釋氏稽古略 3.500

3.500

Chan Master Zhijue of Huiri Yongming in Hangzhou. His name was Yanshou, and he was of the Wang family of Yuhang. In his youth he set his heart on the Buddha Vehicle, abstaining from meat and eating only once a day. When holding the Lotus Sūtra, he could read seven lines at a glance, and in barely sixty days he was able to recite it entirely. He moved a flock of sheep to kneel and listen. At age twenty-eight he was a garrison commander in Huating. Longing in his heart for the True Vehicle, King Wenmu of Wuyue, Yuan'guan, knew that the master was dedicated to the Way, and so granted his wish, [permitting him to] pay respects to Chan Master Cuiyan Can at Longce Monastery and receive the tonsure and dye his robes. He performed menial labor to provide for the community, entirely forgetting himself. He wore neither silk nor padded garments and ate nothing of complex flavor, passing his mornings and evenings with wild vegetables and coarse cloth robes. Soon he went to Tianzhu Peak on Mount Tiantai, where he practiced meditation for ninety days; small birds even nested in the folds of his robes. When he paid respects to National Preceptor Shao, Shao recognized his profound capacity at first sight, and [the master] was awakened to the profound purport. Shao then said to the master, 'You have an affinity with the marshal; in the future you will greatly promote Buddhist activities.' The master first resided at Xuedou, and once had a verse that went: 'A lonely ape's cry brings down the moon over the middle cliff; / The recluse's chanting outlasts the midnight lamp. / At this time and in this place, who grasps the meaning? / A monk sitting in Chan deep within the white clouds.' King Zhongyi of Wuyue, Hongchu, invited the master to be the founding abbot of the new Lingyin Monastery. The following year, he moved to the great bodhimaṇḍa of Yongming, where the assembly grew to more than two thousand. A monk asked, 'What is the marvelous purport of Yongming?' The master said, 'Add some more incense.' The monk said, 'Thank you, master, for your instruction.' The master said, 'I am only glad there was no connection.' The monk bowed. The master said, 'If you wish to know the purport of Yongming: a lake of water before the gate; when the sun shines on it, bright light appears; when the wind comes, waves arise.' The master resided at Yongming for fifteen years and tonsured one thousand seven hundred disciples. He frequently bestowed the bodhisattva precepts upon the seven assemblies, fed ghosts and spirits at night, and liberated living creatures beyond count. Six times a day he scattered flowers and practiced the Way; using his remaining energy, he recited the Lotus Sūtra for a total of thirteen thousand completions. He composed the Zongjing lu in one hundred fascicles. The King of Wuyue composed two prefaces for it, front and back, and promulgated it for inclusion in the Great Canon to circulate. Today, the abbot's quarters at Jingci is called the Zongjing Hall. The master's poems, verses, rhapsodies, and hymns totaled tens of millions of words and spread across the seas. The king of Goryeo read the master's spoken teachings and dispatched an envoy bearing a letter to express his homage as a disciple, offering a saṅghāṭī robe woven with gold thread, purple crystal prayer beads, and a golden water jar. Thirty-six monks from that kingdom received his seal of approval and prediction of enlightenment, and subsequently returned to Goryeo, each transforming a region. In the seventh year of the Kaibao reign of Emperor Taizu of the Song, the master entered Mount Tiantai and transmitted the precepts to some ten thousand people. The following year, on the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth month, at the chen hour, he burned incense, bid farewell to the assembly, sat cross-legged, and passed away. His worldly age was seventy-two, and his monastic age was forty-two. The following year, a stūpa was built at Mount Daci. Emperor Taizong of the Song bestowed a plaque inscribed 'Shouning Chan Courtyard.' The master was a Dharma heir of National Preceptor Tiantai Shao; Shao was a Dharma heir of Chan Master Qingliang Fayan Yi, of the Sixth Patriarch's Qingyuan lineage. Those who inherited Yanshou's Dharma were Chan Master Qianming Jin of Hangzhou and Venerable Zimeng of Fuyang (recorded on the Stele of the Conduct of the Patriarchs and Monks of Jingshan).