佛祖統紀 22

English (machine translation) 22

Language: English

22.1

Composed by the Śramaṇa Zhipan of Donghu in Siming during the Jingding era of the Song

22.2

Biographies of Those Whose Lineage Succession is Unclear, the Eighth

Mahāsattva Shanhui of Dongyang (between Qi and Liang)
Chan Master Daofang of Jingming (biography under Master Chou)
Chan Master Sengchou of the Northern Qi
Vice-Director Li Jiang of the Northern Qi (biography under Master Chou)
Dharma Master Zhiyan of Tiantai (Tang)
Dharma Master Fangyan of Jinhua
Dharma Master Chujin of Xijing
Dharma Master Feixi of Qianfu
Dharma Master Fashan of Zhongnan
Dharma Master Duke Zhen of Yuquan (the three below appear in the Treatise on the Pure Land)
Dharma Master Chengyuan of Nanyue
National Preceptor Fazhao of Nanyue
Dharma Master Fajian of Wuxing (the two below appear in the Treatise on Guangjiao)
Dharma Master Huaiyuan of Changsha
Dharma Master Zhiyuan of Wutai
Dharma Master Yuankan of Wutai (biography under Master Yuan)
Dharma Master Daoxian of Tiantai
Dharma Master Qingguan of Guoqing
Dharma Master Wenju of Guoqing
Dharma Master Jingyun of Jianye
Dharma Master Miaoxing of Taishan
Dharma Master Zilin of Siming (Tang of the Five Dynasties)
Dharma Master Xuanzhu of Shizu
Dharma Master Haoduan of Jiahe
Dharma Master Shi of Kuaiji (the three below appear in the Annals of Fazhi in the Song)
Dharma Master Zixuan of Jiahe
Dharma Master Yuanying of Tiantai
Dharma Master Cong of Kuocang (biography under Nanping)
Dharma Master Shanqun of Wuxiang
Dharma Master Liyun of Baozang (biography under Master Le)
Dharma Master Hui of Puci (the two below appear in the biography of Zhan Jiaming)
Dharma Master Rong of Kongxiang
Dharma Master Zhao of Chaoguo (the two below appear in the biography of Min Fayun)
Dharma Master Ming of Guanghua
Dharma Master Ying of Zongyuanlu
Dharma Master Wei of Baoyun (biography under Zheng Wenhui)
Dharma Master Tanzhao of Fangguang
Dharma Master Yin of Puzhao
Dharma Master Daoru of Fozhi (biography under Shangzhu)
Dharma Master Shi of Baoji (biography under Wu Keji)
Dharma Master Wei of Jinghui (Cao'an Record)
Dharma Master Zhizhao of Zuoxi
Layman Wang Tian, [styled] Wugong

22.4

Those who practiced the way of Tiantai yet were unheard of in later generations were indeed numerous. Is it not because their traces were obscure, their stations lowly, their persons perished, and their lines extinguished? As for those who, although having older records, lack an identifiable teacher, or are mentioned incidentally in other biographies without means of verification: whoever provided even a single incidental benefit to support the Dharma-gate—how could one not take pleasure in recording them? Thus I have composed the Biographies of Those Whose Lineage Succession is Unclear.

22.5

Mahāsattva Fu Xi of Dongyang, courtesy name Xuanfeng, was a native of Yiwu. He was born on the eighth day of the fifth month in the fourth year of the Jianwu era of the Qi. In his youth, when fishing with villagers, he kept the fish in baskets and submerged them in the water, praying, "Those who wish to leave may leave; those who wish to stay may stay." People considered him foolish. At age sixteen, he married Lady Liu and fathered two sons, Pujian and Pucheng. At twenty-four, while fishing at Jiting Pool, the Indian monk Song Dhūta said to him, "Long ago, before Vipaśyin Buddha, I and you made a vow to deliver sentient beings. Now your robes and bowl are present in the Tuṣita Palace; when will you return?" He told him to look into the water, where he saw a halo and a jeweled canopy encircling his body. Thereupon he was enlightened and said, "Around a furnace and bellows there is much blunt iron; before the door of a fine physician there abound sick people. When urgently delivering sentient beings, what leisure is there to think of Tuṣita?" He then built a hut between two pounding trees on Mount Song and called himself the Great Being of Good Wisdom (Shanhui Dashi) for Future Liberation. He planted vegetables and fruits, allowing anyone to take them. Working as a hired laborer for others, he worked by day and returned by night, explaining the Buddhadharma with his wife Miaoguang. After practicing tapas for seven years, while sitting quietly in meditation, he saw the three Buddhas Śākyamuni, Jinsu, and Dīpaṃkara coming from the east, radiating light like the sun. A voice in the sky called out, "On the day you attain the Way, you shall take Śākyamuni's place and sit in the bodhimaṇḍa." Subsequently, the fourfold assembly gathered in swarms to pay homage. The commandery governor, Wang Xiu, considered him a deceiver and imprisoned him. For two full ten-day periods he did not eat; ashamed, Wang released him. Returning to the mountain, he became even more diligent, saying, "I came from Tuṣita Palace to preach unexcelled bodhi. Formerly I concealed this matter, but now I will no longer hide it." In the sixth year of Datong, he dispatched his disciple Fu Wang with a letter to the imperial palace, addressing the Emperor as "Ruler of the Realm, World-Saving Bodhisattva." An imperial decree replied, "If Shanhui wishes to save sentient beings, he may come as he pleases." The Emperor secretly ordered the gates locked to observe his supernatural power. The Mahāsattva drew a wooden mallet from his sleeve, struck it once, and all the gates swung open. He met the Emperor in the Shanyan Hall. The usher called out three salutations, but he did not bow, stepping directly onto the imperial couch to converse, displaying extraordinary demeanor. After the meal was served, he departed to Mount Zhong and sat under the pines of Dinglin, provided for by the district officials. In the first year of Datong, he was invited to lecture on the three types of wisdom and prajñā at Chongyun Hall. The ministers and grandees all assembled. When the Son of Heaven arrived, the entire assembly welcomed him, but the Mahāsattva did not move. An imperial censor asked the reason, and he replied, "If the Dharma-ground moves, all dharmas are unsettled." The Emperor approved. The next day, he was uniquely invited to the Shouguang Hall, leaving only when the night water-clock rose. In the chaos and famine at the end of the Liang, he and his disciples daily gathered acorns and boiled weeds into gruel to sustain the neighborhoods, and bandits could not bear to harm them. He once said, "I am one of the thousand Buddhas of the Fortunate Kalpa." When his disciple Huirong wished to establish a Dragon Flower Assembly, the Mahāsattva said, "The Dragon Flower is my affair; you may establish an assembly for requesting the Buddhas to halt their radiance. If you follow my words, you will certainly see the Dragon Flower." He also said, "I attained enlightenment forty kalpas ago; only then did Śākyamuni first give rise to the aspiration. Because Śākyamuni was able to renounce his body, he became a Buddha before me." In the second year of Tianjia of the Chen, while practicing the Way in the mountains, he often saw the seven Buddhas before him and Vimalakīrti following behind. He said to his disciples, "Among the seven Buddhas, only Śākyamuni speaks with me frequently." In the winter of the second year of Guangda, the Mahāsattva said, "Duke Song has already returned to Tuṣita Heaven; I cannot remain long." He composed twelve stanzas of poems on "Returning to the Source." On the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month of the first year of Dajian, he manifested extinction. Seven days later, the district magistrate Chen Zhongqi came to pay respects; during the passing of incense, he still turned his hand to receive the incense. The assembly was all the more astonished and sighed in admiration. He was buried at the corner of Mount Song. An imperial order was given for the Vice Director of the Left, Xu Ling, to compose his stele inscription.

22.6

Jingxi's Zhiguan yili states: "The Mahāsattva of Dongyang had reached the rank of equal enlightenment, yet he still took the three contemplations and the four operations as his essential mind-teaching. Therefore, his poem 'Alone' says:
'Alone and refined,'
(Master Yuanying of Caotang commented in line: "This means the three thousand realms are exquisite; the Dharma realm stands alone, its substance refined and marvelous.")
'its reality is beyond voice and name.'
(The marvelous substance of the three thousand is originally beyond verbal teachings and names.)
'The three contemplations in one mind harmonize the ten thousand categories;'
(The three contemplations are the three thousand. The three thousand are emptiness, provisionality, and the middle. It is just a single thought-moment; if one realizes the three thousand, it naturally encompasses the ten thousand categories. One is all, all is one, neither one nor all, yet one and all. The aspect of harmonious fusion can be known from this.)
'where could thickets of brambles arise?'
(The defilements, samsara, and cause and effect of the nine realms are the brambles. The causes, effects, and myriad virtuous adornments of the Buddha realm are the forest. Good and evil tower up, yet both return to a single characteristic. The single characteristic is characterless; hence it says 'where could they arise?' This verifies the contemplation of the principle of true suchness.)
'Alone I act;'
(Arising the four operations of the ten realms, and investigating them with the four propositions; hence it says 'act.')
'I ask what my mind clings to.'
(These are words raising the question.)
'Investigating the four operations, none has ever arisen;'
(This is the actual application of contemplation.)
'how could a thousand tangles and myriad burdens bind me?'
(This is the completion of contemplation. How could the causes and effects of good and evil in the ten realms bind one? This verifies the contemplation of phenomena in consciousness-only.)
Furthermore, the three contemplations originally stem from the Yingluo [jing]. The Mahāsattva one birth away from Buddhahood received them directly from the golden mouth. Therefore we know that the teachings of our lineage received their transmission from Buddhist sūtras from afar, and moreover they correspond to the Mahāsattva as if tally to bond."
(The two rolls of the Lesser Yingluo jing: the first roll clarifies the sequential three contemplations, meaning the contemplation of entering emptiness from provisionality, and the contemplation of entering provisionality from emptiness. These two contemplations serve as expedients to enter the contemplation of the primary truth of the middle way. The second roll clarifies the perfect three contemplations, stating that the Buddha explained for Bodhisattva Jingshou the three contemplations, the Dharma realm, and the intrinsically pure nature of all Buddhas, and so on. Since the three contemplations were spoken by the Buddha, and the Mahāsattva received them directly from the golden mouth, our lineage's establishment derives from the Buddha's preaching from afar, and also accords with the three contemplations spoken by the Mahāsattva).

22.7

The commentary states: The past Buddhas, by means of the path of the threefold contemplation, dwelled securely in the secret storehouse. The present Śākyamuni, by means of the path of the threefold contemplation, manifested expedient means after achieving the fruit. From this we know that the methods of personal practice and converting others, of expedient and real, and of cause and effect, are entirely the path of the threefold contemplation. The Yingluo jing proclaimed it before; the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa expounded it after. Master Wen of the Northern Qi had an inner awakening and established it as the method; the Great Master of Dongyang praised it from the side and demonstrated it through verse. All of these served to illuminate this path. Dongyang became manifest during the Liang and passed away in the Chen. When the Northern Qi, Nanyue, and Zhiyi were transmitting this path to one another, he was still living. Having personally received the spoken word from the Buddha's mouth in the past, he now encountered the transmission among the masters in the present. Thereupon, he arose and said: "How great! The path of the threefold contemplation is being practiced in Cīnasthāna—could it be at this very time?" He then composed two poems, appropriately praising it from the side. People of the world have failed to investigate their simultaneity, erroneously pointing to Dongyang as a predecessor and asserting that he was able to discuss the threefold contemplation in advance. Therefore, when Chao Jingyu composed the Mingzhi Stele, he also said that the one who preceded Zhiyi in leading his teaching was Great Master Fu of the Liang. These words are not accurate. Now it should be changed to say: The one who was contemporary with Chan Master Wen and praised his path from the side was Great Master Fu. Because the Great Master had no traces of master-disciple lineage transmission, he is now merely appended to the beginning of the biographies.

22.8

Chan Master Sengchou was of the Sun clan of Julu. He received the practice of cessation and contemplation from Chan Master Daofang of Jingming Monastery; after focusing his mind for ten days, he attained absorption. Furthermore, he cultivated the four applications of mindfulness of the holy conduct in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. He spent five summer retreats eating only one meal a day. He once cultivated the contemplation of the corpse for nine days, and reported his attainment to the Tripiṭaka Master Guṇabhadra. Guṇabhadra said, "Among those east of the Pamir Mountains who practice meditation, you are the foremost!" He then went to Mount Wangwu to cultivate the former practices. Encountering two tigers fighting, the Master separated them with his monk's staff, and the tigers parted. The Palace Attendant Li Jiang sought to learn the essentials of meditation, so the Master explained cessation and contemplation in two scrolls for him. Emperor Wenxuan of the Northern Qi summoned the Master from the mountain to preach the Dharma. The Master explained to him that the three realms are fundamentally empty and the myriad phenomena are like illusions, and that the glory of worldly appearances cannot be preserved for long. The Emperor's hair stood on end and he broke out in a sweat. He built Yunmen Monastery in the city of Ye to honor and serve him with respect. The Master remained seated in his room and never went out to see off or welcome anyone. Some disciples considered this improper and admonished him. The Master said, "When Piṇḍola went seven paces to greet a king, it caused the king to lose his kingdom. Although my virtue does not equal the ancients, the ceremonial form is the same. I dare not deceive myself; I only hope to bring blessings to the Emperor." Misled by words of his attendants, the Emperor thought the Master lacked respect and wished to personally go and harm him. The Master knew this beforehand through hidden insight. At dawn, he rode an oxcart twenty li to the valley entrance and stood reverently by the roadside with his hands folded. The Emperor was astonished and questioned him. The Master said, "My body's blood is not pure, and I feared it would defile the saṅghārāma." The Emperor felt ashamed and repentant, and said to his attendant minister Yang Zunyan, "How could one defame such a true person?" He wanted to carry the Master on his back to return to the monastery, but the Master bowed respectfully and declined. The Emperor said, "Even if this disciple carried the Master throughout the realm, it would not suffice to atone for my offense." Thus they returned to the palace in the same carriage. He asked what kind of person he had been in a previous life. The Master said, "You were once a rākṣasa king, which is why you still love killing." The Master recited a spell over a basin of water and had him look into it; he immediately saw the form of a rākṣasa. The Emperor also wished to see the supernatural marvels of the Buddha-Dharma. The Master threw his kāṣāya onto the ground and the Emperor sent men to lift it; even when increased to several dozen men, they could not move it. The Master had a novice monk pick it up, and he lifted it like a feather. The Emperor respected and believed him even more, and requested to receive the bodhisattva precepts. The Master remained in the palace for forty days before leaving. In the fourth month of the first year of Qianming, he displayed passing into stillness. An imperial decree ordered the construction of a stupa to enshrine his relics.

22.9

The commentary states: Examining Chan Master Sengchou's practice of the path, it occurred during the Tianbao era of Northern Qi, making him contemporary with Chan Master Nanyue Huisi. Tracing it back, we know that he received cessation and contemplation from Chan Master Daofang at the beginning of Tianbao. Tracing back further, before the Tianbao era lay the reign of Emperor Xiaojing of the Eastern Wei. At that time, Chan Master Huiven had just begun transmitting the path of the three wisdoms in a single mind, which he had realized himself, to Chan Master Huisi. Thus we know that the cessation and contemplation received by Master Daofang must also have been learned from Master Huiven. Master Huiven's awakening was derived from the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā; he was unparalleled in the regions of the Yellow and Huai rivers, where no rival teachings competed. This was not something an ordinary Hinayana meditation master could comprehend. Therefore, Master Daofang received it above from Master Huiven and transmitted it below to Master Sengchou; inferring from above and below, this is truly credible.

22.10

Dharma Master Zhiyan's mother dreamed that she ascended the ringed spire of the Tongxuan Pagoda and sat upon it, after which he was born. At age twelve, he could recite the Lotus Sūtra by heart, and was regarded at the time as a prodigy. After shaving his head, he immediately attended lecture assemblies (since the Master passed away in the Zhenguan era, we know that the time he attended lectures was with Zhāng'ān and other masters). He once lived in seclusion at Mount Huqiu, where after spending days lecturing and performing repentance rituals, he recited the Lotus Sūtra up to three thousand times. Before the censer was even lit at night, fragrant smoke rose by itself; as soon as the water jar was empty in the evening, it secretly refilled to overflowing. These were indeed the signs of celestial youths attending upon him. He practiced the three pure karmas, cultivated the sixteen contemplations, and led five hundred people in establishing monthly fasts and lectures, maintaining this for ten years without neglect. He lectured on the Lotus Sūtra and Vimalakīrtinirdeśa thirty times each, and on the Guanyin Xuan thirty times. In the winter of the eighth year of Zhenguan, he manifested illness and saw a foreign monk holding a jeweled vase in his hand, saying, "I am Boundless Light. Later in the Pure Land, my name will be Merit-Jewel King—that is who I am." The Master said to his disciples, "Boundless Light is Mahāsthāmaprāpta. Merit-Jewel King is his name upon attaining Buddhahood. Speaking of the fruit based on the cause, he is encouraging me with this. I must be returning to the West!" He then entered meditative absorption and did not return.

22.11

Upādhyāya Fangyan of Jinhua: before Jīngxī entered the monastic order, he once received cessation and contemplation from him (he was likely a disciple of Zuoxi).

22.12

Dharma Master Chujin was of the Cheng clan of Guangping. He left household life at age seven. When paying homage to the Tripiṭaka and drawing lots for a scripture, the Lotus Sūtra came into his hand. At age nine, he took the full precepts at Longxing Monastery in the Western Capital and studied the teachings of Zhiyi. Once, when reciting the sūtra to the "Chapter on the Apparition of the Jeweled Stupa," his body and mind became calm and still, and the jeweled stupa suddenly manifested, with Śākyamuni's emanations filling the realms of empty space. He sat in meditation for six years, vowing to erect this stupa. Once his sincere resolve was voiced, donors and faithful supporters arrived naturally. On the night the foundation was built, while he was reciting the sūtra and circumambulating, the crowd heard heavenly music and rare fragrances. Emperor Xuanzong dreamed of the two characters "Chu Jin" in the air. When he inquired about it the next morning, everyone pointed to the Master. The Emperor thereupon personally brushed the plaque for the Prabhūtaratna Stupa and bestowed fine silks and cash to assist him. On the day of completion, five-colored auspicious clouds gathered over the stupa. The Master said to his fellow practitioners, "When digging a well one reaches mud, the water is not far off; when drilling wood produces heat, getting fire can be expected. We seven have forged a single resolve, chanting scriptures day and night with incense smoke unbroken." Thereupon, in both spring and autumn, he gathered forty-nine monks to practice the Lotus Samādhi, and an imperial decree permitted this to become an established custom. Over time, seven hundred relic grains were wondrously obtained. He wrote the Lotus Sūtra and Bodhisattva Precepts Sūtra in his own blood to pray for the Emperor. He copied one thousand sets of the Lotus Sūtra, and thirty-six sets in gold characters to enshrine in the jeweled stupa; he also copied another thousand sets to distribute among the faithful. His teaching affinity being fulfilled, he passed away resting on his right side. Though the fuel was consumed and the flame extinguished, his radiant white countenance appeared as if alive. The Son of Heaven ordered a stupa to be erected west of the city. In the thirteenth year of Zhenyuan, Dou Wenchang, the Commissioner for Merit and Virtue of the Left Street, presented a memorial stating that the late Master Chujin had erected a stupa for the state at the beginning of the Tianbao era and established the Lotus Bodhimaṇḍa, where the monastic assembly had performed reverence and recitation for over sixty years without the sound of scriptures ceasing, requesting an imperial commendation. An imperial decree posthumously titled him Dharma Master Dayuan.

22.13

Dharma Master Feixi and Chujin meticulously mastered the threefold contemplation. At the beginning of the Tianbao era, he traveled to the capital and stayed at Caotang Monastery on Mount Zige in Zhongnan. Soon after, an imperial decree ordered him to reside at the Lotus Bodhimaṇḍa of Qianfu Monastery. When Amoghavajra translated new sūtras, Feixi frequently undertook the responsibility of scribe and literary polisher. At the beginning of Yongtai, an imperial decree appointed him to join Liangben and others in the Daming Palace to translate the Benevolent King Protecting the State Sūtra and the Ghanavyūha Sūtra. Together with Tripiṭaka Master Amoghavajra and Scholar Liu Kang, he carefully re-examined and settled the text, serving as a formal Certifier of Meaning. He once composed the Treasure King Treatise on the Mindfulness of the Buddha Samādhi in three scrolls, elucidating the principle that the Pure Land is practiced throughout the three periods of time.

22.14

Chan Master Fashan studied the Tiantai teachings. During the Tianbao era of the Tang dynasty, he traveled to the capital, frequently reciting the Lotus Sūtra. Wherever he stayed, the water jar filled of itself. At the point of his passing, he saw a golden lotus descend from the sky to welcome him, accompanied by the competing resonance of heavenly music, fading away toward the west.

22.15

Dharma Master Zhiyuan was of the Song clan of Runan. Initially relying on Heze, he heard about the Tiantai school, mastered its profound principles, and studied diligently for many years. He resided at Huayan Monastery on Mount Wutai, where he never accepted individual meal invitations and slept without taking off his robes. He made the four kinds of samādhi his regular practice. In the fourth year of Huichang, he suddenly fasted for several days and admonished his disciples, saying: "The wondrousness of the Tiantai path lies in the Lotus Wenzhu opening the proximate to reveal the distant in the origin and manifestation aspects; the five meanings of the Xuanwen interpreting the Dharma; and cessation and contemplation cultivating both object and contemplation, where understanding and practice are completely luminous and concealment and illumination are equal. Before treading the stages of the sages, few reach this point. In repenting through the Fangdeng, one must rely on utmost sincerity. Reflecting on this always, you should fulfill my wishes." At that time, though students were as numerous as a forest, only Yuankan grasped his purport. When Emperor Wuzong suppressed the Buddha-Dharma, Kan received the dying instructions and hid the scriptures inside the walls of the house. When Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne and the Buddha sun shone brightly again, Kan renovated the old residence, took out the hidden texts, and placed them in the portrait hall. Their recitation and transmission in that age were thus renewed after having been severed.

22.16

Dharma Master Daoxian was a native of Tiantai. During the Dali era, he entered the capital to transmit the teachings and wrote prolifically. He could travel back and forth in empty space, and people of the time said he had realized supernatural feet.

22.17

Dharma Master Qingguan was of the Qu clan of Linhai. He resided at Guoqing Monastery for a long time, deeply penetrating the threefold contemplation and possessing miraculous meditation powers. Upright and solitary in self-discipline, he kept no robes or alms bowls. He often said, "I regret not having sacrificed my own head and eyes." Once, someone south of the stream invited him for an offering. Rain fell that night and the river swelled, making it impossible for people to cross. The Master arrived in an instant, without his robes being wet. People knew from this that he had the supernatural power of feet.

22.18

Dharma Master Wenju was of the Zhang clan of Dongyang. Entering Guoqing Monastery to study the path of Tiantai, he mastered all its essentials. His form was like a mountain and his countenance like jade; his movement was like floating clouds, and his stillness like tranquil water. His eyes did not gaze sideways, and his mouth uttered no frivolous speech. In all four dignified deportments, he was an exemplar of monastic discipline. The twofold assembly of Danqiu looked up to him as a model. Earlier, Guoqing Monastery had established the Guangming Bodhimaṇḍa for Emperor Yang, observing it annually; however, people were numerous and food was scarce. The Master made every effort to develop properties, completing twelve qing of estate lands, upon which the assembly relied for sustenance.

22.19

Dharma Master Jingyun was a native of Jianye. He studied the Tiantai path from an early age. In the second year of Guanghua, he lectured on the sūtras at Yongjia Monastery; relying on the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya, he expounded the five stages of entering the path in the Hinayana, writing the Tuoxuan ji in two scrolls. Dharma Master Miaoxing initially studied the Tiantai teachings. Later, he moved to Mount Tai, where he fashioned clothing from grass and gathered fruits for sustenance. Practicing the Lotus Samādhi, he moved Samantabhadra to appear in person and verify his practice. Later, he focused solely on upholding the Amitābha Sūtra. One evening, he saw lapis lazuli ground, with the Buddha and two bodhisattvas standing upright in the sky. Hearing of his fame, Emperor Xizong bestowed on him the title Bodhisattva of Constant Diligence. One day later, he saw the jeweled ground again and said to his attendants, "Without any contemplation or visualization, the jeweled ground has appeared again. The time to return to Anyang has arrived!" That very day, he passed away lying peacefully on his right side.

22.20

Dharma Master Zilin was a native of Siming. In the second year of the Qingtai era of the Later Tang in the Five Dynasties, he traveled to the lands of Goryeo, Baekje, and Japan to introduce the teachings of Zhiyi. Goryeo dispatched an envoy, Yi In-il, to escort the Master back west. King Qian Liu of Wuyue built a monastery in the commandery city to house his community (now the Eastern Shouchang Monastery).

22.21

Dharma Master Xuanzhu was preeminent in his era for his moral virtue, meditative attainment, wisdom, and Dharma cultivation, as well as his lecturing and singing of the school's teachings. At the beginning of the Dashun era, he transmitted the Dharma in the imperial capital. Hundreds of students joyfully followed him. People of the time said he could succeed Jīngxī, revering him as the Tenth Patriarch.

22.22

Dharma Master Haoduan was of the Zhang clan of Jiahe. Hearing that Xuanzhu was called the Tenth Patriarch at the time, he went to study with him and immediately awakened to the principle of the threefold contemplation in a single mind. Vowing to dwell in the mountains, he lived there for more than twenty years, without extra clothing on his body, without exotic delicacies in his mouth, with only a single couch to sit upon, and with doors left unlocked. At the beginning of the Jianlong era of the present dynasty, he passed away sitting upright without illness. The relics from his cremation were beyond counting. Those who attained the Dharma through him numbered eighty persons.

22.23

Dharma Master Shanquan was a native of Tiantai. When [the monastery of] Wuxiang petitioned the commandery for an abbot, the Master was nominated on account of his lofty conduct. When he relocated to Jingming, he nominated Cha'an to succeed to his seat. When Cha'an relocated to Chicheng, the assembly nominated Liyun to succeed him. Yun went to Baozang. The surveillance commissioner again deemed Wuxiang too humble [in scale], and since the Master found it insufficient to accommodate the assembly, he moved to another excellent site and expanded the buildings. At the time, it was said that providing a peaceful dwelling for a pure assembly to expound the wondrous teachings and contemplations was something that deserved the mutual support of gods and humans.

22.24

Dharma Master Yuanying was a native of Wuxing. In the second year of Zhenghe, he established the Zhizhe Cloister at Kaiyuan [Monastery] in the commandery seat. Daily he stayed in the Ciyu Pavilion, holding a brush to compose books. From the Comprehensive Record of the True and Semblance [Dharma] to the Catalogue of the Doctrinal Canon, it totaled one hundred fascicles, entitled the Record of the Origins of the Tiantai School. It arranged in sequence the deeds of the various past and present masters, and was called a grand scripture of the Mountain School. He also compiled the Collection of Miraculous and Auspicious Signs of the Lotus into ten sections, beginning with Samantabhadra's verification and ending with incense and light manifesting signs. The commandery appointed him as chief instructor. A powerful person falsely accused him of secular matters. His robes [were removed, and] those who heard of it wept; yet the Master showed no resentment. In a cloth headscarf and hemp robes, he wandered freely among people, rising and falling with the times. In his late years, he recited sūtras and performed Buddha-mindfulness in a cottage at Yanhai. One evening, sitting upright facing west, he joyfully transformed in spirit. On the day his coffin was cremated, relics were scattered upon the ground.

22.25

Dharma Master Tanchao was a native of Siming. He received instruction at Fangguang. In the early years of Xuanhe, he composed the Commentary on the Separate Biography of Tiantai, which was most detailed and comprehensive. Scholars commended it.

22.26

Dharma Master Zhiyīn was bestowed the title Puzhao. In his youth, he studied the Tiantai Path and cultivated Pure Land practices. For fifty years, his Dharma robes never left his body. Once, due to bandit disturbances, he entered the mountains to avoid the turmoil, carrying only his undergarments. Just as he was about to use the privy, the bandits drew near. The Master changed his clothes on a rock and leisurely washed himself. The bandits dared not harm him. Those who understood sighed in admiration, saying, 'As for walking about without fear—is he not such a person?'

22.27

Dharma Master Zhizhao resided at Zuoxi and composed the Genealogy of Śākya, stating that he personally received the subtle purports of his paternal uncle Kai'an. When he also arranged the Chart of Patriarchal Transmission Through the Generations, later students had a basis for investigation.

22.28

Wang Tian was a native of Cixi in Siming. He gave himself the sobriquet Wugongsou. His family had been renowned Confucians for generations. Having twice sat for the jinshi examination without success, clad in plain clothes and eating simple vegetables, he inquired everywhere at lecture seats. In his late years, he focused solely on reciting the Buddha's name. Using the principles he had attained, he composed the Record of Self-Confidence in the Pure Land. Its preface stated in brief: 'The fundamental mind of sentient beings inherently possesses the four Pure Lands. As for the Co-dwelling [Land], ordinary beings bound by defilements can directly rely on it. The remaining three lands are only attained and entered by noble ones who have severed delusions. Furthermore, within the single gate of rebirth, there are two kinds of pure karma: one is correct contemplation, which is silently illuminating the fundamental mind; the other is auxiliary practice, which is fully cultivating the ten thousand goods. When correct contemplation and auxiliary practice advance together, one thoroughly understands the four Pure Lands. For those who merely possess vows and other phenomenal goods, it creates the near cause of rebirth in the land where ordinary beings and sages co-dwell, and the distant cause for the upper three lands. Judging from this, the Pure Land is precisely the realm attained by bodhisattvas who fathom principle, while accommodating the gradual cultivation and dedication of ordinary sentient beings.' He also said: 'Understanding the Way with perfect capacity is the supreme pure karma. If one supplements it with vows to guide it, one immediately attains a superior grade. As for the foolish and simple, none who merely recite the Buddha's name and make vows fail to be born. Observing this single gate of the Pure Land, one realizes that the sage abandons no being. Those people who merely cling to foolish emptiness, asserting non-obstruction and non-cultivation, give rise to a self-obstructing mind and cut off others' path of study; they then elevate their speech, saying: "The Pure Land is an insignificant matter—how is it worth mentioning?" Those who utter such words are truly pitiable!' On the evening of the dingmao day in the fourth month of the sixteenth year of Shaoxing, an extraordinary fragrance suddenly filled the room. He said to his brother, the śramaṇa Siqi: 'This is a response to the pure karma I have cultivated.' Thereupon, he bathed, changed his clothes, sat cross-legged facing west, and transformed. When his body was cremated, one hundred and eight relics resembling beans were obtained. (This fascicle records forty-three people. The Basic Annals only record twenty-two; the remaining twenty-one are all found in separate biographies, and are thus explained in small characters.)

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Fozu tongji, Fascicle 22 (End)

Linked texts (1)

佛祖統紀 — 志磐, Classical Chinese