佛祖統紀 9.22

9.22

Dhyāna Master Zhenguan, courtesy name Shengda, was of the Fan family of Qiantang. His mother chanted the chapters on Bhaiṣajyarāja and Avalokiteśvara to pray for an heir, whereupon she gave birth to the master. His tongue bore purple markings, and his hands had unusual signs. In his youth, he was intelligent and well-versed in the classics and histories. Meeting an expert physiognomist, the latter said to him: 'In your youth you will become a great vessel; why linger in the worldly net?' When the master first wished to leave home, his parents did not permit it. In a dream, a deva told them: 'Your son is a hero of the Dharma; how can you cage him?' From this, his parents complied with his aspiration. When he first read the *Satyasiddhi* and *Daśādhyāya*, having opened only one fascicle, a spirit spoke to him in a dream: 'You are a Mahāyāna Dharma vessel; do not abide in the lesser path.' Prince Bozhe of Yongyang under the Chen had long served the master; he sent an emissary to escort the master to visit Zhizhe, delivering a letter as a presentation gift. Zhizhe, being similar in age, treated him as a brother. Their lofty discussions on quiescence and illumination harmonized like metal and stone. People of the time had a saying: 'Qiantang has Zhenguan, who equals half the realm.' When Dhyāna Master Daren saw him, he sighed and said: 'The Way of Nāgārjuna is about to rise in the east!' At that time, when the court lost its military discipline in the campaign against Zhou (in the tenth year of the Dajian era of Emperor Xuan of the Chen, Wu Mingche was ordered to campaign north against Zhou; his army was defeated and he was captured by the people of Zhou), there were discussions to inspect unregistered monks and order them to cease practicing the Way. The master sent a letter to the Left Supervisor of the Masters of Writing Xu Ling, and the matter was dropped. During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Sui, imperial decrees with condolences were sent thrice. When Prince Xiao of Qin served as Commander-in-Chief of Weiyang, he extended invitations twice; the master declined both on grounds of illness. Together with Dhyāna Master Dao'an, he practiced dhūta austerities in Mount Lingyin. In the fourteenth year of the Kaihuang era, the commandery suffered a great drought; the regional inspector Liu Jing'an invited him to lecture on the *Sāgara-nāgarāja-sūtra*. Just as the introductory chapter on the king's meaning was concluded, torrential rain poured down. In the fifteenth year, he first established a monastery named South Tianzhu. He constantly lectured on the Lotus [Sūtra] as his essential work; embracing, reciting, chanting, and copying it in person, the five kinds of Dharma master were fully complete in him. Whenever he washed himself, stray drops falling to the ground would not wet it. An old man came daily to listen to the sūtra; the master invited him in and questioned him, and he replied: 'Your disciple is the dragon king of this mountain.' The master said: 'There has been a prolonged drought; why do you not send down rain?' The old man said: 'The mountain folk were ignorant and excavated across the mountain's veins. The dragons are unsettled, which caused this. If the master can confer the precepts upon the dragons and encourage them toward the Way, rain can be brought about at once.' The master agreed, performed the ritual, summoned the dragons, and conferred the bodhisattva precepts upon them. Rain fell immediately. That night, a figure in a tall hat and vermilion robes bowed in thanks. The master asked: 'Why has there been much drought in recent years?' The dragon said: 'People lack right faith and perform many evil deeds; therefore evil devas cause the earth's fertility to sink into the deep soil. Even though the five grains develop, eating them does not nourish the flesh; droughts are irregular and indeed have their cause.' In the fourth month in the summer of the seventh year of the Daye era, Li Zishen, the commandery marshal, invited him to Zhanshan Temple to lecture on the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra*. On the day he left the mountain, he personally marked his burial site with his hand. When the lecture reached the chapter on 'Manifesting Illness', he dreamed of three people paying homage and saying: 'The Śuddhāvāsa heaven has sent us to welcome the Dhyāna Master.' On the sixth day of the sixth month, he first took to his bed with illness. He dreamed that he shared a chariot with Tiantai and flanked the Buddha returning to the mountain. After waking, he sighed: 'Formerly, I was to pass away at sixty-two, but through the power of lecturing on the Lotus [Sūtra] I obtained a twelve-year extension. Now I am seventy-four, and have received this sign again; my time to be born [in the Pure Land] is certain!' He then assembled the community and admonished them: 'If you wish to escape birth and death and wish to possess the Buddha's teachings, you must uphold the precepts, cultivate the study of concentration and wisdom, and widely propagate the right Dharma; do not let your lives pass in vain.' On the first day of the seventh month, the assembly heard the sounds of music in the sky; he then sat cross-legged and manifested extinction. Clerics and laity presenting offerings arrived by the thousands daily. On the twenty-sixth day, his countenance was dignified and his eyebrow hairs had grown longer. He was then moved from Zhanshan and buried at the site he had marked. The fourfold assembly extended for a yojana; parasols of incense formed a canopy, and banners and streamers covered the fields. Such was the influence of his moral virtue! (The master was the founding patriarch of Ling Mountain in Tianzhu. Zhang'an once composed a separate biography, the text of which is no longer extant. In the era of Ciyun, his stupa was renovated and six poems were composed as a record. Its preface states in brief: 'Nowadays the earth gate opened of itself, leaving no relics behind; it is unknown whether his intact body followed Prabhūtaratna to attest to the sūtra, or followed the pattern of Foliang in transforming and passing away.')