續高僧傳 20.77

20.77

釋惠方。姓趙。冀州信都來強人。七八歲便思出俗。年九歲投蘇門淋落泉寺。居然靜志。眾侶怪其特高。遂授以九次十想。隨聞斂念。仍受此法亟涉炎涼。隋文后崩。西京立寺。遠徵入住。厚禮供焉。而雅志不渝山林綴想。雖遇匠石無緣運斤。舊所禪徒虛懷鶴望。大業六年。辭還本寺。門侶雲結請道如山。隋季不靜。巖穴丘陵移居汲郡之隆善寺。及皇運大昌天下無事。又與門人修緝舊所。遂使松門石棟巖室風窗並得經綸更新雲構。曾於廊下言及幽微。沙彌伏階密聽。空中聲曰。何忽沙彌在此伏聽。懼驚起。又被打擊。經宿乃甦。其感靈祥如此例也。以貞觀二十一年冬初。終於所止。春秋九十有三。初未終前忽有異香。縈於巖室氛氳三日。眾不測。恰終香歇。以其月十七日。葬州北十里圓岡之陽。

Shi Huifang, surnamed Zhao, was a native of Laiqiang in Xindu, Jizhou. At the age of seven or eight, he already had thoughts of leaving secular life. When he was nine, he went to Linluoquan Temple on Mount Sumen. His quiet aspiration was natural to him, and the community of monks marveled at his exceptional altitude [of spirit]. They subsequently instructed him in the nine successive [stages of dhyāna] and the ten contemplations. Upon hearing them, he collected his thoughts, and he continued to practice these teachings through many seasonal changes. When the empress of Emperor Wen of Sui passed away, a temple was founded in the Western Capital; [Huifang] was summoned from afar to reside in it, and was provided for with lavish courtesy. Yet his elegant aspirations remained unaltered, his thoughts forever bound to the mountain forests. Although he had met a carpenter stone-mason, there was no cause for him to wield his axe; and in his former dwelling, his dhyāna disciples waited in earnest longing, gazing into the distance like cranes. In the sixth year of Daye, he took leave to return to his original temple. Disciples gathered like clouds, requesting the Dharma like mountains. Toward the end of the Sui, unrest arose; he moved from the mountain caves and hills to Longshan Temple in Ji Commandery. When the imperial fortunes flourished grandly and the realm was at peace, he again repaired his old dwelling with his disciples, thus enabling the pine-wood gates, stone beams, cliff chambers, and breeze-filled windows to be newly restored like clouds taking shape. Once, beneath the veranda, he was discussing deep subtleties when a novice monk crouched under the steps listening in secret. A voice from mid-air said: 'Why is there suddenly a novice crouching here, listening?' Stricken with terror, he sprang up, was struck and beaten, and only revived after an entire night. His spiritual responsiveness was like this. In the early winter of the twenty-first year of Zhenguan, he passed away at his dwelling at the age of ninety-three. Before his passing, an extraordinary fragrance suddenly wafted around his cliff chamber, lingering in dense mists for three days. The community could not fathom it; just as he passed away, the fragrance ceased. On the seventeenth day of that month, he was buried on the southern slope of Yuangang, ten li north of the prefecture.