佛祖歷代通載 12.82

12.82

（三十七　丙午）　大通禪師神秀入寂。中書令張說製碑曰。譔夫總四大者成乎身矣。立萬始者主乎心矣。身是虛哉。即身見空始同妙用。心非實也。觀心若幻乃等真如。名數入焉妙本乖。言說出焉真宗隱。故如來有意傳要道力持至德。萬劫而遙付法印。一念而頓授佛身。誰其弘之。實大通禪師其人也。禪師尊稱大通。諱神秀。本姓李。陳留尉氏人也。心洞九流懸解先覺身長八尺秀眉大耳。應王霸之像。合聖賢之度。少為書生游問江表。老莊玄旨書易大義。三乘經論四分律儀。說通訓詁音參吳晉。爛乎如襲孔翠。玲然如振金玉。既獨鑒潛發多聞旁施。逮知天命之年。自拔人間之世。企聞蘄州有忍禪師。禪門之法胤也。自菩提達磨天竺東來。以法傳惠可。可傳僧璨。璨傳道信。信傳弘忍。繼明重迹相承五光。乃不遠遐阻翻飛謁詣。虛受與沃心懸會。高悟與真乘同轍。縷指忘識湛見本心。住寂滅境行無是處。有師而成。即然燈佛所。無依而說是空王法門。服勤六年不捨晝夜。大師歎曰。東山之法盡在秀矣。命之洗足引之並座。於是涕辭而去。退藏於密。儀鳳中始隸玉泉。名在僧錄。寺東七里地坦山雄。目之曰。此正楞伽孤峯度門蘭若。蔭松藉草吾將老焉。雲從龍風從虎。大道出賢人。覩岐陽之地就去成都。華陰之山學來如市。未云多也。後進得以拂三有超四禪。升堂七十。味道三千。不是過也。爾其開法大略。則忘念以息想。極力以攝心。其入也品均凡聖。其到也行無前後。趣定之前萬緣盡閉。發慧之後一切皆如。特奉楞伽遞為心要。過此以往未之或知。久視年中禪師春秋高矣。詔請而來。趺坐覲君肩輿上殿。屈萬乘而稽首。洒九重而宴居。傳聖道者不北面。有盛德者無臣禮。遂稱兩京法主三帝國師。仰佛日之再中。慶優曇之一現。然處都邑婉其祕旨。每帝王分座后妃臨席。鴛鷺四匝龍象三繞。時熾炭待礦。故對默而心降。時診飢投味。故告約而義領。一雨普霑於眾緣。萬籟各吹於本分。非夫安住無畏應變無方者。孰能至爾乎聖敬日崇朝恩代積。當陽初會之所置寺曰度門。尉氏先人之宅置寺曰報恩。軾閭名鄉表德非擬。局厭諠輦長懷虛壑。累乞還山既聽中駐。久矣衰憊無他患苦。魄散神全形遺力謝。神龍二年二月二十八日。夜中顧命趺坐泊如化域。禪師武德八年受具于天宮寺。至是年丙午復終于此寺。蓋僧臘八十矣。生於隋末百有餘歲。未甞自言。故人莫審其數也。三界火心四部氷背。榱崩梁壞雷動雨泣。凡諸寶身生是金口。故其喪也如執親焉。詔使弔哀王侯歸賵。三月二日冊諡大通。展飾終之義禮也。時厥五日。假安闕塞緩及葬之期懷也。宸駕臨訣至午橋。王公悲送至伊水。羽儀陳設至山龕。仲秋既望還詔乃下。帝諾先許冥遂夙心。大常卿鼓吹導引城門郎監護喪葬。是日天子出龍門泫金櫬。登高駐蹕目盡迴輿。自伊及江扶道哀侯。旛花百輦香雲千里。維十月哉生魄。明即舊居後岡安神起塔。國錢嚴飾賜逾百萬。巨鍾蓋先帝所鑄。群經乃後皇所錫。金榜御題花旛內造。塔寺尊重遠稱標絕。初禪師形解東洛相見南荊。白霧積晦於禪山。素蓮寄生於坐樹。則雙林變色泗水逆流。至人違代同符異感。百日卒哭也。在龍華寺設大會八千人度二十七人。二祥練縞也。成就西明道場數如前會。萬回菩薩乞施後宮。寶衣盈箱珍價敵國。親舉寵貴侑供巡香。其廣福博因存沒如此。日月逾邁榮落相推。於戲法子永戀宗極。痛慈舟之遽失。恨涌塔之遲開。石城之歎也不孤。廬山之碑焉可作。竊比夫子貢之論夫子也。生於天地。不知天地之高厚。飲於河海。不知河海之廣深。強名其迹以慰其心。銘曰。額珠內隱。匪指莫効。心鏡外塵。匪磨莫照。海藏安靜。風識牽樂。不入度門。孰探法要。倬哉禪伯。獨立天下。功收密詣。解却名假。詣無所得。解亦都捨。月影空如。現於悟者。無量善眾。為父為師。露清熱惱。光射昏疑。冀將住世。萬壽無期。奈何過隙。一朝去之。嗟我門人。憂心斷續。進憶瞻仰。退思付囑。盡不離定。空非滅覺。念茲在茲。敢告無學。時岐王範及徵君盧鴻一。皆勒碑製碣。舊唐史有傳稱。沙門被王者禮敬。古未之有。

([Year] 37, bingwu) Chan Master Datong Shenxiu entered quiescence. Secretariat Director Zhang Yue composed his stele inscription, which reads: 'Now, that which brings together the four great elements forms the body; that which establishes the myriad beginnings is governed by the mind. How empty is the body! Only by seeing emptiness directly in the body does one first unite with wondrous function. The mind is not real: observing the mind as illusory, one then equates it with true suchness. When names and categories enter, the wondrous origin is violated; when words and explanations come forth, the true principle is concealed. Therefore the Tathāgata, having the essential path transmitted through mind, forcefully upheld supreme virtue. Across myriad kalpas, he remotely transmitted the Dharma seal; in a single thought, he suddenly bestowed the Buddha body. Who could propagate it? It was truly Chan Master Datong. The Chan Master's honorific title was Datong; his taboo name was Shenxiu; originally surnamed Li, he was a native of Weishi in Chenliu. His mind penetrated the Nine Schools, with a lofty comprehension that possessed prior awakening. He was eight feet tall, with refined eyebrows and large ears, possessing the visage befitting kings and hegemons and matching the demeanor of sages and worthies. In his youth, as a scholar, he traveled and studied throughout the region south of the Yangtze, exploring the profound tenets of Laozi and Zhuangzi, the great significance of the Book of Documents and the Book of Changes, the sutras and treatises of the Three Vehicles, and the disciplinary rules of the Four-Part Vinaya. His speech mastered glossaries and exegesis; his pronunciation encompassed Wu and Jin. Splendid as if draped in peacock feathers, clear and resonant as if sounding bells of gold and jade. Having awakened his solitary insight internally and broadly applied his extensive learning, when he reached the year of knowing the Mandate of Heaven, he extricated himself from the mortal world. He longed to hear of Chan Master [Hong]ren of Qizhou, the Dharma heir of the Chan lineage. Ever since Bodhidharma came east from Tianzhu, he transmitted the Dharma to Huike; [Hui]ke transmitted it to Sengcan; [Seng]can transmitted it to Daoxin; [Dao]xin transmitted it to Hongren. Successive lights repeated their steps, inheriting the fivefold radiance. Thereupon, braving no small distance, he flew forth to visit him. His receptive openness and Hongren's enriching mind met loftily; his sublime awakening ran in the same groove with the True Vehicle. Counting threads and forgetting consciousness, he serenely saw his original mind; abiding in the realm of extinction, his actions were without fixity. Having a master, he achieved it—which was just the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha; relying on nothing, he preached—which was the Dharma gate of the King of Emptiness. For six years he served diligently, giving up neither day nor night. The Great Master sighed, saying: 'The Dharma of the East Mountain rests entirely with [Shen]xiu!' He bade him wash his feet and invited him to share his seat. Thereupon he wept, took his leave, and withdrew into seclusion. During the Yifeng era, he was first registered at Yuquan, his name entered in the monastic registry. Seven li east of the monastery, the land was flat and the mountain magnificent; he named it, saying: 'This is precisely the Lankā solitary peak, the hermitage of the Gate of Deliverance. Shaded by pines and resting on grass, here I shall grow old.' Clouds follow dragons, and wind follows tigers; when the Great Way emerges, worthy men appear. Seeing the land of Qiyang, people departed for Chengdu; at Mount Huayin, learners came as to a marketplace—yet this cannot be called many. Later students were able to brush aside the three realms of existence and transcend the four dhyānas; seventy entered the hall, and three thousand tasted the Way—this was by no means an exaggeration. As for his general method of opening the Dharma: he forgot thoughts so as to quell ideation, and exerted full strength to collect the mind. In entry, ordinary and sagely were of equal rank; in attainment, practice knew neither before nor after. Before advancing to concentration, myriad conditions were all shut off; after giving rise to wisdom, everything was as such. He particularly revered the Laṅkāvatāra, transmitting it as the mind essential; beyond this, nothing further was known. During the Jiushi era, the Chan Master was advanced in years. Summoned by imperial decree, he came; seated cross-legged, he had audience with the sovereign, carried in a palanquin up to the hall. The Lord of Ten Thousand Chariots bowed down to prostrate, and within the Ninefold Palace he dwelt at ease. One who transmits the sacred Way does not face north; one with abundant virtue observes no ritual of a minister. Thereupon he was called the Dharma Master of the Two Capitals and the National Preceptor of Three Emperors. People looked up to the Buddha Sun reaching the zenith once again, and rejoiced at the solitary blooming of the uḍumbara. Yet, residing in the capital, he kept his esoteric tenets subtle. Whenever the Emperor shared his seat or the empress and consorts attended his mat, with the civil and military ministers surrounding him and the great assemblies circumambulating him thrice, at times, as if glowing coals awaited the ore, they faced his silence and their minds were subdued; at other times, as if diagnosing hunger and serving food, his words were concise and the meaning was grasped. A single rain showered universally upon the multitude of conditions; the myriad pipes each blew according to their own capacity. If not for one who abides peacefully in fearlessness and adapts to changes without bounds, who could attain this? Imperial reverence grew daily; court favors accumulated generation after generation. At the place of his first assembly in Dangyang, a monastery was established called Dumen; at the ancestral residence in Weishi, a monastery was established called Bao'en. Even hanging honorific plaques over neighborhood gates or naming villages to proclaim virtue could not compare. Disliking the noisy carriage, he constantly longed for the empty valleys; repeatedly he begged to return to the mountain, but was only permitted to halt on the way. For a long time he was frail and exhausted, without other pain or sickness; his bodily soul scattered while his spirit remained whole, his physical form abandoned as his strength ebbed away. On the twenty-eighth day of the second month in the second year of Shenlong, in the middle of the night, having given his final instructions, he sat cross-legged and tranquilly entered the transformation realm. The Chan Master had received the full precepts in the eighth year of Wude at Tiangong Monastery; coming to this year, bingwu, he passed away again at this monastery. His monastic age was eighty. Born at the end of the Sui, he was over a hundred years old; he never spoke of it himself, so no one knew the exact number. The fire within the minds of the Three Realms; the ice on the backs of the four assemblies. Ridgepoles collapsed and beams were ruined; thunder rumbled and rain wept. All precious bodies were born from this golden mouth; thus at his mourning, they wept as if for their own parents. An imperial envoy was sent to convey condolences, and princes and nobles presented funerary gifts. On the second day of the third month, he was posthumously enfeoffed with the title Datong, demonstrating the ritual propriety of honoring the deceased. On the fifth day of that month, his coffin was temporarily placed near the palace pass, accommodating the longing of those awaiting the funeral. The imperial carriage came in person to bid farewell, arriving at the Noon Bridge; princes and dukes sorrowfully escorted him as far as the Yi River; the regalia and ceremonial banners stretched all the way to the mountain crypt. In mid-autumn, after the sixteenth day, the decree for his return was issued. The Emperor kept his prior promise, fulfilling his longstanding wish in the unseen realm. The Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices led the procession with drums and pipes, and the Officer of the City Gates supervised the funeral. On that day, the Son of Heaven went out of Longmen, shedding tears upon the golden coffin; ascending high, he halted his carriage, gazing until it vanished before turning back. From the Yi to the Yangtze, nobles lined the roads in sorrow; banners and flowers filled a hundred carts, and fragrant clouds extended for a thousand li. On the first day of the tenth month, next morning, behind his former dwelling on the rear ridge, his spirit was interred and a stupa was erected. State funds for adorning it exceeded one million. The giant bell was cast by the late emperor; the collection of sutras was bestowed by the current sovereign. The gold plaque was inscribed by imperial brush, and the flower banners were made within the inner palace. The stupa and monastery were revered, universally acclaimed as supreme. Initially, when the Chan Master shed his form in the Eastern Capital, he appeared to people in southern Jing; white mist gathered and darkened the Chan mountain, and a white lotus grew parasitical upon the tree by his seat. Just as the Twin Trees changed color and the Si River flowed backward, the departure of a perfected being from the world matched such extraordinary omens. At the hundred-day conclusion of mourning, a great assembly of eight thousand people was held at Longhua Monastery, and twenty-seven people were ordained. At the second-year sacrificial mourning, an assembly was conducted at the Ximing Bodhimaṇḍa with numbers as in the previous gathering. Bodhisattva Wanhui begged for alms in the inner palace; precious robes filled chests, their value rivaling that of a state. High favorites personally carried them to offer up, making the rounds with incense. The vast blessings and extensive karmic causes both in his life and after his death were like this! Days and months pass by, flourishing and declining replace each other. Alas! The Dharma disciples forever long for the supreme peak; they grieve at the sudden loss of the compassionate vessel, and lament that the emerging stupa opens so slowly. The sorrow of Mount Shicheng was not unique; how could the stele of Mount Lu be duplicated? Humbly, this may be compared to Zigong discussing Confucius: born between Heaven and Earth, one does not know the height and depth of Heaven and Earth; drinking from rivers and seas, one does not know the breadth and depth of rivers and seas. Forcing a name onto his traces, one merely comforts one's mind. The inscription reads: 'The jewel hidden in the forehead, / Cannot be effective without being pointed out. / The dust outside the mind-mirror, / Cannot reflect without being polished. / The ocean treasury is tranquil; / The wind of consciousness stirs delight. / Without entering the Gate of Deliverance, / Who could probe the Dharma essentials? / Lofty is the Chan Elder, / Standing solitary in the realm. / In achievement he attained the secret destination; / In understanding he discarded nominal designations. / In destination there is nothing to attain; / Understanding, too, is entirely renounced. / Like the moon's reflection in empty suchness, / Manifesting to the awakened. / For the immeasurable multitude of the good, / He was a father and a teacher. / His dew refreshed burning afflictions; / His light pierced dark doubts. / We hoped he would long abide in the world, / For ten thousand years without end. / Alas, like a white colt passing a crevice, / In a single morning he departed! / Ah, we disciples! / Anxious hearts broken and rekindled. / Stepping forward, we recall looking up to him; / Stepping back, we reflect upon his entrustment. / All things do not depart from concentration; / Emptiness does not extinguish awareness. / Mindful of this, dwelling in this, / We dare announce it to the stage of no-more-learning.' At that time, Prince Fan of Qi and the summoned scholar Lu Hongyi both carved steles and composed stone tablets. The Old Book of Tang has a biography stating: 'That a śramaṇa was reverenced by kings in this manner was unprecedented in antiquity.'