佛祖歷代通載 19.4

19.4

（二　辛亥）　是年三月十六日。圓通居訥禪師卒。字中敏。出于蹇氏。梓州中江人。少而英特。詩書過目成誦。年十一依漢州什邡竹林寺元昉。十七試法華得度。受具於頴真律師。以講學冠兩川。耆年多下之。會有禪者自南方還。稱祖道被天下。馬大師什邡人。應般若多羅讖蜀之豪俊以經論聞者如亮公。而亮棄徒隱西山。如鑒公而鑒焚疏鈔稱滴水莫敵巨海。訥憮然良久曰。汝知之乎。曰我不能知。子欲知之。何惜一往。訥於是出蜀。後遊廬山得法于榮禪師。南康守程師孟請住歸宗。又遷圓通。仁宗皇帝聞其名。皇祐初。詔住京之淨因。訥稱目疾不能奉詔。有旨令舉自代。遂舉僧懷璉。禪學精深居某之右。於是璉應詔。引對問佛法大意。稱旨。天下賢訥知人。既老休居於寶積岩。無疾而化。世壽六十有二。坐四十有五夏。

(2. Xinhai) On the sixteenth day of the third month of this year, Chan Master Juenan of Yuantong passed away. His courtesy name was Zhongmin, and he came from the Jian family. He was a native of Zhongjiang in Zizhou. When young he was heroic and outstanding; upon glancing at poetry and canonical texts, he could recite them from memory. At the age of eleven, he relied on Yuanfang at Zhulin Temple in Shifang, Hanzhou. At seventeen, he was tested on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka and received ordination. He received the full precepts under Vinaya Master Yingzhen. Because of his lecturing and learning, he was foremost in both regions of Sichuan, and many elders deferred to him. At that time, a Chan practitioner returned from the South, declaring that the Patriarchs' way was covering all under heaven: "Great Master Mazu was a native of Shifang, fulfilling Prajñātāra's prophecy. Eminent men of Sichuan known for the sutras and treatises—such as Master Liang—left their disciples and hid in the Western Mountains; such as Master Dexian—burned his commentaries and sub-commentaries, declaring that a drop of water cannot contend with the vast ocean." Juenan was downcast for a long while and said, "Do you know it?" The person said, "I cannot know it. If you wish to know it, why begrudge making the journey?" Juenan thereupon departed Sichuan. Later he traveled to Mount Lu and attained the Dharma from Chan Master Rong. Cheng Shimeng, Prefect of Nankang, invited him to reside at Guizong, and later he moved to Yuantong. Emperor Renzong heard of his fame, and in the early Huangyou reign-era [1049–1054], issued an edict summoning him to reside at Jingyin in the capital. Juenan cited eye trouble and could not comply with the edict. An edict ordered him to recommend someone to take his place, so he recommended the monk Huailian, saying, "His Chan learning is profound and subtle, and stands above mine." Thereupon Huailian answered the imperial summons and was brought in for an audience to be questioned on the general meaning of the Buddha-Dharma; it met with the Emperor's approval. Everyone under heaven regarded Juenan as worthy for knowing people. In his old age, he retired to dwell at the Baoji Cliff, and died without illness. His worldly age was sixty-two, and he had sat for forty-five summer retreats.