佛祖統紀 29

English (machine translation) 29

Language: English

29.1

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

29.2

Treatise Thirteen: The Establishment of Teachings by the Various Traditions.

First Patriarch: Chan Master Bodhidharma, [posthumously styled] Yuangue; Second Patriarch: Chan Master Huike, [posthumously styled] Dazu; Third Patriarch: Chan Master Sengcan, [posthumously styled] Jingzhi; Fourth Patriarch: Chan Master Daoxin, [posthumously styled] Dayi; Fifth Patriarch: Chan Master Hongren, [posthumously styled] Daman; Sixth Patriarch: Chan Master Huineng, [posthumously styled] Dajian.

29.5

Directly pointing to the human mind, seeing one's nature and attaining Buddhahood—how supreme! This is the subtle purport of contemplating the mind in our own tradition. As for calling it "a special transmission outside the teachings," could it truly be outside of these teachings? It is truly because this path takes the mind as its principle and is free from the marks of verbal explanation that it is forcibly given this expedient expression. Otherwise, why would [Bodhidharma] present the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra to make people inspect the teaching and illuminate their minds? Why would it be said that "entering the path through the Great Vehicle relies on the teachings to awaken to the principle"? For the sake of this common principle, I have composed the "Treatise on the Bodhidharma Chan Tradition" (inspecting the teaching and illuminating the mind appears in this treatise; relying on the teachings to awaken to the principle appears in Bodhidharma's Four Practices for Entering the Path).

29.6

The First Patriarch, Bodhidharma, was a prince of the Fragrant Supreme [King] in South India. After leaving household life, he met the Twenty-seventh Patriarch, Prajñātāra, who entrusted him with the Great Dharma, telling him: "Sixty years after my extinction, you should go to Cīnasthāna to carry out transformation." After Prajñātāra passed away, the Master expounded the Way in his own country. After a long time, considering that the conditions in Cīnasthāna had matured, he went to the seashore, boarded a merchant ship, and in the first year of the Datong era of the Liang arrived in the Southern Sea (formerly said to be the eighth year of Putong, which is mistaken; the Southern Sea is Guangzhou). The Inspector Xiao Ang reported this to the court in a memorial, and an imperial decree summoned him for an audience. The Emperor asked: "What merit have I gained from building temples, copying sūtras, and ordaining monks?" The Master said: "These are merely small fruits of the human and heavenly realms." The Emperor said: "What is Great Vehicle merit?" The Master said: "Pure wisdom, wondrous and bright, its essence inherently empty and tranquil. Merit such as this is not sought in the mundane world." The Emperor asked: "What is the highest meaning of the noble truth?" The Master said: "Vast and empty, with nothing noble." The Emperor asked: "Who is facing Us?" The Master said: "I do not know." The Emperor did not grasp it. The Master then crossed the Yangtze River. The Emperor later asked Master Zhi about this. Master Zhi said: "Does Your Majesty recognise this person or not?" The Emperor said: "I do not know him." Master Zhi said: "This is the Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara, transmitting the Buddha's mind-seal." The Emperor wished to send an envoy to summon him back, but Master Zhi said: "Even if the whole nation went, he would not return." (Yuanwu says: "Master Zhi had already passed away; Bodhidharma only arrived more than ten years later. How could they be contemporaneous? Now one need only know the general outline.") After the Master entered Wei, he stayed at Shaolin Temple on Mount Song, practicing wall-contemplation all day long (the first year of the Wutai era of Emperor Xiaoming of the Wei). The Emperor, hearing of the Master's extraordinary traces, summoned him three times, but he did not go; he then bestowed upon him a patched kāṣāya, a golden bowl, and a silver water bottle. The Master faced the wall for nine years, and when he was about to manifest extinction, he said to his disciples: "The time has come. Why does each of you not speak of what you have attained?" Daofu said: "Neither clinging to words nor parting from words, using them for the function of the Way." The Master said: "You have attained my skin." The nun Zongchi said: "My understanding now is like Ānanda beholding the land of Akṣobhya Buddha: once seen, it is never seen again." The Master said: "You have attained my flesh." Daoyu said: "The four great elements are fundamentally empty, and the five aggregates do not exist. Not a single dharma can be attained." The Master said: "You have attained my bones." Huike bowed three times and stood in his place. The Master said: "You have attained my marrow." Turning to Huike, he further said: "The World-Honoured One entrusted the treasury of the true Dharma eye to Mahākāśyapa, and it was transmitted successively until it reached me. I now entrust it to you. You should protect and maintain it." He also conferred the kāṣāya as a token of the Dharma, saying: "After two hundred years, the robe will cease to be transmitted, but the Dharma will pervade the sandy worlds. Listen to my verse: / I originally came to this land / To transmit the Dharma and save deluded beings. / A single flower opens into five petals; / The fruit will naturally mature." He also said: "I have the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra; it is the Tathāgata's essential gate to the mind-ground, with which one can illuminate the mind." He then went to Qiansheng Temple at Yumen, sat upright, and manifested nirvana; this was on the fifth day of the tenth month in the first year of the Datong era. His disciples enshrined his whole body and buried it at Dinglin Temple on Mount Xiong'er. The next year, the envoy Song Yun was returning from the Western Regions and met the Master, carrying a single shoe in hand and walking briskly and solitary. When Yun returned and spoke of it, the disciples opened the tomb and looked: there was only an empty coffin and a single shoe. The Master always taught students using the two gates of entering the path of the Great Vehicle: principle and practice (the two gates appear in the Record of the Transmission of the Lamp).

29.7

During the reign of Emperor Daizong of the Tang, he was posthumously titled Chan Master Yuangue, and his pagoda was called Kongguan (Master Fang's Letter on Distinguishing the Patriarchs states: "Zhiju composed the Baolin zhuan, which claimed the return to the west with a single shoe, standing in the snow and severing the arm to receive the Dharma, and verse prophecies—all of which differ from the Biographies of Monks. Some consider these to be fabrications attributed by later people").

29.8

The Second Patriarch, Huike (formerly named Shenguang), of the Ji clan in Wulao, served Bodhidharma for six years. One day he asked: "May I hear the Dharma-seal of the Buddhas?" Bodhidharma said: "The Dharma-seal of the Buddhas is not obtained from others." The Master said: "My mind is not at peace; I beg the Master to pacify my mind." Bodhidharma said: "Bring me your mind, and I will pacify it for you." The Master said: "I have searched for my mind, but it is completely unobtainable." Bodhidharma said: "I have pacified your mind for you." Previously, Bodhidharma had handed him the four fascicles of the Laṅkāvatāra, saying: "If you, benevolent one, practice in accordance with this, you will naturally be able to attain liberation." The Master told his disciples: "Four generations after this, this sūtra will turn into mere names and marks. How lamentable!" After the Master transmitted the Dharma to Sengcan, he said to him: "I have past debts that must now be repaid." He then went to the capital of Ye to carry out transformation. In the twelfth year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui, he expounded the unsurpassed Way at Zhengjiu Temple in Guancheng. A Dharma Master He had previously been lecturing on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, and his students gradually slipped away to hear [Huike's] preaching of the Dharma. He, unable to contain his wrath, slandered him to the district magistrate, who subjected him to unlawful punishment. The Master placidly and obediently met his end at the age of one hundred and seven. His pagoda is in Fenyang County, Cizhou. During the reign of Emperor Dezong of the Tang, he was posthumously titled Chan Master Dazu.

29.9

The Third Patriarch was Sengcan. At first, as a layman, he came to meet the Second Patriarch and asked: 'This disciple's body is beset by wind-disease. I request that the master grant me repentance for my sins.' The Patriarch said: 'Bring forward your sins, and I will perform repentance for you.' The Master said: 'When I search for my sins, they cannot be found at all.' The Patriarch said: 'I have completed the repentance for your sins. You should rely upon the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.' The Master said: 'Seeing the upādhyāya now, I already know you are of the Sangha. But I have not yet understood what are named Buddha and Dharma.' The Patriarch said: 'This mind is the Buddha; this mind is the Dharma. Dharma and Buddha are not two. The Sangha-jewel is also like this.' The Master said: 'Today for the first time I know that the nature of sin is neither within, nor without, nor in between. The mind is also like this; the Buddha and the Dharma are not two.' The Patriarch recognized his great capacity, immediately shaved his hair, and administered the full precepts. He then told him: 'Great Master Bodhidharma secretly entrusted the treasury of the true Dharma eye to me. I now confer it upon you along with the robe of faith. You must protect and uphold it.' During the suppression of the teaching under Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou, [Sengcan] went back and forth to Mount Sikong for more than ten years. At the beginning of the Kaihuang era of the Sui, he resided at Mount Wangong and transmitted the Dharma to Daoxin. He wandered freely throughout the regions south of the Yangtze River. In the second year of the Daye era, he returned again to his former mountain and expounded the Dharma for the assembly. Joining his palms and standing upright with solemn dignity, he passed away. He was buried at Shangu Monastery. In the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang, he was posthumously granted the title Zen Master Jingzhi.

29.10

The Fourth Patriarch was Daoxin, of the Sima clan from Qizhou. When he was still a śrāmaṇera, he encountered the Third Patriarch and asked: 'I pray that the upādhyāya will grant me the Dharma gate of liberation.' The Patriarch said: 'Who has bound you?' He replied: 'No one has bound me.' The Patriarch said: 'Why then seek liberation further?' The Master was greatly enlightened at these words. Having fully received the precepts, the Third Patriarch conferred the robe and Dharma upon him. During the Wude era, he lived on Mount Potou. In the Zhenguan era, Emperor Taizong summoned him to the capital three times with imperial edicts, but each time he declined on account of illness. The Emperor ordered his messenger: 'If he indeed does not arise, then take his head.' The messenger proclaimed the decree, and the Master stretched out his neck to receive the blade. The messenger returned and reported this, and the Emperor revered him all the more, sending him precious silks to fulfill his aspiration. The Master, having already transmitted the Dharma to Hongren, sat peacefully and passed away in the ninth month of the second year of the Yonghui era. His pagoda was erected at Huangmei Monastery on the East Mountain. In the reign of Emperor Daizong of the Tang, he was posthumously granted the title Zen Master Dayi.

29.11

The Fifth Patriarch was Hongren, a native of Huangmei in Qizhou, whose mother was of the Zhou clan. (The matter of the Pine-Planting Daoist being conceived by the Zhou daughter is fully recorded in the Treatise on Prosperity and Decline.) When the Master was a boy, he met the Fourth Patriarch on the road. [The Patriarch] asked him: 'What is your family name?' He replied: 'I indeed have a nature (surname), but it is no ordinary surname.' The Patriarch said: 'What surname is it?' He replied: 'It is the Buddha nature.' The Patriarch said: 'Do you have no surname?' He replied: 'Because nature is empty, there is none.' The Patriarch silently recognized him. He then went to his mother and instructed her to let him renounce household life. Having received the transmission of the Dharma, he succeeded to the seat at the East Mountain. During the Xianheng era, he transmitted the robe and Dharma to Huineng. Four years later, he manifested nirvaṇa. His pagoda was erected on the East Mountain. In the reign of Emperor Daizong, he was posthumously granted the title Zen Master Daman.

29.12

The Sixth Patriarch was Huineng, of the Lu clan from Xinzhou. He gathered firewood to support his mother. Once, when he entered the marketplace, he heard a guest reciting the Diamond Sūtra. He asked: 'From whom did you receive this?' The guest replied: 'From Great Master Ren of Huangmei. He says that by reading this one can see one's nature and attain Buddhahood.' Huineng thereupon took leave of his mother and went to Shaozhou, where he became a friend of Liu Zhilüe. Zhilüe's paternal aunt was a nun who constantly read the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. The Master listened briefly and immediately expounded it. The nun then questioned him on the characters, to which the Master said: 'As for the characters, I do not know them; as for the meaning, feel free to ask.' The nun said: 'If you do not even know the characters, how can you grasp the meaning?' The Master said: 'The liberation of all Buddhas does not concern written words.' The nun marveled at him and called him a practitioner (xingzhe). The local residents paid homage and invited him to dwell at Baolin. During the Xianheng era, he reached Huangmei. The Patriarch asked: 'Where have you come from?' He replied: 'From Lingnan.' The Patriarch said: 'What do you seek?' He replied: 'I seek only to become a Buddha.' The Patriarch said: 'People from Lingnan have no Buddha-nature.' He replied: 'Humans have north and south, but how could Buddha-nature be so?' The Patriarch marveled at him and said: 'Go to the stable.' He then entered the pestle shed, tied a stone to his waist, and pounded rice. After eight months, the Fifth Patriarch instructed the assembly to each compose a verse, saying that if the expression and meaning secretly coincided [with the truth], he would transmit the robe and confer the Dharma. At that time, the assembly numbered seven hundred. The head monk Shenxiu wrote a verse on the corridor wall: 'The body is the bodhi tree, / The mind like a bright mirror stand. / At all times diligently wipe and brush it, / Do not allow dust to settle.' When the Master heard this, he said: 'Splendid though it is, it is not yet thorough.' At night, he ordered a young boy to write a verse on the wall: 'Bodhi originally has no tree, / The bright mirror is also not a stand. / Fundamentally not a single thing exists, / Why rely on wiping away dust?' The Fifth Patriarch learned of this and secretly sent someone at night to summon the Master. He told him: 'The Buddha transmitted the treasury of the true Dharma eye successively from one to another. I now transmit it to you together with the robe of faith. In the past, when Bodhidharma first arrived, he transmitted the robe to make plain the attainment of the Dharma. Now that faith is ripe, the robe is a source of contention. Let it stop with your person and transmit it no more.' The Master bowed to his feet, took the robe, and left, heading south throughout the night. At that time, the head monk Daoming heard of this and led men in pursuit to Dayuling. Ming arrived first. The Master threw the robe onto a rock, saying: 'This robe signifies faith; how could one contend for it with force?' Ming tried to lift it, but it would not move. He then said: 'I came to seek the Dharma, not for the sake of the robe.' The Master said: 'Thinking neither of good nor of evil, at precisely such a moment, which is the original face of the senior monk Ming?' Ming had a great awakening on the spot. He bowed and asked: 'Beyond the secret words and secret meanings conveyed above, is there still any other significance?' The Master said: 'What I have spoken to you now is not secret. If you reflect back upon yourself, the secret is on your side.' Ming gave thanks with a bow and returned. In the first year of the Yifeng era, he arrived in Nanhai and met Dharma Master Yinzong at Faxing Monastery. At dusk, the wind fluttered the temple banner. Two monks were debating: one said the banner moved, the other said the wind moved. The Master said: 'It is neither wind nor banner moving; your mind moves of itself.' Yinzong marveled at him and requested to receive the essentials of Zen. [The Master] then brought out the robe of faith and allowed the assembly to pay homage. Yinzong immediately shaved his hair and invited Vinaya Master Zhiguang to this monastery to preside at the platform and confer the full precepts. This platform had been built by Guṇavarman of the Liu Song dynasty, who had once foretold: 'Later there will be a bodily bodhisattva who comes here to receive the precepts.' Paramārtha of the Liang dynasty had planted two bodhi trees beside the platform with his own hands, and foretold: 'A hundred and twenty years later, a great being will expound the unsurpassed Way beneath these trees.' The Master then sat beneath the trees and broadly opened the Dharma gate of East Mountain, exactly matching the ancient predestination. The following year, he returned to Baolin in Shaozhou (that is, Caoxi). In the first year of the Shenlong era, an imperial edict summoned the Master for an audience, but he submitted a memorial declining on account of illness. In the second year of the Xiantian era, he returned again to Guo'en Monastery in Xinzhou, and soon afterward manifested nirvaṇa. His disciples escorted his holy remains back and buried them at Caoxi. The Master converted Shaoyang, while Xiu converted Luoxia; Southern Neng and Northern Xiu were divided from this time on. In the first year of the Shangyuan era, Emperor Suzong sent an envoy to invite the robe and bowl into the palace for worship. In the first year of the Yongtai era, Emperor Daizong dreamed of the Master requesting that the robe and bowl be returned to the mountain; he then dispatched Liu Chongjing to carry them upon his head and return them. In the reign of Emperor Xianzong, he was posthumously granted the title Zen Master Dajian.

29.13

The Commentary states: After the Sixth Patriarch, two branches were formed. One was Qingyuan Xingsi; Si transmitted it to Shitou Xiqian, and beneath him came Caodong, Yunmen, and Fayan. The other was Nanyue Huairang; Rang transmitted it to Mazu Daoyi, and beneath him came Linji and Guiyang. These constitute the schools of the Five Houses. The Way is only one; that people speak of five schools is because the mind-sickness of the human world has grown increasingly manifold, so the methods of treatment have repeatedly shifted accordingly. A stick, a shout, a singing, a harmonious answering—their opportune functions are freely applied in all directions, so they can hardly be standardized by a single rule. This is just like the principle of administering medicine in response to the illness. Fenyang composed the Song of Guangzhi to clarify the lineages and styles of the fifteen houses; this was surely to indicate to later generations the intention of universally visiting teachers. Could one not know this?

29.14

The Teaching and School of Xianshou (Appended: Elder Li)

29.15

First Patriarch: Dharma Master Fashun of Zhongnan; Second Patriarch: Dharma Master Zhiyan of Yunhua; Third Patriarch: Dharma Master Fazang of Xianshou; Fourth Patriarch: Dharma Master Chengguan of Qingliang; Fifth Patriarch: Dharma Master Zongmi of Guifeng; Dharma Master Zixuan of Changshui; Dharma Master Jingyuan of Huiyin; Dharma Master Yihe of Nengren.

29.16

The critique of Kaian states: The Contemplation of the Dharmadhātu constitutes an independent cause, maintaining that the five teachings have no stages of cutting off and subduing [afflictions]. If that were so, whether teaching or contemplation, they would merely display empty words, and there would be no path of cultivation and realization. As for Qingliang establishing the 'sudden-sudden', he recklessly claimed that it surpasses the Lotus Sūtra. (Master Chengguan classified the Avataṃsaka as 'sudden-sudden' and held Tiantai's classification of it as 'combining the distinct' to be a failure to capture the Tathāgata's intent. He also maintained that because the Avataṃsaka was requested by bodhisattvas, it surpasses the Lotus Sūtra.)

29.17

Guifeng's explanation of the gate of cultivation inevitably indulged in reckless talk regarding śamatha-vipaśyanā. (Master Zongmi, annotating the word 'cultivation' in the Contemplation of the Dharmadhātu, said: 'Cultivation and learning through śamatha-vipaśyanā reaches perfection.' Kaian challenged this, saying: 'It is unknown what kind of śamatha-vipaśyanā this is. If it is gradual, at what stage are what delusions severed and what principle revealed? If it is the single mind, at what stage is there integrated cultivation, and at what stage is there integrated realization?') As for the remaining writings, their contradictions are even more numerous. (Xianshou had himself established the five teachings, yet when it came to explaining the method of contemplation in the Treatise on Awakening of Faith, he said: 'The stages of cultivation are like those in the Mohe zhiguan of Tiantai.' Qingliang, having taken Xianshou as his authority, nevertheless quoted in his commentary on the Avataṃsaka Tiantai passages on innate good and innate evil, the three contemplations, the three virtues, and the three thousand realms in a single thought. Thus both regarding the teaching and the contemplation, they fall short coming and going.) Wishing to distinguish their sources, I composed the Record of the Teaching and School of Xianshou. (The義門 established in Xianshou's Avataṃsaka Commentary, the Awakening of Faith Subcommentary, Guifeng's Perfect Enlightenment Commentary, and Changshui's Laṅkāvatāra Commentary are also perceived to be different.)

29.18

Dharma Master Fashun belonged to the Du clan of Wannian. He went forth from home at the age of eighteen. The Master studied and received the method of meditation from the holy monk Daozhen. Whenever deaf or mute worldly people encountered him, they were without fail able to hear or speak. Even to driving insects from orchards and admonishing vicious horses, his virtue extended to non-human beings beyond measure. Emperor Taizong of the Tang summoned him and asked: 'We suffer from heat exhaustion. By what divine power of the Master can it be dispelled?' The Master said: 'Your Majesty's sagely virtue governs the realm; why worry over a petty ailment? Simply issue a great amnesty, and your sagely person will naturally become well.' The Sovereign followed his advice, and the illness was thereupon cured. Consequently, he bestowed upon him the title 'Heart of the Emperor' (Dixindi). The Master regularly traveled through commanderies and kingdoms urging people to recite the name of Amitābha Buddha. He composed a Fivefold Repentance text and praised the Pure Land. Whenever he came upon sacred trees or spirit shrines along the way, he burned and destroyed them. On the fifteenth day of the eleventh month in the fourteenth year of the Zhenguan era, he passed away while sitting at Yishan Monastery in the southern suburbs. A pair of birds entered his room, and an extraordinary fragrance lingered therein. His mummified body was entombed in a pagoda on the Northern Plain of Fanchuan. A disciple went to pay homage at Mount Wutai, and upon reaching the foot of the mountain met an old man who told him: 'Mañjuśrī has now gone to Mount Zhongnan; the upādhyāya Du Shun is he.' The disciple hurried back, but the Master had already passed away. Down to the present, the Guanzhong region observes a memorial vegetarian feast for Mañjuśrī on this day. The Master authored the Gate of the Contemplation of the Dharmadhātu in one fascicle, and the Contemplation of the Ending of Delusion and Returning to the Source in one fascicle, exclusively propagating the Avataṃsaka. He transmitted it to Zhiyan of Yunhua, and Zhiyan transmitted it to Fazang of Xianshou; its teaching thereupon flourished. (Here there should be a biography of Dharma Master Zhiyan, but the original text of the Basic Annals has been lost.)

29.19

Dharma Master Fazang: His ancestors were from the country of Kangju (located north of the Iron Gate of the Congling Mountains; the character 居 is pronounced *qū*), and came to dwell in Chang'an. When Fazang was sixteen, he went to the relic stupa of King Aśoka in Siming and burned off a finger, vowing to study the Avataṃsaka. During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, he became a śrāmaṇera and had his name entered in the palace registry. In the first year of the Tongtian era, an imperial decree ordered him to open the essential tenets of the Avataṃsaka at Taiyuan Monastery. This elicited a radiant white light that burst forth from his mouth and in a moment formed a canopy. The multitude of ten thousand cried out in joy. The chief lecturer memorialized this event. Empress Wu issued a decree commanding the ten great virtues of the capital to confer upon him the full precepts, bestowed the title 'Precept Master Xianshou', and decreed that he enter the Dabiangkong Monastery to assist Śikṣānanda in translating the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. In the tenth month of the second year of the Shengli era, an imperial decree ordered him to lecture in the lecture hall of the Foshouji Monastery. The ground of the capital trembled. On the same day he was summoned for an audience in the Hall of Longevity. The Master then pointed to the golden lion in the corner of the hall, stating that the principle of the great sūtra is deep, its phenomena vast, its text extensive, and its meaning profound, such that none but a sage who has penetrated principle could reach its depths. Therefore, he set forth the metaphor of the visible aspect to clarify the boundless Dharma, using it to represent the substance of the dharmadhātu, while the lion metaphorized the function of the dharmadhātu. Within it, he established the five teachings: first, the teaching of the Śrāvakas who are foolish about phenomena; second, the initial teaching of the Great Vehicle; third, the final teaching of the Great Vehicle; fourth, the sudden teaching of the Great Vehicle; and fifth, the complete teaching of the One Vehicle. Empress Wu suddenly grasped and understood. He thereupon wrote down this discourse as the Essay on the Golden Lion. When Emperor Ruizong received the abdicated throne, he requested the Master to confer the great bodhisattva precepts. The Master wore patched rags, ate coarse food, and lectured on the Avataṃsaka more than thirty times. For ten texts, including the Laṅkāvatāra, the Ghanavyūha, the Brahmajāla Sūtra, and the Awakening of Faith, he composed commentaries. In the eleventh month of the first year of the Xiantian era, he passed away at Da Jianfu Monastery. He was posthumously granted the title of Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies and buried on Shenhe Plain. After the Master died, his disciple Huiyuan completely rebelled against his doctrines. A hundred years after his decease, Chengguan was obtained.

29.20

Kāi'ān said: 'If the Small Vehicle foolish about phenomena does not speak of transforming the small to achieve the Great, and moreover lacks the adoptive reception of the distinct and complete teachings as well as the revelation and manifestation of the Lotus Sūtra, then they would remain foolish to the end of their lives. The four teachings—initial, final, complete, and sudden—all lack the demarcations of severing and subduing [delusion], or cultivation and realization. When it comes to explaining the contemplation methods of the Awakening of Faith, it says: "The stages of practice are like Tiantai's Mohe zhiguan." Is this not having doctrine without contemplation?'

29.21

Dharma Master Chengguan was a man of Kuaiji, of the Xiahou clan. He left household life at Yingtian Monastery, where he recited the Lotus Sūtra, and was ordained at age fourteen. During the Qianyuan era, he studied the Vinaya under Master Li of Qixia, received the Southern Mountain practices from Tanyi, received the bodhisattva precepts from Changzhao, and transmitted the Guanhe Sanlun from Xuanbi; the flourish of Sanlun in the region south of the Yangtze began with this. In the beginning of the Dali era, at Waguan Monastery, he transmitted the Nirvāṇa, the Awakening of Faith, the Zhongnan Dharmadhātu Contemplation, and Fazang's Huanyuan ji. He then went to the Eastern Capital and received the Avataṃsaka from Daxin. In the tenth year, he followed Jīngxī to study the commentaries on the Zhiguan, the Lotus Sūtra, the Vimalakīrti, and others. He called upon Zhong of Niutou, Qin of Jingshan, and Wuming of Luoyang to resolve questions on the Chan methods of the Southern school, and called upon Huiyun to clarify the profound principle of the Northern school. In the Confucian and Mohist texts of this land, the Sanskrit books of Tianzhu, the disparate views of the various schools, the four Vedas, the five sciences, and the exoteric and esoteric rituals, there was nothing he did not master comprehensively and synthesize broadly. In the eleventh year, he made a pilgrimage to Mount Wutai and Mount Emei, witnessing auspicious omens at both. Returning to dwell at the Da Huayan Monastery in the capital, he dedicated himself to the Practice of the Vaipulya Repentance, continued to lecture on the great Avataṃsaka Sūtra, and composed twenty scrolls of a new commentary. On Emperor Dezong's birthday, he was summoned to lecture on the sūtra in the inner palace; refreshing the Emperor's mind with the wondrous Dharma, he was thereupon granted the title Dharma Master Qingliang, bestowed a purple patch-robe, and revered as the Instructing Ācārya. An imperial order was given to Li Shen, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, to prepare the proper rites to receive him, and together with the Tripiṭaka Master Prajñā of Jibin, he translated the Avataṃsaka Sūtra presented by the state of Uḍra. The Emperor personally participated in the translation forum; if absent for a day, he would dispatch a monk in accordance with the bhikṣu Dharma to declare his intention, saying: 'Due to matters of state, the Emperor grants his proxy with pure intent for the assembly's Dharma affairs.' In the fifth year of the Yuanhe era, Emperor Xianzong inquired about the essential tenets of the Avataṃsaka dharmadhātu and had a sudden realization. He ordered the officials to cast a gold seal and conferred the additional title Great Regulator National Preceptor Qingliang. On the sixth day of the third month of the third year of the Kaicheng era, he showed his passing. He lived to the age of one hundred and two, with eighty-three rains retreats. He was buried in a stone chamber at Zhongnan; his stupa was named Miaojue. The Master was nine feet four inches tall, with arms extending below his knees; his eyes emitted light at night and did not blink even by day. His talent allowed him to keep two pens writing at once, recording ten thousand words daily. Throughout his life he took only one meal a day and never slept without his robes. He spanned nine reigns and served as mentor to seven emperors. When Jīngxī and forty monks from the Jiang-Huai region made a pilgrimage to Mount Wutai, the Master led ten thousand followers out to the suburbs to welcome them from afar, admiring their respectful propriety toward their teacher. The Master was more than a century removed from Xianshou, yet he received his tenets from afar. The commentaries and subcommentaries he wrote exceeded four hundred scrolls; he lectured on the Avataṃsaka up to fifty times, held fifteen great assemblies for the unrestrained feast, and had thirty-eight disciples who propagated the Dharma. Chancellor Pei Xiu was ordered by imperial decree to compose his stele inscription.

29.22

Dharma Master Zongmi was of the He clan, a man of Guozhou. He first received the Dharma from Daoyuan, a fifth-generation descendant of Heze, and transmitted the Perfect Enlightenment above the Fu River. Obtaining the phrases and meanings of the Avataṃsaka from an ill monk, he immediately lectured on it for others. Qingliang told him: 'Who else but you could follow me to roam in the floral treasury of Vairocana?' He also once replied in a letter to him, saying: 'What you understand is just like my own mind; you are truly what is called the true son of a wheel-turning king.' (The Master's preface to the Perfect Enlightenment says: 'Although lecturing on it presumes upon extensive study, receiving the Master's robe that is like his own mind was mistakenly to receive the seal of a true son.') He composed commentaries, subcommentaries, and ritual manuals of cultivation and realization totaling over ninety scrolls for the Perfect Enlightenment, Avataṃsaka, Nirvāṇa, Diamond Sūtra, Awakening of Faith, Vijñaptimātratā, Ullambana, Dharmadhātu Contemplation, Bhadracarī-praṇidhāna, and others. In the ninth year of the Taihe era, Emperor Wenzong summoned him to inquire into the general meaning of the Buddhadharma, bestowed upon him the purple square robe, and granted him the title Great Virtue. On the sixth day of the first month of the first year of the Huichang era, he passed away sitting at the Stupa Compound of Xingfu Monastery. He was posthumously named Dinghui, and his stupa was called Qinglian.

29.23

Yishenzhi said: 'The masters of the Avataṃsaka did not know that sentient beings inherently possess all dharmas fundamentally within their causal principle; they only spoke of the mutual identity of all dharmas in the state of fruition. If one does not discuss inherent possession, how can there be mutual identity? Therefore, know that the interpenetration of the dependent and primary [rewards] in fruition is entirely due to the fundamental principle in sentient beings. Thus, as for the Dharma-doors discussed by our tradition: first is the essence of nature, which corresponds to the direct cause; second is the capacity of nature, which corresponds to the revealing cause; third is the inherent possession of nature, which corresponds to the conditioning cause. Inherent possession is itself the provisional, the provisional is itself the empty and the middle; the one single Dharma-nature possesses these three meanings. When integrated they are all the more distinct; when divided they are ever conjoined. Although each and every one is all-pervading, it has nowhere it abides. One should know that when other schools discuss Dharma-nature, it is identical to our school's essence of nature and capacity of nature, for they all say that Dharma-nature, True Suchness, is equal to empty space; they only lack the third meaning of the inherent possession of nature.'

29.24

Dharma Master Zixuan was a man of Jiahe. He first relied on Master Hongmin to study the Śūraṅgama Sūtra; when he reached the point where the two aspects of motion and stillness clearly do not arise, he had an awakening. Hearing that Langya Huijue's virtue was esteemed in that age, he hastened to his gate. Encountering him ascending the hall, he immediately posed the question: 'Pristinely pure and fundamentally so, how do the mountains, rivers, and the great earth suddenly arise?' Jue gave a shout and said: 'Pristinely pure and fundamentally so, how do the mountains, rivers, and the great earth suddenly arise?' The Master bowed down, dripping with sweat, and experienced a great awakening. Jue said to him: 'Your school has long been in decline. You should exert your will to support it, so as to repay the Buddha's kindness.' The Master bowed and departed as instructed. Later he resided at Changshui, where his followers numbered nearly a thousand. Following the tenets of Xianshou, he composed a ten-scroll commentary on the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, which circulated in the world.

29.25

Dharma Master Jingyuan was of the Yang clan of Jinjiang. He received the Avataṃsaka from Chengqian of Mount Wutai (Master Qian commented on the Essay on the Golden Lion) and studied the Combined Treatise under Mingtan of Henghai. Returning south, he listened to Changshui's [teachings on] the Śūraṅgama, the Perfect Enlightenment, and the Awakening of Faith. At that time, veteran scholars from the four directions acclaimed him as a dragon of doctrinal meaning. Because he visited his parents in Quan[zhou], he was requested to preside over Qingliang Monastery. He then traveled to Wu and resided at Bao'en and Guanyin monasteries. Shen Wentong, the prefect of Hangzhou, established the Xianshou Cloister at Xiangfu Monastery to accommodate him. He also presided over the Miyin Jewel Pavilion in Qingzhen and Shanzhu Monastery at Puzhao in Huating. The Supreme Patriarch of Goryeo, Uicheon, sailed across the sea to seek the Dharma and offered the courtesy of a disciple. Originally, the commentaries and subcommentaries of the Avataṃsaka school had long been scattered and lost; when Uicheon brought them to resolve his inquiries, what had been lost was recovered. Pu Zongmeng, Assistant Director of the Left, while governing Hangzhou, pitied his painstaking dedication and memorialized the throne to convert Huiyin from Chan to the Doctrinal school. When Uicheon returned to his country, he presented the Master with one hundred and eighty scrolls of the three translations of the Avataṃsaka written in gold (sixty scrolls translated jointly by Dharma Masters Yan and Guan of the Jin; eighty scrolls translated by Śikṣānanda of the Tang; and forty scrolls from the text presented by Uḍra of the Tang, translated by Dharma Master Chengguan) to pray for the longevity of the sovereign. The Master then built a great pavilion to enshrine them. At that time, people praised the Master as the Master of the Teaching's Revival (because this temple housed the scriptures written in gold, it was popularly called the Goryeo Monastery). In the eleventh month of the third year of the Yuanyou era, he showed his passing. His relics were entombed in a stupa to the northwest of the monastery.

29.26

Dharma Master Yihe was granted the title Yuancheng. During the Qiandao era, he resided at Huiyin, and later moved to Nengren in Pingjiang. Perusing the records and accounts of the Pure Land, and considering that among the Avataṃsaka texts there were none that explicitly propagated the practice of recollecting the Buddha, he composed the Inexhaustible Lamp, using the essential tenets of this sūtra to specifically praise the Western direction as the method of recollecting the Buddha to attain rebirth (the text is found in the Classified Writings of the Land of Bliss).

29.27

The elder Li Tongxuan, in the seventh year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang, used the newly translated Avataṃsaka Sūtra to compose forty scrolls of an expository treatise. In establishing his discourse, he extensively discussed the dharmadhātu in terms of ten places and ten assemblies, which differed from the commentary's tenets of Master [Fa]zang. Moreover, through ten differences, such as the master of the teaching and the requester, he set it as superior to the Lotus Sūtra, not knowing that the Lotus Sūtra is a discourse revealing the provisional to manifest the real, and not recognizing that the Avataṃsaka is a scripture that combines the distinct teaching while expounding the complete teaching. Therefore, he was widely refuted by our school (the elder's deeds are found in outline in scroll six of the Treatise on the Prosperity and Decline of the Dharma).

29.28

The Lineage and Teaching of Ci'en

29.29

First Patriarch: Dharma Master Śīlabhadra of the Western Heavens. Second Patriarch: Tripiṭaka Master Xuanzang. Third Patriarch: Dharma Master Kuiji of Ci'en.

29.30

Master [Śīla]bhadra's teaching of the three periods established doctrines that were broad and loose; how could they suffice to encompass the scriptures of the Buddha's entire lifetime? The Xuanzan composed by Ci'en was deficient in contemplating the mind; how could it suffice to penetrate the scripture of the One Real? Those who excuse them say: 'These were intended for a particular capacity.' When Tiantai arose, the three schools of the south and seven schools of the north had their traces wiped away by it. How could Ci'en be permitted to rise up suddenly after the four seas had long been pacified? This must be critiqued. I have therefore written the Record of the Ci'en School and Doctrine.

29.31

Dharma Master Xuanzang was from the Chen clan of Luoyang. At age eleven, he could recite and thoroughly understand the Vimalakīrti and the Lotus Sūtra. At that time, Dharma Master Daoji was propagating the teachings in Chang'an; the Master carried his book-box and traveled west, studying the Abhidharma-vibhāṣā, the Samyuktābhidharma-hṛdaya-śāstra, and other texts under him. Ji praised him, saying, 'I have visited many lecture halls, but have never seen a youth of such spiritual comprehension as this.' During the Wude era, he lectured on the Samyuktābhidharma-hṛdaya-śāstra in the capital, winning the admiration of the world by not adhering rigidly to literal marks. Xiao Yu, the Vice Director of the Right of the Department of State Affairs, memorialized that he take up residence at the Great Zhuangyan Monastery. In the second year of Zhenguan, he submitted a memorial requesting permission to travel to Western India; the Emperor granted it. Leaning on his staff, he set out on his westward expedition, traversing far beyond the Congling mountains. Noxious winds cut to the bone, and flying sands blocked the way. When encountering sheer ravines and abysses, he made bridges of ropes and advanced by scaling the void. When ascending the Snow Mountains, where cliffs stood thousands of fathoms high, each person held four planks, alternating hands and feet in holes on the precipice, passing across like apes swinging by their arms—a place that neither Zhang Qian nor Gan Yanshou had ever reached. Crossing the Sand River, he met malignant ghosts and strange creatures emerging and disappearing before and behind him; the Master single-mindedly recollected Guanyin and the Heart of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, whereupon they abruptly retreated and dispersed. On Lengshan, the ice and snow did not thaw in spring or summer, and four out of ten of his companions froze to death. Entering the Iron Gate, the peaks and walls were entirely of iron; this was the frontier pass of the Turks. He traveled through one hundred and thirty countries. Everywhere that the Tathāgata had taught—the grove of enduring adamantine nirvāṇa, the bodhi tree where Māra was subdued, the lofty stupa of Kaniṣka, and the mountain where the shadow was left in Nagarahāra—he paid his respects and offered worship. He obtained precious images, relics, and seventy-five works of palm-leaf manuscripts. The Vaipulya teachings of Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, the incomplete-letter texts of the Deer Park, the various works written by Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna, the tenets of the eighteen different factions, and the principles of the diverse approaches of the five nikāyas—he collected, examined, and obtained all their texts. Even as to the sounds of the seven cases and eight inflections, and the phrases of the three voices and six compound analyses, there was nothing whose subtlety he did not fully plumb. Thereafter, the king of the country of Jalandhara bestowed upon him a blue elephant and a white horse to aid his transport. In the first month of the nineteenth year, he returned to Chang'an. Fang Xuanling, the regent of the capital, prepared banners, pennants, drums, flutes, and the ceremonial dignity of the Buddhist community; several tens of thousands of monastics and laypeople welcomed the Master with a precious carriage. In the second month, he reached Luoyang and met the Emperor in the Yiluan Hall (at that time the Emperor had made an imperial tour to the eastern capital of Luoyang). The Emperor comforted and commended his tireless diligence, questioned him about the events and traces of the Western Regions, and issued an edict commanding him to compose the Datang xiyu ji (Record of the Western Regions), for its mountains, rivers, and customs were unheard of in previous histories. An edict directed him to proceed to the Hongfu Monastery to translate along with the śramaṇas Daoxuan, Linggang, and others. In the twentieth year, he presented the newly translated Bodhisattvapiṭaka Sūtra and the Prakaraṇāryavācā-śāstra, requesting the Emperor to compose an imperial preface to the sacred teachings. In the twenty-second year, he presented the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. The Emperor personally examined it and sighed in praise, saying, 'The Buddhist teachings are vast and great, like gazing up at the heavens or looking out over the ocean, incapable of having their heights or depths exhausted. The scriptures of the nine schools of thought are mere puddles compared to the vast sea. When people say that the three teachings lead to the same destination, it is idle talk.' An edict ordered that the newly translated scriptures and treatises be copied and bestowed upon the commanders of the nine circuits (at that time the empire was divided into nine circuits) to be successively distributed. An edict commanded that, to the west of the Ziwei Hall in the capital, a separate Court for the Propagation of the Dharma be established, and the Master was invited to reside there, choosing seven eminent and virtuous monks to accompany him. In his spare moments from discussing the Way with the Emperor, he translated at all times together with the assembly. The Emperor ordered that Laozi be translated into Sanskrit to be sent to Western India. The Master said, 'The Buddhist and Daoist teachings differ greatly in their principles; how could the words of the Buddha be used to express the meaning of Laozi? Moreover, the doctrines established by Laozi are superficial; if the Five Indias hear them, it would only be enough to invite their contempt.' Thereupon, the matter was dropped. In the third year of Yonghui, he submitted a memorial requesting the construction of a pagoda at the Cien Monastery to enshrine and preserve the Sanskrit manuscripts and the imperial prefaces to the sacred teachings composed by the two reigns; the Emperor granted it, and further gathered the garments and wealth of deceased individuals from the seven palaces to assist with the expenses. In the first year of Xianqing, an imperial prince was born (Emperor Zhongzong), and a spiritual light filled the room. The Emperor bestowed upon him the title 'King of Buddha's Light'. A month later, [the Master] submitted a memorial requesting that the King of Buddha's Light enter monastic life; an edict ordered his hair shorn and the refuge precepts conferred, and [the Master] presented a golden-lettered Heart Sūtra, dharma robes, and a bowl set. In the second year, the Emperor toured Luoyang and decreed that the Master accompany the imperial carriage; taking the opportunity to pass through Chenliu, he reburied his parents, and an imperial decree provided the burial requisites. In the fourth year, the Yuhua Palace was converted into a monastery to honor the late emperor, and an edict commanded the Master to reside there to translate the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra; by the fourth year [of translation], it was completed in six hundred fascicles. On the fourth day of the second month in the first year of Linde, he announced to the assembly: 'How can this body of phantom foam remain for long?' He had the assembly recite Maitreya's name, wishing to swiftly behold his compassionate countenance together with all sentient beings. He then reclined on his right side with his legs crossed, supported his cheek with his hand, and became still and motionless. The Emperor wept for him in bitter grief, suspended court audiences for five days, and issued five edicts of praise and condolence. Following Buddhist precedents, he was buried east of the Chan River in a gold inner coffin and a silver outer coffin. When he first took ill, Chan Master Mingzang came to inquire about his sickness; he saw two tall persons holding white lotuses coming before him, saying, 'Master, from beginningless time you have harmed sentient beings; through this slight illness, all [that karmic obstruction] will be dissolved and eradicated.' The Master turned to the assembly, joined his palms, and listened. Could this not be that the power of translating the Prajñāpāramitā transformed heavy retribution into light suffering? When he first set out for India, he stroked the pine tree along the gate path with his hand and said, 'When I go west to seek the Dharma, your branches may face west; when I am to return, your branches may point east.' After he departed, the branches indeed turned west. One day, they suddenly pointed east, and his disciples said, 'Our teacher is returning!' Thus, it was called the 'Head-Stroking Pine'. When the Master reached India, he encountered the school of Nāgārjuna and wished to study under them. Its disciples bade him consume medicine to seek longevity, after which he could deeply investigate its core tenets. The Master thought to himself, 'Originally I sought to obtain scriptures; I fear that if the immortal arts are not achieved, I will fail my long-cherished aspiration.' Thereupon, he studied the characteristics of dharmas under Śīlabhadra and transmitted the Vijñaptimātra school. Śīlabhadra was then one hundred and three years old; having received the entrustment of Mañjuśrī, he had endured death while awaiting Xuanzang. Śīlabhadra employed the teachings of the three periods: first, existence; second, emptiness; third, neither empty nor existent. Although the Awakening of Faith originated with Aśvaghoṣa, its transmission had long been lost; the Master translated it from Chinese into Sanskrit to circulate it throughout the Five Indias, so that they again heard this essential doctrine—this was the Master's meritorious achievement.

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佛祖統紀 — 志磐, Classical Chinese