佛祖統紀 49.15

49.15

維年月日。岳州大和尚終於聖安寺。凡為僧若干年。年若干有名無姓。世莫知其閭里宗族。所設施者有問焉。而以告曰。性五姓也。其原無初其胄無終。承於釋師以系道本。吾無姓耶。法劍云者我名也。實且不有名惡乎存。吾有名耶。性海吾鄉也。法界吾宇也。戒為之墉。慧為之門。以守則固。以居則安。吾閭里不具乎。度門道品其數無極。菩薩大士其眾無涯。吾與之戚而不吾異也。吾宗族不大乎。其道可聞者如此。而止讀法華經金剛般若經。數逾千萬。或譏以有為。曰吾未嘗作。嗚呼佛道逾遠異端競起。唯天台大師為得其說。和尚紹承本統以順中道。凡受教者不失其宗。生物流動趣向混亂。惟極樂正路為得其歸。和尚勤求端慤以成至願。凡聽信者不惑其道。或譏以有迹。曰吾未嘗行。始居防州龍興寺。中徙居是州。作道場於楞伽北峯。不越閫者五十祀。和尚凡所嚴事。皆世高德。始出家事而依者曰卓然師。居南陽立山葬岳州。就受戒者曰道頴師。居荊州。弟子之首曰懷遠師。居長沙安國寺為南岳戒法。歲來侍師。會其終遂以某日葬於卓然師塔東若干步。銘曰。道本於一。離為異門。以性為姓。乃歸其根。無名而名。師教是尊。假以示物。非吾所存。大鄉不居。大族不親。淵懿內朗。冲虛外仁。聖有遺言。是究是勤。惟動惟默。逝如浮雲。教久益微。世罕究陳。爰有大智。出其真門。師以顯示。俾民惟新。情動生變。物由湮淪。爰授樂國。參乎化源。師以誘導。俾民不昏。道用不作。神行無迹。晦明俱如。生死偕寂。法付後學。施之無斁。葬從我師。無忘真宅寫是昭銘。刻茲真石。

On such a year, month, and day, the Great Achārya of Yuezhou passed away at Sheng'an Monastery. He had been a monk for a certain number of years, and was of a certain age. He had a given name but no surname. The world did not know his village or his clan. When there was someone who questioned what he practiced, he answered them, saying: 'Nature is my surname. Its source has no beginning; its lineage has no end. Receiving it from the Teacher Śākya, it connects to the foundation of the Way. Do I have no surname? What is called "Dharma-Sword" is my name. If reality itself does not exist, where does a name abide? Do I have a name? The Ocean of Nature is my native village; the Dharma-realm is my house. Discipline serves as its wall; wisdom serves as its gate. Holding to it, one is secure; abiding in it, one is at peace. Are my village and neighborhood not complete? The gates of liberation and the limbs of the Way are infinite in number; the bodhisattvas and mahāsattvas are boundless in multitude. I am kin to them and they are not different from me. Is my clan not grand?' What could be heard of his Way was like this. Yet he only recited the *Lotus Sutra* and the *Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra*, totaling tens of millions of times. Some criticized this as conditioned action; he replied: 'I have never performed [any action].' Alas, as the Buddha's Way grew further distant, divergent trends arose in contention. Only the Great Master of Tiantai grasped his teaching. The Achārya inherited the foundational lineage to conform to the Middle Way; all who received his teaching did not lose their school. Living beings flow on, their destinations in confusion; only the direct path to the Land of Ultimate Bliss attains their return. The Achārya earnestly sought it with upright sincerity to fulfill the supreme vow; all who listened and believed did not stray from his Way. Some criticized him for having traces; he said: 'I have never walked.' At first he lived at Longxing Monastery in Fangzhou, and in mid-life moved to this prefecture. He established a bodhimaṇḍa at the northern peak of Laṅkā, and did not cross the threshold for fifty years. All whom the Achārya revered and served were of eminent virtue in the world. When he first left home, the one he served and relied on was called Master Zhuoran, who lived on Li Mountain in Nanyang and was buried in Yuezhou. The one from whom he received the precepts was called Master Daoying, who lived in Jingzhou. The foremost of his disciples was called Master Huaiyuan, who lived at Anguo Monastery in Changsha and held the precept methods of Nanyue; he came annually to attend upon the master. Meeting with his end, he then, on a certain day, buried him a certain number of paces east of Master Zhuoran's stūpa. The inscription reads: The Way is rooted in the One; / Departing, it forms different gates. / Taking nature as his surname, / He returned to its root. / Having no name, yet named; / The master's teaching is revered. / Provisionally used to show things, / It was not where he abided. / He dwelt not in a great township, / Nor was he close to a great clan. / Profound and magnificent, he shone within; / Tranquil and empty, he was benevolent without. / The Sage had bequeathed words; / These he investigated and practiced diligently. / In movement or in silence, / He departed like a floating cloud. / As the teaching grew long, it became increasingly faint; / The world rarely investigates or expresses it. / Then there was the Great Wise One, / Who emerged from the genuine gate. / The master used it to show and reveal, / Causing the people to be renewed. / When feelings stir, change is born; / Living things thereby sink into oblivion. / Thereupon he bestowed the Land of Bliss, / To join in the source of transformation. / The master used it to guide, / Causing the people not to be blinded. / The function of the Way does not act; / The spiritual movement leaves no traces. / Dark and bright are both as such; / Life and death are together quiescent. / The Dharma is entrusted to later scholars, / Bestowed without weariness. / Buried following my teacher, / Do not forget the genuine abode. / Inscribing this clear epitaph, / It is carved into this genuine stone.