續高僧傳 14.23

14.23

釋慧頵。姓李氏。江夏人。本寔隴西。世戴蟬冕。遙派合於天潢。遠條連於若木。十一世祖西晉都亭侯。重避難徂南亭于夏汭因遂家焉。十歲出家。師事舅氏光嚴寺明智法師。智即建初之入室。蒙命說以開筵。乃竭志依承。義門斯啟。于斯時也。南國令主雅重仁王。每歲肆筵高選名德。年纔弱冠預擬斯倫。高第既臨聲唱逾遠。天子目覩天人仰贊。光寵國恩恭先是立。及天厭陳德隋運克昌。金陵講席掃土俱盡。乃杖策遊吳。大乘頓轡爰整其旅。廣開學市。遠招八埏之士。以扇一極之風。蘇州刺史劉權。果達三德才著九能。又於簡易時務依影法筵悅飲河之滿腹。欣負山而無倦。自有陳淪沒物我分崩。或漏網以東歸。或入籠而北上。谷風以恩相棄。伐木以德相高。積佇朋從咸來謁敬。大業之始曲降皇華。竟以疾辭逸情山水。吳之高人為之胥附。咸請處於通玄依瑞象而弘演。有隋昏逸作梗妖氛。乃避地毘陵沈默宴處。而顯靈瑞相二寺僧徒翹請弘法。寺有沙門智[(丰*力)/石]智猛。風猷警邁不乏精神。既遇通人傾心北面。勤則不匱敏而有功。並繼敷揚俱馳東箭于時刑新輕典世涉屯蒙。長淮已南猶稱吳國。杜威專制端委君臨。崇尚佛理。欽茲歸戒。大唐高祖掃舊布新。起師臨洛徵威謁帝。俛首應詔不悅于躬。頵為說宿因。釋威憂憤。達頂生之非固。曉吳[渰-合+皛]之失圖。威乃接足烏咽由斯而別。有餘杭沙門道願法濟等。先稟成論義同門戶。不遠千里請道金陵。乃欝相然諾。既而敷暢至理藥木滋繁。爰逮施奉並無輕費。於遠行龍泉二寺。造金銅彌勒像各一軀。坐高一丈五尺。用結來生之緣也。貞觀元年通玄上德惠儀法師。道心精粹量包山海。修己安人非幾不踐。東晉之日吳有白尼。至誠感神無遠弗屆。天竺石像雙濟滄波。照燭神光融曜滬瀆。白尼迎接因止通玄。自晉距陳多顯靈瑞。隋末軍飈玉石俱盡。二像尊儀蒙犯霜露。儀師獨苦心行切情昏曉。以佛無殿僧何得安。乃跋涉山谷升景[揙-戶+(今-一)]材。不逾一年浮汎千丈。履深冒險還到大吳。廣開月殿指畫斯立。頵以風雨相感。席卷而還。無替兩時功兼二事。有吳縣令陳士綽者。排繁從義傾仰法音。請講法華涅槃。文軸纔竟疲役增勞。即以麈尾付囑學士智奘曰。強學待問無憚惠風。師逸功倍不慚屢照。誓言既止怡然冥目。以貞觀四年十月終于通玄。春秋六十有七。其年十一月墳于白虎之南嶺。學士弟子等千餘人哀泗傷心。恐芳儀之有絕。乃樹高碑。江王學士諸麟為文。貞觀五年弟子法韶等。孝情殷至攀號靡及。謹於墳前建塼塔五層。禪師慧儀鄉拜勝德。香火情軫兼事經綸。故使瞰逈憑高當衢向術。生平子弟。仰瓊級而霑襟。宿昔德朋。望玉輪而屑涕。常州沙門法宣曰。余與上人情均道勰。君終我疾。枕淚眠號素車不馳。玄壤長隔欲伸悲緒。聊書短銘。方墳在列。靈塔斯布。爰屬勝人允茲崇樹。於惟法主人勝德全。愛河早越心燈幼傳。巖嶽一簣哮吼三年。青蒲應舉紫極聞天。名邦佇化利物攸往。衢罇日斟懸鏡常朗。義海傍溢談峯直上。誰謂明珠忽潛幽壤。神丘掩穴素塔標墳。瓊龕宿霧玉掌排雲。㵎松送響巖桂呈芬。山飛海運遷貿相踵。火入秦陵書開汲冢。惟茲道力巍巍長竦。

Śramaṇa Huiyun, surnamed Li, was a native of Jiangxia. His ancestral lineage originated in Longxi, an unbroken succession of high officials; its distant branches joined the imperial waters, and its far-reaching boughs reached the Ruomu tree. His ancestor of the eleventh generation was the Marquis of Duting under the Western Jin; fleeing disaster, he moved south and lodged at the rivermouth of the Xia, subsequently settling there. At the age of ten, Huiyun went forth from household life, serving his maternal uncle, the Dharma Master Mingzhi of Guangyan Monastery, as his teacher. Mingzhi was an inner-chamber disciple of Jianchu; upon receiving instructions, he expounded the Dharma and inaugurated lecture seats. Huiyun dedicated his whole will to following him, and the gates of doctrinal meaning were opened. At that time, the worthy ruler of the southern realm deeply respected the Benevolent King (*Kāruṇikarāja-sūtra*); every year he set out banquets to select illustrious and virtuous monks, and when Huiyun had barely reached twenty years of age, he was chosen for this rank. As he assumed the highest place on the dais, his renown spread even farther; the emperor witnessed it with his own eyes, and celestials and humans looked up to praise him. The radiant favor of imperial grace was established before this. When Heaven grew weary of the virtue of the Chen and the destiny of the Sui prospered, the lecture seats of Jinling were swept away like dust. He thereupon leaned upon his staff to travel through Wu. Halting the chariot of the Mahāyāna, he marshaled its troops, widely opening an emporium of learning to attract scholars from the eight quarters and spread the winds of the ultimate vehicle. Liu Quan, Prefect of Suzhou, was thoroughly versed in the three virtues and talented in the nine skills; during the lulls in his administrative affairs, he sought shade at the Dharma mat, joyful as one whose belly was filled from drinking of the river, and delighted to bear the burden of the mountain without weariness. From the fall of the Chen onward, people and circumstances disintegrated; some slipped through the net to return east, while others entered the cage to go north. As the 'Valley Wind' laments abandonment of affection, and 'Felling Trees' sings of mutual esteem in virtue, long-waiting companions and followers all came to pay homage. In the beginning of the Daye era, an imperial emissary was specially sent down to summon him; he ultimately declined on account of illness, leaving his mind to wander in the mountains and waters. The eminent scholars of Wu rallied to him, all requesting that he reside at Tongxuan Monastery to propagate the teachings beside the auspicious statue. During the Sui's chaotic and dissolute final years, when disaster and ominous miasma arose, he fled to Piling, dwelling in quiet seclusion. However, the monks of the two monasteries, Xiansheng and Ruixiang, earnestly invited him to propagate the Dharma. In the monastery were the śramaṇas Zhi… and Zhimeng, whose noble demeanor and swift intellect were by no means lacking in spiritual vitality. Having encountered this master of profound comprehension, they turned their hearts to become his disciples; their diligence was unflagging, and their quickness bore fruit. Successively spreading the teachings, they matched each other in speed like eastern arrows. At that time, a new dynasty applied lenient statutes, yet the era was still fraught with difficulty and chaos. South of the Huai River was still called the state of Wu; Du Wei ruled autocratically, holding court as a sovereign. He revered the Buddhist teachings and honored the precepts of refuge. When Emperor Gaozu of the Great Tang swept away the old and established the new, he raised armies against Luoyang and summoned Du Wei to an imperial audience. Bowing his head to obey the summons, Du Wei was deeply grieved in his person. Huiyun expounded past causes for him to relieve Du Wei's sorrow and indignation, making him understand that even Māndhātṛ's reign was not enduring and realize that Wu Han's schemes had gone astray. Du Wei touched his feet, choked with sobs, and departed from him. There were the śramaṇas Daoyuan, Fajin, and others of Yuhang, who had previously studied the *Satyasiddhiśāstra* and shared the same doctrinal lineage; traveling from a thousand leagues away, they invited him to the roads of Jinling, to which he readily gave his assent. Thereupon, he expounded the supreme truth, causing the medicinal trees of the Dharma to flourish luxuriantly. What was donated and offered to him was never squandered; at the two monasteries of Yuanxing and Longquan, he fashioned a gilded bronze statue of Maitreya for each, fifteen feet in seated height, in order to forge karmic ties for future lives. In the first year of the Zhenguan era, the venerable superior Huiyi of Tongxuan Monastery was exquisite in his mind for the Way, his capacity embracing mountains and seas, cultivating himself to bring peace to others and never stepping into indiscretion. In the days of the Eastern Jin, there was a Nun Bai in Wu; her perfect sincerity moved the spirits, reaching however far. Two stone statues from Tianzhu crossed the vast waves together, radiating spiritual light that illuminated the Shanghai waters (Hudu). Nun Bai welcomed them, and they were subsequently enshrined at Tongxuan Monastery. From the Jin through the Chen, many miraculous omens were revealed. During the military storms at the end of the Sui, jade and stone were consumed together, and the sacred images of the two statues were exposed to frost and dew. Master Huiyi alone bore the bitterness in his heart, his devotion sharp from morning to dusk: 'If the Buddha has no hall, how can the monks have peace?' He thereupon traversed mountains and valleys, climbing to heights to fell lumber. In less than a year, floating rafts spanning thousands of feet, he trod the deep and braved dangers to return to Great Wu. He broadly opened the moon-palace halls, and with his layout they were promptly erected. Huiyun, stirred by the winds and rains of circumstance, packed his mats and returned; neither season was neglected, and the achievements of both works were combined. There was the magistrate of Wu County, Chen Shichuo, who put aside worldly entanglements to follow the truth, admiring the sound of the Dharma and requesting lectures on the *Lotus Sūtra* and the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra*. As the scrolls of the text were barely completed, his exhaustion from labor worsened; he immediately handed his chowry (duster) to the scholar Zhizhuang, saying: 'Study diligently and await inquiries, without fear of the benevolent breeze. When the teacher is at ease, the pupil achieves twice the result, without being ashamed of repeated illumination.' With his vow concluded, he peacefully closed his eyes in death. In the tenth month of the fourth year of the Zhenguan era, he passed away at Tongxuan Monastery at the age of sixty-seven. In the eleventh month of that year, he was buried on the south ridge of Mount Baihu. Over a thousand scholars and disciples, sorrowful and heartbroken, fearing that his fragrant exemplar might disappear, erected a tall stele, with an inscription composed by Zhu Lin, Scholar of the Prince of Jiang. In the fifth year of the Zhenguan era, his disciple Fashao and others, their filial grief reaching the utmost, weeping without solace, reverently erected a five-tiered brick stupa before the tomb. The dhyāna master Huiyi, sharing the local reverence for superior virtue and deeply moved by their fellowship of incense and fire, took part in the construction. Thus, it was made to overlook the distant vistas and rely on the heights, directly facing the thoroughfares. Disciples throughout his life look up to the jasper steps with soaked lapels; old friends in virtue gaze at the jeweled wheel-finial, shedding tears. Śramaṇa Faxuan of Changzhou said: 'The Master and I were matched in sentiment and concordant in the Way. When you passed away, I was struck with illness; sleeping on tears and wailing in sorrow, my white mourning carriage could not gallop forward. Forever separated by the dark earth, longing to pour out my sorrowful thoughts, I have briefly inscribed a short epitaph: Square tombs stand in rows; spiritual stupas are spread out. Here belonging to an eminent man, this noble monument is appropriately raised. Oh, Master of the Dharma, surpassing in person and complete in virtue! Early crossing the river of love, the lamp of the mind was transmitted in your youth. Like a single basketful of earth toward a towering peak, roaring like a lion for three years. Stepping onto the rush mat to answer the summons, your fame reached the purple palace in the heavens. Renowned commanderies awaited your transformation, and wherever you went, beings were benefited. The thoroughfare's wine was ladled daily; the suspended mirror was ever bright. The ocean of doctrine overflowed on all sides, the peaks of discourse rose straight up. Who would have thought the bright pearl would suddenly sink into the dark earth? The sacred mound covers the grave, the plain stupa marks the tomb. In jasper niches lingers the mist; jade palms part the clouds. Valley pines send forth echoes, cliff laurels offer fragrance. Mountains fly and oceans surge; vicissitudes succeed one another. Fire enters the tomb of Qin; scrolls open in the tomb of Jizhong. Only this power of the Way stands towering, ever lofty!'