續高僧傳 17.22

17.22

釋智舜。俗姓孟。趙州大陸人。少為書生。博通丘索工書善說。庠序附焉。年二十餘。厭世出家。事雲門稠公居于白鹿。始末十載。常樂幽隱不事囂雜。纔有昏情便有靈祇相誡。或動身衣。或有聲相。又現白服。形量丈餘遶院相警。往往非一。嘗與沙門曇詢。同修念定經于四年。後北遊贊皇許亭山。依倚結業聲績及遠。有資其道供者。便權避之。遂經紀載不須資待。又獵者逐雉飛入舜房。苦加勸勉終不肯止。遂將雉去。情不忍此。因割耳遺之。感舜苦諫。便投弓解鷹。從舜請道漸學經義。於是課篤數村捨其獵業。斯則仁濟之誠也。後專習道觀不務有緣。妄心卒起不可禁者。即刺股流血。或抱石巡塔。須臾不逸其慮也。故髀上刺處。班駮如鋪錦焉。其翹勵之操。同伍誠不共矣。處山積歲剪剃無人。便以火燒髮。弊服遺食屢結寒炎。度景分功無忘造次。性少貪惱手不執財。每見貧餒淚垂盈面。或解衣以給。或割口以施。由此內撤外化。所親之中。見其彌敬十人出家。並依舜行。練心節量。踵武揚風。後年疾既侵身力斯盡。常令人稱念。繫想淨方。遂終于老。末感氣疾忽增。十有五日。勵念如初。卒于元氏縣屈嶺禪坊。時年七十有二。即仁壽四年正月二十日也。初葬于終所山側。後房子縣界嶂洪山民。素重舜道。夜偷屍柩瘞于巖中。及往追覓皆藏其所。三年之後開示焚之起白塔于崖上。自舜之入道精厲其誠。昔處儒宗頗自矜伐。忽因旬假得不淨觀。腸腑流外驚厭叵陳。所見餘人例皆不淨內溢。乃就稠師具蒙印旨。為雲門官供當擬是難。因就靜山曉夕通業。不隷公名不行公寺。而內德潛運遠聞帝闕。開皇十年下詔曰。皇帝敬問趙州房子界嶂洪山南谷舊禪房寺智舜禪師。冬日極寒。禪師道體清勝。教導蒼生。使早成就。朕甚嘉焉。朕統在兆民之上。弘護正法夙夜無怠。今遣上開府盧元壽。指宣往意。并送香物如別。時趙州刺史楊達。以舜無公貫素絕名問。依勅散下方始知之。乃為繫名同果寺。用承詔旨而舜亦不臨赴。山民為之起寺。三處交絡四方聞造。欣斯念定。而莫堪其精到。不久還返。斯勇猛之誠不可例也。每於冬初化諸緣集。多辦複貯之衣。就施獄囚。春秋二時方等行道。餘則加坐幽林。塊然不寐及登耳順心用力疲。轉讀藏經凡得四遍。左手執卷右手執燭十宿五宿目不曾斂。佛名贊德誦閱如流。昏晝六時禮懺終化。有弟子智贊。幼奉清誨長悟玄理。攝論涅槃是所綜博。今住藍田化感寺。承習禪慧榮其光緒。比多徵引終遁林泉。

Śramaṇa Zhishun, whose secular surname was Meng, was a native of Dalu in Zhaozhou. In his youth, he was a scholar who had mastered the ancient classics, excelled at calligraphy, and was gifted in speech; students at the regional schools gathered around him. In his twenties, growing weary of worldly life, he took pravrajyā. He served Venerable [Seng]chou of Yunmen, residing at Mount Bailu. Through a full decade, he constantly delighted in secluded retirement and engaged in nothing clamorous or mingled. Whenever drowsy thoughts arose, spiritual deities would promptly admonish him—sometimes shaking his robes, sometimes uttering audible signs; or they would appear clad in white robes, measuring over a zhang in height, circling the courtyard to warn him, which happened repeatedly. Once, alongside the śramaṇa Tanxun, he cultivated recollection and dhyāna together for four years. Later, he traveled north to Mount Xuting in Zanhuang, where he settled down to apply himself to practice, his reputation and achievements reaching far and wide. Whenever anyone offered provisions to support his practice, he would expediently avoid them, and thus passed many years without relying on provisions. Once, a hunter was chasing a pheasant that flew into Shun’s room. Shun earnestly admonished and persuaded him, but the hunter refused to stop and took the pheasant away. Shun's heart could not bear this, so he cut off his own ear and gave it to the hunter. Deeply moved by Shun’s earnest remonstrance, the hunter cast away his bow and released his falcon. He requested instruction from Shun and gradually studied the scriptural meanings. Thereupon, several villages were exhorted and inspired to abandon hunting entirely. Such was the sincerity of his compassionate succour. Later, he practiced contemplation of the Way exclusively and did not engage in worldly connections. Whenever an errant thought suddenly arose that could not be suppressed, he would pierce his thigh until blood flowed, or carry a stone while circumambulating the stūpa, not letting his mind wander for even a moment. Thus the pierced spots on his thighs were variegated like brocade laid out. His resolute discipline was truly beyond the reach of his peers. He lived in the mountains for many years without anyone to shave his head, so he burned his hair away with fire. In tattered robes and living on leftover food, he repeatedly endured extreme cold and heat, measuring his time and apportioning his practice without negligence even in the briefest moment. By nature he had little craving or affliction, and his hands never handled wealth. Whenever he saw the poor and hungry, tears would stream down his face, and he would either take off his clothes to supply them or cut down his own food to bestow upon them. Due to this inner withdrawal and outer conversion, among his acquaintances, ten men who admired him even more took pravrajyā. All followed Shun's conduct, disciplining their minds and practicing restraint, treading in his footsteps and spreading his style. Later, when old age and illness set in and his physical strength was exhausted, he constantly had people chant the Buddha's name, fixing his thoughts on the Pure Land, and so reached the end of his life. In his final days, his qi illness suddenly increased; for fifteen days, his vigorous recollection remained as steadfast as at the beginning. He passed away at the Quling dhyāna cloister in Yuanshi County at the age of seventy-two, on the twentieth day of the first month of the fourth year of Renshou [604 CE]. He was initially buried beside the mountain where he had passed away. Later, the people of Mount Zhanghong within the borders of Fangzi County, who had always venerated Shun’s practice, stole the coffin by night and interred it within a rock cave. When people went in pursuit to search for it, the villagers had hidden the place. After three years, they opened it to reveal it, cremated him, and erected a white stūpa upon the cliff. From the time Shun entered the Path, he was extraordinarily earnest in his sincerity. In former times, when adhering to the Confucian school, he had been rather proud of himself; but once, during a ten-day holiday, he attained the contemplation of impurity. The viscera flowing outward filled him with horror and revulsion beyond words, and all other people he saw appeared likewise filled with impurity spilling forth. He then went to Master [Seng]chou and received full confirmation of his realization. When an imperial provision was offered at Yunmen, he judged it hard to endure, so he went to the quiet mountains, practicing his discipline day and night, neither registered under an official title nor frequenting public monasteries. Yet his hidden inner virtue spread far, reaching the imperial court. In the tenth year of Kaihuang [590 CE], an imperial edict was issued: 'The Emperor respectfully inquires after Dhyāna Master Zhishun of the Old Dhyāna Cloister Monastery in the southern valley of Mount Zhanghong, within the borders of Fangzi, Zhaozhou. In the bitter cold of winter, may the Dhyāna Master's body of the Way remain pure and superior. You guide the common folk to attain early fulfillment, which We greatly praise. We preside over the myriad people and uphold and protect the true Dharma night and day without indolence. We now dispatch the Senior Pillar of State Lu Yuanshou to convey Our intentions and present incense and gifts as detailed separately.' At that time, the Prefect of Zhaozhou, Yang Da, because Shun had no official registration and was detached from fame and inquiries, only learned of him when the edict arrived. He registered his name at Tongguo Monastery to fulfill the edict, yet Shun still did not visit. The mountain people built monasteries for him, interconnected across three locations. Hearing of this, people from the four directions gathered, rejoicing in his practice of mindfulness and dhyāna; however, none could endure his rigorous intensity, and before long they returned. His valiant sincerity was truly peerless. At the beginning of every winter, he would inspire various donors to assemble and prepare a large amount of padded clothing, which he personally bestowed upon prisoners in jail. In the two seasons of spring and autumn, he conducted the vaipulya circumambulation; during the rest of the year, he sat in dhyāna in secluded groves, sitting motionlessly without sleep. When he reached the age of sixty, his mind and physical effort became exhausted; he then recited the entire canon four times in total. With his left hand holding a scroll and his right hand holding a candle, for ten or five nights at a time he did not once close his eyes. He recited praises of the Buddha's names and virtues smoothly like flowing water. Throughout the six periods of the day and night, he bowed in repentance until the end of his life. He had a disciple named Zhizan, who in his youth received pure instructions and in maturity comprehended profound principles, possessing comprehensive mastery of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha and the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. He currently resides at Huagan Monastery in Lantian, continuing the heritage of dhyāna and wisdom and bringing glory to the tradition. Although repeatedly summoned recently, he ultimately remains in seclusion among the forest springs.