薪汲水。食唯三白。毘尼條章輕重等護二十年。專事淨業以安養為故鄉。作懷淨土詩八章。辭情悽切人多樂誦。常時所修三昧多獲瑞應。施鬼神食除病却祟。驅蛇去蟻水旱禳禬。一為課誦如谷答響。母病目。師對觀音想日精摩尼手。母即夢師擎日當前。覺而目明。建中靖國元年孟夏。定中見天神告白。師淨業成矣。又夢池中生大蓮華。天樂四列。乃作餞歸淨土之詩。越七日趺坐而化。以陶器塔於菴北。有光在塔如月。三夕乃沒。師淹貫藏經該通書史。注安樂行空品。及法印經疏。玄籤備檢。文句箋難。止觀助覽。阿彌陀禮文。又撰或對一編。辯論古今。於茲為要。

Dharma Master Youyan was surnamed Hu and hailed from Linhai in Taizhou. When his mother was about to conceive him, she fell prostrate in severe pain. Her elder brother, the śramaṇa Zongben, said, “This must signify something extraordinary. If a boy is born, he must leave home [as a monk].” Hearing this, his mother joined her palms in agreement, whereupon the pain immediately ceased. Indeed, a boy was born. At the age of six, he took refuge at Lingjiu to study under a master. At fourteen, he received the full precepts. Upon reading the Xinfu (Mind-Poem) of Dhyāna Master [Yongming Yan]shou, he had an awakening. He immediately went to Dongshan to study the path of the threefold contemplation in one mind and the practice of the Lotus Samādhi under Shenzhao; there was nothing he did not divinely comprehend and personally practice. At that time, Fazhen lived together in the assembly and told him, “Though you have emerged late, you will become a vessel of great distinction.” Once, when reading Zhiguan up to the inconceivable realm, [Youyan] stated, “The ten thousand dharmas are solely the one mind; outside the mind there is not a single dharma. Mind and dharmas are unattainable; hence it is named the wondrous three thousand.” Fazhen praised and admired him all the more. He initially presided over Wuxiang and Huiyin. When Fazhen moved from Chicheng to Dongye, he recommended the Master to succeed him. [The Master] often remarked that because the Buddha is long gone, people are deluded about their own nature; whenever he expounded, he invariably pointed directly to the one mind to make it easy to grasp, so that listeners were all able to attain entry. During the Shaosheng reign period, the commandery requested him to preside over Dongye. The Master said, “Before the Great Master Zhi[yi] reached the age of fifty, he had already dispersed his disciples. I am already old; how could I endure this?” Ultimately, he did not accept. He lived in reclusion on the eastern peak of his native mountain, building a hut beside a hawthorn tree, and thus named himself Zha'an (Hawthorn Hermitage; in his collected writings there is the Record of Zha'an, whose prose and principles are exceedingly wondrous). He kept only a single bowl and possessed no superfluous goods, gathering firewood and drawing water with his own hands, eating only the three white foods. For twenty years, he guarded the light and heavy articles of the Vinaya with equal care, dedicated exclusively to the pure karma [of Pure Land], taking the Land of Peace and Sustenance (Sukhāvatī) as his homeland. He composed eight poems on longing for the Pure Land; their diction and sentiments were deeply moving, and many took joy in reciting them. The samādhis he regularly practiced frequently obtained auspicious responses: he gave food to ghosts and spirits to dispel illnesses and repel baneful influences, and expelled snakes and ants and prayed to avert floods and droughts—whenever he performed recitations, responses came like echoes in a valley. When his mother suffered from eye disease, the Master faced Avalokiteśvara and visualized the sun-essence maṇi hand; his mother promptly dreamed that the Master held the sun before her, and upon waking her eyes were clear. In the first month of summer in the first year of the Jianzhong Jingguo reign period, while in meditative absorption, he saw a heavenly deity announce, “Master, your pure karma is accomplished.” He also dreamed of a great lotus flower growing in a pond, with heavenly music arranged on all four sides. He then composed a poem on bidding farewell and returning to the Pure Land. Seven days later, he passed away sitting cross-legged. He was stupaed in an earthenware vessel to the north of the hermitage. A light appeared over the stupa like the moon, vanishing only after three nights. The Master had an exhaustive mastery of the Tripiṭaka and was thoroughly versed in secular books and histories. He annotated the Chapter on Peaceful and Joyful Practices and Emptiness, wrote commentaries on the Faxiyin jing, the Xuanqian beijian, the Wenju jiannan, the Zhiguan zhulan, and the Amituo liwen, and compiled a volume titled Huodui (Dialogues of Queries), which debated the ancient and the modern, serving as an essential work on these matters.