釋氏稽古略 2.91

2.91

Dharma Master Huiyuan of Mount Lu. His taboo name was Huiyuan. He came from the Jia family of Yanmen (now in the circuit of the same name). In his youth, he was a Confucian scholar, broadly mastering all texts, and was particularly versed in the Zhouyi, Zhuangzi, and Laozi. He once visited Dharma Master Dao'an together with his younger brother Huichi. Hearing the supramundane Dharma, he delighted in it and sighed, "The Confucian and Daoist traditions of the nine schools are mere chaff!" He thereupon went forth from the household life. At that time, Dao'an had several thousand disciples, and Huiyuan occupied the head seat. Dao'an once said: "If the Way is to flow into the eastern land, will it not rest upon Yuan?" In the jiashen year, the ninth year of Taiyuan of Emperor Wu of Jin, amid the chaos in the state of Former Qin, he traveled to Jin. Arriving in Jiangxi, he saw Mount Lu and loved it, so he stayed at Longquan Hermitage in Jiangzhou. Next he lodged at Huiyong's Xilin Monastery, and then built Donglin Monastery on the east of the mountain. While it was being constructed, the mountain spirit manifested its presence, wishing to offer aid. Over a couple of nights, wind and thunder arose in the darkness, accompanied by heavy rain. At daybreak, they went to look and found fine timber and rare wood aligned in rows upon that spot. At that time, General Huan Yi of Jin, newly arriving to govern here, was astonished by this divine marvel and memorialized the throne to establish a monastery there; in the bingxu year, the monastery was completed. At that time, many of the empire's remarkable talents in the Jin were living in reclusion and refusing official posts; hearing of the Way of Master Huiyuan of Mount Lu, they all came to follow him. In the gengyin year, the Master said to Liu Chengzhi and others: "If you gentlemen have the intention to journey to the Pure Land, you should apply yourselves with diligence." Thereupon, they made a joint aspiration before Amitāyus Buddha, establishing a fast and making a vow to be reborn in the Pure Land. From this, a total of one hundred and twenty-three monks and laity joined the alliance out of longing for the Way, lodging their minds beyond the world of matter. Xie Lingyun excavated two ponds at Donglin to plant lotus flowers. Master Huiyuan would never cross Tiger Creek when seeing off guests. In the gengxu year, the sixth year of Yixi, the Daoist Lu Xiujing and Tao Yuanming entered the mountain to visit the Master; when he saw them off, they held hands and talked together, unwittingly crossing Tiger Creek. The three looked at each other and laughed heartily; people nowadays depict this as the 'Painting of the Three Laughs.' Yuanming was fond of wine; after remaining in the mountain for some time, he knitted his brows and departed because there was no wine in the mountain. Coming to this yimao year, on the sixth day of the eighth month, Master Huiyuan joined his palms, faced west, and passed away at the age of eighty-four. Xie Lingyun composed his stele inscription. The members of the society numbered several thousand, among whom eighteen were particularly prominent (from the Biographies of Eminent Monks).