佛祖歷代通載 14

English (machine translation) 14

Language: English

14.1

Compiled by Nianchang of Huating, Abbot of Da Zhong Xiangfu Chan Monastery in Jiaxing Route

(First [year of Daizong], guimao) Daizong, [whose personal name was] Yu, changed the era to Guangde. (Eldest son of Suzong. Among Xuanzong's more than one hundred grandsons, Daizong was the eldest and ascended the throne as the primary grandson. Later he employed Yuan Zai as Chancellor and dismissed Li Mi; upon executing Yuan Zai, he again employed Yang Guan. He passed away at the age of fifty-three in the Zichen Inner Palace, and was buried in Yuanling. He reigned for seventeen years.)

14.4

(Yisi) The era was changed to Yongtai. In the ninth month, a gilded bronze Buddha image was cast at the Guangshun Gate, and the Emperor led the civil and military officials to pay homage and make offerings to it. In the tenth month, the Tibetan invaders pressed upon the capital; the Renwang jing was brought out from the inner palace and conveyed by imperial carriage to Ximing and other monasteries, where hundred-foot-high seats were erected to expound it. The invaders were pacified. The Emperor dreamt that the Sixth Patriarch, the Great Master Huineng, requested that his robe and bowl be returned to Caoxi. The following day, an imperial commissioner was dispatched to escort them back. At this time, invasions pressed repeatedly, and the Emperor grew increasingly anxious. Chancellor Wang Jin said: "The state's longevity and fortune rely on karmic retribution and blessings; though disasters are many, they are not worth worrying over. The venom of [An] Lushan and [Shi] Siming blazed furiously, yet both suffered calamity from their own sons. Pugu Huai'en collapsed in the face of the enemy. The barbarian hordes came invading, yet withdrew before engaging in battle. This is not the doing of human agency." The Emperor from then on dedicated his mind earnestly to the Buddha's path and performed offerings. He decreed that officials throughout the realm must not flog or disgrace monks and nuns. Within the palace, the Renwang huguo jing was expounded and recited, and a decree was issued ordering the Tripiṭaka Master Amoghavajra

14.5

to retranslate the old version, for which the Emperor personally wrote a preface. He bestowed upon Amoghavajra the office of Specially Advanced Director of Honglu. In this year, Dharma Master Liangbi was decreed to compose a commentary on the new Renwang jing in the Taoyuan Garden of the Daming Palace. Liangbi presented it with a memorial, which said in brief: "Washing the mind and cleansing thoughts, striking into the stillness to seek the voice. The illumination originates from the heavenly palace; the protection relies on the Buddha's power. Concisely relying on the sūtras and treatises, it expounds the true school, just as gathering all the jade on Mount Jing or drawing all rivers into the vast sea. Fire arises from wood, blazing brightly alongside the two luminaries; consciousness turns into Suchness, its substance of a single aspect illuminating equally. That which accomplishes the Way is the Dharma; that which records the Dharma is the sūtra. Universally delivering all beings, bringing them to join Great Penetration; fully perfecting the bodhicitta, conforming to Your Majesty's will." The Emperor inspected it, praised it, and changed the era to the first year of Dali.

14.6

(Third [year], bingwu) Chan Master Daoyi built the Jingesi in this year. An edict ordered ten Military Commissioners to assist him using the two taxes. In the seventh month, the Ullambana basin assembly was first performed in the inner palace. Seven sage seats were arranged for Gaozu, Taizong, and their successors. Imperial carriages were prepared and colossal banners erected, each inscribed above with an imperial title. They were welcomed from the Imperial Ancestral Temple into the inner chapel; cymbals, pipes, and drums danced while streamers and standards lit up the sky. On that day, guards and civil and military officials lined up at the Guangshun Gate to welcome, pay homage, and escort them. From then on, it became an annual practice. On the guiwei day, reishi mushrooms grew in two halls of the Imperial Ancestral Temple; the Emperor composed a poem in praise of it, and all the officials composed matching poems.

14.7

(Fourth [year], dingwei) It was seven hundred years since the Great Teaching spread eastward.

14.8

In the seventh month, Chancellor Du Hongjian went out to pacify Bashu. Upon arriving in Yizhou, he dispatched an envoy to Mount Baiya to invite Chan Master Wuzhu to enter the city to ask about the Dharma, saying: "This disciple hears that the venerable monk now expounds the three-phrase Dharma door of 'no-recollection, no-thought, and do not be deluded'. I do not yet know whether these three phrases are one or three." Wuzhu said: "No-recollection is called morality; no-thought is called concentration; do not be deluded is called wisdom. Yet when the single mind does not arise, it is endowed with morality, concentration, and wisdom—it is neither one nor three." [Du] asked: "Is the character wang (deluded) in the last phrase written with the 'heart' radical?" Wuzhu said: "The one with the 'female' radical [妄] is correct." [Du] asked: "Is there an authority for this?" Wuzhu said: "The Dharmapada says: 'If you give rise to an energetic mind, that is false and not energetic; if your mind can be free of falsehood, your energy will have no bounds.'" [Du] asked again: "Does the master still use these three phrases to receive people?" He replied: "For beginning students, I still have them still their thoughts, calm the waves of consciousness, and let the clear water reflect the shadow; when they awaken to the substance of no-thought, nirvanic extinction appears before them, and even no-thought is not established." At that time, a crow cawed in a courtyard tree. The Duke said: "Does the master still hear it?" He said: "I hear it." The crow flew away. [Du] asked again: "Does the master hear it now?" He said: "I hear it." The Duke said: "The crow is gone and there is no sound; why do you say you hear it?" Wuzhu looked around at the fourfold assembly and said: "The true Dharma is difficult to hear; each of you should listen attentively. Hearing or not hearing is not concerned with the nature of hearing. Originally unproduced, now it is also unceasing. When there is sound, the sound-dust arises on its own; when there is no sound, the sound-dust ceases on its own. But this nature of hearing does not arise with sound, nor does it cease with sound. Awaking to this nature of hearing, one is freed from wandering among sound-dust; and so it is with forms, smells, tastes, and tangibles as well. You should know that hearing has no production or cessation; hearing has no coming or going." The Duke and his subordinates leapt for joy and praised it. [Du] asked again: "This disciple recently composed a two-fascicle commentary on the Awakening of Faith; can it be called an understanding of the Buddha-dharma?" [Wuzhu] said: "Now, composing a commentary all uses the mind to deliberate and discriminate; it can only be completed to benefit beginners. According to the treatise: 'Know that all dharmas from the beginning are free from the marks of verbal expression, free from the marks of words, and free from the marks of mental conditioning; they are ultimately equal, without change, and are only the one mind, hence named Suchness.' Now, your lordship clings to the marks of verbal expression, clings to the marks of names, and clings to the marks of mental conditioning. Clinging already to diverse marks, how could you personally understand the Buddha-dharma?" The Duke bowed his head and said: "The master now speaks decisively from principle; it accords with the Dharma door of the mind-ground and is truly inconceivable. Yet by what means can one attain non-production and non-cessation and accord with liberation?" He answered: "When seeing objects, the mind not arising is called non-production; non-production is non-cessation. Having neither production nor cessation, one is not bound by external sensory dust, and is liberated right where one is." The Duke said: "What is meant by recognizing the mind and seeing the nature?" He answered: "All students of the Way wander according to thoughts because they do not recognize the true mind and do not see the original nature. As for the true mind: when thought arises, it does not follow arising; when thought ceases, it does not depend on stillness. It neither comes nor goes, is neither fixed nor disordered, neither grasps nor abandons, neither sinks nor floats. Free of conditioned action and free of marks, lively and sprightly, ordinary and at ease—the substance of this mind is ultimately unobtainable, cannot be known or perceived, yet whatever meets the eye is Suchness; there is nothing that is not seeing the nature." From this, Hongjian settled his mind in the joy of Chan. He once had a poem saying: "I constantly wish to pursue the principles of Chan; / How can I bow before the source of transformation?" In his late years, he resigned as Chancellor on account of illness, and passed away three days after relinquishing his office. Facing his end, he bathed, solemnly donned court attire with a saṃghāṭī added over it, shaved his beard and hair, and passed away. His testamentary instructions directed that he be buried according to the method for śramaṇas.

14.9

The commentary says: Wuzhu's preaching of the Dharma was concise, accurate, clear, and subtle, elegantly matching the Śūraṅgama's principle of 'hearing has no production or cessation'; it is proper that those who heard it were enlightened with joy, believed, and understood. Hongjian was a meritorious minister in the accession at Lingwu, and his family had venerated the Buddha for generations. His shaving of hair and beard and donning of monastic robes on the brink of death was identical to Duke Wang Dan (Wang Wenzheng) of the Song dynasty. Although Duke Wenzheng's immense virtue, foremost merit, flawless reputation, and lofty integrity stood preeminent among famous ministers—which Hongjian could not emulate—yet his instructions in his twilight years to his sons and to his friend Duke Yang Danian were earnest and thorough, as recorded in great detail in Wengong's Tanyuan. From this, one can envision the depth of his knowledge of the Buddha and the clarity of his vision of the Way. Alas! Our school points directly to each person's seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing; this great matter is originally complete in itself. Why do people neglect and blind themselves, often spending their whole lives toiling for external matters and increasing ignorance, so that the world is entirely filled with such mediocrity? If these two dukes were able to turn around on their own, keep the mind fixed on future lives, and thoroughly penetrate this great matter, how could that be easily achieved!

14.10

(Fifth [year], wushen) National Preceptor Qingliang Chengguan, courtesy name Daxiu, was a native of Kuaiji, with the surname Xiahou. He was born in the wuyin year of Kaiyuan. He was nine feet four inches tall, his hands hung past his knees, his mouth had forty teeth, his eyes radiated light at night and did not blink by day. In the seventh year of Tianbao, he went forth from home; in the second year of Suzong, dingyou, he received full ordination. In this year, he received an imperial decree to enter the palace and translate the Avataṃsaka. Early on, during the Zhide era, he encouraged himself with ten resolutions, saying: "Let my body not abandon the outward demeanor of a śramaṇa. Let my mind not violate the regulations of the Tathāgata. Let my seat not turn its back on the sūtras of the dharmadhātu. Let my nature not be tainted by spheres of emotional obstruction. Let my feet not tread upon the dust of nunneries. Let my flanks not touch the couches of householders. Let my eyes not look upon unseemly finery. Let my tongue not taste dishes past noon. Let my hands not release the perfectly luminous beads. Let my sleep not depart from the side of my robes and bowl." He studied under Zhong of Niutou and Qin of Jingshan to inquire into the principle of [Bodhidharma's] coming from the West, and received the Complete Teaching of the Avataṃsaka from Chan Master Shen in the capital. Up to this Dali third year, Daizong summoned him to enter the palace to translate sūtras with the Tripiṭaka Master of Great Eloquence and Correctness, serving as a text-polishing venerable. Afterwards, he took leave and entered the Great Huayan Monastery on Mount Wutai to contemplate deeply on the Avataṃsaka. Considering that sages of the fifth bhūmi dwell in the Buddha's realm and their mind-essence is Suchness, yet with subsequent wisdom they give rise to a worldly mind and study mundane knowledge, he therefore read widely in the Six Arts, historical records, diverse learning of the Nine Schools, Chinese philology, Indian scriptures and Sanskrit scripts, as well as the four Vedas, the five sciences, holy teachings, and secular classics, mastering them all thoroughly. In the fourth year of Jianzhong, he began to write his commentary. First seeking an auspicious response, he dreamt one night of a golden countenance standing like a mountain against the sun, its light and marks towering; he cupped his hands to swallow it into his mouth. Upon waking, he rejoiced, taking it as a sign of attaining the illumination of all-pervading light. From then on, his writing flowed without pause. He then divided the Avataṃsaka into four categories—faith, understanding, practice, and realization—leaving no principle unencompassed. Chengguan always lamented that older commentaries did not exhaust the sūtra's meaning, and only National Preceptor Xianshou [Fazang] had delved deeply into its source; he thus took him as the model to compose his commentary. It was completed after four years. He further dreamt that his body became a dragon, raising its head to the South Peak and coiling its tail around the North Peak, curving through empty space with scales and mane shining against the sun; in an instant, it transformed into hundreds of thousands of dragons winding through the blue sky and dispersing in the four directions. Those who understood took this as an omen of the text's widespread dissemination. When he first lectured on it to the assembly, it moved auspicious clouds to congeal and stay in the air before the courtyard of the lecture hall. He also composed for Sengrui and others forty fascicles of Sui shu yanyi (Exposition on the Commentary) and one hundred fascicles of Suiwen shoujing (Hand Mirror to the Text).

14.11

(6) In this year, the Emperor summoned National Preceptor Huizhong to the palace and introduced a hermit from Mount Taibai to meet him. The Emperor said, "This man has quite some understanding; we invite the master to test him." Zhong said, "What ability do you possess?" The hermit said, "I humbly understand mountains, understand the earth, understand writing, and am skilled at calculating." Zhong said, "Is the mountain where the hermit dwells a male mountain or a female mountain?" The hermit was at a loss and unable to answer. Zhong said, "Do you understand the earth?" He answered, "I understand it." Zhong pointed to the ground in the hall and asked, "What earth/land is this?" He answered, "Permit your disciple to calculate, and then I will know." Zhong said, "Do you understand writing?" He answered, "I understand it." Zhong drew a single stroke on the ground and asked, "What character is this?" The hermit said, "It is the character 'one' (一)." Zhong said, "A single stroke atop 'earth' (土) is the character 'king' (王); why do you call it the character 'one'?" He asked again, "Can you calculate?" He answered, "I can." Zhong said, "How much is three-sevens?" The hermit said, "The National Preceptor is teasing his disciple; is three-sevens not twenty-one?" Zhong said, "Rather, it is the hermit calculating this poor monk; three-sevens is ten, why do you say twenty-one?" Zhong asked again, "What other abilities do you have?" He answered, "Even if your disciple had any, I would not dare open my mouth before the National Preceptor." Zhong said, "Even if you had abilities, none of them would be right." The master then addressed the Emperor, saying, "Asked about mountains, he does not know mountains; asked about the earth, he does not know the earth; asked about writing, he does not know writing; asked about calculating, he does not understand calculating. From where did Your Majesty fetch such an ignorant fellow?" The Emperor said to the hermit, "Our imperial position is not worthy of being considered a treasure; the master is indeed the treasure of the realm." The hermit said, "Your Majesty is truly one who recognizes treasure."

14.12

(7) In this year, an imperial decree summoned Chan Master Daoqin of Mount Jingshan to the palace. The Emperor personally paid homage to him. One day, the master was in the inner court, and seeing the Emperor, he stood up. The Emperor said, "Why did the master stand up?" Qin said, "How can the dānapati observe this poor monk within the four postures?" The Emperor was delighted and said to National Preceptor Zhong, "We wish to bestow a name upon Master Qin." Zhong joyfully received the decree, and the Emperor thereupon bestowed the title "Chan Master Guoyi" (National Master Number One). Later, he took his leave and returned to his mountain. Great Master Mazu sent his disciple Zhizang to ask, "Throughout the twelve periods of the day, what do you take as your realm of cognition?" The master said, "Wait until you go back, and there will be news." Zang said, "I am going back right now." The master said, "To deliver a message, you must ask Caoxi." Another monk asked, "What is the meaning of the ancestral master's coming from the West?" The master said, "Your question is improper." The monk said, "How can it be proper?" The master said, "Wait until after my passing, and then I will explain it to you." In the eighth year of the Zhenyuan era, he showed his passing. He was posthumously granted the title Chan Master Dajue.

14.13

(8. Jiyou [769 CE]) Chan Master Niutou Huizhong showed his passing. The master received the Dharma from Master Zhiwei and was the sixth patriarch of the Niutou school. Throughout his life, he never changed his single patch-robe and his only utensil was a single iron cauldron. He once had two granaries of grain offered to the Saṃgha; when thieves lurked in wait, tigers guarded them. The county magistrate Zhang Xun entered the mountain to pay him homage and asked, "What disciples does the master have?" He replied, "I have three to five." Xun said, "May they be seen?" The master knocked on the couch three times, and three tigers bounded out roaring. Xun retreated in terror. Later, when the master moved to Zhuangyan Monastery and was about to construct a Dharma hall, there was an ancient tree with a flock of magpies nesting in it. The master said to the nests, "A hall is to be built on this spot; you may leave quickly." When he finished speaking, the flock of magpies moved their nests to another tree. When laying the foundation, two spirits set its four corners, covertly assisting in the night's labor so that it was completed in no time. From this, students gathered like clouds. The master had a verse on calming the mind: 'Person and phenomena are both purified; / Good and evil are both forgotten. / The straight mind is the genuine; / This is the bodhimaṇḍa.' Approaching his end at this time, in front of his stone chamber the tree where he hung his cauldron and the vine where he hung his robe withered and died without cause. The master assembled the community, and after performing the poṣadha, he shaved his hair and bathed his body. That evening, auspicious clouds covered his courtyard, and in the air there was the sound of heavenly music. At dawn, he serenely passed away while seated. In an instant, wind and rain violently arose, snapping forest trees, and a white rainbow pierced the crags and ravines.

14.14

(9. Gengxu [770 CE]) The Tripiṭaka Master Da'er (Big Ears) from the Western Regions arrived at the capital, claiming of himself that he had attained the knowledge of others' minds and the wisdom eye. The Emperor ordered him to enter Guangzhai Monastery and invited National Preceptor Huizhong to test him. Zhong asked, "Have you attained the supernormal power of knowing others' minds?" He replied, "I would not dare claim so." Zhong said, "Tell me, where is this old monk right now?" The Tripiṭaka Master said, "The reverend is the teacher of a whole country; why have you gone to Tianjin Bridge to watch a monkey show?" Zhong asked again, "Where is this old monk right now?" The Tripiṭaka Master said, "The reverend is the teacher of a whole country; why have you gone to Xichuan to watch the boat races?" Zhong asked a third time, phrasing it as before. For a long time, the Tripiṭaka Master did not know where he had gone. Zhong scolded him, saying, "You wild fox spirit! Where is your knowledge of others' minds now?" The Tripiṭaka Master had no reply.

14.15

The evaluation says: 'Under the Fourth Patriarch, Master Farong spoke horizontally and spoke vertically, yet he still did not know the key to the higher path'—these are the words of Master Huangbo Duanji. Given Huangbo's great dynamic function and extraordinary methods, his speaking thus was indeed appropriate; yet when subsequent students adopt similar words, taking them for the way of Chan, their criticisms of the masters of various quarters often do not stop even at this. Alas, it is said in the world that study should not skip over stages; how much more so for our school, which directly transmits the mind-seal to resolve birth and death—how could it skip over stages? Looking at the Niutou patriarchs, their Way flourished for a time, and at the boundary of life and death their signs of confirmation were illustrious: there were those in whose lifetime a hundred birds held flowers in their beaks and tigers and wolves served them; there were those upon whose passing birds and beasts mourned, ceasing only after a month; there were strange fragrances that dissipated only after ten days; there were mountain forests that turned white and mountain streams that halted their flow; there were divine banners in the sky that came from the west and circled the mountain several times; there were the trees in the old courtyard where they lived that turned white for seven days before recovering. Down to the signs evoked by Chan Master Huizhong, all are inconceivable events, emerging beyond the realm of ordinary creation. Unless one's divine virtue and marvelous conduct could envelop Heaven and Earth without shame and confront the hundred sages without blushing, how could one attain this? As for Tripiṭaka Master Da'er, he had partially realized a lesser fruit and obtained the five supernormal powers. When he saw the National Preceptor the first two times, because the National Preceptor was using an objective condition in his mind, Da'er clearly perceived the location; but when it came to the third time, the National Preceptor entered the gate of the most profound, secret, and great quiescent concentration, whereupon Da'er was at a complete loss. Thus, that the realization of fruits has gradations and the Great Way has shallow and deep is truly not a falsehood. Some have compared the shaman Xian reading the physiognomy of Huzi to this confrontation with the National Preceptor, but how could the all-pervading integration of one's self-nature be mentioned in the same breath with paltry occult arts?

14.16

(10) In this year, the Great Broad Wisdom Tripiṭaka Master Amoghavajra showed illness. He admonished his disciples, saying: "The vow and conduct of Samantabhadra give rise to boundless Dharma gates. You must practice them diligently. You should contemplate the bodhicitta, the great mudrā of the yidam, directly explicating the syllable A, understanding that phenomena are without birth, and realizing the body of great awakening." He also ordered his disciple Zhao Qian to take up the brush and dictate the *Norms for the Parinirvāṇa* that he had composed to leave for future generations, directing that they should follow this for his funeral arrangements. He submitted a memorial to take leave of the Emperor. The Emperor issued an edict dispatching an inner emissary to bestow decoctions and medicines and to convey solicitous inquiries, and moreover conferred upon him the titles of Opening Office Equal in Dignity to the Three Preceptors (Kaifu yitong sansi), Duke of the State of Su, with a fiefdom of three thousand households. He declined several times, but was refused. Amoghavajra sighed and said, "I have used the Dharma to deliver the world; I did not expect that when on the verge of death I would falsely taint myself with ranks and titles." Thereupon, he presented the Dharma implements transmitted by his late master Vajrabodhi to the palace via the court eunuch Li Xiancheng. He then bathed, changed his robes, lay down peacefully in the auspicious posture, and passed away. After the cremation (jhāpitam), his cranial bone remained indestructible, containing within it brightly dazzling relics (śarīra). Censor Yan Ying composed the monument recording his virtue, and Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Xu Hao inscribed it on stone. Its text reads:

14.17

"The reverend's name was Amoghavajra (Bukong). He was a man of the Western Regions. His clan and lineage are not heard of in China, hence they are not recorded. Emperor Xuanzong clearly perceived the ultimate Way and held him in exceptionally high esteem. Down through the three reigns of Suzong and Daizong, he served as the Abhiṣeka National Preceptor in all of them, illuminating and aiding the Sovereign with esoteric words and virtuous omens. Early on, Daizong honored him by conferring the title of Grand Herald with Specially Advanced Rank (Tejin da honglu). When he manifested illness and did not rise, the Emperor moreover conferred upon him in his bedchamber the titles of Opening Office Equal in Dignity to the Three Preceptors and Duke of the State of Su. To all of these he firmly declined, but his refusals were not permitted. He was specially bestowed the Dharma title 'Tripiṭaka Master of Great Broad Wisdom'. On the guimei day of the sixth month in the summer of the fifth year of the Da'li era, he passed away at Daxingshan Monastery in the capital. Daizong suspended court audiences for three days on his account, and posthumously presented him with the title of Minister of Works (Sikong) and the posthumous title 'Tripiṭaka Master of Great Eloquence, Uprightness, and Broad Wisdom'. On the day of the reverend's cremation, an imperial decree dispatched an inner court attendant bearing an invocation to perform the ancestral offering, conveying respect as if the master were present. The imperial words were deeply poignant, bestowing further honors and fragrant offerings; the ceremony surpassed that of all peers and was without parallel. In the ninth month of the following year, an imperial decree ordered that a stūpa be erected for his relics in his former monastery. The reverend was of brilliant nature and broadly beheld the essential import of the Dharma treasuries of the previous Buddhas; within the Buddhist order, he stood independent and vast beyond compare. Inspecting the regulations of true word (mantra) syllabic forms, the rituals of abhiṣeka altar ascension, the speed of becoming a Buddha in this very body, and the marvel of amassing blessings at a single invocation—splendid as heaven and extensive as earth, both ubiquitous and profound—it is certainly not something beginners can comprehend in detail. Dare I not sketch an outline to narrate his overarching purpose? Formerly, Vajrasattva personally received the highest yoga vehicle meaning before Vairocana Buddha. Several hundred years later, it was transmitted to Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna. Several hundred years after Nāgārjuna, it was transmitted to Ācārya Nāgabodhi. Nāgabodhi transmitted it to Ācārya Vajrabodhi. Vajrabodhi came east and transmitted it to the reverend. The reverend also traveled west to India, Siṃhala, and other countries, visiting Ācārya Nāgabodhi to delve deeply into the teachings of the eighteen assemblies. The transmission of Dharma transformation from Vairocana Tathāgata to the reverend encompasses six generations. Whenever he fasted and remained in the palace to welcome auspicious pneuma, his prayers and rituals all yielded response, the karmic blessings manifest and clear. Like the silent matters of the palace, they cannot all be recorded. In the narrow alleys of the Western Regions, when a mad elephant charged, he looked at it with eyes of compassion, and in an instant the elephant prostrated and did not rise. Crossing halfway through the Southern Sea, when the water monster Tianwu whipped up waves, he faced it with meditative concentration, and before the sun's shadow shifted, the sea became tranquil without waves. At his birth, there was the auspicious sign of fine light illuminating the scene around his mother. At his passing, there was the anomaly of the pond water in his monastery drying up. In all, he had fifty monastic rains-retreats and lived to the age of seventy. From his youth to his twilight years, he constantly arranged offerings, sat in the bodhimaṇḍa, bathed in orchid waters, burned incense, and entered into the Buddha's knowledge and vision. For more than fifty years, morning and night, winter and summer, he never showed the slightest sign of leaning, laxity, or weariness. Such was his surpassing of ordinary people by far! Among later disciples who entered his hall and recited his teachings, there were many who upheld his methods; but Bhikṣu Huilang received the prophecy of succession, attained the transmission of the lamp, continued the radiance of the Buddha's sun, and succeeded the six generations as the seventh—how supreme! Alas! The Dharma disciples forever cherish the falling of the pillar; knowing his basic deeds are drawing to an end, they entrusted me to inscribe this monument. Formerly receiving his subtle words, today seeing his armrest and staff, his radiant presence is far above the Han sky, the altar courtyard silent and sorrowful. Writing with the utmost care to engrave this inscription, how could this humble person decline? The inscription reads: / Ah, Great Being, / You elevated our three lineages! / In virtue, teacher to the Emperor; / In rank, Equal to the Three Preceptors. / Formerly on Mount Guangcheng, / The Yellow Emperor followed the wind; / Over three thousand years later, / There was again Duke Su. / The supreme vehicle of Yoga, / The secret seal of true words; / Transmitted across six generations, / The transmission of the lamp continued unbroken. / The narrator registers this; / Brilliantly arranged in order. / On land, subduing the mad elephant; / At sea, calming Tianwu; / With a compassionate heart checking violence, / With the power of wisdom conquering folly. / Silent yet responding in spiritual communion— / How could he be fathomed? / The dream between the two pillars announced his end; / The twin trees changed color. / Honored at his death as Minister of Works, / Eloquent and Upright, commemorating his virtue. / The imperial envoy performed the ancestral offering; / The Emperor's heart was sorrowful. / By imperial decree, a precious stūpa was built, / In the corner of the old courtyard; / Below, his relics are enshrined; / Above, the pagoda is adorned. / Traces differ between arising and ceasing, / But the Dharma transcends being and non-being. / Carving this stone as a monument, / To transmit it throughout the imperial metropolis."

14.18

(11. Xinhai) Vinaya Master Tanyi of Yuezhou passed away. The Reminder Liang Su composed his stele inscription, which states: The late Buddhist Vinaya Master, named Tanyi and styled Jueyin, was eighty years of age and had sixty-one monastic summers. On the seventh day of the twelfth month of the sixth year of the Dali reign period, he entered extinction at Kaiyuan Monastery in Yuezhou. His seat was moved and a pagoda was erected on the sunny side of Mount Qinwang. Those wearing mourning garments and attending the burial numbered in the thousands and hundreds. The Great Master was of the Zhang clan of Nanyang. His great-grandfather Heng, Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices under the Sui dynasty, first settled in Shanyin of Kuaiji. The Great Master was born endowed with pure qi, and his sharp comprehension manifested early on. In his youth, he studied the Five Classics and, while exploring the Cave of Yu, came to Yunmen Monastery, where he went forth into the monastic life under the monk Master Liang. During the Jinglong reign period, he received tonsure and soon took the full precepts. Heaven had endowed him with eloquence and wisdom, enriched further by decorum and conduct; unanimously, he was already admired by people. In the beginning of the Kaiyuan reign period, he traveled west to Chang'an. Vinaya Master Guanyin Liang met him, considered him extraordinary, and instructed him in the study of the vinaya. He also relied on Master Tanzu of Chongsheng Monastery to study the Abhidharmakośa and vijñapti-mātra. From the great Indian monk [Śubhākarasiṃha] Wūwèi, he received the bodhisattva precepts. He probed the Way, grasped its depths, and stood out brilliantly from his peers; within a month, his renown shook the capital. The Great Master was lofty and unyielding as a cliff, yet his spiritual faculties were open and magnanimous; his disposition and understanding were precise and refined, and his practical responsiveness was empty and luminous. He grasped the subtle depths of the Tripiṭaka and plumbed the bottom of the various lineages. In addition, having long understood the mysteries and Confucianism, he was also broadly versed in calendars and apocrypha. The elders heard of his style and bowed in admiration; ministers and nobles lowered their couches to treat him as an honored guest. Because of this, he became an intimate, close friend in the exchange between Confucianism and Buddhism with Lu Xiangxian, Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince and Duke of the State of Yan; He Zhizhang, Guest of the Crown Prince; Li Yong, Governor of Beihai; Xu Anzhen, Secretariat Drafter; and Chu Tinghui, Policy Critic. In guiding the world, he always led with literary culture and moral practice, and broadened them through the precepts and concentration. When one enters an orchid room, the fragrance wafts forth naturally; when one approaches a water mirror, even a single hair is clearly reflected—yet no one knows why this is so. In the twenty-sixth year of the Kaiyuan reign period, he returned to Kuaiji and said to people: 'The foundation of the Buddhist Dharma across the three periods of time is the precepts. If the foundation is not cultivated, how could the Way not be far off?' Therefore, in setting up teachings, he took śīla as the primary basis. Taking the Vinaya Commentaries of Ye Prefecture and combining them with the Practical Notes of Zhongnan, he gathered their similarities and differences to elucidate the correct meaning in detail. Students relied upon it. Broadly speaking, reaching north to Hebei and south beyond Jing and Min, the Dharmaguptaka lineage flourished through him. Like a blazing torch dispelling darkness, like manifold streams rushing toward mountain streams and ponds—such was the spread of his teaching at the time of his coming. Born conditioned, he came to rest following the transformations. The grasses and trees are secretly moistened, and the cloud of compassion is without mind—such was his abiding in accord with nature at the time of his departure. Human generations shift and turn; the Way endures while worldly fortune passes. Looking from afar, one sees nothing but the solitary, empty mountain. How mournful! The inscription reads: The waters of Yue are boundless; / The high peaks encircle and join. / The Great Master has transformed and perished; / In due form this sacred pagoda is raised. / Yearning in admiration for the superior man / Who gave birth to and cultivated the pure Dharma: / Possessing majesty and decorum, / Neither defective nor mixed. / His virtue was widespread, his transformation harmonizing, / Drawn like clouds, received like the sea. / Engraving the inscription to pass down to posterity / For thousands, tens of thousands of millions of kalpas.

14.19

(12) This year, Zhang Yanshang, Military Commissioner of Huainan, Shepherd of Yangzhou, and Censor-in-Chief, submitted a memorial concerning the deeds and life of the Third Patriarch of Shuzhou, requesting a posthumous title from the court. In the fourth month of summer, the Son of Heaven bestowed the posthumous title Chan Master Jingzhi ('Mirror-Wisdom'). Dugu Ji, the Prefect, composed the stele inscription on the bestowal of the posthumous title, which states: According to past records, the Chan Master was styled Sengcan; it is unknown where he came from. He appeared during the Zhou and Sui dynasties, receiving the transmission of the teaching from the Great Master Huike. He gathered his robes in Yezhong and attained the Way on Mount Sikong. Regarding bodily forms as unreal, he showed himself to have an ulcerous illness. Regarding dharmas as non-self, he chose no fixed dwelling place. Taking the illnesses of sentient beings as his own illness, he never failed to preach the Dharma wherever he went. Saving people through the single characteristic that is neither inside, outside, nor in-between, he necessarily spoke without relying on written words. His teaching generally took tranquil illumination and wondrous function to subsume the flowing births and deaths of all classes of beings. Looking across the four quarters, above and below, he saw no dharma, no body, and no mind, until mind was freed from names and words, body was equal to the realm of space, and dharmas were like dreams and illusions, with nothing to attain and nothing to realize—only then did he call it liberation. The Chan Master guided himself by this Way: above, he received the entrustment; below, he rescued the confused and doubting. As the great cloud cast its shade, the lands were all transformed. Thinking that the teaching had not yet reached the South, he undertook the journey to Luofu. His coming was not a coming; his going was without a going. Thereafter, he entrusted both the kāṣāya and the Dharma to the awakened one. The Way endured while his physical form faded, leaving his bones on this mountain; two hundred years have now passed. In the fifth year after the Emperor ascended the throne, the year falling on Gengxu, I was granted the tally of office for this prefecture, ascended to the Chan Master's former dwelling, gazed around at the worldly traces, and clearly examined the past affairs. The arrangement for his cremation and the raising of the pagoda was in fact initiated during the Tianbao reign period, a Bingxu year, by Duke Li Chang of Zhaojun, former Intendant of Henan and Vice Prefect. The texts on the stele were subsequently discussed and composed by Duke Xue Daoheng of Hedong, Vice Director of the Sui Palace Secretariat, and Duke Fang Guan of Henan, Grand Councilor of the Tang. However, the canon for honoring the Way and the rites for conferring a posthumous title had not yet been attended to, as the imperial court was preoccupied with many troubles. The elder monk Bhikṣu Zhanran chanted sūtras beneath the sacred pagoda, growing old together with the pines of the ravine; deeply pained that the late master's name had not been recorded by the state, he, together with the Great Vinaya Master Chengjun of Chanzhong Monastery, served in shared reverence and harmony and repeatedly presented petitions. It happened that in this year, the great bhikṣu Master Huirong of Mount Song arrived from Guangling, and the great bhikṣu Master Kaiwu of Shengye Monastery arrived from Lujiang. Both admired the bequeathed teachings of the seven generations following our Chan Master, and day after day they lamented that the pagoda had not been granted a name and the title had not been elevated, fearing that the foundation of the Semblance Dharma would fall to the ground. Desiring to extend the vast vow for boundless sentient beings to relieve endless grief, Duke Zhang Yanshang, Shepherd of Yangzhou and Censor-in-Chief, presented the matter in a memorial. Thereupon, in the fourth month of summer in the sixth year, His Majesty abundantly issued an edict to revive what had fallen into disuse and continue what had been severed, conferring the posthumous title Chan Master Jingzhi upon the Chan Master, naming the pagoda Jueji ('Awakened Tranquillity'), and appointing seven monks of great virtue to sweep, clean, and make offerings. The imperial script bestowed the mandate, illuminating the cliffs and valleys. The multitude leapt with joy, claiming that the Mahāyāna had experienced a renaissance. Therefore, the assembly of great bhikṣus resolved to erect a stone at the southeast corner of the pagoda to record why the mind-dharma had declined and flourished. In my view, the presence of Buddhism in the Central Realm initially began with Emperor Ming of the Han. Passing through the Wei, Jin, Song, Qi, and Emperor Wu of Liang, those who spoke of the ultimate truth went no further than giving alms and keeping precepts; the world was bewildered by karmic retribution, and people did not yet know Chan. The world and the Way mutually perished. When the Great Master Bodhidharma arrived, he first revealed to people the mind-essence of all Buddhas. People doubted and did not reflect upon it. The Great Master Huike transmitted and preserved it; people reflected on it but did not cultivate it. By the time of the Chan Master in the third generation, its influence gradually broadened, and the Dharma taste of True Suchness soaked in day by day and month by month. The roots, stems, branches, and leaves of the ten thousand trees were all bathed in our rain. Only then did the secret treasury of the King of Emptiness and the subtle words of the Second Patriarch begin to circulate in the world and saturate people's minds. At that time, among those who heard the Way from the Chan Master, those of shallow capacity came to know that conditioned existence is nothing other than deluded thought; those of deep capacity saw the Buddha-nature beneath his words, like a lamp illuminating objects, turning from ordinary men in the morning into sages in the evening. The Great Master of Shuangfeng, Daoxin, was such a man. Thereafter, Master Xin transmitted it to Hongren; Ren transmitted it to Huineng and Shenxiu; Master Xiu transmitted it to Pujin. Master Ji's disciples numbered ten thousand, among whom sixty-three ascended the hall, and one attained sovereign wisdom, named Hongzheng. Under Master Zheng's corridors, the dragons and elephants were doubled again. Some taught in Song and Luo; others went to Jing and Wu. From then on, the mind-teaching's spread in the world was equal in splendor to the Six Classics. Ah, without the Chan Master, would we not have belonged to the Two Vehicles? Why should later generations be deluded? How could one know that the Chan Master's descent into birth was not for the sake of the Buddhas, intentionally manifesting the body of a bhikṣu to rescue this turbid kalpa? It is just as when, after Yao and Shun had passed away, the Duke of Zhou instituted the rites, Zhongni expounded them, and Ziyou and Zixia broadened them, so that men like Gaotang Sheng, Hou Cang, Xu Meng, and Dai Qing could take them as their ancestral models. When sages and worthies act as wooden bells, their measure is one and the same. The gentlemen considered that Sima Qian established the 'Hereditary Family of Confucius', and Xie Lingyun of Linchuan composed the stele inscription for Master Huiyuan; now, to let people a thousand years later know that the complete body of the late master, the origin of the Chan school, and the imperial command's posthumous honors are on this mountain, spreading his style and recording his era should properly belong to the stream of the Dharma. I have long savored the Chan Master's Way; therefore, I did not decline. The inscription reads: The tranquil nature of man / Is planted together with life. / Wisdom is enticed by the outside, / Defiled into deluded consciousness. / Like waves surging, / Moving and resting with the wind. / Craving, dread, greed, and anger / Become blades and thieves. / Birth and death have a limit; / Dependent origination is infinite. / The Tathāgata pitied it, / Opening the gate of deliverance. / Approaching the false to comprehend the true, / Thereby to realize the source of awakening. / Revealing the mind-seal, / Bequeathing it to our descendants. / Intermittently the Chan Master was born, / Causing the teaching to be honored. / For twenty-eight generations, / They handed down the subtle words in turn. / Suchness Chan Master / Spread them in response to the times. / When the world was turbid and the Dharma in decay, / He alone remained intact with the Way. / The unenlightened youth came seeking; / By mind I transmitted it. / Subsuming characteristics into nature, / The Dharmakāya was then perfected. / The nature-body is fundamentally empty; / For this I expound it. / Suchness Chan Master, / Since his Way departed the world, / Nearly twenty periods of twelve years passed / Before the imperial canon arrived. / The August Radiance shines and adorns; / Countless millions emulate and bow. / All future students from now on / Enter the realm of the Buddha. / In grasping and non-grasping, / Who is bound and who is liberated? / For ten thousand and a thousand years, / May this Dharma never be destroyed.

14.20

(13. Renzi) Yan Zhenqing, Duke of Lu Commandery, composed the Record of the Precept Platform at the Vinaya Piṭaka Cloister of Baoying Monastery in Fuzhou, which states: "The Tathāgata, seeing that the actions of body, speech, and mind are difficult to subdue, established pure śīla to calm what is within; and seeing that the four postures—walking, standing, sitting, and lying down—gather good thoughts, made clear the upoṣadha to illumine what is without. Thus it is said: 'The prātimokṣa is your master.' Hence, from Kauṇḍinya's 'Come, [bhikṣu]' and Kāśyapa's honoring the Dharma, through all the śrāvakas' taking the three refuges to bind the saṅgha, to the fourteen-year ordination of nuns through the eight revered rules—the transmission of karmavācanā has preserved this single principle. In the first year of the Jianning reign era of Emperor Ling of the Han, Zhifalun and others from the North Indian five-branch school first translated the Four-Part Precept Manual along with the karmavācanā in Chang'an, transmitting the precepts to fully ordained monks. Coming to Cao Wei, ten Indian nuns came from afar to administer full ordination to nuns. In the eleventh year of the Hongshi reign era of Yao Xing of the Later Qin, the Indian monk Buddhayaśas translated the Four-Part Vinaya text; but the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya was then widely practiced in Guanzhong, and the Ten Recitations Vinaya was flourishing south of the Yangzi. Coming to Vinaya Master Fachong of the Northern Wei, the Four-Part tradition was first expounded. Chong transmitted it to Daofu; Fu transmitted it to Huiguang; Guang transmitted it to Yunhui and Yuan; Yuan transmitted it to Yin, Le, and Hongyun; Yun transmitted it to Zun; Zun transmitted it to Zhishou; Shou transmitted it to Daoxuan; Xuan transmitted it to Fali and Manyi; Yi transmitted it to Facheng; Cheng transmitted it to Daliang and Daosheng; Liang transmitted it to Yunyi, Da'an, Chao, and Huicheng; and Cheng transmitted it to Huiqin. All passed it down mouth to mouth, arriving at its profoundest depths. Qin's secular surname was Xu, and he was a native of Jianchang in Hongzhou. He was an offspring of Xu Ruzi of the Han. At the age of twenty-two he sought a teacher at Chushan in Linchuan; five years later, he shaved his head and entered Longgang Monastery in Gao'an. Subsequently he was ordained. In the Tang, Yijing—whose chief disciple in translation was known as the outstanding genius of Hongzhou—proclaimed the karmavācanā, while the one of the two capitals who purified the Dharma with acuity was Qin. His wisdom and forbearance were vast and profound, and his spiritual function loftily clear. In conduct he was free of provisional and true; in person he transcended permissions and prohibitions. He expounded the Vinaya Piṭaka like the brilliance of the sun and moon; he exercised eloquence like the stamping of nāgas and elephants. Beyond the rivers and mountain ranges, his commanding demeanor arose like the wind. At the end of the Kaiyuan era, he traveled north to the capital, serving as a Grand Worthy of Fuxian Monastery. He regularly chanted and lectured on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, while also mastering the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya, the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, and the Diamond Sūtra. When he mounted the lecture seat, two to three thousand people attended him daily. Because of this, his renown moved the capital. When An Lushan caused rebellion, he took his staff and returned south, residing between Hongjing and Shuangling in the Western Mountains. Admiring the lingering traces of the eminent monk Guanxian, he newly founded a hermitage beside the monastery. The beauty of its mountain springs was utterly serene and exquisite. Although Qin strictly adhered to monastic deportment, his aim was broad salvation. He was fond of reading the Zhouyi and the Zuo zhuan, and his writings formed literary compositions instantly. He authored the Ten Fascicles of Commentary Supporting the Vinaya Deportment. He once composed the inscription for the precept platform of Longxing Monastery in this prefecture, which was highly praised by men of letters. In the third year [of Dali], I, Zhenqing, was appointed prefect of Fuzhou. Four li to the southeast lay the ancient platform where Xie Lingyun, Palace Attendant of Song and Administrator of the Interior of Linchuan, had translated the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. Its foundations remained stately, though its verandas and steps had collapsed into ruin. The dhūta monk Zhiqing of elevated conduct took the lead in repairing it and residing there as abbot. In the autumn of the following year, the seventh month, as Zhenqing's term of service was nearing completion, Surveillance Commissioner, Minister, and Censor-in-Chief Lord Wei, Duke of Zhao, wishing to commemorate our Emperor's birthday, memorialized the throne to name it Baoying Monastery, and further requested twenty-one monks of lofty conduct from the mountains and forests. On the twenty-third day of the tenth month in winter, the imperial grace granted approval. Thereupon, it was renovated with magnificent splendor; its resurgence was swift and vigorous. They then invited Zhiyi Great Masters Fayuan and Faquan, Chengjue of Xiangyang, Shanhong of Qingliang, Yuanjue of Luofu, Benyu of Foji, Huida of Yuhang, as well as Haitong and Haian of Changzhou, to dwell together in cultivation so as to foster great blessings. All agreed that although disciples were multiplying, the Vinaya had not yet been established. In the third month of the following year, they invited Qin to ascend the platform and wield the wooden clapper. They also directed Daogan of Longgang, Fayi of Tiantai, Zhirong of Zhaoti, Fayin of Baima, Zhijue of Mount Heng, Yiying of Tongde, Cangxuan of Xiangcheng, Cangzhi of Longxing, and Mingche of Kaiyuan to assist jointly in holding the Dharma rites. Thereupon people dashed from near and far, packing the place of practice to capacity. The sacred images emitted light, and the dragon king held back rain for forty days. Three hundred and fifty-seven monks and nuns were ordained; and the scholar Zhang Yengao, Grand Master of Proper Consultation and former Junior Supervisor of the Guard of the Palace Gate, cast off the mundane and returned to the real, receiving the Dharma name Huaiwang ('Shatterer of the Net') as the foremost among them. Moreover, since that year Qin had administered full ordination to more than ten thousand persons in all. Across a thousand leagues among rivers, mountain ranges, lakes, and seas, the Semblance Dharma was transformed—all by the power of Qin's conversion and guidance. Linchuan was located at the edge of the ranges, and the Vinaya had never been promoted there. Thereupon more than three hundred of the two assemblies requested Fayi to expound it and relied upon him. Later, a high-virtue master from Zisheng Monastery in the Superior Capital, Vinaya Master Huanben, marveling at his eloquence, deeply sighed in admiration and praise. It was proposed that an Untrammeled Chan Cloister of General Penetration be established southeast of the monastery, housing within it an Avalokiteśvara Bodhimaṇḍa for the Protection of the State, and they invited Shanhong to reside there to awaken the essentials of mind. Yunyi's chief disciple, Zhirong, strictly upheld the fundamental vows just like Master Huideng. He then directed Zhihuang and others to set up a Vinaya Piṭaka Cloister east of the General Penetration Bodhimaṇḍa and establish a precept platform, so as to continue Master Qin's exemplary model and hand down an imperishable record from the start. Before long, the platform and halls rose grandly and solemnly. As a life-preserving float across the ocean, it refused the demons' plea to the smallest measure; as an adornment of bodily jewels, it shone with the radiance of the maṇi gem. Thus, for those who enter the stage of Buddhahood and don the saṃghāṭī, their famous fragrance perfumes everywhere, and their supernatural feet are boundless. Can the fortnight [upoṣadha] ever be sufficiently recorded without end? In the xinhai year of the Dali era of the Tang dynasty, Yan Zhenqing, Acting Prefect of Fuzhou and Founding Duke of Lu Commandery, inscribed and recorded this."

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佛祖歷代通載 — Classical Chinese