釋氏稽古略 3.98

3.98

National Preceptor Qingliang: His Dharma name was Chengguan, and his surname was Xiahou. He was a person of Shanyin in Yuezhou. At the age of eleven, he relied on Chan Master Pei of Baolin Monastery on Mount Yingtian to leave home and chant the Lotus Sūtra. At fourteen, he encountered imperial favor and was ordained, his name being registered at Baolin. During the Qianyuan reign era of Emperor Suzong, he relied on Vinaya Master Li of Qixia Monastery in Runzhou to study the Xiangbu Vinaya, and on Tanyi to study the Nanshan Vinaya. He visited Dharma Master Xuanbi in Jinling to receive the Three Treatises of the Guan-He tradition; the flourishing of the Three Treatises in Jiangbiao was due to the master's effort. During the Dali reign era of Emperor Daizong, he transmitted the Awakening of Faith and Nirvāṇa Sūtra at Waguan Monastery. Furthermore, he received the commentary and meaning of the Awakening of Faith of Haedong from Fazang in Huainan. He reviewed the Avataṃsaka and reinvestigated the Three Treatises for nearly twenty years. Going to Suzhou, he followed Dharma Master Zhanran to study the commentaries on Tiantai Calm Abiding and Insight, the Lotus, the Za'mo, and other scriptures. He also paid respects to Chan Master Zhong of Mount Niutou, Chan Master Qin of Mount Jing, and the nameless Chan master of Luoyang to inquire and resolve matters regarding the Chan method of the Southern School. Again, he met Chan Master Huiyun and understood the profound principle of the Northern School. He went so far as to study and master the scriptures, commentaries, philosophers, histories, philology, the Cangjie and Erya, Indian Siddhaṃ, the diverse sectarian tenets, the four Vedas, the five sciences, secret mantras, ritual procedures, poetic compositions, and calligraphic hands; he thoroughly integrated all of them. In the eleventh year of the Dali reign era, he paid homage to Mañjuśrī at Wutai, went to Mount Emei to pay respects to Samantabhadra, and then returned to Wutai to dwell at Da Huayan Monastery, dedicating himself to the practice of the Vaipulya confession ritual. Lamenting that the old commentaries on the Avataṃsaka were verbose in words yet sparing in meaning, he pondered deeply for a long time: 'Moreover, Mañjuśrī governs wisdom and Samantabhadra governs principle; the two sages combine to form Vairocana, and through traversing all ten thousand practices, that is the meaning of the Great Avataṃsaka.' He thereupon composed a commentary in twenty fascicles. In the seventh year of the Zhenyuan reign era of Emperor Dezong, Li Ziliang, the Military Commissioner of Hedong, invited the master to lecture on the new commentary at Chongfu Monastery. Emperor Dezong heard of his fame and sent the palace commissioner Li Fuguang to proclaim an imperial decree summoning him to the capital to translate, together with Tripiṭaka Master Prajñā of Gandhāra, the latter section of the Avataṃsaka in forty fascicles presented by the kingdom of Uḍḍiyāna. In the fifth month of the following year, the palace commissioner Huo Xianming was dispatched to convey an imperial declaration urging him to enter. Emperor Dezong deeply respected him, inviting him to reside in the translation bureau to edit and revise. He also decreed that the master compose a commentary, which was completed in ten fascicles and presented to the throne. When Emperor Shunzong was in the Eastern Palace as Crown Prince, he once received the master's instructions and requested him to compose one fascicle on the definitive meaning, one fascicle on the essentials of mind, and the causal conditions of incurring guilt through eating meat. The master's outlines of commentaries and meanings yielded abundant writings; those among his disciples who transmitted the Dharma numbered around one hundred. See also the twelfth year of the Yuanhe reign era of Emperor Xianzong and the third year of the Kaicheng reign era of Emperor Wenzong (Zanning's Song gaoseng zhuan).