佛祖統紀 15.51

15.51

法師了然。臨海薛氏。母禱山兵寺石像前。夢至佛殿見僧持蓮華令食之。且曰。汝生子當出家。後十三月而孕。四歲母念出家。則誰當為嗣。夢神人叱之曰。何爽前囑。遂諾之。十六具戒。從安國學教觀。慧解驟發。嘗夢坐盤石泛大海。望大士坐山上竹林間。師曰。平生持尊號今得見之。遂正立說百偈以讚。覺憶其半。自是頓發辨才。侍安國遷白蓮。未幾去謁明智。智問華嚴十法界。大論三世間。法華十如是。三處文義。共成三千。荊溪何云指的妙境出自法華。師曰。華嚴大論。是死法門。法華十如是。是活法門。智首肯之。時晁說之。嘗謁明智。因與師論此道。待之如同學。四明講者道如。辭氣毅然時號如虎。與師難問必為之屈。明智舉主廣嚴。師曰。吾不當負所得。卒為安國嗣。六年遷白蓮。居山二十四年。學者常五六百人。紹興戊午。寧海建大會請師說法。有使者持牒來曰。兜率天請師說法。師曰。此間法會未散。使曰。符不可緩當先。其次者即毀師名而去。紹興辛酉五月。夢兩龍戲空中。一化為神人。袖出書曰。師七日當行。師唯唯。既寤集眾說法。復大書曰。因念佛力得歸極樂。凡在吾徒宜當力學。即沐浴更衣。與眾同誦阿彌陀經。至西方世界而逝。能仁行人。聞天樂音。祥光屬天。眾謂師報居淨土。而先赴兜率之請也。八月葬東岡。錫號智涌。郡祈雨於玉溪。眾苦路險。師呪龍使移之。是夜風雨大作。旦見潭在所指夷坦處。述宗圓記五卷。釋南岳止觀樞要二卷。釋十不二門。虎溪集八卷。

Dharma Master Liaoran came from the Xue clan of Linhai. His mother prayed before a stone statue at Shanbing Temple and dreamed that she arrived at a Buddha hall, where she saw a monk holding a lotus flower and bidding her to eat it, saying to her, 'When you bear a son, he must become a monastic.' Thirteen months later, she became pregnant. When he was four years old, his mother thought to herself: 'If he becomes a monastic, who will be the heir?' A divine being rebuked her in a dream, saying, 'Why do you fail your former promise?' She thereupon consented. At sixteen, he took full ordination. He studied doctrine and contemplation under Anguo, and his insightful understanding burst forth swiftly. He once dreamed that he sat on a flat boulder floating upon a great ocean, gazing at the Great Being seated amidst a bamboo grove upon a mountain. The master said, 'All my life I have held your venerable name, and now I have been granted sight of you.' He then stood erect and spoke a hundred verses in praise; upon waking, he remembered half of them. From this time onward, his eloquence burst forth suddenly. He attended Anguo and moved to Bailian, and before long went to visit Mingzhi. Mingzhi asked, 'The ten dharma-realms in the Huayan, the three worlds in the Dazhidulun, and the ten suchnesses in the Lotus Sutra: the textual meanings of these three places together make up the three thousand. Why did Jingxi say that pointing specifically to the marvelous object comes from the Lotus Sutra?' The master said, 'The Huayan and the Dazhidulun are dead dharma-gates; the ten suchnesses of the Lotus Sutra are a living dharma-gate.' Mingzhi nodded in approval. At that time, Chao Shuozhi once visited Mingzhi, and consequently discussed this Way with the master, treating him like a fellow classmate. Daoru, a lecturer from Siming, had a resolute manner of speech and was known at the time as 'the Tiger'; whenever he engaged in difficult questioning with the master, he was inevitably brought to submission. Mingzhi recommended the master to lead Guangyan. The master said, 'I must not turn my back on what I have received,' and ultimately became Anguo's dharma heir. In the sixth year, he moved to Bailian, residing on the mountain for twenty-four years, where students constantly numbered five to six hundred. In the wuwu year of Shaoxing, Ninghai established a great assembly and invited the master to preach the Dharma. A messenger came holding a dispatch, saying, 'The Tuṣita Heaven requests the master to preach the Dharma.' The master said, 'The Dharma assembly here has not yet dispersed.' The messenger said, 'The official warrant cannot be delayed; you must go first.' Next, he struck out the master's name and departed. In the fifth month of the xinyou year of Shaoxing, he dreamed of two dragons disporting in the sky, one of which transformed into a divine being, who drew a letter from his sleeve and said, 'The master shall depart in seven days.' The master gave his assent. Once awake, he gathered the assembly and preached the Dharma, and furthermore wrote in large letters: 'Through the power of mindfulness of the Buddha, I have attained return to the Ultimate Bliss. Let all who are among my disciples apply themselves diligently to study.' He then bathed, changed his clothes, and together with the assembly chanted the Amitābha Sūtra. When they reached 'the Western World,' he passed away. Practitioners at Nengren heard the sounds of heavenly music, and auspicious light touched the sky. The assembly said that the master's retribution body resided in the Pure Land, but he had first answered the invitation from Tuṣita. In the eighth month, he was buried on the eastern ridge, and was granted the name 'Zhiyong' [Wisdom-Gushing]. When the commandery prayed for rain at Yuxi, the assembly suffered from the steepness of the road; the master incanted the dragon and made it move. That night a great storm of wind and rain arose, and at dawn the pool was seen situated in the level and flat area he had indicated. He authored the Zongyuan ji in five scrolls, the Shi Nanyue zhiguan shuyao in two scrolls, the Shi shi bu'ermen, and the Huxi ji in eight scrolls.