佛祖統紀 15.46

15.46

Chen Guan, styled Yingzhong, was a native of Nanjian, and styled himself Liaoweng. In his youth he passed the first-tier jinshi examination and reached the office of Remonstrator. When his parents died, he dwelled in a hut by their grave for three years; heaven rained down amṛta, and lingzhi mushrooms grew on the tumulus. He once paid close attention to the Chan school and had considerable awakening and inspiration, and contemplated the Avataṃsaka to understand the purport of the dharmadhātu. Because he submitted a memorial criticizing Prime Minister Zhang Dun, he was demoted to Siming. He met daily with Mingzhi, and on one occasion asked about the core purport of Tiantai. Mingzhi brought up the inconceivable realm of the Zhiguan, showing him the meaning that innate nature overrides cultivation and accomplishes unconditioned practice. The lord said, 'Now I know that this school's innate nature is originally fully accomplished.' He further asked, 'How should this present physical body be contemplated?' Mingzhi said, 'Phenomena originally are unproduced; now, therefore, they are undying.' The lord said, 'Worldly people say, "His dying is like returning home"; they do not realize that "like returning home" means losing one's home.' From then on, he profoundly grasped the wondrous harmony of realm and wisdom. He composed the Verse on the Existence Gate of Three Thousand to present to Mingzhi, and Mingzhi approved of it (the text appears in the Mingwen Guangjiao zhi). In his later years, he devoted his mind to returning to the West, and composed for Mingzhi the Record of the Contemplation Hall Pure Land Cloister, expounding the purport of the Pure Land of Tranquil Light. The school affirmed his exposition (inscribed in stone at the Nanhu Contemplation Hall). After the lord was demoted, his sons all remained commoners, yet he never harbored resentment. In the winter of the sixth year of the Xuanhe era, without illness, he bid farewell to his family and passed away. During the Shaoxing era, he was posthumously granted the title Grand Master of Remonstrance, with the posthumous name Zhongsusu.