佛祖歷代通載 19.31

19.31

（二十二）　法師元淨。字無象。徐氏。杭州於潛人。客有過其舍者曰。嘉氣上騰。當生奇男。既生左肩肉起如袈裟條。八十一日乃沒伯祖異之曰。宿世沙門必使事佛。八十一者殆其算歟。及師之終。果符其數。十歲出家。每見講座輒曰。願登此說法度人。十二就學於慈雲。不數年而齒高弟。後聞明智講止觀方便五緣曰。淨名所謂一食施一切。供養諸佛及諸賢聖。然後可食。此一方便也。師悟曰。今乃知色香味觸本具第一義諦。因泣下如雨。自是遇物無非法界。代講十五年。杭守呂臻請住大悲閣。嚴設戒律。其徒畏愛。臻為請賜紫衣辨才之號。七年翰林沈遘撫杭（仁宗嘉祐）謂。上竺本觀音道場。以音聲為佛事者。非禪那居。乃請師居之（此年始革禪為教）鑿山增室廣聚學徒。教庠之盛。冠於二浙。神宗熙寧三年。杭守祖無擇坐獄于檇李（擕音醉地名今嘉興）師以鑄鍾例被追辨。幸得釋寓止真如蘭若。擬金𲇚設問答。述圓事理說發明祖意之妙。元豐元年有利山門施資之厚者。倚權以奪之。眾亦隨散。逾年其人以敗聞。朝廷復卑師。眾復集（青獻趙公與師為世外友。為之贊曰。師去天竺。山空鬼哭。天竺師歸。道場重輝。東坡寄詩曰。道人出山去。山色如死灰。白雲不解笑。青松有餘哀。忽聞道人歸。鳥語山容開。云）三年復謝去。居南山之龍井。士庶爭為築室。遂成伽藍。六年太守鄧伯溫請居南屏。明年復歸龍井。時靈山虛席。師以慈雲師祖道場。俯就眾請。及月餘定中見金甲神跪前曰。師於此無緣。不宜久住。既受冥告。遂還龍井。元祐四年蘇軾治杭。問師曰。此山如師道行者幾人。曰沙門多密行。非可盡識。將示寂。乃入方圓庵（秦觀記米芾書）宴坐謝賓客。止言語飲食。招眾寥告之曰（道替師也）吾淨業將成。若七日無障。吾願遂也。七日出偈告眾。即右脇而化。當元祐六年九月晦日也。塔成。東坡命子由為之銘。

(22) Dharma Master Yuanjing, styled Wuxiang, with the surname Xu, was a native of Yuqian in Hangzhou. A visitor once passed his house and said: "An auspicious aura ascends; an extraordinary boy will be born." After he was born, the flesh on his left shoulder rose up like the strips of a kāṣāya robe; it disappeared only after eighty-one days. His granduncle marveled at it and said: "He was a śramaṇa in a previous life and must be made to serve the Buddha. Eighty-one is likely the span of his years!" When the Master passed away, it indeed corresponded to that number.

At the age of ten, he left household life; whenever he saw a lecture seat, he would say: "I aspire to ascend this and preach the Dharma to deliver people." At twelve, he studied under Ciyun, and within a few years, he was ranked among his senior disciples. Later, hearing Mingzhi lecture on the "Five Expedient Conditions for Calming and Contemplation," which states: "The Vimalakīrti says, 'Offer a single meal to all, make offerings to the Buddhas and all the sages and worthies, and only then may one eat'—this is one expedient," the Master awakened and said: "Only now do I know that sights, sounds, scents, and touches fundamentally possess the supreme truth!" Thereupon, his tears fell like rain. From that time forth, whatever encountered was nothing other than the Dharma realm. He lectured on his master's behalf for fifteen years.

Lü Zhen, Prefect of Hangzhou, invited him to reside at the Great Compassion Pavilion, where he strictly established the vinaya rules so that his disciples both feared and loved him. Zhen petitioned for him to be granted the purple robe and the title of Biancai (Eloquence). In the seventh year (of the Jiayou era of Emperor Renzong), Shen Gou, Hanlin Academician and Administrator of Hangzhou, considered that the Upper Tianzhu was originally a bodhimaṇḍa of Avalokiteśvara, where performing Buddhist activities through sound was not the dwelling of dhyāna; he therefore invited the Master to reside there (in this year it was first changed from Chan to Teaching). He quarried the mountain to expand the rooms, gathering a wide assembly of students; the prosperity of the school of doctrine was the foremost in the Two Zhe regions.

In the third year of the Xining era of Emperor Shenzong (1070), Zu Woze, Prefect of Hangzhou, was imprisoned at Zuili (pronounced Zui; a place name, present-day Jiaxing); the Master was summoned for interrogation under the pretext of having cast a bell. Fortunately, he was exonerated and took up temporary residence at Zhenru Hermitage. Modeling it on the *Jinshizi* (Treatise on the Golden Lion), he set up questions and answers and composed the *Explanation of the Perfect Harmony of Principle and Phenomena*, demonstrating the marvelous intent of the ancestral masters.

In the first year of the Yuanfeng era (1078), someone covetous of the generous donations of the monastery relied on authority to seize it, and the assembly dispersed along with this. Over a year later, that person's downfall was reported, and the court reinstated the Master; the assembly gathered once more. (Lord Zhao Qingxian was an otherworldly friend of the Master and composed a eulogy for him, saying: "When the Master left Tianzhu, the mountain was vacant and ghosts wept. / When the Master of Tianzhu returned, the bodhimaṇḍa shone with renewed splendor." Dongpo sent him a poem, saying: "When the man of the Way left the mountain, the mountain's colors were like dead ashes. / White clouds knew not how to smile, and green pines held lingering grief. / Suddenly hearing of the man of the Way's return, the birds sing and the mountain's countenance opens wide.")

In the third year (1080), he once more declined his position and took up residence at Longjing on the Southern Mountain. Gentry and commoners vied with one another to build lodgings for him, which eventually became a monastery. In the sixth year (1083), Prefect Deng Bowen invited him to reside at Nanping; the following year, he returned to Longjing. At that time, the seat at Mount Ling was vacant; because it had been the bodhimaṇḍa of his ancestral master Ciyun, the Master yielded and accepted the assembly's request. After more than a month, he saw a golden-armored deity kneeling before him in samādhi, saying: "Master, you have no karmic ties here; you should not remain long." Having received this supernatural warning, he returned to Longjing.

In the fourth year of the Yuanyou era (1089), Su Shi governed Hangzhou and asked the Master: "How many people on this mountain possess practice in the Way like yours?" The Master replied: "Śramaṇas have many hidden practices; they cannot all be known." When he was about to show his passing into stillness, he entered the Fangyuan Hermitage (recorded by Qin Guan and calligraphed by Mi Fu), where he sat in serene meditation, turned away guests, and ceased talking and eating. Summoning Master Liao (that is, Master Daoti), he informed him: "My pure karma is nearly complete; if there are no hindrances for seven days, my wish will be fulfilled." On the seventh day, he presented a verse to the assembly, and lying on his right side, he passed away; this was on the last day of the ninth month of the sixth year of the Yuanyou era (1091). When the stupa was completed, Dongpo instructed Ziyou to compose the inscription for it.