高僧傳 8.44

8.44

Ji's teacher Huiyi was already a revered master of virtue and ruled the Dao in the Jing region. Literati and commoners took refuge in him, and material support gathered abundantly; because Ji possessed admirable virtues worthy of praise, [Huiyi] brought him along to share living arrangements. When Yi died, his estate and assorted goods approached a full million. By the Dharma, Ji was entitled to receive half of it, but he gave it all away to generate merit, taking only coarse, old robes and bowls. Holding these, he returned east and went back to stay at Xianming Temple in Qiantang. Shortly thereafter, he advanced to Kuaiji and stayed at Fahua Temple in Shanyin. Those who favored learning followed his tracks to inquire about the Dao. Thereupon, he traveled throughout the Three Wu regions, lecturing on and expounding the sūtras and teachings, and more than a thousand disciples came. Emperor Taizong of the Song sent an envoy to invite him, but he pleaded illness and did not go. During the Yuanhui era, he was summoned again. Having just set out and crossed the Zhe River, his illness flared up again and he returned; he then established the Baolin Hermitage at Mount Gui in the city of Kuai[ji]. He piled bricks and stones with his own hands, directing the work in person, bridging the precipices and spanning the heights, crafting it to harmonize with the shape of the mountain. Initially, a three-tiered structure was erected, but the craftsmen were somewhat unskilled, and it was later destroyed by lightning. He repaired and embellished it further, ultimately exhausting all beauty and splendor. Ji once dreamt that he saw Samantabhadra, and accordingly asked him to be his preceptor (upādhyāya). After the temple was completed, he made an image of Samantabhadra along with a six-tusked white elephant, and held a three-week repentance fast at Baolin. Literati and commoners gathered like scales on a fish, offering gifts one after another. Later, when Zhou Yong governed Shan, he invited Ji to lecture and expound. Yong had long possessed scholarly training and was particularly deep in Buddhist principles; upon meeting Ji and examining doctrines with him, he found fresh and extraordinary insights daily. Liu Huan and Zhang Rong both treated him with the etiquette due to a teacher and honored his doctrinal instructions. Crown Prince Wenxuan, the Minister over the Masses, admiring his style and revering his virtue, sent a letter with earnest sentiments to inquire about the central tenets of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka. Ji then composed the Commentary on the Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra (Fahua yishu) in three fascicles, as well as the Thirty-Three Clauses of the Preface to the Doctrinal Instruction of the Gate (Menxun yixu), along with a brief explanation of the intent behind expedient means, reconciling the two discourses on emptiness and existence; he also annotated the Bequeathed Teachings (Yijiao), all of which circulate in the world.