續高僧傳 17.17

17.17

釋曇崇。姓孟氏。咸陽人。生知正見幼解信奉。七歲入道。博誦法言。勤注無絕。後循聽講肆雄辯無前。乃以慧燈欲全本資攝念。聖果將克必固定想。因從開禪師而從依止。逮乎受戒志逾清厲。遂學僧祇十有餘遍。依而講解。聽徒三百。京輔律要此而為宗。後弊於言說更崇前觀。額上鼻端是所存想。山間樹下為其居處。既而光明內發。色相外除。形木若枯心灰猶死。偏精六行冠達五門。開公處眾稱為第一。遂得同學齊敬。又號為無上士也。及師亡遺囑令攝後徒。于時五眾二百餘人依崇習靜。聲馳隴塞化滿關河。尋路追風千里相屬。填門盈室坐誨門人。或初修不淨。或終學人空。念彼慈悲弘斯正則。周武皇帝特所欽承。乃下勅云。崇禪師德行無玷精悟獨絕。所預學徒未聞有犯。當是尊以德義。故則眾絕形清。可為周國三藏年任陟岵寺主。即從而教導。僧尼有序響名稱焉。每為僧職滯蹤。未許遊涉乃假以他緣遂蒙放免。末遺法淪蕩便從流俗。外順王威內持道素。又授金紫光祿等銜。並不依就。雖沈厄運無癈利人。大象之初皇隋肇命。法炬還炤。即預百二十僧。勅住興善。尋復別勅令宰寺任。重勤辭遜又不受之。而道冠僧群。王公戒範。昔以佛法頹毀。私願早隆。謹造一寺用光末法。因以奏上。帝乃立九寺以副崇願。皆國家供給終于文世。高唐公素稟行門偏所歸信。遂割宅為寺引眾居之。勅以虛靜所歸禪徒有譽。賜額可為清禪。今之清明門內寺是也。隋氏晉王欽敬禪林。降威為寺檀越。前後送戶七十有餘。水磑及碾。上下六具永充基業。傳利于今。天子昔所承名。今親正業。開皇之初勅送絹一萬四千疋布五千端綿一千屯綾二百疋錦二十張五色上米前後千石。皇后又下令送錢五十貫氈五十領剃刀五十具。崇福感於今願。流於後望。建浮圖一區。用酬國俸。帝聞大悅。內送舍利六粒。以同弘業。于時釋教初開。圖象全闕。崇興此塔深會帝心。勅為追匠杜崇。令其繕績。料錢三千餘貫計。塼八十萬。帝以功業引費。恐有匱竭。又送身所著衣及皇后所服者總一千三百對。以助隨喜。開皇十一年。晉王鎮總楊越。為造露盤并諸莊飾。十四年內方始成就。舉高一十一級。竦耀太虛。京邑稱最。爾後䞋遺相接。眾具繁委。王又造佛堂僧院。并送五行調度。種植樹林等事。並委僧眾。監檢助成。崇既令重當朝。往還無壅。宮閤之禁門籍未安。須有所論執錫便進。時處大內為述淨業。文帝禮接自稱師兒。獻后延德又稱師女。及在于本寺則勅令載馳。問以起居。無晨不至。自所獲外利盡施伽藍。緣身資蓄衣鉢而已。開皇十四年十月三十日。遷化寺房。春秋八十矣。皇情哀慘下勅葬焉。所須喪事有司供給。皁白弟子五千餘人。送于終南至相寺之右。為建白塔。勒銘存今。初崇未終七日。寺內幡竿無故自折。門外汲井忽爾便枯。眾怪其由也。及至晦夜。崇遺告曰。吾有去處今須付囑。即以衣資施於三寶。及至後夜覺有異相。就而觀之方知氣絕。無疾而逝。形色如生。因以奏聞。莫不懷慟。

Shi Tanchong was surnamed Meng and was a native of Xianyang. Born with right view, he understood and held faith from his youth. At the age of seven he entered the Way, extensively reciting words of Dharma with diligent attentiveness without cessation. Later he went around listening to lectures, displaying unprecedented eloquence. Thereupon, wishing through the lamp of wisdom to fully preserve his fundamental resources and gather his thoughts, knowing that if the holy fruition is to be attained one must stabilize meditative contemplation, he went to Dhyāna Master Kai and took refuge with him. When it came time for him to receive the full precepts, his aspiration became even purer and more austere. He then studied the *Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya* more than ten times, and based on it he gave lectures, with three hundred student followers. The vinaya essentials in the capital region took this as their foundation. Later, weary of verbal explanation, he further elevated his former contemplation; the forehead and the tip of the nose were where he fixed his meditative thoughts, and between mountains and under trees became his dwellings. Soon, inner radiance arose, outer physical marks were eliminated, his body became like withered wood, and his mind was like dead ashes. He was particularly proficient in the six practices and preeminent in the five gateways. Master Kai, in addressing the assembly, praised him as foremost. Consequently, his fellow students revered him equally, and also called him the Unsurpassed Man. When his master died, his bequeathed instructions ordered him to gather the subsequent disciples. At that time, more than two hundred members of the fivefold assembly relied on Chong to practice tranquility. His fame galloped across the frontier passes, and his transformative influence filled the passes and rivers. Following the paths and chasing his renown, people succeeded one another for a thousand li, filling the gates and overcrowding the chambers, while he sat and instructed his disciples. Some initially cultivated impurity, while others ultimately studied the emptiness of the person. Mindful of their compassion, he broadened these correct standards. Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou held him in special veneration, and issued an edict saying: 'Dhyāna Master Chong’s virtuous conduct is flawless, and his refined awakening is uniquely outstanding. Among the students who participate with him, we have not heard of any infractions. This must be because he honors virtue and righteousness; hence his assembly is secluded and their form pure. He may serve as Tripiṭaka Master of the Zhou State, and concurrently as Abbot of Zhihu Monastery.' He then guided and taught them accordingly; the monks and nuns were well-ordered, and his renown and praise spread widely. Because he was constantly held back in his movements by monastic administrative duties and was not allowed to wander freely, he used another pretext and was finally granted exemption. Later, when the bequeathed Dharma fell into decline and ruin, he complied with worldly customs: outwardly submitting to royal authority, inwardly he maintained the purity of the Way. He was also offered titles such as Jinzi Guanglu Daifu (Grand Master of the Golden and Purple Ribbon with Splendid Happiness), but he did not accept them. Although plunged into misfortune, he did not abandon benefiting people. At the beginning of Daxiang, when the imperial Sui initiated its mandate, the torch of Dharma shone once again. He was immediately included among the one hundred and twenty monks ordered by imperial decree to reside at Xingshan Monastery. Soon another decree ordered him to govern the affairs of the monastery, but he earnestly and politely declined, and again would not accept it. Yet his virtue crowned the monastic multitude, and he served as a model of the precepts for princes and dukes. In the past, when the Buddha-Dharma had been ruined and destroyed, his personal vow was that it would soon flourish; he respectfully built a monastery to illuminate the Degenerate Dharma. He submitted a memorial to this effect, and the Emperor established nine monasteries to fulfill Chong's vow, all of which were supplied by the state until the end of the Wen Emperor's reign. Duke Gaotang had always maintained the practice gates and had special faith and refuge in him; he thereupon gave up his private residence to make it a monastery and invited the assembly to reside there. Because it was a retreat of quiet voidness and had won the praise of dhyāna followers, an imperial edict bestowed the name tablet reading Qingchan. This is the present monastery inside the Qingming Gate. The Prince of Jin of the Sui dynasty revered the forest of dhyāna, and humbling his prestige, became the monastery’s dānapati. Successively he dispatched more than seventy households, and provided six sets of upper and lower watermills and grinding-rollers to perpetually serve as the monastery's estate, which transmits its benefits down to the present day. The Son of Heaven, who in former days had heard his name, now personally took charge of the righteous enterprise: in the early years of the Kaihuang era, he issued an edict to send 14,000 bolts of silk, 5,000 lengths of cloth, 1,000 bundles of floss silk, 200 bolts of damask, 20 pieces of brocade, and 1,000 piculs of top-grade five-colored rice over successive gifts. The Empress also issued an order sending 50 strings of cash, 50 felt rugs, and 50 razors. Chong’s blessed responses to his present vows flowed onward to future aspirations: he erected a stūpa to repay the state’s support. When the Emperor heard of it he was overjoyed, and from the palace sent six relic grains to join in the great enterprise. At that time, the Buddhist teaching had only recently been re-opened, and images were entirely lacking; Chong’s raising of this tower deeply met with the Emperor's intention. An edict was issued to summon the master craftsman Du Chong, ordering him to undertake the construction. The cost of labor was calculated at more than 3,000 strings of cash, and 800,000 bricks were used. As the enterprise incurred heavy expenses and he feared there might be shortages, the Emperor also sent robes he had worn himself and those worn by the Empress, in total 1,300 pairs, to assist in rejoicing in the merit. In the eleventh year of Kaihuang, the Prince of Jin, who was governing Yangyue, constructed the dew-basin and various decorations for it; it was finally completed within the fourteenth year. Rising to a height of eleven tiers, it towered into the great void, praised as the finest in the capital. Thereafter, offerings arrived in succession, and all manner of provisions were abundantly provided. The Prince also built a Buddha hall and monastic quarters, and dispatched supplies for the five activities, planted trees, and so forth, all of which were entrusted to the monastic assembly to supervise and assist in completing. As Chong was held in high esteem at court, he could come and go without hindrance. Even when the register of door passes was not ready for entering the palace precincts, if he had matters to discuss, he would hold his staff and enter directly. From time to time, he stayed in the imperial palace expounding pure karmic practice. Emperor Wen received him with ritual respect and called himself the Master's son; Empress Dugu (Xianhou) prolonged his virtue and called herself the Master's daughter. When he was at his home monastery, an edict ordered swift couriers to be sent to inquire about his daily well-being, arriving every morning without fail. All the external gains he obtained were entirely donated to the saṅghārāma; for his personal needs he kept only his robes and bowl. On the thirtieth day of the tenth month of the fourteenth year of Kaihuang, he passed away in the monastery quarters at the age of eighty. The Emperor was grief-stricken and decreed an edict for his burial, with all necessary funeral arrangements provided by the relevant authorities. Over five thousand monastics and lay disciples escorted him to the right of Zhixiang Monastery on Zhongnan Mountain, where they built a white stūpa for him, and an inscription was engraved which survives today. Seven days before Chong passed away, the banner pole inside the monastery broke by itself for no reason, and the well for drawing water outside the gate suddenly dried up; the assembly wondered at the cause. When the final night of the month arrived, Chong left his final instructions, saying: 'I have a place to go, and now I must entrust my affairs.' He then donated his robes and utensils to the Three Jewels. When the later part of the night came, people noticed extraordinary signs; approaching to look at him, they realized his breath had ceased. He passed away without illness, his appearance and complexion looking as if alive. When this was reported to the throne, no one did not feel grief.