佛祖統紀 49.6

49.6

At the southwest corner of Mount Tiantai there is a peak called Folong. It was where the Great Master Zhizhe attained the Way, the place where the Great Teaching of the previous Buddha shone forth anew. The Liang and Chen dynasties revered it and established a monastery called Xiuchan. When the Sui founded Guoqing [Temple], they abolished the name Xiuchan and designated it a site of the Way (daochang). It has been more than one hundred and eighty years since the Great Master entered extinction. The senior elder, the great monk (the venerable Ran), brilliantly illuminated the posthumous instructions of the Great Master to instruct the later scholars and disciples. Liang Su of Anding heard this from above and renamed it Chanlin. Thereupon I engrave the great achievements left behind by the Great Master to show to later generations. The Great Master's taboo name was Zhiyi (courtesy name De'an), and his honorific title was Zhizhe. His ancestors belonged to the Chen clan of Yingchuan, and had resided for generations in Huarong of Jingzhou. His resonance with conditions and manifestation of traces are recorded in the separate biography. Now, as for the classics for governing the world, were it not for Zhongni, the systems of the Three Kings and the Four Dynasties would have slumbered and remained obscure. As for the Way of transcending the world, were it not for the Great Master, the principles of the Three Vehicles and Four Teachings would have been veiled and unenlightened. Formerly, the Tathāgata mounted the causes and conditions of the One Great Affair, and the Bodhisattva manifested through the Universal Gate. From the initial opening of the Avataṃsaka to the exalted assembly at the Twin Trees, neither small nor great, all returned together to the Buddha realm. When the Great Hero showed extinction, the paths of learning branched apart; as the world declined, the teaching also languished. Therefore the Great Being Nāgārjuna was grieved by this; he then employed expedient strategies to subdue all the non-Buddhists, and expounded the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom to elucidate the ultimate tenet. When the subtle words flowed eastward, our Chan Master Huiwen attained them: through the written words he entered the non-dual Dharma gate, and transmitted it to the Great Master Si of Nanyue. At that time the teaching was still concise and esoteric, and could not be widely disseminated, while the various schools of emptiness and existence misled and confused the realm of Xia. When the Great Master received it, he thereupon opened the Dharma gate of Calming and Contemplation (Śamatha-Vipaśyanā). His teaching roughly specifies meditation and wisdom directly on body and mind, and expounds liberation directly on words. It is the aim of the Great, Middle, and One Reality, the wondrous principle realized through non-attainment. From the initial aspiration up to the realization of the Way, the stages of practice are lucid and do not violate each other's order. Then he extensively expounded the sutras and harmonized them: all dissolved brightly like melting ice to show the Buddha's knowledge and vision. Those who examine his teaching cultivate it and find rest in it; indeed, wherever they enter, they find it naturally within themselves. Such was the Great Master's establishment of the teaching. As for loosening and tightening, adopting and setting aside, opening and closing, silence and speech, he strode lofty across the seas and the world, becoming the ancestral master of two states. Like the great sun in the sky, his light covered the four quarters; like the great cloud pouring down rain, he broadly bestowed it upon the myriad things. Hence, whenever people spoke of the Buddha's Dharma, they took Tiantai as their compass, and the disparate paths and discordant discourses often withdrew and fell silent. When his conditions dispersed and his teaching was completed, he showed extinction on this mountain; this was the seventeenth year of the Kaihuang era. Now, name is the guest of reality, and teaching is the gateway to the Way. The Great Master concealed the guest and threw open the gateway; he himself spoke of his stage, indicating that he had realization, so that the affairs of his resonance and response could be known. At that time, those who gained entrance to the Great Master's gate were counted in the thousands, and those who attained the deep mind were thirty-two people. The one who compiled his words and deeds for later generations was Chan Master Guanding of Zhang'an. Guanding transmitted it to Wei of Jinyun. Wei transmitted it to Dongyang. Dongyang and Jinyun had the same title, so people of the time called him Lesser Wei. Wei transmitted it to Chan Master Lang of Zuoxi. From Jinyun to Zuoxi, they passed the dark pearl to one another, merely resting at twilight in serene repose. The foremost among the disciples of Zuoxi is the present Chan Master Zhanran: his conduct is lofty, his discernment far-reaching, and his comprehension transcendent and eloquent. Whenever the ancestral masters' teachings lay in chapters and verses, he drew them forth to make them trusted. Those who came later and relied on him to exalt virtue and resolve doubts are beyond count. He once told Su: 'The Folong of this mountain is also like the Zhu and Si rivers of Zou and Lu. The brilliant light of the wondrous Dharma and the remaining dust of the former masters have gathered here. Since the Shangyuan and Baoli eras, state rebels have caused turmoil, and the dark-robed monks with tin staffs have scattered in terror. We may change its name, build a monastery, maintain the stūpas and shrines, adorn the Buddha land, so that those who dedicate their merit have a place of refuge. For this we depend on the multitude. You are my disciple; record this in literary words and carve it upon metal and stone, so that people a thousand years hence will know why our Way is as it is.' The junior bowed his head and received the command. Therefore the Great Master's origin and traces, the successive illumination of the teaching gate, and the abbacy of his descendants are all seen in these words. The inscription reads: / The Buddhas appear in the world, / Only for the One Great Affair. / The source of Tiantai's teaching / Reaches the same end as the Buddhas'. / Glorious was the Great Master, / Who opened and revealed the profound secret; / He further propagated the essentials of the Way, / And peacefully abided in the perfect stage. / The white sun shines gloriously in heaven; / The world is cultured and bright. / When the Great Master appeared, / The state was transformed and perfected. / Unborn, yet born; / Birth and transformation both grow dark. / The firewood is consumed, the fire extinguished; / The mountain is empty, but the Way endures. / After five generations, / An eminent virtue was born in between. / The subtle words reside here; / His virtuous voice truly fills the land. / Bright and discerning is our sovereign, / Who changed the name to Pure Domain. / Though this mountain may be destroyed, / This teaching shall have no end.