佛祖統紀 8.19

8.19

The fifteenth patriarch, the Venerable of Pure Light, Xiji, courtesy name Changzhao, was surnamed Hu, from Yongjia. When his mother first conceived, she took no pleasure in pungent roots or meat; when she gave birth, something covered his head like a purple cap (born in the fifth year of Zhenming, a jimao year, under the last emperor of the Later Liang). In his youth he informed his parents of his desire to renounce the world; he then entered the Kaiyuan monastery, relying on a teacher to recite the *Lotus Sūtra*, mastering it within a year. At the age of nineteen (the second year of Tianfu under Emperor Gaozu of the Later Jin), he shaved his head and took full ordination. He went to Huiji to study the Vinaya, deeply fathoming offenses and observances. He then went to Tiantai to study the *Zhiguan* under Master Song; his comprehension was comparable to 'One-sweep-illumination of Henan' (the *Biographies of Monks* says: 'Tai does not listen in Puzhou; Henan has One-sweep-illumination'). Once, when lodging at King Aśoka Monastery in Siming, he dreamed of ascending Mount Guoqing; high above was a jewelled banner throne inscribed 'Mañjuśrī's Terrace'. Barred by railings, he wished to enter but could not. Suddenly he saw Avalokiteśvara emerge from the hall, push aside the chevaux-de-frise with his hand, and bend down to receive him. He suddenly felt his own body merge into one with Avalokiteśvara. From that time forth, his delight in exposition was inexhaustible. Earlier, regarding the doctrinal traces of Tiantai, from afar they suffered the rebellion of An and Shi (at the end of the Tianbao era, An Lushan and Shi Siming rebelled in succession), and near at hand they suffered the incineration of Huichang (in the fifth year of Huichang under Emperor Wuzong, monks and nuns were defrocked and monasteries destroyed); with fragmented texts and broken bamboo slips, transmitters had nothing to rely on. The Master continually lamented this and exerted himself to collect them. First, from an ancient storehouse in Jinhua, he obtained only a single commentary on the *Vimalakīrti*. King Zhongyi of Wuyue, reading the *Yongjia Collection*, came across the passage: 'In sharing the elimination of the four abodes, it is on a par with this; but if subduing fundamental ignorance, the Tripiṭaka [teaching] is inferior.' He questioned National Preceptor Shao about it (the *Transmission of the Lamp* says: 'National Preceptor Deshao of Mount Tiantai was surnamed Chen; he was a Dharma heir of Chan Master Qingliang Yí. Reaching Mount Tiantai, he beheld the remaining traces of Great Master Zhiyi as if they were his former residence; furthermore, having the same surname as Zhiyi, contemporaries suspected he was his later incarnation'). Shao said: 'This is doctrinal meaning; you may ask Master Ji of Tiantai.' The King immediately summoned him; the Master came forth through the golden gate and established lectures to inquire into the previous meaning. The Master said: 'This comes from Great Master Zhiyi's *Miaoxuan*. Since the chaos at the end of the Tang, the doctrinal texts have been scattered and destroyed, which is why these writings mostly survive overseas.' Thereupon the King of Wuyue dispatched ten envoys to Japan to seek out and retrieve the doctrinal scriptures. When they returned, the King built Luoxi Temple for him, hung a plaque reading 'Dinghui', bestowed the title 'Dharma Master of Pure Light', and gave posthumous titles to the Tiantai patriarchs (ending the posthumous titles at the sixteenth patriarch). That the teachings of this one house flourished once again was due to the Master's efforts. (The *Kouyi of the Two Masters* says: 'The King of Wuyue dispatched envoys with fifty kinds of treasures to Goryeo to seek doctrinal texts. That country commanded Jiguan to come and offer the various sections, yet the *Zhilun shu*, *Renwang shu*, *Huayan gumu*, *Wubai men*, and so forth did not return.' Based on this, we know that envoys were dispatched to both overseas countries; yet if we speak of the treasure of the doctrinal texts returning to China, we must take Jiguan of Goryeo coming to offer the scrolls of teachings as correct.) There was Master Ming of Xingjiao, who, just coming of age, listened to sūtras in his assembly and was constantly puzzled, saying: 'The Drinker of Light held the sixteen-foot robe of Śākyamuni and draped it over the hundred-foot body of Maitreya, and it fitted his measure exactly. Did the robe grow longer, or did the body grow shorter?' At that time National Preceptor Shao was residing at Yunju (belonging to Tiantai), gathering an assembly of five hundred; Ming went to ask him. The National Preceptor said: 'Seat master, it is rather you who understand.' Ming departed with an angry face, brushing his sleeves. The National Preceptor said: 'If I were to answer and you were wrong, there would be karmic consequence.' When Ming returned to Luoxi, he spat blood from his mouth. Hearing this in alarm, the Master said: 'This newly ordained one must have offended a bodhisattva!' Ming recounted the earlier words. The Master said: 'You did not understand the National Preceptor's meaning; go quickly and repent.' Ming donned his solemn robes, went before him weeping, prostrated, and confessed his fault. The National Preceptor uttered a verse on the previous topic: 'Buddha and Buddha are equal in the Way, yet seemingly high and low; / Śākyamuni and Maitreya are like a seal stamped into clay.' Ming's illness was cured from that moment; returning to thank the Master, he said: 'Had it not been for the Master's instruction, I would almost have lost this life.' (The *Kouyi of the Two Masters* says: 'Xuanbi, the mountain spirit, said: The National Preceptor was Great Master Zhiyi; the master-builder who erected the Dharma hall at Luoxi was the leader of the animal-release society; and the monks in the hall were the released fish.') In the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo (under Taizong of the present dynasty), coming out from the mountains, he resided in the east pavilion of the monastery at the prefectural seat. He dreamed that the pillar of the stūpa sank into the ground; he immediately moved to dwell on the western side. That night, a sudden spring rain fell; the mountain collapsed and the pavilion fell. Everyone said the Master possessed the divine eye. In the first year of Yongxi, the magistrate of Yong'an invited him to Guangming Temple to confer the precepts on the assembly. Suddenly the great image in the Buddha hall fell and broke, and from its belly came a vow text, which was a donation of precepts in the sixth year of Xiantong of the Tang by the śramaṇa Xijiao for the people of seven townships, urging the making of this image, wishing to shed his karmic recompense and become a male, leave home as a boy, and transmit the Dharma to benefit sentient beings. Those present who witnessed it said this was the Master's previous life. On the fourth day of the eleventh month in the fourth year, he fell ill in bed; he instructed his disciples not to weep or make sacrificial offerings. Having finished speaking, he closed his eyes. His disciples built a small stūpa and interred him in his room. His age was sixty-nine; his monastic years were fifty. The disciples who received his transmission were more than a hundred, including ten foreigners; Yitong was truly the foremost, while Chengyu and Baoxiang were next to him. The officials and commoners of Tiantai who had previously received the precepts gathered to welcome the Master's portrait at Kaiyuan Temple; wearing unbleached white mourning, they offered sacrifices, their mourning moving the whole city, and the sky turned gloomy. Later, when his followers planned to relocate the stūpa, they saw that his countenance was like that of a living person, and his hair had grown more than an inch. Thereupon they relocated his burial to the southeast corner of Guoqing. Chengyu composed an inscription to mark it. The Master lectured on the Three Great Treatises twenty times each, and several times each on the *Vimalakīrti*, the *Suvarṇaprabhāsa*, the *Brahmajāla*, the *Jingangpi*, the *Fajie guan*, and the *Yongjia ji*. He composed outlines and structural notes for the *Yili*, the *Buer men*, and so on in several fascicles (these are seen in various works such as the *Biographies of Eminent Monks*).