隋天台智者大師別傳 1.2.1

1.2.1

大師諱智顗。 字德安。 俗姓陳氏。 頴川人也。 高宗茂績盛傳於譜史矣。 暨晉世遷都。 家隨南出寓居江漢。 因止荊州之華容縣。 父起祖學通經傳談吐絕倫。 而武策運籌偏多勇決。 梁湘東王蕭繹之荊州。 列為賓客。 奉教入朝領軍。 朱异見而歎曰。 若非經國之才。 孰為英王之所重乎。 孝元即位拜使持節散騎常侍益陽縣開國侯。 母徐氏溫良恭儉。 偏勤齋戒夢香煙五彩輕浮。 若霧縈迴在懷欲拂去之。 聞人語曰。 宿世因緣寄託王道。 福德自至何以去之。 又夢吞白鼠因覺體重。 至於載誕夜現神光揀宇。 煥然兼輝隣室。 隣里憶先靈瑞呼為王道。 兼用後相復名光道。 故小立二字。 眼有重瞳父母藏護不欲人知。 而人自知之矣。 至年七歲喜往伽藍。 諸僧口授普門品。 初啟一遍即得。 而父母遏絕不聽數往。 每存理所誦而惆悵未聞奄忽自然通餘文句。 後以經驗無所遺失。 鄉閭嗟異溫故知新其若此乎。 年十五值孝元之敗家國殄喪親屬。 流徙歎榮會之難久。 痛凋離之易及。 於長沙像前發弘大願。 誓作沙門荷負正法為己重任。 既精誠感通夢彼瑞像飛臨宅庭。 授金色手從窓隟入三遍摩頂。 由是深厭家獄思滅苦本。 但二親恩愛不時聽許。 雖惟將順而寢哺不安。 乃刻檀寫像披藏尋經。 曉夜禮誦念念相續。 當拜佛時舉身投地。 怳焉如夢見極高山。 臨於大海澄渟蓊欝更相顯映。 山頂有僧招手喚上。 須臾申臂至于山麓。 接引令登入一伽藍。 見所造像在彼殿內。 夢裏悲泣而陳所願。 學得三世佛法對千部論師。 說之無礙不唐世間四事恩惠。 申臂僧舉手指像。 而復語云。 汝當居此。 汝當終此。 既從寤已方見己。 身對佛而伏夢中之淚委地成流。 悲喜交懷精勤逾至。 後遭二親殄喪丁艱荼毒。 逮于服訖從兄求去。 兄曰。 天已喪我親汝重割我心。 既孤更離安可忍乎。 跪而對曰。 昔梁荊百萬一朝僕妾。 于時久役江。 湖之心不能復處。 碨磊之內欲報恩酧德。 當謀道為先唐聚何益。 銘肌刻骨意不可移。 時王琳據湘。 從琳求去。 琳以陳侯故舊。 又嘉此志節資給法具。 深助隨喜年十有八。 投湘州果願寺沙門法緒而出家焉。 緒授以十戒導以律儀。 仍攝以北度詣慧曠律師。 兼通方等故北面事焉。 後詣大賢山。 誦法華經無量義經普賢觀經。 歷涉二旬三部究竟。 進修方等懺心淨行勤勝相現前。 見道場廣博妙飾莊嚴。 而諸經像縱橫紛雜。 身在高座足躡繩床。 口誦法華手正經像。 是後心神融淨爽利。 常日逮受具足律藏。 精通先世萠動而常樂禪悅怏怏。 江東無足可問。 時有慧思禪師。 武津人也。 名高嵩嶺行深伊洛。 十年常誦七載方等九旬常坐一時圓證。 希有能有事彰別傳。 昔在周室預知佛法。 當禍故背北游南。 意期衡嶽以希棲遁權止光州大蘇山。 先師遙飡風德如飢渴矣。 其地乃是陳齊邊境兵刃所衝。 而能輕於生重於法。 忽夕死貴朝聞涉險而去。 初獲頂拜。 思曰。 昔日靈山同聽法華。 宿緣所追今復來矣即示普賢道場為說四安樂行。 於是昏曉苦到如教研心。 于時但勇於求法而貧於資供。 切栢為香栢盡則繼之以栗。 卷簾進月月沒則燎之以松。 息不虛黈言不妄出。 經二七日誦至藥王品諸佛同讚是真精進是名真法供養。 到此一句身心豁然寂而入定。 持因靜發照了法華。 若高輝之臨幽谷。 達諸法相似長風之游太虛。 將證白師。 師更開演。 大張教網法目圓備。 落景諮詳連環達旦。 自心所悟及從師受。 四夜進功功逾百年。 問一知十何能為喻。 觀慧無礙禪門不壅。 宿習開發煥若華敷矣。 思師歎曰。 非爾弗證非我莫識。 所入定者法華三昧前方便也。 所發持者初旋陀羅尼也。 縱令文字之師千群萬眾。 尋汝之辯不可窮矣。 於說法人中最為第一。

The Great Master's taboo name was Zhiyi; his style name was De'an; his lay surname was Chen; he was a native of Yingchuan. The glorious achievements of his distant ancestors are richly recounted in the genealogical histories. When the Jin dynasty moved its capital, his family moved south along with it and sojourned in the Jiang-Han region, consequently settling in Huarong County of Jingzhou. His father, Qizu, was learned, mastered the classics and traditions, and was matchless in speech and discourse; in military strategy and calculation he was especially bold and decisive. When Xiao Yi, Prince of Xiangdong of the Liang, went to Jingzhou, he included him as a guest. Obeying orders, he entered the court as an army supervisor. When Zhu Yi saw him, he sighed and said, "Were he not a talent capable of governing the realm, who would be so valued by an eminent prince?" When Xiaoyuan ascended the throne, he was appointed Commissioner with Exceptional Powers, Cavalier Regular Attendant, and Founding County Marquis of Yiyang. His mother, Lady Xu, was gentle, good, courteous, and thrifty. She was especially diligent in observing fasts and precepts. She dreamt of five-colored fragrant smoke floating gently, circling about her bosom like mist. Wishing to brush it away, she heard someone say, "A karmic connection from previous lives is entrusted to Wangdao. Blessings and virtue will arrive of themselves; why brush it away?" She also dreamt of swallowing a white mouse, whereupon she felt her body become heavy. When he was born, at night a divine light appeared, illuminating the house, brightly shining into the neighboring rooms as well. Remembering the auspicious omen of the past, the neighbors called him Wangdao; and combining it with the later portent, he was also named Guangdao. Thus these two words were chosen as his childhood name. His eyes had double pupils; his parents hid and protected him, not wishing people to know, yet people naturally came to know of it. When he was seven years old, he liked going to monasteries. The monks orally taught him the Samantamukha-parivarta; on hearing it once for the first time, he grasped it. But his parents restrained him and forbade him to go frequently. Constantly bearing in mind the recited text and grieved that he had not heard the rest, suddenly, naturally, he understood the remaining sentences. When checked against the text later, not a single word was missing. The local community marveled, saying: is this what is meant by "warming up the old to understand the new"? At age fifteen, he met with the fall of Emperor Xiaoyuan; his household and country were destroyed, and his relatives wandered as refugees. Lamenting that prosperity and union do not last long, and mourning how easily decay and separation arrive, before a statue in Changsha he made a great vow, swearing to become a śramaṇa and take upon himself the heavy duty of shouldering the True Dharma. Because his sincere devotion resonated, he dreamt that that auspicious statue flew down to the courtyard of his house, extended a golden hand that entered through a window opening, and stroked his head three times. Because of this, he deeply loathed the prison of household life and thought of extinguishing the root of suffering. But because of his parents' affection, they would not readily grant him permission. Although he did his best to comply with them, his sleeping and eating were troubled. He then carved sandalwood to fashion a statue, opened the canon to seek scriptures, and day and night bowed and recited, thought following upon thought in unbroken succession. When he bowed before the Buddha, he threw his whole body to the ground. In a daze, as if in a dream, he saw an extremely high mountain overlooking the great sea; pure, calm, and lush, they mutually set each other off. On the mountain peak was a monk beckoning to him with his hand, calling him up. In an instant, the monk stretched out his arm to the foot of the mountain, guided him to ascend, and brought him into a monastery. He saw the statue he had made inside that hall. In the dream, weeping, he declared his vow: "May I study and master the Buddhadharmas of the three periods, and before a thousand masters of treatise expound them without impediment, so as not to vainly receive the worldly kindness of the four requisites." The monk who had stretched out his arm pointed his finger at the statue and said: "You shall dwell here; you shall end your life here." After awakening, he found himself prostrating before the Buddha; his tears shed in the dream had gathered on the ground into a stream. Sorrow and joy alternating in his bosom, his vigor became all the more intense. Later, he met with the deaths of his two parents, suffering the bitter hardship of bereavement. When the mourning period ended, he sought leave from his elder brother. His brother said, "Heaven has already taken our parents; you are slicing my heart once again. Having already been orphaned, to be parted further—how can I bear it?" Kneeling, he replied, "Formerly, the million people of Liang's Jingzhou became slaves and concubines in a single morning. At that time, my mind had long toiled over the rivers and lakes, and I could no longer abide in the midst of worldly rubble. Wishing to repay kindness and requite virtue, one must take seeking the Way as primary. What benefit is there in vain assembly? This is carved into my flesh and etched into my bones; my mind cannot be moved." At that time, Wang Lin occupied Xiangzhou. He sought leave from Wang Lin. Because [Zhiyi's father] Marquis Chen was an old acquaintance, and moreover admiring this determination and integrity, Wang Lin supplied him with Dharma requisites and deeply rejoiced in his endeavor. At age eighteen, he went to the śramaṇa Faxu of Guoyuan Temple in Xiangzhou and left household life under him. Faxu conferred the ten precepts upon him and guided him in the monastic decorum. He then took him across to the north to go to Vinaya Master Huikuang; since Huikuang also mastered the Vaipulya teachings, [Zhiyi] faced north and served him. Later he went to Mount Daxian, where he recited the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, Amitārtha-sūtra, and Samantabhadra-dhyāna-sūtra. In the course of two decades of days, he mastered all three works. Advancing to cultivate the vaipulya confession, with a pure mind and diligent practice, an extraordinary sign appeared before him: he saw the bodhimaṇḍa broad and vast, wonderfully decorated and adorned, but the scriptures and statues were scattered and disordered. His body was on a high seat, his feet upon a rope bed; his mouth recited the Lotus Sūtra and his hands put the scriptures and statues in order. From then on, his mental spirit was harmonized, pure, and bright. When he subsequently received the complete Vinaya Piṭaka, having mastered it, his inclinations from former lives stirred within him, and he constantly took joy in the bliss of dhyāna; yet he was disappointed that in the region east of the Yangtze there was no one worthy of being questioned. At that time, there was Dhyāna Master Huisi, a native of Wujin. His reputation stood high on the peaks of Mount Song, and his practice was deep in the Yi and Luo river valleys. For ten years he constantly recited, for seven years practiced the vaipulya confession, for ninety days constantly sat, and in a single moment achieved perfect realization; his rare abilities and deeds are made clear in his separate biography. Formerly, in the realm of the Northern Zhou, foreseeing that the Buddhadharma would meet with disaster, he turned away from the north and traveled south, intending to go to Hengyue hoping to dwell in seclusion; temporarily he stayed at Mount Dasu in Guangzhou. The late master had long yearned for his virtuous reputation as if thirsty and hungry. That region was on the border between the Chen and Qi dynasties, where weapons clashed; yet he could make light of life and value the Dharma. Thinking little of dying in the evening if only he could hear [the truth] in the morning, he traversed danger to go there. When he first had the opportunity to bow at his feet, Huisi said, "Formerly on Gṛdhrakūṭa we listened to the Lotus Sūtra together; pursued by past karmic connections, you have come again today." He immediately showed him the bodhimaṇḍa of Samantabhadra and expounded the four peaceful practices for him. Thereupon, from dusk till dawn, he toiled earnestly, examining his mind according to the instructions. At that time, he was only bold in seeking the Dharma and impoverished in material offerings. He chopped cypress for incense; when the cypress was exhausted, he followed it with chestnut. He rolled up the blind to let in the moonlight; when the moon set, he burned pine to provide light. Not a single breath was drawn in vain; not a single word was spoken rashly. After two times seven days had passed, when reciting up to the Bhaiṣajyarāja-parivarta where the buddhas praise in unison, "This is true vigor; this is called the true offering of the Dharma"—upon reaching this sentence, his body and mind opened up and peacefully entered samādhi. The dhāraṇī arose from tranquility; he illuminated and understood the Lotus Sūtra as bright sunlight overlooks a dark valley, and penetrated the true reality of all dharmas like a great wind roaming through empty space. About to obtain confirmation, he reported this to his teacher. His teacher further expounded and developed it; widely spreading the net of teachings, the dharma-items were completely provided. Inquiring into details as the sun went down, they continued link by link until dawn. What his own mind had realized and what he received from his teacher advanced his cultivation in four nights more than a hundred years of effort. To say that he "understood ten upon hearing one" would fail to serve as an adequate metaphor. His contemplative wisdom was unobstructed, the gate of dhyāna unblocked; his past practice blossomed forth, radiant like flowers in bloom. Master Huisi praised him, saying, "Were it not for you, none would have realized it; were it not for me, none could recognize it. The samādhi you have entered is the preliminary expedient for the Lotus Samādhi. The dhāraṇī that arose is the initial āvarte-dhāraṇī. Even if masters of letters were to gather in thousands and tens of thousands, their attempts to exhaust your eloquence would never come to an end. Among those who expound the Dharma, you are foremost."