續高僧傳 27.18

27.18

釋普濟。雍州北山互人。初出家依止圓禪師。儀軌行法。獨處林野不宿人世。跏坐修禪至于沒齒。栖遲荒險不避豺虎。雖遊浪物表。而手不釋卷。甞讀華嚴。依而結業。自佛法淪廢。便投太白諸山。行不裹糧依時噉草。咀嚼咽飲都不為患。願像教一興捨身供養。修普賢行生賢首國。開皇之始大闡法門。思願既滿。即事捐捨。引眾集於炭谷之西崖。廣發弘誓自投而殞。遠方填赴充於巖谷。為建白塔于高峯焉。近貞觀初有山居沙門普濟者。立操標勇貞專自固。恒遊名山習誦經典。大品法花偏所通利。其所造集多誦兩經。仍隨文句時重解釋。聲氣所及周于一里。故使數萬眾中無不聞者。以武德十八年西入關壤。時經邑落還居林靜。貞觀度僧。時以濟無貫。擢預公籍。住京師光明寺。眾聚山結樂聞經旨。濟弊斯諠擾。遂遺名逃隱。不測所之。有說。今在終南幽巖獨坐。傍饒山果。須者負還。重更追尋。便失來徑。余曾同聚目悅斯人。衣則百結相連。鉢則纔充受用。汲灌瓦瓶麻繩繫頸。坐則籍草脇無著地。驍悍果敢睡蓋莫欺。節約儉退利賊潛迹。言論所指知足為先。談授正義如行為最。所以一坐說法施積如山。曾無顧涉。任委監護。乃重惟曰。城邑所屬五欲為根。余力既微。無宜自陷。遂逃遁矣。

Shi Puji: A native of the North Mountain, Hu, in Yongzhou. When he first entered monastic life, he took refuge in Dhyāna Master Puyuan. Regarding the rituals and rules of practice: he dwelt alone in the forests and wilderness, never spending the night among worldly people, and sat cross-legged cultivating dhyāna until the end of his days. He wandered and dwelt in desolate, perilous places, not avoiding jackals or tigers. Though he roved beyond worldly affairs, a scroll was never out of his hands. He once read the Huayan jing, relying on it to conclude his karmic vows. After the Buddha's Dharma declined and was abolished, he threw himself into the Taibai mountains; traveling without carrying provisions, he fed on grasses in accordance with the seasons, chewing, swallowing, and drinking without any harm. He vowed that once the semblance teaching arose again, he would abandon his body as an offering, cultivate the practices of Samantabhadra, and be reborn in the Realm of the Foremost of Worthies. At the beginning of the Kaihuang era, when the gates of the Dharma were vastly opened, his wish was fulfilled. Thereupon he undertook the abandonment of his body: gathering a crowd at the western cliff of Coal Valley (Tangu), he made vast and great vows, cast himself down, and perished. People from distant regions flocked there, filling the crags and valleys, and built a white stūpa for him upon the high peak. In the early Zhenguan era, there was also a mountain-dwelling śramaṇa named Puji: his moral discipline was courageous and striking, and his upright devotion stood resolute. He constantly wandered among famous mountains, practicing and reciting the scriptures; he was especially fluent in the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā Sūtra and the Lotus Sūtra. Wherever he gathered a crowd, he would mostly recite these two scriptures, repeatedly expounding on them according to the text from time to time. The reach of his voice extended a full li around, so that among a gathering of several tens of thousands, none failed to hear it. In the eighteenth year of the Wude era, he traveled west into the Guanzhong region; occasionally passing through cities and villages, he would still return to dwell in forest tranquility. During the monk ordinations of the Zhenguan era, because Puji lacked a household registration, he was specially elevated to the official register and took up residence at Guangming Monastery in the capital. Crowds gathered like mountains, delighting to hear the scriptures' purports. Puji grew weary of this clamor and commotion, whereupon he cast off his fame, fled into seclusion, and no one knew where he had gone. Some say that he is now sitting alone upon a secluded crag on Mount Zhongnan, with abundant mountain fruits nearby; whenever someone needs them, they carry them back, but when they attempt to seek him out again, they lose the path by which they came. I was once gathered together with this man and took pleasure in seeing him. His robes were a patchwork of a hundred rags joined together; his bowl barely served for receiving food; an earthenware jar for drawing water had a hemp rope tied around its neck. When sitting, he used grass for a mat, his ribs never touching the ground. Valiant, bold, and resolute, the hindrance of drowsiness could not deceive him; frugal, thrifty, and self-effacing, the thief of profit left no trace. In his discourse, knowing contentment was foremost; in his instruction of the correct doctrine, acting in accordance with practice was supreme. For this reason, though offerings piled up like mountains while he sat expounding the Dharma, he never glanced at or involved himself with them, leaving them entirely to overseers. Then, reflecting deeply, he said, 'That which belongs to cities and towns takes the five desires as its root. My power is already slight, and it is not fitting that I should entrap myself.' Thereupon he fled into hiding.