[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [續高僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060) › 26.93 # 續高僧傳 26.93 續高僧傳 26.93 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [26.93](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.26.93) 論曰。夫吟嘯之鼓風雲。律調之通寒暑。物理相會有若自天。況乃神道玄謀。義乖恒應。而可思也。故聖人之為利也。權巧眾途示威雄以攝生。為敦初信現光明而授物。情在悟宗。規模之道既弘。汲引之功無墜。至於混小大之非有均彼我之恒儀。齊色心於性空。絕形有之流轉。幽通而揚化本。極變以達神源。斯道窮微非厝言也。然則教敷下土。匪此難弘。先以威權動之。後以言聲導之。轉發信然所以開萌漸也。像末澆競法就崩離。神力靜流通感殆絕。二石之世澄上揚名。兩蕭接統誌公標德。備諸紀錄未敢詳之。頃世蒙俗情多浮濫。時陳靈相或加褒飾。考覈本據顛墜淫邪。妖異之諺林蒸。是非之論蜂起。至如觀音之拔濟。信而有徵。大聖之通夢華實相半。斯則託事親蒙難免語意無涉餘求想象實假冥緣故得有淪虛指。因斯以言良有以也。圓通之遊聖寺。昭達之涉仙宮。信其言焉。難窮事矣。前傳之敘蓬萊無乖鄙例。曩者顯宗通感。創開玄化之基。法本內傳具列靈通之應。或騰虛而現奇。或飛光而吐瑞。有晉嘉相雜沓臻焉。曇翼之感育王。陶偘之逢妙德。自後繁華難具陳矣。隋高建塔之歲。踊瑞紛綸。神光囑於群物。至澤通於疾癘。天花與甘露同降。靈芝共瑞鹿俱程。空遊仙聖結霧來儀。水族龜魚行鱗出聽。百有餘塔皆備潛通。君臣相慶緇素欣幸。其德榮明不可加也。然而當年即世或墜流言。俗習常談五福。欣其壽考通神。達命三畏君子所弘。及煬帝鎔鑄高陽開模之始其像。頂含翠髻身曜紫金。靈光通普。顯五色之希奇。瑞花滿庭。開六彩之殊相。上下同泰無德稱焉。下詔圖之遠頒郡國。義當嚮斯厚澤荷福無疆。遺厥宗社如山之固。尋復兵飢荐集。宇內分崩。亡曆喪寶卒于身世。統詳終古五運非不推遷。近以情求殃慶迷其倚伏。又如聖母上天功高遂舉。輪王樹塔禍及凶終。何以明其然乎。信由業命之淳薄故。感報果之休咎耳。豈以恒人之耳目。而遠籌於三世之道哉。若夫卜商賈誼之為言。班彪季康之著論。但知混而謂之命。莫辯命之所以為然。何異見羅紈於篋笥。而未識成之由機杼也。覩百穀於倉廩。而未知得之由稼穡也。儒之所云命也。釋之所云業也。命繫於業。業繫於心。心發其既參差。業成故亦無准。是以達命業之開士。知報熟而無辭。迷因果之恒人。謂徒言而不應。故馬遷嗟報施之爽。積疑而莫之通。范滂惑善惡之宜。含情而無以釋。斯皆覩流而不尋源。見一而不知二。覽釋門之弘教。豈復淪斯網哉。夫造業千端。感報萬緒。或始善而終惡。故先榮而後枯。或吉凶之雜起。故禍福而同萃。惟色一也。等面異而殊形。惟心一也。齊百化而無定。故無學或盡於此生往業終於即世。有縛感。由於既往受報。未止於今時。身子悟理之通人。常懷疾惱。目連威雄之達士。終纏碎身。至聖納謗於祇園。王子被讒於清眾。儒宗絕粒於陳壤。堯湯遭變於中原。雖玄素之相或乖。而業命之緣無爽。是知文煬大寶。往福終於此世。崇建塔像。今業起於將來。交運相投。無識因之致惑。隋遭兩鏡。通命豈其然乎。復有深宮法濟。寄神祝而銷災。慧日法安。憑研石而流水。轉明之越巨浸。通達之沐炎湯。瓊公拜而邪象崩。道英終而大地轉。斯德眾矣其徒繁矣。既云神化。固不可以由來擬之。輒敘篇中識僧倫之難偶耳。 > The appraisal states: As for singing and whistling stirring the wind and clouds, and pitches and tunings regulating cold and heat—the conjunction of things according to their nature seems as if from Heaven. How much more so the dark counsels of the spiritual path, whose principles transcend constant responses; how can they be easily conceived? Thus, when the sages bring benefit, they use expedient means of various paths, showing majesty and might to gather in living beings, and manifesting light to bestow upon things in order to reinforce initial faith. Their intention lies in awakening to the ultimate truth; once the model path is broadened, the merit of drawing beings across never falters. As for blending small and large into non-existence, equalizing self and other into a constant norm, identifying form and mind in the emptiness of nature, and putting an end to the transmigration of material forms and existences—they penetrate the unseen to manifest the source of transformation, and reach the utmost changes to attain the spirit's origin. This path reaches the profound; it is not something words can settle. Nonetheless, when teachings are spread in the world below, without these \[wonders\] they are hard to propagate. First one moves them with majestic authority, and afterward guides them with sounds and words; giving rise to trust step by step is the means to open their beginnings. In the decadent rivalry of the Semblance and Final ages, the Dharma borders on disintegration; the quiet flow of spiritual power and resonant communication is nearly severed. In the era of the two Shis, \[Fotudeng\] Cheng showed forth his fame; during the successive reigns of the two Xiao houses, Baozhi displayed his virtue. Recorded in all the archives, I dare not present them in full. In recent generations, vulgar minds among the unenlightened have mostly been shallow and lax; when recounting spiritual manifestations, they often add embellishments, but upon examining the basic sources, these tumble into wild heresy. Proverbs of monstrous prodigies rise like steam from a forest; disputes over right and wrong swarm like bees. As for Avalokiteśvara's deliverance, it is trustworthy and has proof; but the great sages' appearances in dreams are half true and half empty. In these cases, because things are personally received under particular conditions, it is difficult to avoid discrepancies between words and intended meaning; when others seek to imagine them, they depend entirely on unseen circumstances, and thus may collapse into hollow indicators. Judging from this, there are truly good grounds for caution. As for Yuantong traveling to holy monasteries or Zhaoda visiting celestial palaces—if one trusts their words, it is hard to exhaust the details. The previous biography's account of Penglai does not deviate from rustic conventions. Formerly, when Emperor Ming had spiritual resonance and first opened the basis of dark transformation, the Inner Traditions of the Dharma's Origin fully listed resonant responses of spiritual penetration: either rising into empty space to show miracles, or shooting out rays of light to cast forth omens. During the Jin, auspicious signs arrived in great abundance: Tanyi's resonance with King Aśoka, Tao Kan's meeting with Mañjuśrī—from then on, the flourishing was such that it can hardly be recounted in full. In the years when Emperor Gao of the Sui erected stupas, auspicious tokens leaped forth in confusion: spiritual light fell upon myriad things, supreme blessings relieved pestilence, heavenly flowers descended together with sweet dew, and spiritual lingzhi and auspicious deer appeared together; immortals and sages traveling the void gathered like mist to pay homage, while fish and turtles among the aquatic tribes lined up their scales to emerge and listen. The hundred-odd stupas were all endowed with unseen resonance; sovereign and ministers congratulated one another, and both clergy and laity rejoiced. Its virtue and glorious brightness could not be surpassed. And yet, during that very age and generation, rumors sometimes circulated. Popular custom ordinarily speaks of the five blessings, delighting in longevity and communicating with the divine; understanding destiny through the three fears is what the noble person fosters. When Emperor Yang cast \[the image\] at Gaoyang and first opened the mold, the image's uṣṇīṣa held a kingfisher topknot, and its body radiated purple gold; spiritual light reached universally, manifesting the rare marvel of five colors, and auspicious flowers filled the courtyard, unfolding the unusual traits of six hues. High and low were alike in tranquility, so much so that no praise could encompass it. An edict was issued to paint it and promulgate it far and wide to commanderies and kingdoms; by principle, they ought to have basked in this abundant favor and received boundless blessings, leaving their ancestral shrines as firm as mountains. Soon after, however, war and famine repeatedly descended, the realm fell to pieces, the dynasty lost its calendar and treasures, and he died within his own lifetime. Examining all of antiquity comprehensively, the five movements of fortune never fail to cycle; yet seeking recent reasons through subjective feeling, one is bewildered by how misfortune and good fortune depend on and lurk within each other. Again, it is like the Sacred Mother ascending to heaven, her great merit at last bearing fruit, while a wheel-turning king who built a stupa met with disaster and a calamitous end. How can this be clarified? It is surely because of the purity or shallowness of their karmic lifespans, which simply evoke the good or bad of their retribution. How could ordinary people, with their eyes and ears, plan so far ahead into the path of the three times? As for the sayings of Bu Shang and Jia Yi, or the treatises written by Ban Biao and \[Ji\] Kang—they merely knew to call it 'destiny' in a confused way, but could not distinguish why destiny is as it is. How does this differ from seeing silks and damasks in a hamper without knowing they come from the loom, or beholding the hundred grains in a granary without knowing they are gained through sowing and reaping? What the Confucians call 'destiny', the Buddhists call 'karma'. Destiny depends on karma, and karma depends on the mind. Because the mind's initial stirrings are uneven, the karma formed thereby is likewise without a uniform standard. Therefore, the bodhisattva who understands destiny and karma knows when retribution is ripe and makes no complaint; but ordinary people, bewildered by cause and effect, claim these are empty words without response. Thus Sima Qian lamented the failing of rewards and recompense, accumulating doubts he could not resolve; Fan Pang was bewildered by the fitness of good and evil, harboring feelings he could not explain. These all see the stream without seeking the source; they see one aspect without understanding the second. Beholding the vast teachings of the Buddhist gate, how could one sink into such nets again? Indeed, the deeds of karma are of a thousand kinds, and the evoked retributions of myriad threads. Some begin with good and end in evil, and so first flourish and later wither; some have auspicious and inauspicious mixed together, so that disaster and blessing assemble at once. In matter alone, though faces may be alike, forms differ; in mind alone, it matches a hundred transformations without fixation. Thus, an arhat may end within this life, his past karma concluding within the present existence; yet one bound by passions evokes effects from the past whose reception of retribution does not cease in the present time. Śāriputra, a master who awakened to principle, was constantly afflicted by sickness; Maudgalyāyana, an accomplished man of majestic might, was ultimately crushed in body. The Supreme Sage suffered slander at the Jeta Grove; the prince was defamed before the pure assembly; the Confucian master ran out of grain in the land of Chen; and Yao and Tang met with natural disasters in the central plains. Though the signs of the dark and the manifest may differ, the conditions of karmic destiny never fail. Thus we know that the great fortunes of Wen and Yang were past blessings ending in this life, while the stupas and images they reverently erected were present karma arising for the future. The cycles intersect and correspond, causing the ignorant to be deluded. The Sui suffered from these two mirrors—could understanding destiny really be otherwise? Furthermore, there were Fajizhe in the deep palace, who relied on spiritual incantations to dispel calamities; Huiri and Fa'an, who relied on rubbing stones to make water flow; Zhuanming crossing the immense deep; Tongda bathing in boiling water; Master Qiong bowing so that rogue elephants collapsed; and Daoying passing away while the great earth shook. Such virtues are numerous, their company manifold! Since these are called spiritual transformations, they certainly cannot be measured by conventional origins. I have set them down in these chapters merely to make known how rare it is to encounter such ranks of monks. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 26.92](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.26.92) - [Next: 26.94](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.26.94) - [Up: 26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.26) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.26.93) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.26.93](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.26.93) · Pramāṇa