釋氏稽古略 2.263

2.263

Great Chan Master Si of Nanyue: Personal name Huisi, a son of the Li clan of Wujin. Earlier, Chan Master Huiwen of the Northern Qi once selected the Madhyamaka-śāstra from the scriptures and wonderfully awakened to its principle. He then paid homage from afar to Venerable Nāgārjuna, the fourteenth patriarch of the Western Heavens and composer of the treatise, as his master, and expounded the three contemplations of emptiness, provisionality, and the middle. The original text [of the treatise] says: "The phenomena produced by causes and conditions, I declare to be empty; it is also a provisional designation, and is also the meaning of the Middle Way." (Great Chan Master Zhiyi, the Wise One, subsequently brought its doctrine and contemplation to great prominence.) In the third year of Chengsheng of Emperor Yuan of the Liang, Si relied on Huiwen and awakened to the Lotus Samādhi and the gateway of the turning dhāraṇī. He observed the bodhisattva's three pure precepts and did not wear silk or cotton. When cold, he would spread ripened mugwort over his seat. His practice of the Way became widely known, and at the time he was called Great Master Si. Once when afflicted by illness, he reflected: "Illness arises from karma; karma arises from the mind. If the mental conditions do not arise, what appearance can external objects have? Karma, illness, and the body are all like clouds and shadows." Having formed this contemplation, his body subsequently felt light and at ease. When leading his disciples south, he encountered the turmoil of the Liang and temporarily halted at Mount Taisu. In the first year of Guangda of the Deposed Emperor of the Chen, he came to Nanyue and said to his disciples: "In a past life I once lived here." Pointing to the woods and springs, he said: "This is an ancient monastery." They dug the ground and found the foundations of temple halls and utensils used by monks, and found skeletal remains beneath two rocks. He then built a stupa called the Stupa of Three Lifetimes. At the very center of the peak he built the Bore Monastery, where a tiger pawed the earth and a spring gushed forth to supply his fellow students. In the first year of Dajian of Emperor Xuan of the Chen, a Daoist priest of the Yue shrine secretly reported to the Chen Emperor, falsely accusing the master: "A northern monk, holding a covenant with the Qi state, has severed the mountain peak and hammered stones to incite demonic sorcery." The Chen Emperor dispatched an envoy to summon the master. The master arrived flying on his khakkhara staff. Marveling at this, the Emperor welcomed him with offerings, lodged him at Qixuan Monastery, and inquired and debated about Buddhist principles. The Emperor then punished the Daoist for deceit and wanted to execute him, but the master memorialized to pardon him. The Emperor then ordered the various Daoists to provide labor in service of the master. The master memorialized to return to Nanyue, and the Emperor saw him off with extraordinary ritual respect. After some time, the master instructed the assembly, saying: "The source of the Way is not far; the ocean of nature is not distant. Seek it only within yourself; do not look for it from others. If you search for it, you will not find it; even if you find it, it will not be real." On the twenty-second day of the sixth month of the ninth year of Dajian of the Chen, he entered cessation at the age of sixty-four. His writings all circulate in the world. The master is the Third Patriarch of the Lotus [Tradition] (Xingzhuang bentuan).