續高僧傳 15.21

15.21

釋靈睿。姓陳。本惟穎川。流寓蜀部。益昌之陳鄉人也。祖宗信於李氏。其母以二月八日道觀設齋。因乞有子。還家夢見在松林下坐有七寶鉢於樹顛飛來入口。便覺有娠。即不喜五辛諸味。及其誕已設或食者母子頭痛。於是遂斷。八歲二親將至道士所令誦步虛詞。便面孔血出遂不得誦。還家入田。遇見智勝法師。便曰。家門奉道。自欲奉佛隨師出家。即將往益州勝業寺為沙彌。一夏之中。大品暗通。開皇之始。高麗印公入蜀講三論。又為印之弟子。常業大乘。後隨入京流聽諸法。大業之末。又返蜀部住法聚寺。武德二年。安州暠公上蜀。在大建昌寺講開大乘。睿止法延三年。後還蜀本住。常弘此部經二年許。寺有異學。成實朋流嫌此空論。常破吾心將興害意。睿在房中北壁而止。初夜還床栖遑不定。身毛自竪。移往南床坐。至三更忽聞北壁外有物撞度達於臥處。就而看之。乃漆竹笴槊。長二丈許。向若在床身即穿度。既害不果。又以銀挺雇賊入房。睿坐案邊覓終不獲。但有一領甲在常坐處。睿知相害之為惡也。即移貫還綿州益昌之隆寂寺。身相黑短止。長五尺。言令所及通悟為先。常講大乘以為正業。貞觀元年。通州騫禪師作檀越盡形供給。三百聽眾。至七年八月二十五日夜。睿夢有衣冠者來迎騫往西方去。徒眾鉢中皆空無物。至三十日。寺鍾大小七口。銅磬十餘一時皆鳴。至三更據繩床加坐而終。睿自此後。周流講唱傳化不絕。至二十年八月二十一日四更大風忽起。高聲言曰。靈睿法師來年十月。往南海大國光明山西阿觀世音菩薩所受生也。至期十月三日。合寺長幼道俗。見幡華菩薩滿寺而下。晚講入房看疏讀經。外有僧告。幡花異香充寺及房。睿聞捉經出看斂容立終。堅持不倒。扶臥房中。三更忽起加坐如生刺史以下躬手付香供養其屍。道俗相送歸東度山。設大會八千人。時年八十三矣。然其潔清。童稚過中不飲。葷辛莫履。具盡報云。

Shi Lingrui, surnamed Chen, originally hailed from Yingchuan, but his family drifted and settled in the Shu region; he was a native of Chen Village in Yichang. His ancestors were devotees of the Li clan (Daoism). On the eighth day of the second month, his mother held a vegetarian feast at a Daoist abbey, praying for a son. After returning home, she dreamed that while sitting beneath a pine forest, a seven-jeweled alms bowl flew from the treetop into her mouth. She immediately felt herself to be pregnant. Thenceforth, she disliked the pungent roots and diverse seasonings. When he was born, if she happened to eat them, both mother and son would suffer headaches, so she gave them up entirely. At eight years of age, both parents brought him to a Daoist priest and had him chant the *Buxu ci* (Pacing the Void Stanzas); blood suddenly flowed from his face, so he could not chant them. Returning home, he went into the fields and encountered Dharma Master Zhisheng, saying: "My family reveres Daoism, but I wish to revere the Buddha and follow you, Master, to leave household life (pravrajyā)." Zhisheng immediately took him to Shengye Monastery in Yizhou to become a novice (śrāmaṇera). Within a single summer retreat, he secretly mastered the *Dapin* (Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā). At the beginning of the Kaihuang reign, Master Yin of Gaoli came to Shu to lecture on the *Three Treatises*, and Lingrui became Yin's disciple, continually cultivating the Mahāyāna as his pursuit. Later, he followed him into the capital, taking in and listening to various teachings. At the end of the Daye era, he returned to Shu and resided at Faju Monastery. In the second year of the Wude reign, Venerable Gao of Anzhou went up to Shu and expounded the Mahāyāna at Dajianchang Monastery. Lingrui stayed to hear the teachings for three years. Afterwards, he returned to his original dwelling in Shu, continually propagating this scripture for about two years. In the monastery, there were those of differing traditions: adherents of the *Tattvasiddhi* (Chengshi) resented this discourse on emptiness (śūnyatā), [saying:] "It constantly shatters our minds," and conceived murderous intent. Lingrui resided against the north wall in his room. In the early night, upon returning to his bed, he felt restless and uneasy, his body hair standing on end. He moved to sit on the south bed. At the third watch, he suddenly heard an object crash through from outside the north wall into his sleeping place. Going to inspect it, it was a lacquered bamboo lance about twenty feet long. Had he been in bed, his body would have been pierced through. Since their harm failed, they hired an assassin with silver ingots to enter the room. Lingrui was sitting beside a desk, but the assassin searched and could not find him at all; there was only a suit of armor where he usually sat. Lingrui knew the malice of their plotting, so he transferred his registration back to Longji Monastery in Yichang of Mianzhou. In appearance he was dark and short, standing only five feet tall. In whatever words he uttered, thorough awakening took precedence. He constantly lectured on the Mahāyāna as his primary vocation. In the first year of the Zhenguan reign, Dhyāna Master Qian of Tongzhou served as his dānapati, providing for him all his life, with an audience of three hundred listeners. On the night of the twenty-fifth day of the eighth month in the seventh year, Lingrui dreamed that persons in robes and caps came to welcome Qian to go to the Western Pure Land. The alms bowls of the community of disciples were all empty, containing nothing. On the thirtieth day, the monastery's seven bells, large and small, and more than ten bronze chiming stones all rang out at once. At the third watch, Qian rested on his rope bed, sat cross-legged, and passed away. From this time on, Lingrui traveled about lecturing, chanting, propagating, and transforming [others] without cease. On the twenty-first day of the eighth month in the twentieth year, at the fourth watch, a great wind suddenly arose, and a loud voice said: "Dharma Master Lingrui shall, in the tenth month of next year, go to Mount Potalaka (Guangming Shan) in the great southern ocean kingdom, to be reborn in the presence of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva." When that time arrived, on the third day of the tenth month, the entire monastery—young and old, monastics and laypeople—saw banners, flowers, and bodhisattvas descend, filling the monastery. In the evening after his lecture, he entered his room to read commentaries and recite scriptures. Outside, a monk announced: "Banners, flowers, and extraordinary fragrances fill the monastery and your room." Hearing this, Lingrui grasped his scripture, stepped out to look, composed his expression, and passed away standing upright. He stood firmly without falling. They supported him and laid him in his room. At the third watch, he suddenly sat up cross-legged as if alive. From the prefect on down, they personally presented incense to make offerings to his corpse. Monastics and laypeople escorted him back to Mount Dongdu, holding a great assembly of eight thousand people. He was eighty-three years old. Such was his purity: from childhood, past noon he would not drink, and pungent roots never passed his lips. He fulfilled his karmic recompense to the end.