佛祖統紀 26.24

26.24

法師慧持。遠公同母弟也。幼讀書。一日所記常敵十日。年十八與兄同事安公。遍學眾經遊刃三藏。及安公在襄陽。遣遠公與師。東下遂止廬山。師形長八尺衲衣垂膝徒屬三百師為上首。豫章太守范甯請師講法華經阿毘曇論。四方雲聚。瑯邪王珣與范甯書問遠持二公孰愈。甯曰。誠謂賢兄賢弟。珣復書曰。但令如弟誠未之有。況復賢邪。羅什在關中遙相欽敬。每致書通好。隆安三年辭兄入蜀。遠公留之曰。人生愛聚汝獨樂離。師曰。滯情愛聚者本不應出家。今既割欲求道。正以西方為期耳。即悵然而別。至成都郫縣。居龍淵寺大弘佛法。升其堂者號登龍門。義熙八年順寂。春秋七十六。臨終遺命務嚴律儀專心淨業。以東間經籍付道泓。西間法典付曇蘭。以泓行業清敏。蘭神悟天發。並能係軌師蹤焉。

Dharma Master Huichi was Master Yuan's younger brother by the same mother. In his youth, when reading books, what he memorized in one day could rival ten days' work of others. At the age of eighteen, together with his elder brother, he served Master An. He studied the sūtras broadly, moving with easy mastery through the Tripiṭaka. When Master An was in Xiangyang, he dispatched Master Yuan and the Master to travel east, and they subsequently took up residence at Mount Lu. The Master was eight feet tall; his patched robe hung to his knees, and he was the leader of three hundred disciples. Fan Ning, the Grand Administrator of Yuzhang, invited the Master to lecture on the Lotus Sūtra and the Abhidharma treatises; people gathered from all quarters like clouds. Wang Xun of Langye wrote a letter to Fan Ning asking whether Master Yuan or Master Chi was the superior one. Ning replied, 'They are truly worthy elder brother and worthy younger brother!' Xun replied, 'If one could only be like the younger brother, that would truly be unprecedented; how much more so that both are worthy!' Kumārajīva, being in the Guanzhong region, admired and revered him from afar, and frequently sent letters to cultivate friendly relations. In the third year of the Long'an era, he took leave of his elder brother to enter Shu. Master Yuan tried to detain him, saying, 'Human life loves gathering together; why do you alone delight in parting?' The Master said, 'Those whose feelings cling to loving assembly should not have left home in the first place. Now that we have severed desires to seek the Way, we take only the Western Direction as our ultimate goal.' They then parted with melancholy. Arriving at Pi County in Chengdu, he resided at Longyuan Temple and broadly propagated the Buddha Dharma. Those who entered his hall were said to have 'ascended the Dragon Gate'. In the eighth year of the Yixi era, he harmoniously passed away at the age of seventy-six. On the verge of death, he left instructions to strictly maintain the vinaya rules and single-mindedly focus on pure karma. He entrusted the sūtras and records of the eastern chamber to Daohong, and the Dharma texts of the western chamber to Tanlan, because Hong's conduct was pure and astute, and Lan's spiritual awakening was naturally endowed, both being capable of following in their master's footsteps.