續高僧傳 10.36

10.36

釋慧暢。姓許氏。萊州人也。偏學雜心志存名實。拘滯疆界局約文義。初不信大乘。以言無宗當事同虛誕也。後聞遠公播迹洛陽。學聲遐討。門人山峙時號通明。暢乃疑焉。試往尋造觀其神略。乃見談述高邃冐罔天地。返顧小道狀等遊塵。便折挫形神伏聽三載。達解涅槃慨其晚悟。又至京邑仍住淨影。陶思前經師任成業。仁壽置塔。勅送舍利於牟州拒神山寺。帝為山出黃銀。別勅以塔鎮之。用酬恩惠。山在州東五里。昔始皇取石為橋。此山拒而不去。因遂名焉。山南四里有黃銀穴。塔基之處名溫公埠。傳云。昔高齊初。有沙門僧溫。行年七十。道行難測遊化為任。曾受梁高供養一十二年。後辭北還行住此埠。創立寺宇因山為號。而虎狼鳥狩遶寺鳴吼。似若怖溫。溫出戶語曰。汝是畜生十惡所感。吾是人道十善所招。罪福天懸何勞于我。汝宜速去。既聞斯及。於是鳥狩永絕此山。而溫身長七尺威儀怯人。眉長尺餘垂蔽其面。欲有所覩以手褰之。故至于今雖有寺號。而俗猶呼為溫公埠焉。暢安處事了還返京寺。綜習前業終世不出。言問慶弔亦所不行。預知其亡。清浴其體端坐待卒。至期奄逝。春秋七十有餘矣。

Śramaṇa Huichang, surnamed Xu, was a native of Laizhou. Specializing in the Za xin lun, his mind was set upon name and reality; he clung obstinately to categorical boundaries and was confined to the literal phrasing of texts. At first, he did not believe in the Mahāyāna, considering its words to lack an authoritative principle and its treatment of events to be equivalent to empty fabrications. Later, he heard that Master Huiyuan was spreading his traces in Luoyang, his reputation for learning reaching far and wide, and his disciples standing tall like mountains, being known at the time as thoroughly enlightened. Huichang was skeptical and went to visit him to observe his spiritual strategy. There he saw that Huiyuan's exposition was lofty and profound, encompassing Heaven and Earth, while looking back upon the Lesser Vehicle seemed like floating dust. Thereupon, subduing his body and spirit, he bowed down and listened for three years, comprehending the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and lamenting his late awakening. He then arrived at the capital and continued to reside at Jingying Monastery, deeply contemplating the earlier scriptural masters to fulfill his undertaking.

When pagodas were established in the Renshou era, an imperial decree ordered him to escort relics to Jūshenshan Monastery in Mouzhou. Because the mountain produced yellow silver, the Emperor specifically decreed that a pagoda be used to guard it as a recompense for its favors. The mountain is five li east of the prefecture. Formerly, when the First Emperor of Qin took stone to build a bridge, this mountain resisted and would not move; hence it was named accordingly. Four li south of the mountain is a yellow-silver mine; the site of the pagoda base was called the Wharfs of Master Wen. The tradition says: formerly, at the beginning of the Northern Qi, there was a śramaṇa named Sengwen. At seventy years of age, his spiritual conduct was unfathomable, and he took wandering transformation as his duty. He had once received offerings from Emperor Wu of the Liang for twelve years. Later, he took his leave to return north, and while traveling halted at this wharf. Founding a monastery, he named it after the mountain. Tigers, wolves, and game birds circled the monastery roaring and crying, seemingly intending to frighten Wen. Wen emerged from his door and said to them: 'You are beasts, brought forth by the ten unwholesome deeds. I am in the human realm, brought forth by the ten wholesome deeds. Between sin and merit lies the distance between Heaven and earth; why trouble yourselves about me? You should leave at once.' Having heard these words, the birds and beasts forever ceased from this mountain. Wen was seven feet tall, with a dignified deportment that daunted people; his eyebrows were more than a foot long, hanging down to cover his face, so that when he wished to look at something he had to lift them with his hands. Therefore, down to the present day, although there is a monastery title, the populace still refers to it as the Wharfs of Master Wen. When Huichang had concluded the installation, he returned to the capital monastery. Synthesizing and practicing his former studies, he did not step outside for the rest of his life, nor did he engage in greeting, inquiring, congratulations, or condolences. Foreknowing his demise, he bathed his body cleanly and sat upright awaiting death. When the time arrived, he suddenly passed away. His age was more than seventy years.