釋鑑稽古略續集 1.206

1.206

湛堂法師　諱性澄。字湛堂。號越溪。會稽孫氏子。母姜氏夢日輪而生。從石門祩律師祝髮受具。深通止持作犯之義。依佛鑒銛公習天台教觀。謁雲夢澤公深加器重。奏復天台國清講額。遊高麗求天台遺書。吳越大旱。師率眾說法。禱雨格應歲饑民死無以斂。乃掩其遺骸作水陸大會普度之。至治間馳召入京。問道於明仁殿。被旨居青塔寺。校正大藏特賜金斕衣。賜號佛海大師。後歸天竺之雲外齋。還越之佛果篤志淨土。修一心三觀者七晝夜。屢感瑞應。一日師揖眾曰。今日則有。明日恐無。光陰其可把玩乎。次日黎明端坐而逝。壽七十八。臘六十四。留龕七日顏貌如生。所著有金剛集註心經科注消災經註彌陀經句解仁王經如意輪呪經科等。並行於世（僧傳）。

Dharma Master Zhantang: His taboo name was Xingcheng, his style name was Zhantang, and his appellation was Yuexi. He was a son of the Sun family of Kuaiji. His mother, Lady Jiang, dreamt of the solar disc and gave birth to him. Following Vinaya Master Zhu of Shimen, he cut his hair and received the full precepts, becoming deeply versed in the meaning of upholding through cessation and transgression through action. Relying on Reverend Xian of Fojian, he practiced Tiantai doctrines and contemplations. He called upon Reverend Ze of Yunmeng, who held him in high esteem. He petitioned for the restoration of the lecturing quota at Guoqing on Mount Tiantai. He traveled to Goryeo in search of lost Tiantai writings. When a great drought struck Wu and Yue, the Master led the assembly to preach the Dharma, and his prayers for rain met with an efficacious response. In a year of famine, when dead commoners had nothing in which to be enshrouded, he gathered their remains and conducted a Great Water and Land Assembly to universally deliver them. During the Zhizhi era, he was summoned post-haste to enter the capital and inquired of the Way in the Mingren Hall. Ordered by imperial decree to dwell at Qingta Monastery, he collated and corrected the Great Canon, and was specially bestowed a gold-striped robe and the title 'Great Master Buddha Ocean.' Later, he returned to the Yunwai Hermitage at Tianzhu, and returned to Foguo in Yue to concentrate his mind on the Pure Land. He cultivated the threefold contemplation in a single mind for seven days and nights, repeatedly experiencing auspicious omens. One day the Master bowed to the assembly and said: 'Today I am still here; tomorrow I fear I shall not be. Can time be played with?' At dawn the next day, he sat upright and passed away. His age was seventy-eight, his monastic age sixty-four. His casket was retained for seven days, during which his complexion looked as if he were still alive. Among the works he wrote are Jingang jizhu, Xinjing kezhu, Xiaozai jing zhu, Mituo jing jujie, and Renwang jing ruyilun zhou jing ke, all circulating in the world (Biographies of Monks).