佛祖統紀 9.24

9.24

Chan Master Zhiyue was of the Zheng clan from Nanyang. His father arranged a marriage for him, but the Master firmly refused and immediately left home. Wandering abroad, he arrived in Jinling and met Zhiyi. Facing north, he received instruction from him. There were none among the five gateways and six wondrous doors that he did not master deeply. He recited the Lotus Sūtra up to ten thousand times. When Zhiyi returned to Mount Tiantai in his later years, he entrusted the fourfold assembly to him. For twenty years, he guided them skillfully and patiently; his capacity for virtue was broad and spacious, and students gave their hearts to him. Wherever he dwelled, the water in his pitcher would fill by itself. From the time the Prince of Jin built the monastery until he ascended the imperial throne, whenever the mountain sent a monastic envoy to submit a letter offering congratulations, the Master's name was always placed first. His Majesty humbled himself and showed him increasing reverence, no differently than when Zhiyi was alive. Every time he received alms and offerings, he used them for meritorious deeds and never hoarded anything. On the twenty-third day of the eleventh month in the twelfth year of the Daye era, he bade farewell to the assembly and passed away lying on his right side. The wind became mournful, the clouds grew somber, the earth shook, and the mountains crumbled. The heavens rained down wondrous flowers, and the entire region was plunged into darkness.