佛祖統紀 15.63

15.63

Dharma Master Shenhuan was a native of Anji in Hu[zhou]. Early on he studied under Huijue and was praised at the time as outstanding. During the Shaoxing reign era, he presided over Jiewu in Sixi. Where previous masters of the doctrinal school had left doctrinal points incomplete, he debated and clarified them all, producing one hundred treatises; the world called them 'Huan's Hundred Treatises'. He once argued that the ranks of the various deities were not correct, so he searched the canon and composed *Biographies of the Deities*. His preface states: 'According to the *Hundred Records*, the seat of the Deva of Merit (Puṇyā / Lakṣmī) is placed to the left of the Buddha. If the bodhimaṇḍa is spacious, the Great Eloquent One (Mahāsarasvatī) and the Four Heavenly Kings are also placed on the right. From this we know that worldly people arranging either twelve, sixteen, or eighteen are all guided by the chapter on ghosts and spirits; increases or decreases are unrestricted. Now, determining the noble and base is indeed difficult. Take Hārītī, who is a rākṣasī: how could she stand in the same rank with Mahābrahmā? There is a daughter named Puṇyā and a son named Saṃjñeya. Today, placing Puṇyā at the top, followed by Brahmā and Śakra, and afterwards listing Saṃjñeya and Hārītī—is this not an inversion of order? Therefore, examining the Great Canon, I have composed the *Biographies of the Deities*, explaining them according to their ranks. For deities have host and guest, male and female, fundamental and trace, overt and concealed. Mahābrahmā is the host of the three realms; Śakra is the host of Trāyastriṃśa; the Four Heavenly Kings are the hosts of the eight classes. As for Puṇyā and Mahāsarasvatī, they are merely guests residing there. Puṇyā resides in the northern heavens; Mahāsarasvatī resides in mountains and waters; originally neither possesses dominion. This is what is meant by host and guest. Puṇyā, Mahāsarasvatī, the tree spirits, the earth spirits, and Hārītī are all female; the rest are male bodies. This is what is meant by male and female. The Vajradhara Guhyakapada and his five hundred followers are all fundamentally great bodhisattvas; their current manifestations in divine forms are traces. This is what is meant by fundamental and trace. Mahāsarasvatī, facing the Buddha, expounds the true Dharma; though her rank is that of a secret guest and her body is displayed as female, her words and deeds are overt. Or some merely serve as shadow-attendants without engaging in expounding; though their expedient authority rules as king and they manifest a male form, their words and deeds are concealed. This is what is meant by overt and concealed. Knowing these four principles, one may speak with others about deities.' When Zhu'an saw this, he remarked: 'In roughly a few hundred words, it encompasses practically everything.' (The original text of the *Biographies of the Deities* has not been seen; Zhipan once composed a ritual hymn of praise for the various deities that precisely adopted Master Huan's theories; see the *Treatise on Glorifying the Dharma Gate* for details.) He once composed a two-scroll commentary on the *Sūtra of Complete Enlightenment* and a one-scroll *Record of Peace and Bliss*.