釋氏稽古略 4.285

4.285

Baiyun Hermitage was a hermitage on the mountain behind the abbot's quarters of Lingyin Monastery in Hangzhou. By this time, in the third year of Xuanhe, there was a bhikṣu named Qingjue, who styled himself Benran. On the twenty-second day of the tenth month in the third year of Qingli under Emperor Renzong, he was born into the Kong clan of Dengfeng County in Luojing, being a fifty-second-generation descendant of Xuan Ni (Confucius). His great-grandfather Gaoqing served the Liang and passed through the Tang; during the Tongguang era, he held the military governorship of Xiangzhou, Zelu, and Heyang, with his official post reaching Grand Preceptor to the Crown Prince. His father Xin was a jinshi of retired virtue, and his mother was of the Cui clan. Jue was intelligent from childhood and studied Confucian learning, repeatedly presenting himself for the local examinations. In the second year of Xining under Emperor Shenzong, he had an awakening while reading the Lotus Sūtra and sought to leave home; his parents permitted it. He tonsured and dyed his robes under Great Master Haihui of Baoying Monastery on Mount Longmen in Ruzhou, who enjoined him to seek instructions in the south. First, he visited Venerable Qian Sui on Mount Emei in Jiazhou; next, he arrived at Fushan in Shuzhou, Huaixi (now Anqing Circuit), and built a hermitage at Prefect Rock, sitting in quiet contemplation for twenty years. In the seventh year of Yuanyou under Emperor Zhezong, he traveled to Zhejiang. The following year, he arrived at Lingyin Monastery in Hangzhou and resided there following the assembly. The two practitioners Wang and Luo sought the essentials of mind from the Master, and fellow students arrived daily. Chan Master Lingyin Yuanming Tong had Jue reside in the hermitage on Mount Baiyun behind the monastery. As his mysterious teaching unfolded, he established his own school, taking the name of the hermitage where he resided as its title, calling it the Baiyun School. He moved to Mount Longmen in Yuhang; the hermitage was called Fudi, where he preached the three refuges and five precepts for dragon spirits. By this time, in the third year of Chongning, he went to reside at Ziyun Hermitage behind Kaihua Monastery at Liuhe Pagoda in Qiantang. Monks and laity invited him to lecture on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra at Zhengji Monastery. At that time, it coincided with the persecution of the teaching. Jue authored the Zhengzong lun (Treatise on Verifying the School), the Sanjiao bian (Compendium of the Three Teachings), and the Shidi ge (Songs on the Ten Grounds). In the first year of Daguan, he erected a hermitage at Qianjin Market in Gui'an, Huzhou, naming it Shidi (Ten Grounds). Next, he arrived at Jingshan in Wucheng, where he planted his staff and struck a spring, building a hermitage to dwell in, naming it Chuchen (Leaving the Dust). The disciples again invited him to return to Zhengji Monastery. Those jealous of him reported to the authorities that the Zhengzong lun conflicted with court policies. In the sixth year of Zhenghe, he was placed under residential surveillance in Sizhou, Guangnan. In the second year of Xuanhe, ten disciples including Zhengbu went to the capital to submit a petition, and they were favored with an imperial decree releasing him to go wherever convenient. Reaching this xinchou year, on the twentieth day of the seventh month, he expressed his gratitude for the imperial favor. On the third day of the eighth month, he composed a verse and presented it to Prefect Lord You, designating the twenty-sixth day of the ninth month as their farewell. When the time arrived, he passed away. His worldly age was seventy-nine years, and his monastic age was fifty-two summers. His disciple Huineng received his testamentary instructions and reverently brought his spiritual bones and relics to be buried at Nanshan in Yuhang, Hangzhou, which corresponded to the second month of the fifth year of Xuanhe. The stupa was called Baiyun, and the cloister was called Pu'an; later, disciples changed it to Puning. As for Mount Zeng and Songlin Shanzhu in Chongde, these were all places where he practiced the Way. Deqing, Longshan, Chaoshan, Fangshan, Mount Qianyuan, Gui'an, and Yanshan were all places where portions of his relics were entombed. His school consequently arose in western Zhejiang.