佛祖統紀 14.40

14.40

Dharma Master Qiyu (temporarily changed to Qibi to avoid a contemporary taboo) was a native of Zhechuan, a younger son of Minister Mo. His Dharma name was Huijue. Early on he drew close to Buddhist learning, memorizing thousands of characters daily. At first he studied under Shenzhi of Xiangfu, and later relied on Huibian. One day, when his turn came in the monastic order, he declined with modest words. Someone asked the reason, and he replied, “Truly, I do not wish for a gain of five thousand at the cost of losing a single day’s effort.” Cibian had obtained the purport of the common-characteristic three contemplations, but kept it secret and would not speak of it; yet Qiyu repeatedly inquired without ceasing, so in a private room before an incense burner Cibian knelt and transmitted it to him. At first he left to reside at Baozang in Tiaoxi; at the end of each year he greatly promoted the Pure Karma Society. Moving to Hengshan, he erected a sixteen-foot image and led clerics and laity in cultivation. In the middle of the night he told the assembly, “When we did not yet recite the Buddha’s name, our minds followed dusty objects and committed various unwholesome deeds. Committing a single duṣkṛta still incurs nine hundred thousand years of hellish suffering, how much more so for the grave offenses of the categories and aggregates? (The five categories and seven aggregates.) Now, if one recites the Buddha’s name, in a single thought one can extinguish the sins of eighty billion kalpas of birth and death. Furthermore, our parents gave birth to us and allowed us to leave home; in principle we should deliver them to repay their profound kindness. If we now break the precepts and fall into ruin, how could our parents not be disappointed?” When the great assembly heard this, there were none who did not repent with utmost sincerity, throwing themselves down entirely, even injuring their foreheads and crying aloud. (Although this was to encourage cultivation of exalted practice, its real intent was to uphold the Vinaya and discuss the eternal to accommodate the final age.) In the sixth year of the Xuanhe period, he moved to Upper Zhusheng. Previously, after Cibian departed, his successors did not flourish. The students conferred, saying, “Only if we obtain Master Yu will it flourish.” The Prefect Weng Yanguo, hearing of this, prepared the rites to welcome him. His lecturing on the Way and spreading conversion were no different from Cibian. He once walked the path of practice at midnight carrying an icon on his head. A monk breached the rules, and he rebuked him: “You are ignorant; you are merely a beast!” Afterward he regretted it, saying, “Though he is unworthy, cursing him as a beast defiles the Three Jewels.” From then on, for three years he repented his error before the Buddha. In a year of great drought when the wells dried up, the Master directed his mind in secret prayer, dreaming of water emerging from the western slope. In the morning they dug there, and a clear stream gushed forth; it was thus named Dream Spring. In the autumn of the first year of the Jianyan period, he said to the head monk Xiuhui, “The Prabhutaratna Stupa has appeared before my bed.” Hui said, “It is an auspicious verification of the Venerable’s circulation of the Lotus Sūtra.” The Master said, “My only wish is to see Amitābha Buddha.” He immediately assembled the crowd to recite the Buddha’s name. Shortly after, raising his head in reverence, he said, “The Buddha has already come to receive me.” Sitting upright with palms joined, he passed away. He was buried beside the Caotang to the west of the mountain, posthumously titled Miaobian, and his stupa was called Huiji. Among his disciples who transmitted the teaching were twenty people, including Great Master Miyin and Xiuhui. His writings include the *Commentary on the Samantabhadra-caryā-sūtra* and his own *Auto-commentary*, the *Record of Ancestral Origins*, the *Commentary on the Anantanirdeśa Sūtra*, the *Record of Miscellaneous Pearls* (explaining the commentary composed by Gushan), the *Dharma Gate of Ānāpānasmṛti*, and the *Uṣṇīṣa-vijayā Repentance Ritual*.