續高僧傳 20.58

20.58

釋僧倫。姓呂氏。衛州汲人。祖宗諸州刺史。父詢隋初穆陵太守。未孕之初二親對坐。忽有梵僧秀眉皓首。二侍持幡在其左右。曰願為母子。未審如何。即禮拜之揮忽失所。因爾有娠。四月八日四更後生。還見二幡翊其左右。兼有異香。產訖不見。五歲已後迄於終亡。恒自目見白光滿屋。齊武平九年。與父至雲門寺僧賢統師珉禪師所受法出家。時年九歲。二師問其相狀。答以白光流臉二幡夾之。歎曰。子真可度。因而剃落。周武平齊。時年十六。與賢統等流離西東。學四念處誦法華經。至開皇初方興佛法。雲門受具。時年二十三。又於武陽理律師所聽始半夏。見五色光如車輪照倫心上。眾並同見。即於光中禮五十三佛。猶未滅更禮三十五佛。光乃收隱。又與方願二師。入黑山太行諸山。行蘭若二十餘年。大業末。賊徒起。領門人至衛州隆善寺。仍為偽夏竇建德齊善行等請知僧事。武德五年。大統天下。入太行抱犢山。教徒學念處法。由是四方負笈。山路成蹊。貞觀四年。衛州刺史裴萬頃。與諸官人請令下山。日日受戒大有弘利。以貞觀二十三年五月十三日四更。忽告門人。吾夜中於諸法得解脫。謂成無學。不謂天帝等迎。言已而絕。將殯於山。而哀慟不止。天極清朗。無雲而降細雨。眾咸異焉。時年八十五矣。

Śramaṇa Senglun. His secular surname was Lü, and he was a native of Ji in Weizhou. His ancestors were regional inspectors of various prefectures, and his father, Xun, was the grand protector of Muling at the beginning of the Sui. Before his conception, his two parents were sitting facing one another, when suddenly there appeared an Indian monk with graceful brows and white hair, flanked on his left and right by two attendants holding banners, who said: "I wish to become mother and son; I do not know if it is permitted?" When they bowed in worship to him, he vanished in an instant. Because of this, she became pregnant. He was born after the fourth watch on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, and again two banners were seen flanking him on his left and right, accompanied by a rare fragrance; once the birth was over, they disappeared. From age five until his death, he constantly saw with his own eyes white radiance filling the room. In the ninth year of the Wuping era of Northern Qi, he went with his father to Yunmen Monastery to the place of Rectifier of Monks Xian and Dhyāna Master Min to receive the Dharma and leave household life; he was nine years old at the time. The two masters asked about his portents, and he answered that white light flowed across his face and two banners flanked him. They sighed and said: "This child truly ought to be delivered." Thereupon he had his head shaved. When Northern Zhou subdued Qi, he was sixteen years old, and together with Rectifier Xian and others drifted east and west, studying the four foundations of mindfulness and reciting the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra. At the beginning of the Kaihuang era, when the Buddhist Dharma was revived, he received full ordination at Yunmen; he was twenty-three years old at the time. Furthermore, when he attended the lectures of Vinaya Master Li of Wuyang for only half a summer, he saw five-colored radiance like a chariot wheel shining over his chest. The assembly all saw it together; thereupon, within the light, he bowed to the fifty-three Buddhas, and as it had not yet vanished, he further bowed to the thirty-five Buddhas, after which the light withdrew and disappeared. He also entered the Black Mountains, the Taihang Mountains, and other mountains with the two masters Fang and Yuan, practicing aranya dwelling for more than twenty years. At the end of the Daye era, rebel factions arose, and he led his disciples to Liangshan Monastery in Weizhou; he was further invited by Dou Jiande, Qi Shanxing, and others of the illegitimate Xia regime to take charge of monastic affairs. In the fifth year of the Wude era, when the Tang unified the empire, he entered Baodu Mountain in the Taihang range, teaching disciples to study the methods of the foundations of mindfulness. Consequently, people came from the four quarters bearing their book-boxes, and mountain trails were worn into paths. In the fourth year of the Zhenguan era, Pei Wanqing, Regional Inspector of Weizhou, together with various officials, invited him to descend the mountain; conferring the precepts daily, he brought great and vast benefit. In the early morning after the fourth watch on the thirteenth day of the fifth lunar month in the twenty-third year of the Zhenguan era, he suddenly told his disciples: "During the night, I attained liberation regarding all phenomena; I consider that I have accomplished the state of no-more-learning, but do not think the Lord of Devas and others will welcome me." Having spoken these words, he expired. As they prepared to bury him in the mountain, the mourning and grieving did not cease. The sky was extremely clear and bright, yet without clouds a fine rain fell; the assembly all marvelled at it. He was eighty-five years old.