佛祖統紀 29.48

29.48

律師元照。餘杭唐氏。初依祥符鑒律師。十八通誦妙經。試中得度。專學毘尼。後與擇映從神悟謙師。悟曰。近世律學中微。汝當明法華以弘四方。復從廣慈才法師受菩薩戒。戒光發見（詳見才法師傳）乃博究南山一宗頓漸律儀。常布衣持鉢。乞食於市。主靈芝三十年。眾至三百。義天遠來求法。為提大要授菩薩戒。會幾滿萬。增戒度僧。及六十會。施食禳災。應若谷響。所至伽藍必為結界。每曰。生弘律範死歸安養。平生所得唯二法門。政和六年秋九月一日。集眾諷普賢行願品。趺坐而化。湖上漁人皆聞天樂。葬於寺之西北。諡大智。塔曰戒光。常謂其徒曰。化當世無如講說。垂將來莫若著書。乃述資持記（釋事鈔）濟緣記（釋羯磨疏）行宗記（釋戒疏）住法記（釋遺教疏）報恩記（釋蘭盆疏）觀無量壽佛經。小本彌陀。皆有義疏。刪定尼戒本。凡百餘卷。雜著芝園集二十卷。

Vinaya Master Yuanzhao belonged to the Tang clan of Yuhang. At first, he relied on Vinaya Master Jian of Xiangfu. At eighteen, he could recite the Lotus Sūtra thoroughly, passed the examination, and was ordained, dedicating himself to the study of the Vinaya. Later, together with Zanying, he followed Master Shenwu Qian. Shenwu said: 'In recent generations, the study of the Vinaya has fallen into decline; you ought to understand the Lotus in order to propagate it to all quarters.' He further received the bodhisattva precepts from Dharma Master Guangci Cai, whereupon the light of the precepts manifested (see the biography of Dharma Master Cai for details). He then extensively investigated the sudden and gradual Vinaya rules of the Nanshan school. He constantly wore hemp robes and carried his bowl, begging for food in the marketplace. He presided over Lingzhi for thirty years, and his congregation reached three hundred. When Ŭich'ŏn came from afar to seek the Dharma, he presented the essentials to him and conferred the bodhisattva precepts upon him. His assembly reached nearly ten thousand; he added precepts and ordained monks on up to sixty occasions. His distribution of food to avert calamities met with responses like echoes in a valley. Wherever he went among saṃghārāmas, he would establish the boundary (sīmā). He often said: 'In life, I propagate the Vinaya standards; in death, I return to Sukhāvatī. In all my life, what I have attained are only these two Dharma doors.' On the first day of the ninth month in the autumn of the sixth year of Zhenghe, he gathered the assembly to chant the Chapter on the Practices and Vows of Samantabhadra, sat cross-legged, and passed away. The fishermen on the lake all heard heavenly music. He was buried to the northwest of the temple. He was posthumously named Dazhi (Great Wisdom), and his stūpa was named Jiezhuang (Light of Precepts). He often said to his disciples: 'For transforming the present age, nothing compares to lecturing; for bequeathing to the future, nothing compares to writing books.' He thus composed the Zichi ji (explaining the Xingshi chao), Jiyuan ji (explaining the Jiema shu), Xingzong ji (explaining the Jie shu), Zhufa ji (explaining the Yijiao jing shu), and Bao'en ji (explaining the Yulanpen shu); as well as commentaries on the Contemplation Sūtra and the smaller Amitābha Sūtra, and a redaction of the Prātimokṣa for Nuns, totaling over a hundred rolls, along with the miscellaneous collection Zhiyuan ji in twenty rolls.