釋氏稽古略 4.212

4.212

Chan Master Yuanzhao Zongben of Huilin in the Eastern Capital (popularly called Da Ben) was born into the Guan clan of Wuxi in Changzhou (Zhexi Circuit). At age nineteen, he renounced household life under Chan Master Daosheng of Chengtian Yong'an in Suzhou (Pingjiang). After serving him for ten years, he had his head shaved and received full ordination. Three years later, he bowed and took his leave, wandering on foot until he reached Chiyang. There he visited Chan Master Tianyi Huai and awakened to the essential intent. The Transport Commissioner Lord Li Fugui invited the master to open the Dharma at Ruiguang in Pingjiang, and his Dharma seat flourished day by day. Lord Chen Xiang, the administrator of Hangzhou, ordered the master to choose between the two monasteries Chengtian and Xingjiao for his residence. The people of Suzhou crowded the roads to block and detain him. He was then requested to take up Jingci; [Chen Xiang] issued an official dispatch to explain to the monks and laity: "We are borrowing the master for three years to plant blessings for this region, and dare not occupy him for long." By this time, in the fifth year of Yuanfeng, an imperial decree reopened Xiangguo Monastery's Huilin Chan cloister and summoned the master to be its first patriarch. After arriving and opening the Dharma, on the following day he was summoned for an audience at Yanhe Hall to inquire about the Way, and was granted a seat. The master immediately sat cross-legged. The Emperor was pleased and bestowed tea. The master raised the cup, took a long sip, swirled and shook it, and bowed to withdraw. The Emperor watched him leave with his eyes and said to his attendants, "Truly a monk of blessings and wisdom!" In the seventh year of Yuanfeng, the imperial carriage visited Huilin Monastery at Xiangguo, and a decree ordered Senior Monk Zongben and the Chan community not to trouble themselves to come out and welcome him. When the Emperor passed away, the master was summoned to preach the Dharma at Funing Hall and bestowed the title Chan Master Yuanzhao. He begged to retire to the forests in his old age; an imperial decree granted his wish, permitting him to travel like clouds through prefectures and commanderies without anyone coercing him into taking up an abbacy. He then took leave of the assembly, saying: "Originally a guest without a home, / How could I bear to wander as I please? / Catching the favorable wind, I add oars and sculls; / The boatman heads down to Yangzhou." In his late years he resided at Lingyan in Pingjiang. Those who inherited his Dharma and transmitted the Way were beyond reckoning. On the twenty-eighth day, jiazi, of the twelfth month of the second year of Yuanfu under Zhezong, as he was about to enter extinction, he bathed and lay down. The disciples gathered around and requested, "The Venerable's Way extends over the entire realm; today you cannot be without a verse." The master gazed intently at them and said, "You foolish children, normally I am still too lazy to compose verses; what special show should I make today? Normally when I want to lie down I lie down; I must not make a special point of sitting today." He then asked for a brush and wrote in large characters: "The subsequent affairs are entrusted to Shourong." Throwing down the brush, he lay peacefully as if sound asleep; when the assembly shook him, he had already departed. His disciples placed his whole body in a stupa on Mount Lingyan. He passed through eighty-five years of worldly age and sat fifty-two summer retreats. The master was a dharma heir of Chan Master Tianyi Huai. Those who inherited the master's Dharma and Way were Xiuyong, Shengcong, Chongxin, Shouyi, and others. In the next generation, Yong had Fu Bi, Duke of Zheng; Cong had Su Che, Gentleman of the Yellow Gate; and Xin had Chan Master Cishou Huaishen (Wudeng huiyuan beizhi).