佛祖歷代通載 19.28

19.28

（十九）　法雲圓通法秀禪師。秦州隴城人也。生辛氏。母夢僧癯甚鬚髮盡白託宿曰。我麥積山僧也。覺而娠。先是麥積山有僧。亡其名。日誦法華。與應乾寺魯和上善。甞欲從之遊方。魯老之既去。緒語曰。他日當尋我竹鋪坡前銕疆嶺下。俄有兒生其所。魯聞之往觀焉。兒為一笑。三歲願隨魯歸。遂冒魯氏。十九通經為大僧。天骨峻拔。軒昂萬僧中。凜如畫。講大經章分句析。機鋒不可觸。京洛著聞。倚圭峯鈔以詮量眾義。然恨圭峯學禪。唯敬北京元華嚴。然恨元非講。曰教盡佛意。則如元公者。不應非教。禪非佛意。則如圭峯者。不應學禪。然吾不信世尊教外以法私大迦葉。乃罷講南游。謂同學曰。吾將窮其窟穴。摟取其種類。抹殺之以報佛恩乃已耳。初至隨州護國。讀淨果禪師碑曰。僧問報慈。如何是佛性。慈曰。誰無。又問淨果。果曰。誰有。其僧因有悟。秀大笑曰。豈佛性敢有無之。矧又曰因以有悟哉。其氣拂膺。去至無為銕佛。謁懷禪師。懷貌寒危坐涕垂沾裳。秀易之。懷收涕問。座主講何經。秀曰。華嚴。又問。此經以何為宗。曰以心為宗。又問。心以何為宗。秀不能對。懷曰。毫釐有差天地懸隔。秀退自失。悚然乃敬服。願留日夕受法。久之乃證。懷移池入吳。皆從之。初出世淮之四面。杖笠之外包具而已。以至棲賢蔣山長蘆。眾千人。有全椒長老。至登座。眾目哂之。無出問者。於是秀出拜趨問。如何是法秀自己。全椒笑曰。秀銕面乃不識自己乎。秀曰。當局者迷。一眾服其荷法心也。冀國大長公主。建法雲寺成。有詔秀為開山第一祖。開堂日。神宗遣中使降香并磨衲。仍傳聖語。表朕親至之禮。皇弟荊王致敬座下。士大夫日夕問道。時司馬光方登庸。以吾法太盛。方經營之。秀曰。相公聰明人類英傑。非因佛法不能爾。遽忘願力乎。溫公意少懈。元祐五年八月臥疾。詔醫官視之醫請候脈。秀仰視曰。汝何為者也。吾有疾當死耳。求治之。是以生為可戀也。平生生死夢三者無所揀擇。揮去之。呼侍者更衣。安坐說偈而化。閱世六十四。坐夏四十五。

(Nineteen) Chan Master Fayun Yuantong Faxiu was a native of Longcheng in Qinzhou. He was born into the Xin family. His mother dreamt of an extremely emaciated monk with entirely white beard and hair who asked for lodging, saying, "I am a monk from Maiji Shan." When she awoke, she was pregnant. Before this, there had been a monk at Maiji Shan whose name is lost, who daily recited the Lotus Sūtra and was close friends with Preceptor Lu of Yingqian Temple. He had once wished to travel the regions with him. When Old Lu was about to depart, [the monk] said as a parting word, "One day you must look for me before Bamboo Stall Slope, below the Iron Frontier Ridge." Soon a child was born at that place. When Lu heard of it, he went to look at him, and the child smiled at him. At the age of three, he wished to return with Lu, and so he took the surname Lu. At nineteen, having mastered the scriptures, he became a fully ordained monk. His natural bearing was lofty and towering; he stood out preeminent among ten thousand monks, majestic as a portrait. When lecturing on the great scriptures, he divided chapters and parsed sentences, and the sharpness of his mind could not be challenged; he became well-known in the capital and Luoyang. He relied on Guifeng's commentaries to evaluate the various doctrines, yet he resented that Guifeng had studied Chan. He respected only Master Yuan Huayan of the Northern Capital, yet he resented that Yuan criticized the lectures, saying, "If the doctrinal teachings exhaust the Buddha's intent, then one such as Master Yuan ought not to criticize the teachings. If Chan is not the Buddha's intent, then one such as Guifeng ought not to have studied Chan. But I do not believe that the Bhagavān favored Mahākāśyapa alone with the Dharma outside the teachings." Thereupon he ceased lecturing and traveled south, saying to his fellow students, "I shall search out their caves, seize their kind, and wipe them out, and only then will I have repaid the Buddha's benevolence!" When he first arrived at Huguo in Suizhou, he read the stele of Chan Master Jingguo, which said: A monk asked Baoci, "What is the Buddha-nature?" Ci said, "Who lacks it?" He also asked Jingguo, and Guo said, "Who has it?" Because of this, that monk had an awakening. Faxiu laughed aloud and said, "How dare they speak of the Buddha-nature as existing or not existing? Still less say that he awakened on that account!" Indignation filled his breast. Leaving there, he arrived at Iron Buddha in Wuwei and called on Chan Master Huai. Huai was poor in appearance and sat upright with tears and mucus soaking his garments. Faxiu made light of him. Huai wiped away his tears and asked, "What scripture does the lecturing master expound?" Faxiu said, "The Avataṃsaka." He asked again, "What does this scripture take as its fundamental tenet?" He replied, "It takes the mind as its fundamental tenet." He asked again, "What does the mind take as its fundamental tenet?" Faxiu was unable to answer. Huai said, "A hair's breadth of difference, and heaven and earth are kept far apart!" Faxiu withdrew, at a loss. Stricken with awe, he respectfully submitted, wishing to remain day and night to receive the Dharma. After a long time, he attained realization. When Huai moved to Chi[zhou] and entered Wu, [Faxiu] followed him everywhere. When he first went out into the world across the four quarters of the Huai region, he carried nothing beyond his staff, conical hat, and bundle of sitting cloth. Later, at Xixian, Jiangshan, and Changlu, his assemblies numbered a thousand people. There was an elder of Quanjiao who, upon ascending the seat, was mocked by the assembly with glances, and no one came forward to question him. Thereupon Faxiu came out, bowed, stepped forward, and asked, "What is Faxiu's own self?" Quanjiao smiled and said, "Does Iron-Faced Xiu not even recognize his own self?" Faxiu said, "The bystander sees clearly, but the player is blind." The entire assembly admired his dedication to upholding the Dharma. When the Grand Princess of Jiguo completed the construction of Fayun Temple, an imperial decree appointed Faxiu as its first founding patriarch. On the day the hall was opened, Emperor Shenzong dispatched an inner envoy to deliver incense and a monk's patched robe, and further conveyed the imperial words expressing, "[This represents] our protocol as if we had arrived in person." The Emperor's brother, the Prince of Jing, paid his respects before the seat. Scholar-officials came day and night to inquire about the Way. At that time Sima Guang had just been elevated to high office, and, seeing that our Dharma was overly flourishing, he was planning to curtail it. Faxiu said, "Your Excellency's intelligence is that of an outstanding hero among men; without the Buddhist Dharma you could not be so. Have you suddenly forgotten your former vow?" Duke Wen's resolve relented somewhat. In the eighth month of the fifth year of the Yuanyou era, [Faxiu] took to his bed with illness. An edict sent an imperial physician to examine him. The physician asked to feel his pulse. Faxiu looked up and said, "What are you doing? I have an illness and ought to die. Seeking to cure it implies that life is something to cling to! Throughout my life, between birth, death, and dreams, I have made no distinctions among the three!" He waved him away. He called for his attendant to change his robes, sat peacefully, spoke a verse, and passed away. He had passed through sixty-four years in the world and spent forty-five summer retreats.