佛祖統紀 15.51

15.51

Dharma Master Liaoran came from the Xue clan of Linhai. His mother prayed before a stone statue at Shanbing Temple and dreamed that she arrived at a Buddha hall, where she saw a monk holding a lotus flower and bidding her to eat it, saying to her, 'When you bear a son, he must become a monastic.' Thirteen months later, she became pregnant. When he was four years old, his mother thought to herself: 'If he becomes a monastic, who will be the heir?' A divine being rebuked her in a dream, saying, 'Why do you fail your former promise?' She thereupon consented. At sixteen, he took full ordination. He studied doctrine and contemplation under Anguo, and his insightful understanding burst forth swiftly. He once dreamed that he sat on a flat boulder floating upon a great ocean, gazing at the Great Being seated amidst a bamboo grove upon a mountain. The master said, 'All my life I have held your venerable name, and now I have been granted sight of you.' He then stood erect and spoke a hundred verses in praise; upon waking, he remembered half of them. From this time onward, his eloquence burst forth suddenly. He attended Anguo and moved to Bailian, and before long went to visit Mingzhi. Mingzhi asked, 'The ten dharma-realms in the Huayan, the three worlds in the Dazhidulun, and the ten suchnesses in the Lotus Sutra: the textual meanings of these three places together make up the three thousand. Why did Jingxi say that pointing specifically to the marvelous object comes from the Lotus Sutra?' The master said, 'The Huayan and the Dazhidulun are dead dharma-gates; the ten suchnesses of the Lotus Sutra are a living dharma-gate.' Mingzhi nodded in approval. At that time, Chao Shuozhi once visited Mingzhi, and consequently discussed this Way with the master, treating him like a fellow classmate. Daoru, a lecturer from Siming, had a resolute manner of speech and was known at the time as 'the Tiger'; whenever he engaged in difficult questioning with the master, he was inevitably brought to submission. Mingzhi recommended the master to lead Guangyan. The master said, 'I must not turn my back on what I have received,' and ultimately became Anguo's dharma heir. In the sixth year, he moved to Bailian, residing on the mountain for twenty-four years, where students constantly numbered five to six hundred. In the wuwu year of Shaoxing, Ninghai established a great assembly and invited the master to preach the Dharma. A messenger came holding a dispatch, saying, 'The Tuṣita Heaven requests the master to preach the Dharma.' The master said, 'The Dharma assembly here has not yet dispersed.' The messenger said, 'The official warrant cannot be delayed; you must go first.' Next, he struck out the master's name and departed. In the fifth month of the xinyou year of Shaoxing, he dreamed of two dragons disporting in the sky, one of which transformed into a divine being, who drew a letter from his sleeve and said, 'The master shall depart in seven days.' The master gave his assent. Once awake, he gathered the assembly and preached the Dharma, and furthermore wrote in large letters: 'Through the power of mindfulness of the Buddha, I have attained return to the Ultimate Bliss. Let all who are among my disciples apply themselves diligently to study.' He then bathed, changed his clothes, and together with the assembly chanted the Amitābha Sūtra. When they reached 'the Western World,' he passed away. Practitioners at Nengren heard the sounds of heavenly music, and auspicious light touched the sky. The assembly said that the master's retribution body resided in the Pure Land, but he had first answered the invitation from Tuṣita. In the eighth month, he was buried on the eastern ridge, and was granted the name 'Zhiyong' [Wisdom-Gushing]. When the commandery prayed for rain at Yuxi, the assembly suffered from the steepness of the road; the master incanted the dragon and made it move. That night a great storm of wind and rain arose, and at dawn the pool was seen situated in the level and flat area he had indicated. He authored the Zongyuan ji in five scrolls, the Shi Nanyue zhiguan shuyao in two scrolls, the Shi shi bu'ermen, and the Huxi ji in eight scrolls.