佛祖統紀 18.39

18.39

法師善月字光遠。四明定海方氏。父偉為邑中名儒。母夢月輪墮懷已而有娠。生之夕白光滿室。初學語。常合掌道法界字。甫成童。父編六經授之。以次誦習。如溫故業。十二通春秋大義。母携往正覺寺設供。循殿楹數匝。寺主道并謂其母曰。吾夜夢白龍繞此柱。其徵此兒乎。於是父母始令出家。命名善月。符先夢也（善月光遠皆古佛名）十五具戒。越三月而并師亡。乃往南湖依草菴。常以科目繁冗為勞。草菴誨之曰。白日看家書有何難解。師為一省。來菴來繼。趨隅日勤。菴曰。異時鼓吹吾宗者其在子乎。梓菴講道月波往謁焉。聞世相常住之旨益有省發。乃復歸南湖見月堂。問如來不斷性惡之說。身心豁然。如却關鑰見府庫。以所悟白。堂更為演其義。師拜領而退堂示寂。師為專使往當湖請竹菴。越明年。命師分講。風儀清溫談辨雅正。竹菴讚之曰。吾於首座可謂得人。但恨無繼之者。所居古柏獨秀。因自號柏庭。淳熙庚子初主東湖辯利。遷慈溪寶嚴。居無何太師史真隱。請居月波學士來奔廩食不足。真隱聞之喜使使白師曰。師為道延眾。欲食來取予不嗇也。紹興二年。郡率何公澹。以南湖虛席。親裁疏勸請。講道有方。御眾有法。十三年不易節。緇素以是信之。嘉泰四年。退隱衍慶精舍。一息十載夢老叟耳語曰。六十五。七十一。嘉定六年。郡將陳卿。以南湖有去思為更屈。致辭弗克。雨華更新舊徒再擁。未逾月。上竺以勅書召。師謂亟往有似於徇名。堅不為動。眾謂上命不可不恭。始幡然而往。是年正六十五之驗也。八年夏旱。詔迎大士於明慶。車駕親幸致拜。命師恭禱。朝注暮洽。上大說。特補左街僧錄。十二年秋拂衣東歸。偃息於城南祖關。是年七十一。又知所以驗前夢也明年秋。郡以西山資教。卑師佚老。紹定五年春。有旨再領上竺。人皆以坡仙師去忽復來鳥語山容開之句。為之賀。端平三年得目眚。請老東菴。一旦示疾。坐床上若相酬酢者。法孫秀林問何為。曰吾與荊溪尊者對談祖道耳。將入寂顧左右曰。人患無實德為後世稱。若但崇虛譽我則不暇。千載之下。謂吾為柏庭叟。則吾枯骨為無愧。幸勿為請諡以污我素業。言已累足而化。實淳祐元年正月十九日也。留龕七日。貌色鮮白心頂俱煖。奉全身塔於寺東。為壽九十三。得夏七十八。先是首座智覺。論請於朝言。師道光前哲。四眾依仰。年登九秩。將逼歸真。請建塔山中以擬歸藏。上旨允之。故今用此成命。所遺衣髮及四經解。合藏於南湖祖塔之側。師所著述。楞嚴玄覽。金剛會解。圓覺略說。楞伽通義。因革論。簡境十策。三部格言。金錍義解。宗教玄述。仁王疏記。附鈔箋要。皆行於世。自餘雜製。名緒餘。講餘對客木嘗及世間事。唯論前人往行及典誥之辭。或問何以安心。曰心本不動。問法華經藏。曰當處全彰。其警策類此。嗣其道者。香林清賜為上首。

Dharma Master Shanyue, styled Guangyuan, was from the Fang family of Dinghai in Siming. His father, Wei, was a celebrated Confucian scholar in the district. His mother dreamed that the moon's disk fell into her bosom, and soon afterward became pregnant. On the night of his birth, white light filled the room. When he first learned to speak, he would often press his palms together and say the words 'dharma-realm' (dharmadhātu). Barely a youth, his father compiled the Six Classics to teach him; he recited and studied them in sequence, as though reviewing familiar works from the past. At twelve, he understood the profound purport of the Spring and Autumn Annals. His mother took him to Zhengjue Monastery to make offerings. Circling the pillars of the hall several times, the abbot Daobing said to his mother, 'Last night I dreamed of a white dragon coiling around this pillar; does it presage this child?' Thereupon, his parents finally permitted him to leave household life, naming him Shanyue to match the earlier dream. (Shanyue and Guangyuan are both names of ancient Buddhas.) At fifteen, he received full ordination. Three months later, Master Bing passed away, so he went to Nanhu to rely on Cao'an. He was often wearied by the tedious complexity of categorical outlines, so Cao'an instructed him, 'When you read a family letter in broad daylight, what is difficult to understand?' The master instantly had an awakening. He served the retreat attentively, standing respectfully in the corner day after day with increasing diligence. Cao'an said, 'In future times, the one who proclaims and upholds our school will surely be you!' When Zian lectured on the Way at Yuebo, he went to visit him; hearing the doctrine of the permanent abiding of mundane characteristics, he gained even further awakening. He then returned to Nanhu to see Yuetang and asked about the teaching that the Tathāgata does not sever inherent evil. His body and mind opened up clearly, like throwing open locks and keys to behold a treasury. When he reported what he had awakened to, Yuetang further expounded its meaning for him. The master bowed, received it, and withdrew. When Yuetang showed signs of entering nirvāṇa, the master served as a special envoy to Danghu to invite Zhu'an. The following year, [Zhu'an] ordered the master to share the preaching; his deportment was serene and gentle, and his discourse was elegant and correct. Zhu'an praised him, saying, 'In my head monk, I have truly found the right man; I only regret having no one to succeed him.' In his dwelling stood an ancient cypress that flourished singularly, so he styled himself Boting ('Cypress Courtyard'). In the gengzi year of the Chunxi era, he first presided over Bianli in Donghu, and then moved to Baoyan in Cixi. Before long, Grand Preceptor Shi Zhenyin invited him to reside at Yuebo; when scholars flocked thither, the grain stores were insufficient. Hearing of this with delight, Zhenyin sent an envoy to inform the master: 'You, Master, invite assemblies for the sake of the Way; if you need food, come take it, I shall not be begrudging.' In the second year of the Shaoxing [read: Shaoxi] era, Prefect Lord He Dan, seeing the vacant seat at Nanhu, personally drafted an invitation to urge him. He preached the Way with method and directed the assembly with discipline, not altering his integrity for thirteen years; monastics and laypeople trusted him on this account. In the fourth year of the Jiatai era, he retired to Yanqing Hermitage; resting for ten years, he dreamed of an old man whispering in his ear, 'Sixty-five, seventy-one.' In the sixth year of the Jiading era, Commander Chen Qing, seeing the yearning people felt for him after his departure from Nanhu, prevailed upon him again; [the master] declined, but could not refuse. Rain of flowers was renewed, and old disciples gathered around him once more. Within a month, he was summoned to Shangzhu by an imperial decree. The master considered that hastening thither would resemble pursuing fame, so he remained steadfastly unmoved. But when the assembly said that an imperial command must not be disrespected, he finally relented and went; that year was indeed the fulfillment of the number sixty-five. In the summer of the eighth year, there was a drought; an imperial edict was issued to welcome the Mahāsattva [Avalokiteśvara] at Mingqing. The imperial carriage visited in person to pay homage, ordering the master to pray reverently; rain poured in the morning and drenched the land by evening. The Emperor was exceedingly pleased, specially appointing him Controller of Monks of the Left Street. In the autumn of the twelfth year, he shook out his robes and returned east, taking his rest at the ancestral gate south of the city. That year he was seventy-one, and thus understood how the previous dream had been fulfilled. In the autumn of the following year, the prefecture used Zijiao at Xishan as an easy place for the master to retire in old age. In the spring of the fifth year of the Shaoding era, an imperial decree commanded him to take charge of Shangzhu a second time. Everyone congratulated him using the line by the Immortal Su Shi: 'The master departed and suddenly returns again; birds sing and the mountain’s countenance opens up.' In the third year of the Duanping era, he suffered an eye ailment and requested to retire to Dong'an. One day he manifested illness; sitting on his bed, he appeared to be conversing with someone. His Dharma grandson Xiulin asked what he was doing; he replied, 'I am merely speaking about the ancestral Way face-to-face with the Venerable of Jingxi.' When about to enter nirvāṇa, he looked at his attendants and said, 'What people should fear is having no real virtue to be praised by later generations. If it were merely to promote empty fame, I would have no leisure for it. If, a thousand years from now, people refer to me as the Old Man of Cypress Courtyard, my dry bones will have no cause for shame. Please do not request a posthumous title, which would defile my pristine lifelong vocation.' Having spoken, he crossed his legs and passed away. It was truly on the nineteenth day of the first month in the first year of the Chunyou era. His casket was kept for seven days; his countenance remained fresh and white, and both his heart and the crown of his head were warm. His whole-body stūpa was enshrined to the east of the monastery. His lifespan was ninety-three, and his monastic age was seventy-eight. Prior to this, the head monk Zhijue had submitted a petition to the court, saying, 'The master's Way illuminates the former sages, and the fourfold assembly relies upon him. Having reached the age of ninety, he draws near to returning to the Real. We request to erect a stūpa on the mountain in anticipation of his burial.' The Emperor granted the request; thus, this authorized command was now put into effect. His remaining robes, hair, and commentaries on four scriptures were interred together beside the ancestral stūpa at Nanhu. The master's writings include: The Profound Overview of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Collected Explanations of the Diamond Sūtra, Brief Exposition of the Perfect Enlightenment Sūtra, General Meaning of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, Treatise on Continuities and Changes, Ten Strategies for Discerning the Object, Maxims of the Three Treatises, Meaning and Explanation of the Gold Cleaver, Profound Discourse on the Lineage and Teaching, Subcommentary and Notes to the Benevolent King Sūtra, and Essential Appended Commentary, all of which circulate in the world. His other miscellaneous writings were titled Residue. In the leisure after lecturing, when facing guests, he never touched upon worldly affairs, discussing only the past deeds of ancients and the words of canonical texts. Someone asked how to pacify the mind; he said, 'The mind is originally unmoving.' Asked about the Lotus Sūtra treasury, he said, 'It is fully manifested right here.' His admonitions were all of this kind. Among those who inherited his Way, Xianglin Qinci was the foremost.