佛祖統紀 6

English (machine translation) 6

Language: English

6.19 — 5 parts

6.1

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

6.2

The Nine Patriarchs of the Eastern Land, Part 3, Section 1

6.3

First Patriarch, the Lord of the Abhayavāda Treatise, the Venerable Nāgārjuna, Great Chan Master of the Single Characteristic

6.4

Second Patriarch, Establisher of the Middle Contemplation, the Venerable of Beiqi, Great Chan Master of Complete Awakening

6.5

Third Patriarch, Complete Realizer of the Lotus, the Venerable of Nanyue, Great Chan Master of Calming and Contemplation

6.6

Fourth Patriarch, Tiantai Zhiyi, Great Chan Master of Dharma-Emptiness, Precious Awakening, and Numinous Wisdom

6.7

Fifth Patriarch, Compiler of the Teachings and Lineage, the Venerable of Zhāng'ān, Great Chan Master of Dhāraṇī

6.8

Sixth Patriarch, Transmitter of the Teachings and Contemplation, the Venerable Fahua, Great Chan Master of Complete Penetration

6.9

Seventh Patriarch, Transmitter of the Teachings and Contemplation, the Venerable Tiangong, Great Chan Master of Complete Truth

6.10

Eighth Patriarch, Transmitter of the Teachings and Contemplation, the Venerable Zuoxi, Great Chan Master of Luminous Awakening

6.11

Ninth Patriarch, Author of the Tiantai Commentaries, the Venerable of Jīngxī, Great Chan Master of Complete Penetration

The Way of the Buddhas and patriarchs transmits the mind with the mind; what need is there to wait for speech? Yet when it comes to confirming the capacity of the recipient, one must rely on conferring and receiving as the ceremony of transmitting the Way. Therefore, the twenty-four sages of the patriarchal transmission from the golden mouth all received the oral instruction in person to manifest the wonder of mind transmission. However, when it comes to penetrating past and present, distinguishing the heterodox from the orthodox, clarifying the object and wisdom, and discerning the principal tenet and function, how could anything be omitted from speech? Ever since the scriptures and treatises crossed to the east and the teachings filled Cīnasthāna, the masters of this land, grieving that the world could not comprehend them, specialized in lecturing and exposition to penetrate this lineage. Yet those who grasped the minor lost the major, and those who clung to the partial neglected the complete; hence the wonder of mind transmission was ultimately never unfolded. When the Way was about to prevail, holy and wise persons were abundantly born. The Venerable of Beiqi, endowed with natural capacity from past lives, did not wait for personal transmission; he silently awakened to Nāgārjuna's purport that [all things are] identical to emptiness, identical to provisionality, and identical to the middle, establishing it as mind-contemplation to confer upon Nanyue. Nanyue cultivated it to purify the six sense faculties, and in turn conferred it upon Zhiyi. Zhiyi used it to awaken to the Lotus, and further expanded the magnificent enterprise to establish the school of one family. He once said: 'Transmitting the Way lies in practice and also in exposition.' Thereupon he summarized the five periods and unfolded the eight teachings, encompassing all texts to anchor their tenet in the Lotus. He ran through the five chapters to explain the opening title, and divided the four interpretations to resolve the sentences. Once the doctrine of the teaching and principle was illuminated, the purport of contemplative practice had to be clarified; he then composed the single treatise Calming and Contemplation, speaking of the practice within his own mind. He preceded it with six chapters to open understanding, and followed it with establishing practice based on understanding, taking the twenty-five dharmas as expedient means and the ten vehicles of contemplation as the correct cultivation. His discourse on the inherent integration of phenomena and principle in the three thousand [realms] contested and broke down the hundred schools, surpassing past and present, and thereby became the foundation for clarifying the teachings in all under heaven. At that time there was the Great Chan Master of Zhāng'ān, who was long renowned for great learning and also possessed marvelous awakening. Following his lectures, he took up the brush and recorded his words, collecting them into treatises and commentaries to bestow blessings on later students. As for those in the world fond of heterodox opinions, such as the five teachings and three periods, they specialized in partial inclinations; though at the moment of stirring capacities each hit upon something, they were ultimately insufficient to know the beginning and end of a single teaching period, or reach the ultimate tenet of the Lotus. One must know that the teaching rolls of permanent abiding fill Jambudvīpa, and the followers in square robes are more numerous than bamboo shoots; had Tiantai not been born, the timely teachings not prevailed, and the way of contemplation not been clarified, I would surely say that the Buddha's Dharma was already extinguished. Zhāng'ān succeeded to the great lineage, and then transmitted it to Fahua. In Fahua's time, there were seven hundred students of lecture, and Tiangong truly succeeded to his enterprise. At Tiangong's door, countless sought the Way, and Zuoxi alone carried on after him. At Zuoxi's thriving seat, students were even more numerous; from distant regions and neighboring borders they filled his gates and packed his halls. Across the three generations from Fahua, all succeeded to the lineage and adhered to the texts, solely devoting themselves to lecturing. By the time of Jīngxī, many difficulties were encountered; when renegades arose in secret, he could not but launch attacks with the Golden Shovel and the Exemplary Meanings. When scholars raised differing statements, he could not but provide guidelines through his commentaries on the various works. Clarifying the orthodox lineage to bequeath it to later generations, his merit in propagating and praising was nearly equal to that of Zhāng'ān. Honoring the patriarchs, esteeming the Way, recounting virtue, and recording achievement, I compile the 'Annals of the Nine Patriarchs of the Eastern Land.'

6.13

First Patriarch, the Venerable Nāgārjuna (his basic annals are among those of the thirteenth patriarch of the Western Land): The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says: / 'After the Sugata's nirvāṇa, / In a future age there shall be / A bhikṣu of South India / Whose name will be Nāgārjuna. / Capable of destroying the doctrines of existence and non-existence, / He will illuminate my Mahāyāna teaching, / Attain the first joyful stage, / And be reborn in the Land of Peace and Nurture.'

6.14

Appraisal: Zhāng'ān said: 'Zhiyi's Treatise on the Contemplation of the Mind says: "I take refuge in Master Nāgārjuna." From this it is proven that Nāgārjuna is the first patriarch master.' The Fuxing explains: 'Zhiyi should have called Nāgārjuna his great-grandfather master. If one takes exalted status as "gao" (great/first), it is like the various sovereigns of the Han and Qi dynasties who all referred to the founding ancestor as "gao"; this means that because their merit was unsurpassed, their posthumous title was "Gao". Our school also considers Nāgārjuna the founding ancestor, so Zhiyi designated him as the first patriarch.' Transmitting the Buddha's mind-lineage and continuing the lineage of the Way, later generations revered them and universally called them 'patriarchs'; thus the twenty-four sages of the patriarchal transmission from the golden mouth are all called 'patriarchs'. Down to this land, the succession of the nine patriarchs also bears this meaning. Hence we know that what is now termed 'Gao' is truly as Jīngxī meant—unsurpassed merit—and is not like the secular designations of great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather.

6.15

The Second Patriarch, the Venerable Huiwen of the Northern Qi, had the surname Gao. During the Northern Dynasties, between the Wei and Qi (Emperor Xiaojing of the Eastern Wei and Emperor Wenxuan of the Northern Qi), among those who practiced the Buddha's Path: The first was Master Ming, who mostly used the seven expedient means. (The Fuxing says: "This is probably the Hinayana seven expedient means. Prior to Zhizhe, no one had ever established the seven expedient means of the Perfect School.") The second was Master Zui, who harmonised the nature and characteristics of mind, leaving all dharmas unimpeded. The third was Master Song, who used the three periods of time as originally having no coming or going. The fourth was Master Jiu, who mostly used the quiescent mind. The fifth was Master Zao, who mostly used the understanding mind to contemplate the one suchness. The sixth was Master Hui, who mostly used the unshakeable mind, wherein mind within, without, or in-between is ungraspable. The seventh was Master Wen, who used the awakened mind to repeatedly contemplate samādhi, the samādhi of cessation, and the uninterrupted samādhi, having no conceptual discrimination toward any dharma. The eighth was Master Si, who mostly used the easeful practice of following one's own intention. The ninth was Master Yi, who used the three kinds of calming and contemplation. Although they are said to have succeeded one another, the Dharma methods underwent modification. Since Master Wen based himself upon the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, one knows that those before him were not what he inherited. (This is based on what is recorded in the Fuxing. According to the Biographies of Eminent Monks, when Nanyue awakened to the Lotus Samādhi, he went to Master Zui for examination and described what he had realised, all of which met with rejoicing. It also says: "Zhizhe received his training from Master Si; Master Si followed Master Daojiu; and Master Jiu received the Dharma from Master Zui." Now, in detailed consideration, Master Si originally inherited [the Dharma] from Master Wen, yet it is now said he followed Master Jiu. From this one knows that many of these masters were contemporaries who mutually consulted and received instruction from each other, and as the Dharma methods were modified, the later ones mostly surpassed the earlier ones; it is no longer a matter of succession that can be discussed. Only from the Northern Qi onward, when contemplation was established on the basis of the treatise, and from this transmission was handed down, identical from beginning to end, can master-disciple lineage truly be discussed.)

The Master was inherently endowed with the Perfect Vehicle and awakened independently through his natural disposition. While reading the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa (the thirtieth scroll), which cites the Large Sūtra: "If one wishes to use the wisdom of paths to fulfill the wisdom of the aspects of the path, one should study prajñā. If one wishes to use the wisdom of the aspects of the path to fulfill all-knowledge, one should study prajñā. If one wishes to use all-knowledge to fulfill sarvākārajñatā, one should study prajñā. If one wishes to use sarvākārajñatā to cut off afflictions and latent habits, one should study prajñā." The treatise asks itself: "Within a single mind one attains all-knowledge, the wisdom of the aspects of the path, and sarvākārajñatā, and cuts off all afflictions and latent habits. Why does it now say that one uses all-knowledge to fulfill sarvākārajñatā, and uses sarvākārajñatā to cut off afflictions and latent habits?" It answers: "In truth, all are attained at one time. Here, in order to make people have faith in the prajñāpāramitā, it speaks of sequential distinctions; wishing to make sentient beings attain a pure mind, it therefore speaks thus. Furthermore, although attained within a single mind, there is also a sequence of beginning, middle, and end. Just as a single mind has three characteristics: arising due to conditions, abiding, and abiding due to conditions, ceasing. Also, just as with mind, mental factors, non-concomitant conditioned phenomena, bodily karma, and vocal karma, using the wisdom of paths to fulfill all-knowledge, using all-knowledge to fulfill sarvākārajñatā, and using sarvākārajñatā to cut off afflictions and latent habits are also like this." The Master relied on this passage to cultivate mind-contemplation. The three wisdoms in the treatise are truly attained within a single mind; and since the fruit is attained in a single mind, how could the cause be gained before and after? Therefore, when this contemplation was accomplished, he realised the three wisdoms in a single mind, both extinguishing and illuminating, and immediately entered the stage of the forbearance of the non-arising [of dharmas] of the first stage of abiding. The Master also, on reading the Madhyamakaśāstra (the chapter on contemplation in the middle in the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa), came to the verse in the "Chapter on the Four Truths":
"Whatever dharma is produced by causes and conditions,
I declare to be identical to emptiness;
It is also a conventional designation,
And is also the meaning of the Middle Way."
He was suddenly enlightened, instantaneously comprehending that all dharmas are none other than produced by causes and conditions; and these causes and conditions are existence, yet not determinately existent; emptiness, yet not determinately empty. Emptiness and existence being non-dual is called the Middle Way. Since the Master relied entirely on the commentary-treatise, we know that he distantly inherited [the Dharma from] Nāgārjuna.

The Master lived in the era of the Gao Qi. (The Fuxing states this refers to Emperor Gaozu of Qi. Considering this carefully now, Gao Huan was prime minister of Eastern Wei and was enfiefed as Prince of Qi. Only with his son Yang was the abdication of Wei accepted, becoming Emperor Wenxuan, and Huan was posthumously titled Gaozu. According to this, it was still called Eastern Wei at that time. Master Wen's teaching and transformation were active after the Northern Qi accepted the abdication, hence it is called Gao Qi. This prefixes the country name with the imperial surname, like Xiao Liang and Yuan Wei.) He gathered hundreds and thousands of disciples and devoted himself exclusively to the Mahāyāna, walking alone between the Yellow and Huai Rivers with none to rival his teaching at the time. The Dharma methods he entered were beyond the world's comprehension. Learners looked up to him as if treading the earth and carrying the heavens, unable to fathom their height and depth. The Master orally transmitted the mind-contemplation to Nanyue. Nanyue vastly propagated it in the south, while the Master's disciples in the north were not heard of. (Scattered across the Zhiguan fuxing, the Zongyuan lu, and the Short Biographies of the Nine Patriarchs.)

6.16

The appraisal says: With the caliber of a superior sage, [the Master of] the Northern Qi independently awakened to the Middle Contemplation, and among the masters of that time none could rival his transformation; this was not something that could be known by Ming, Zui, Song, or Jian. Having orally transmitted the essential instructions to Nanyue, among the disciples in the northern regions there were none who transmitted them. This was probably during the days when the Gao clan's government was in disorder and the state was shrinking; it was natural that this path could not become prominent. When Nanshan compiled the biographies of monks, he omitted him without recording [his life]; how could this be without investigation? Ciyun said: "He obtained the text on the three wisdoms in a single mind from Nāgārjuna, established contemplation based on the treatise, and thereupon awakened by himself—how could it be said that he had no teacher?"

6.17

The Third Patriarch, Venerable Huisi of Nanyue, surnamed Li, was a native of Wujin in Nanyuzhou under the Northern Wei. (In his own vow-text, Nanyue recounts: 'In the year of yiwei, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, I was born in Wujin County of Nanyuzhou in the Wei state.' This corresponds to the fourth year of the Yanchang reign-era of Emperor Xuanwu of the Wei, the fourteenth year of the Tianjian reign-era of Emperor Wu of the Liang, the year yiwei.) As a child, he dreamt of an Indian monk advising him to enter the path. He also saw his peers reciting the Lotus Sūtra, and his love for the Dharma deepened; having borrowed a copy, he contemplated it alone in an empty tomb. With no one to teach him, he wept day and night. Further, because a tomb is no place for humans to dwell, he relocated to an old city wall, digging a hole to lodge himself. By day he begged for food, and by night he did not attend to sleep. Facing the sūtra, tears streamed down as he bowed in veneration without cease. Prolonged rain and unventilated damp caused his whole body to swell with dropsy; patiently directing his mind toward the sūtra, the swelling suddenly disappeared. He also dreamt of Samantabhadra riding the king of white elephants, who rubbed the crown of his head and departed; what he had formerly been unable to read he now naturally comprehended, and where the crown was rubbed, a fleshy uṣṇīṣa faintly arose. At age fifteen (the second year of the Yong'an reign-era of Emperor Zhuang of the Wei), he went forth and received full ordination, cutting off mundane affairs to devote himself exclusively to reciting the Lotus Sūtra. He took only one meal a day and accepted no special invitations. The thatched hermitage he dwelt in was burned down by rustic folk, and they immediately contracted a virulent plague; coming to seek repentance, their illness was cured at once. He then rebuilt a thatched cottage and recited the sūtra as before. Again he dreamt of a monk who said: 'The precepts you previously received were by an inferior rite; how could they awaken the correct path?' Thereupon he saw forty-two monks perform the karmavācanā to confer the complete precept-dharma upon him. (The forty-two monks represent the forty-two stages, from the first abode up to wonderful enlightenment. This signifies that Nanyue was destined to attain purity of the six faculties and enter the ten faiths of the perfect teaching; therefore, the forty-two great beings along with the straightforward monk of wonderful enlightenment performed the rite for him to verify it.) Upon waking, he strove even more diligently in his regular practice. He also dreamt of the Buddhas Amitābha and Maitreya preaching the Dharma to him, and he followed Maitreya along with various noble companions to assemble at the Dragon Flower Tree; being extraordinarily moved and inspired, he redoubled his vigorous exertion. At age twenty (the first year of the Tianping reign-era of Emperor Xiaojing of the Eastern Wei), reading the Miaoshengding jing and seeing its praise of dhyāna-meditation, he extensively approached masters of dhyāna to study the Mahāyāna, constantly dwelling in forests and wilderness, practicing walking meditation and cultivating dhyāna. Later he visited Master Wen to ask for and receive oral instructions, and was instructed in the method of mind-contemplation. By day he labored in the affairs of the monastic assembly, and by night he sat in meditation until dawn. After the first three weeks, a slight tranquility initially arose, and he contemplated and saw the karmic marks of good and bad deeds from a single lifetime. Becoming ever more valiant, an obstacle to dhyāna suddenly arose: his four limbs became limp and weak, and his body would not obey his mind. He then contemplated within himself: 'This sickness I now have all arises from karma; karma arises from the mind, and originally has no external object.' Turning back to observe the source of the mind, karma was nowhere to be found. Thereupon the eight touches were activated, bringing forth the fundamental dhyāna (heaviness, lightness, cold, heat, roughness, smoothness, softness, and coarseness—these are the eight touches). Thereby he saw the traces of his practice of the path over three lifetimes. As the summer retreat concluded and he received his monastic seniority, he was about to ascend the hall when he lamented with a sigh: 'Formerly, when the Buddha was in the world, many realized the path upon completing the ninety-day retreat. Today I have received my Dharma seniority in vain, feeling profound inner shame.' As he went to lean his body against the wall, he had an open, great awakening to the Lotus Samādhi. From this point onward, sūtras he had never heard before were resolved naturally without doubt. In the sixth year of the Wuding reign-era of the Eastern Wei (at age thirty-four), he was in Yanzhou, Henan; debating with the assembly, he was poisoned by evil monks, but revived when on the verge of death. In the first year of the Tianbao reign-era of Northern Qi (at age thirty-six), he often remained in Henan, learning the Mahāyāna, visiting great dhyāna masters, and traveling through various commanderies. That year, the regional inspector wished to escort him back to Ye (the capital of Emperor Wenxuan of the Qi); the Master intended to head south, so he left the assembly and crossed the Huai River. At that time, an imperial edict summoned the dhyāna masters throughout the realm to enter the imperial palace to receive offerings (the Northern and Southern Dynasties often called the court the Inner Terrace); the Master used expedient means to decline and avoid going. In the fourth year, he reached Yingzhou, where he lectured on the meaning of the Mahāyāna for the regional inspector Liu Huaibao. Various evil debating masters put raw gold poison into his food; with his life at its brink, the Master single-mindedly contemplated the Prajñāpāramitā, and the poison immediately dissolved. In the fifth year, he went to Kaiyue Monastery in Guangzhou; five hundred households of Ba Zili, together with the regional inspector, invited him to lecture on the Mahāyāna-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra. In the sixth year, he lectured on the Mahāyāna at Mount Dasu in Guangzhou. (The Dongpo ji states: 'Forty li south of Guangshan County, south of Mount Dasu and north of Mount Xiaosu, there is a monastery named Jingju. During the Tianbao era of Qi, Dhyāna Master Si passed by this place and saw an old elder; asking his surname, the elder replied, 'Su.' Asking further the names of the two mountains, the Master sighed and said, 'My master told me that when I meet the three Sus, I should dwell there.' He then remained to build a hermitage, but the old elder completely disappeared; he was indeed the mountain god. Later, Dhyāna Master Yi came to visit the Master and obtained the Dharma.') In the seventh year, he lectured on the Mahāyāna at Guanyi Monastery west of the city. A crowd of evil debating masters vied to harm him; the Master vowed to produce a gold-lettered Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, to manifest immeasurable bodies in the lands of the ten directions to preach this sūtra, and to lead all evil debating masters to attain faithful minds and abide in non-retrogression. In the eighth year, he went to South Dingzhou, lecturing on the Mahāyāna for the regional inspector. Various evil debating masters competitively aroused malicious thoughts and barred the dānapatis from delivering food. For fifty days, he constantly sent disciples to beg for food to sustain life. At that time, he again made a firm vow, pledging to produce the gold-lettered Prajñāpāramitā to lecture upon for the multitude. In the ninth year, at Mount Dasu, he proclaimed to all quarters the need to produce the sūtra. Suddenly there was a monk named Senghe, who said of himself: 'I can produce the sūtra.' Having obtained the beginning of the text, he transformed the region, obtaining wealth to buy gold; at Qiguang Monastery in Guangcheng County, he completed two texts: the Large Prajñāpāramitā and the Lotus Sūtra. He placed them in jeweled cases and composed an essay of vows to record the event, wishing that his own body and these sūtras would appear simultaneously at the time of Maitreya Buddha to broadly convert all beings. He also stated: 'Those worldly monastics and laity who earnestly invite one to preach, or who forcefully urge one to preach, are all bad spiritual friends: at first they seem well-intentioned, but afterward they become angry. The scholars are like enemies pretending to be intimates, and are likewise untrustworthy; the various kings and kṣatriyas are also like this. Discern, discern, discern, discern!' (Fazhi and Ciyun both speak of the 'four discernments of Zhuling', which refer to this: monastics and laity who urge preaching, those who forcefully urge preaching, scholars who feign intimacy, and kings and kṣatriyas—these four classes must all be discerned. The above passages are all found in Nanyue's vow-text.) As the Master's renown and practice spread afar, his disciples grew daily in number; the crowd mixed refined and coarse, and disputes frequently arose. He then addressed his disciples, saying: 'When the Great Sage was in the world, he did not escape rumors; how could I, lacking virtue, escape this debt? A debt was contracted in the past; when the time comes, it must be borne—this is a private matter. But the Qi dynasty's fortunes are about to collapse, and the Buddha-Dharma will be temporarily darkened (the Qi was later destroyed by the Zhou; Emperor Wu of the Zhou abolished both Buddhism and Daoism); to what quarter should I go to avoid this disaster?' Suddenly a voice from the sky said: 'If you wish to cultivate samādhi, you should go to Wudang and Nanyue.' The Master lingered in Guangzhou, occasionally traveling to neighboring commanderies to preach for the assembly, for a total of fourteen years (from his arrival in Guangzhou in the fifth year of Tianbao to his entry into Nanyue in the second year of Guangda of the Chen, it was fourteen years from beginning to end). Guangzhou was on the border between Chen and Qi; beacon fires frequently flared up, leaving the assembly no peaceful dwelling. Thus in the second year of the Guangda reign-era of the Chen, he went to reside at Nanyue, telling his disciples: 'I shall lodge on this mountain for exactly ten years; after this, I will surely undertake a distant journey.' (The Master entered Nanyue and passed away in the ninth year of Dajian, precisely ten years later.) Prior to this, an eminent monk of the Liang dynasty, Dhyāna Master Hai, resided there; upon meeting, they felt like old acquaintances, and he yielded the mountain to the Master to practice the path. One day the Master ascended Zhurong Peak; the mountain god was playing weiqi. The god bowed to the Master and said: 'Why has the Master come here?' The Master said: 'I seek from the dānapati a space for one sitting mat.' The god agreed. The Master then cast his tin staff to determine the site (this is now Fuyan Monastery). The god said: 'The Master has already claimed the auspicious ground; where shall your disciple reside?' The Master rolled a stone drum, which rolled down until it met flat ground and stopped (the sculpted image of the Mountain Lord still sits upon the stone drum today). The mountain god requested the precepts, and the Master preached the essentials of the Dharma for him. One day the Master said to the mountain god: 'Another day, when I face disaster, the dānapati will also face disaster.' The Master pointed beneath a cliff and said: 'In one of my previous lives, I sat in dhyāna here; a bandit severed my head.' Searching, they found a heap of dry bones (now the First-Life Cliff of Fuyan). Arriving at the southwest corner, he pointed to a large rock and said: 'In my second previous life, I also lived here.' He picked up the skull and erected a stūpa to repay the kindness of his past cultivation (now the Second-Life Stūpa). Reaching a secluded and dense area, he said: 'This is an ancient monastery; in my third previous life, I lodged here.' He instructed people to dig, and there were indeed monastic utensils and foundation stones of halls; he then built a platform to preach the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra to the assembly (now the Three-Lifetimes Repository). The assembly suffered from lack of water; the Master planted his staff against the cliff, and a tiger scratched the ground, whereupon a spring gushed forth (now Tiger-Scratch Spring). In the first year of the Dajian reign-era, Ouyang Zhengze, a Daoist priest of the Nine Immortals Abbey, observed an extraordinary aura on the mountain and plotted with his fellows, saying: 'This aura indicates a brown-robed Dharma King; if he flourishes, our teaching will decline.' Thereupon they quarried and severed the heart of the mountain, driving iron spikes into the stone to practice witchcraft (see the note in Fascicle 3 of the Treatise on Prosperity and Decline), and buried weapons on the mountain. They deceitfully submitted a memorial claiming: 'The northern monk was recruited by the Qi to do this.' Emperor Xuan dispatched an envoy to investigate. When first crossing the stone bridge, two tigers roared, and the envoy retreated in fright. The next day he advanced again. The Master said: 'Let the dānapati go ahead; this poor monk shall follow shortly.' After an interval of seven days, the envoy had not yet arrived; the Master flew his tin staff and went to Jinling. He was seen entering through all four city gates. When the envoy arrived, they were granted audience together. The Emperor sat in the private hall and saw the Master descend through the sky, his monkly bearing extraordinary; astonished and convinced of his spiritual power, he asked no questions. Regarding the Daoist priests' false accusation and deception of the sovereign, he ordered an investigation; their offense warranted execution in the public marketplace. The Master pleaded: 'Taking people's lives is not the wish of this poor monk. I beg that they be released back to the mountain; to serve the monastic assembly as attendants would suffice as a minor punishment.' The Emperor consented, ordering the officials to cast iron into fourteen tallies, inscribed with the names of the fourteen Daoist priests encircling them, sealed with the imperial seal, and ordered them to follow the Master back to the mountain. As he was about to depart, he saw him off with extraordinary honors, addressing him as the Great Dhyāna Master; the title 'Great [Master] Si' was derived from this. Initially, an edict housed him at Qixuan Monastery; he once visited the Waguan Vihāra, where rain did not wet him and mud did not soil his shoes. The Monastic Controller Huigao met him on the road and sighed: 'A person of such divine marvel—how did he come to this?' From then on, both monastics and laity throughout the court were inclined in heart to revere him. The Grand Area Commander Wu Mingche, whenever attending Dharma discussions, wished to present a rhinoceros horn pillow but dared not speak. The Master said: 'If you wish to give the pillow, simply do so.' Mingche was all the more astounded. After the Master returned to the mountain, he preached the Dharma as before. The Daoist priests reported their old age and sickness, offering several qing of land for the temple kitchen to redeem their elderly bodies. The Master said: 'If you wish to leave the land, I will grant your wish.' It was thus named Liutian Estate (commonly called the Daoists' Ransom Estate). The bestowed iron tallies were all stored away, and a stone inscription recorded the event, titled 'Record of the Iron Tallies Bestowed by the Emperor of the Chen Dynasty on Great Dhyāna Master Si of Nanyue for Subduing the Daoist Priests'. At that time, the Daoist priests made a secret vow: 'In this life, our supernormal powers and official influence are both inferior to yours; five hundred years later, we shall be born into your Dharma to destroy your teaching.' The Master also foretold: 'These Daoists harm me without cause; in a future day, wearing my kāṣāya, they will enter my saṅghārāma and destroy my remains.' (During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Great Song, a grand minister went out to govern Hunan; passing by this mountain, he toured the remnants and said to the abbot: 'Another day, when the Daoists have their way, they will surely seek revenge; we should bury the stone stele and change the estate's name, so that no trace may be found.' Thus the name was changed to Tianzhu Estate, and the stele and tallies were buried in the Three-Lifetimes Repository cloister. During the Daguan era, the Daoist priest Lin Lingsu deluded the Emperor's ear, and indeed dispatched a document to search for this matter; finding no trace to investigate, he ceased. In the beginning of the Qiandao era, a certain Jiezhi'an came to preside over this mountain and said to the assembly: 'The Second-Life Stūpa has fallen into overgrown brambles; paying homage to it is inconvenient; it should be relocated and joined to the Three-Lifetimes Stūpa.' In fact, Jie intended to take the land privately for his own stūpa. Thereupon, with fourteen stewards equipped with axes and mattocks, they opened the stone niche and saw the sacred relics were golden in color; there was a stone screen engraved with the names of Ouyang Zhengze and others, whose reincarnations were the present abbot, managers, and temple servants, not differing in the least from their present names. The multitude was terrified. That evening, the Mountain Lord's temple was completely consumed by fire. Hearing of this, the prefectural and county authorities pursued their arrest with great urgency; Jie and his fellows all fled and scattered. The monastery assembly re-interred the bones. Later, when Jie resided at another mountain, whenever he took the high seat, he invariably repented and rebuked himself before the assembly, seeking to avoid retribution in future lives. Remarks: It has now been seven hundred years since Nanyue. Master Jie indeed fulfilled the secret vow, and the Master and the mountain god indeed matched the earlier prophecy; how extraordinary! Yet although Master Jie acted from an evil vow, he was ultimately able to take refuge in the Śākya clan, taking defamation as a condition; this is just enough to make manifest Nanyue's power of gathering beings.) When the Master was about to pass away, he gathered his disciples and preached the Dharma for consecutive days, rebuking them bitterly and earnestly so that his listeners were chilled at heart. He then said: 'If there are ten people who do not begrudge life or limb, constantly cultivating the Lotus Samādhi, the mindfulness-of-Buddha samādhi, the Vaipulya repentance, and the ascetic practice of constant sitting, I will personally supply whatever they need. If there is no such person, I shall depart far away.' In the end, no one responded; he dismissed the assembly, gathered his thoughts, and was about to enter quiescence. His disciple Lingbian wept aloud unawares; the Master scolded him, saying: 'Evil demon, be gone! The holy multitude has come to welcome me and is just discussing the place of my rebirth; why do you disturb me?' Thereupon, sitting upright, he chanted that the Buddha had come to welcome him, joined his palms, and passed away. His countenance was like life, and an extraordinary fragrance filled the room. This was on the twenty-second day of the sixth month of the ninth year of Dajian, at the age of sixty-three, having forty-nine summer retreats. Initially at Dasu, he entrusted the Dharma to Master Yi, who afterward often lectured on the Prajñāpāramitā on his behalf. Coming to the phrase 'one mind is endowed with the ten thousand practices', he suddenly had a doubt. The Master said: 'Your doubt pertains only to the graded intent of the Large Sūtra; it is not yet the perfect and sudden import of the Lotus. Formerly, during the summer retreat, I realized in a single thought all phenomena appearing before me; since I have personally verified it, you need not doubt.' Master Yi asked whether what he realized was the ten grounds. He replied: 'In this life, I hoped to enter the copper wheel (the ten abodes of the perfect teaching); because I led disciples too early, harming myself while benefiting others, I reside only in the iron wheel.' (The Master attained purity of the six faculties, which is the ten faiths of the perfect teaching, the thirty minds of the distinct teaching, the pure conduct of the Avataṃsaka, and the iron wheel stage of the Yingluo.) The Master had an upright and sturdy physique; his ears had double lobes, and the crown of his head had a fleshy uṣṇīṣa; his gait was like that of an ox or an elephant, leaning neither left nor right. Ordinarily, against the cold, he wore only a patch-robe (The Lotus Sūtra says: 'A patch-robe in seclusion.' The Vinaya calls it the five-patch robe, meaning patching together five kinds of old rags to make a robe; the popular character na loses the meaning); silks and paddings he would not accept at all. Wherever he resided, auspicious wonders were redoubled; offering vessels were fully prepared, and pitchers filled themselves with water. Various heavenly youths served as his attendants, sometimes manifesting in great or small forms, sometimes hiding their forms in silence; extraordinary fragrances and wondrous signs were beyond recording. He often instructed the assembly, saying: 'The source of the Way is not far; the ocean of nature is not remote. Seek it only within yourself; do not pursue it from another. If you pursue it, you will not get it; and what is gotten is not real.' He also said in verse: 'Awakening suddenly to the mind-source opens the jewel treasury; / Hidden or manifest, divine penetrations reveal the true mark. / Walking alone, sitting alone, ever towering; / Hundreds of billions of transformation bodies beyond count. / Even if they crowd and fill empty space, / When inspected, not the mark of a single fine dust particle is seen. / How laughable a thing, beyond comparison! / The mouth emits a bright pearl of dazzling radiance. / One usually hears talk of the inconceivable; / A single word reveals the name, hitting the mark beneath the word.' He also said in verse: 'Heaven cannot cover it; / Earth cannot carry it. / No going, no coming, unobstructed; / No long, no short, neither blue nor yellow; / Not in the middle, nor inside or outside. / Transcending the multitude, standing out, extremely vast and mysterious; / Pointing to things to transmit the mind, people do not understand.' His writings were mostly dictated orally, written down into chapters and phrases by his disciples: the Forty-Two Characters Gate, the Gate of Non-Contention Practice, the Mahāyāna Cessation and Contemplation, each in two fascicles; the Essentials of the Commentary, Practice According to One's Own Mind, Peaceful Practice, Gradual Essentials of Dhyāna, and Contemplation Gate of the Three Wisdoms, each in one fascicle. (Extracted variously from Nanyue's vow-text, the Record of Iron Tallies, and the Southern Mountain Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks. ○ The Chuandeng lu states: 'Master Zhi sent someone to say to Master Si: 'Why do you not descend the mountain to convert sentient beings?' The Master replied: 'The Buddhas of the three periods have been swallowed down in a single gulp by me; what sentient beings are there to convert?' Examining Nanyue's vow-text now, his self-recorded year of birth corresponds to the fourteenth year of the Tianjian reign-era of Emperor Wu of the Liang; arriving at Nanyue only in the second year of Guangda of the Chen, he was fifty-four years of age. Master Zhi had already passed away, long before, in the era of Emperor Wu of the Liang. There could not have been such an emissary and question. We suspect today that this was another master, whom later people mistakenly transmitted as Master Zhi.')

6.18

The eulogy says: Nanyue transmitted the path of the threefold contemplation in a single mind, which he had received from Beiqi, to Tiantai. The greatness of his achievements was unsurpassed. Thus Zhāng'ān said: 'Dhyāna Master Si's fame was loftier than Mount Song, and his practice was deeper than the Yi and Luo rivers (an analogy for the height and depth of his renown and practice). For ten years he constantly recited; for seven years he practiced the Vaipulya [penance]; for ninety days he constantly sat; and in a single moment he attained perfect realization (see the Separate Biography of Tiantai).' The Master's own practice was indeed diligent. As for his awakening to the Lotus Samādhi and his opening of the doctrinal portals, these were things that Beiqi had not yet known. Therefore, Jīngxī also said: 'Dhyāna Master Wen only set forth internal contemplation of seeing and hearing, nothing more (see the Outline of the Great Calming and Contemplation).' How could this not be trusted?

6.19.1

The Fourth Patriarch, Great Master Tiantai Zhizhe, Zhiyi, courtesy name De'an, was surnamed Chen. His family had lived in Yingchuan for generations. During the Jin dynasty, they fled disorders and settled in Huarong of Jingzhou (present-day Gong'an County of Jiangling Prefecture). His father, Qizu, served as an attendant gentleman in ordinary attendance during the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Liang, and was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Yiyang. His mother, Lady Xu, dreamed of incense smoke of five colors twirling around and entering her bosom. She also once dreamed of swallowing a white rat, whereupon she felt a heaviness in her body. A diviner said: 'The white rat is a dragon in transformation.' On the night of his miraculous birth (the wuwu year, the fourth year of the Datong era of Emperor Wu of the Liang), divine light illuminated the house. The neighbors saw it from afar and took it for a fire; upon arriving, they knew that a son was born. All were amazed. Relatives from near and far were overjoyed and wished to set out tripods and platters for a celebration feast, but the fire extinguished and the soup grew cold, so that the affair could not be accomplished. At dawn, two monks knocked at the door and said: 'This boy is the repository of virtue; he will surely leave the household.' Having spoken, they vanished. The Master had eyebrows of eight colors (the Annals of Emperors and Kings records: 'Yao was born after fourteen months, and his eyebrows had eight colors') and eyes with double pupils (the Hanshu's appraisal of Xiang Yu states: 'Shun had double pupils'; [the characters] tong and tong are the same), bearing the auspicious signs of ancient emperors. His parents always hid and protected him, not letting others see him. While swaddled in infant blankets, whenever he lay down he joined his palms, and whenever he sat he always faced west. At the age of seven, he delighted in going to monasteries. Receiving oral instruction from a monk on the 'Universal Gateway' Chapter, he was able to recite it after a single hearing. At the age of seventeen, he met with the fall of Jiangling under Emperor Yuan (Emperor Yuan was originally enfeoffed as the Prince of Xiangdong, the seventh son of Emperor Wu. When Emperor Jianwen was harmed by Hou Jing, the Prince thereupon ascended the throne. He made Jiangling his capital for three years, and in the ninth month it was sacked by Western Wei. Calculating by historical calendars, he should have been seventeen years old. The Separate Biography's statement of fifteen is mistaken). His relatives were dispersed and displaced. Before the Buddha image at Changsha [Monastery], the Master vowed to become a śramaṇa (During the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin, a five-colored light appeared north of the city of Jiangling. The śramaṇa Tanyi found the golden body and radiant marks of a Buddha at that spot, bearing an inscription in Brāhmī characters that read: 'Fashioned by King Aśoka.' He then welcomed it and enshrined it at Changsha Monastery; this is what is now called the Changsha Buddha image. The monastery is north of the city of Jiangling; the old view that it was in Changsha of Tānzhōu is mistaken. The Record of the Divine Resonance of Devas and Humans states: 'Changsha Monastery is on the north bank of Jingzhou,' which agrees with this statement). At night, he dreamed that an auspicious image extended a golden hand through the window and stroked his crown three times. From this, he deeply loathed the prison of the household life and longed to leave the home. His parents loved him dearly and did not grant him permission. He then carved sandalwood to produce images, and opened the canon to seek out sūtras. While bowing to the Buddha, he felt dazed as if in a dream, and saw a tall mountain overlooking the sea. On the mountain peak, a monk raised his hand to beckon him. In an instant, the monk extended his arm down to the foot of the mountain and received him into a monastery, where he saw the images he had carved. Weeping with sorrow, he stated his own vow: 'I pray to master the Dharma of the Buddhas of the three periods, and to preach it without impediment before thousands of treatise masters, so as to repay the four debts of kindness.' The monk again pointed to the images and told him: 'You shall dwell here, and you shall end your days here.' In that year, his parents passed away one after the other (According to the Jingzhou Stele: When the Master wished to travel about, his mother said: 'How will delicious foods be provided for your parents?' The Master aroused a compassionate mind and pointed to their thatch, which turned into rice, and water, which turned into oil. Even today, the Thatch-Ear Village and the Oil River still retain their names. According to this, the two accounts differ; this must have occurred previously when he sought to leave the household and his parents had not yet permitted him. It is now appended here). At the age of eighteen, he took leave of his elder brother and sought to depart (the first year of the Shaotai era of Emperor Jing of the Liang; the elder brother was Chen Zhen, the adjutant of central weapons). At that time, Wang Lin held Xiang (Hengzhou), and he went to follow him. Because of his past acquaintance with Marquis Chen, Lin provided him with Dharma implements. He left the household under his maternal uncle Faxu at Guoyuan Monastery in his native commandery (the Fuxing says: 'He went to his uncle at Guoyuan Monastery to leave the household'). At twenty, he proceeded to receive the full precepts (the second year of the Taiping era of the Liang; in the ninth month of this year, the throne was abdicated to Emperor Wu of the Chen). Initially, he studied the Vinaya under Huikuang and also mastered the Vaipulya teachings. He then proceeded to Mount Daxian (in the southern region of Hengzhou) to recite the Lotus, the Immeasurable Meanings, and the Samantabhadra Contemplation. Traversing two periods of seven days, he completely memorized the three texts and advanced to practice the Vaipulya [penance]. Excellent signs appeared before him: he saw the bodhimaṇḍa vast and adorned, while various sūtras and images were scattered about in disarray (this symbolizes the disorder among the various divisions of texts). His body was situated upon a high seat, his feet stepping on a corded chair; with his mouth he recited the Lotus, and with his hands he straightened the sūtras and images (this symbolizes using the purports of the Lotus to distinguish the pure from the mixed, bringing them to unity in orthodoxy). Having already mastered the Vinaya Piṭaka and constantly delighting in the joy of dhyāna, he felt dissatisfied with Xiangdong (Hengzhou), finding no one worthy of inquiry. In the first year of the Tianjia era of Emperor Wen of the Chen (the Fuxing's reading of Qianming is mistaken; he was twenty-three years old at the time), when Dhyāna Master Si was dwelling on Mount Dasu in Guangzhou, he went straight to prostrate to him. Master Si said: 'In the past on Vulture Peak we listened to the Lotus together. Chased by past conditions, you have come again now!' He immediately showed him the Samantabhadra bodhimaṇḍa and expounded the four peaceful and joyful practices for him (Nanyue composed the Meaning of the Peaceful and Joyful Practices, but its manuscript had long been lost. Xingjiao of Siming traveled about and reached Nanyue, where he obtained it from an ancient repository. He returned and showed it to Yuanbian; later, Beifeng and Xiaoshizhi were the first to carve the printing blocks and circulate it in the world). From dusk to dawn, he painstakingly investigated the mind as instructed. He cut cypress to replace incense; when the cypress was exhausted, he followed it with chestnut. He rolled up the bamboo screen to let in the moon; when the moon sank, he burned pine torches. After two periods of seven days, while reciting the sūtra, he reached the passage: 'This is true vigor; this is called the true Dharma offering to the Tathāgata.' His body and mind opened up clearly and entered into quiescent samādhi. Dhāraṇī arose from tranquility (The Miaole says: 'The samādhi and the dhāraṇī of the perfect gate are identical in essence and different in name: samādhi pertains to concentration, and dhāraṇī pertains to wisdom. Tranquility is concentration, namely, the preliminary expedients of the Lotus. Dhāraṇī is the emptiness-holding, the initial revolving dhāraṇī'). He illuminated the Lotus Sūtra as the bright noon sun shines down into a secluded valley (the sun at midday), and he penetrated the characteristics of all dharmas as a long wind roams across the great void. When he was about to report his realization to his master, Nanyue further unfolded and expounded it for him. All that had been awakened in his own mind and received in inquiry from his master advanced over four nights with an efficacy surpassing a hundred years. Nanyue sighed: 'Were it not for you, it would not have been realized; were it not for me, it could not have been recognized. The samādhi you have entered is the preliminary expedient of the Lotus Samādhi; the dhāraṇī you have brought forth is the initial revolving dhāraṇī (Entering the stages of the abodes is true cultivation; the ten faiths are the expedients. The word "preliminary" here refers precisely to the five grades of practice. The initial revolving dhāraṇī revolves provisionality into emptiness; the dhāraṇī of hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis revolves emptiness into provisionality; the expedient dhāraṇī of Dharma sounds is...)'

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佛祖統紀 — 志磐, Classical Chinese