佛祖統紀 29.18

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.)