續高僧傳 29.26

29.26

釋慧雲。姓王。太原人也。遠祖避地止于九江。弱年樂道。投匡山大林寺沙門智鍇而出家焉。鍇亦標領當時。有聲出世。而雲慷慨時俗。精厲歸從。故得獨異恒倫不拘物累。致有大節大務偏所留心。時年二十有五。達禪師者。江淮內外所在興造。事力不遂咸來祈請。雲為寺廟毀壞故致邀延。達不許之。雲以來告不申便陳死請。委身在地涕泗滂沱。流迸塗漫滿五尺許。又以頭叩地。青腫覆眼。加諸誓願曰。若不蒙赴。雲亦投江。達見其意盛。歘然迴意。雲即前告道俗。所在迎候。披草望山。行不由徑。路值群虎。不暇駐目。延達至山。須有經始。泝流諸處檢校功德。時屬嚴冬氷擁船路。崩砂頹結屢阻舟人。雲乃急繫衣裳。破氷挽纜腰胯以下凌澌截肉。流血凝住不覺疲苦。自此船行二百餘里。方登所在。其懇誠難繼。並例此也。隋季末齡。中表賊亂。有林士弘者。結眾豫章偽稱楚帝。偽尚書令鄱陽胡秀才。親領士眾臨據九江。因感發心。欲寫廬山東林文殊瑞像。盡所鎮境訪監護者。道俗僉議。以雲有出眾之奇。雅當此選。鑪錘既辦便就鎔範。光儀乃具。惟頸及脇兩處有孔。時眾未之悟也。其年秀才偽勅。所追有像色金百二十兩盛以竹筒。雲以賊徒蜂起無方守護。並用付才。又以念誦銅珠一環。遺才為信。行至宮亭。軍士乞福。才得便風舉帆前引。於江中路遭浪船沒。財物蕩盡惟人達岸。才諸無所恨。但失像色金。煩冤江畔呼嗟不絕。誓願不成深為業也。須臾金筒隨浪逆流。并遺銅珠。前後相繼。汎隱向岸就才。既獲色金。舉眾同叫歡欣無量。計被沒處至所出岸三十餘里。重而能浮。逆波相授。軍民通怪驚異靈感。及才之遇害也刃開頸脇。恰符像焉。初才之欲擊賊。以金用委叔父曉禪師。及楚都既覆群寇交侵。曉用弊布裹金。擔以避難。不免為賊所奪。既失像金取求無計。尋有賊中來者。盜金投曉。俱不知是金擔也。曉得本金。委雲成就。光相超挺今在山閣。初鑄像時。有李五戒者。私發願曰。若鎔金日誓然一臂。雲為模樣早成遂前期日。李氏不知已鑄。乃夢像曰。汝先願然臂。如何違信耶。李氏夢寤。因始知之。即於像前以刀解臂。蠟布纏骨而燒焉。又感徵應。略其事也。雲以江介威紆。累逢草竊。經論乃積。而戒律未弘。遠趣帝京躬參學府。值首律師當陽開化。大適本志悲喜交并。採掇行務有聞朝省。下勅令住弘福。而形貌長偉。骨面多髯。言晤成章。眾所知識。偏能讀誦。頗盛威容。故齋福大集。恒居坐首。群公卿士側席虛心。一舉五卷須臾尋了。未聞𠲿噎莫不嘉尚。然其程器。即目故略敘之。

Śramaṇa Huiyun, whose secular surname was Wang, was a man of Taiyuan. His distant ancestors fled from disaster and settled in Jiujiang. In his youth he delighted in the Way, joining the śramaṇa Zhikai of Dalin Temple on Mount Kuang to enter monastic life. Zhikai was also a leading figure of his day, with a reputation that transcended the world. Huiyun was stirred to deplore the mundane customs of the times and took refuge with diligent zeal, thus distinguishing himself from ordinary crowds without being bound by material cares. Consequently, he had great principles and took great tasks especially to heart. At that time, he was twenty-five years of age. Dhyāna Master Da was undertaking construction projects everywhere inside and outside the Jiang-Huai region; when resources were insufficient, [people] all came to pray and request [his aid]. Because his own temple was dilapidated, Huiyun invited him, but Da would not agree. Because his plea was not granted, Huiyun then laid down a request unto death: throwing himself to the ground, tears and mucus streamed down in a torrent, splashing and smearing across a full five feet. He also banged his head against the ground until black and blue swellings covered his eyes, adding vows: 'If my request is not met, I, Huiyun, will throw myself into the river.' Seeing his intense determination, Da suddenly changed his mind. Huiyun immediately went ahead to inform the clerics and laypeople to welcome him everywhere. Parting the weeds, he gazed toward the mountains, not taking established paths. Encountering packs of tigers on the road, he had no time to halt his gaze. Having invited Da to the mountain, beginnings had to be managed, so he traveled upriver to various places to inspect the merit-making works. It was midwinter, and ice blocked the boat channels; crumbling sand and tumbling boulders repeatedly hindered the boatmen. Huiyun thereupon tied his clothes tightly, broke the ice, and pulled the towlines. From his waist down, the drifting ice cut his flesh, yet his flowing blood froze solid, and he felt no fatigue or pain. From then on, the boat traveled over two hundred li before reaching the destination. His sincere devotion was difficult for others to match, and all his deeds were like this. In the final years of the Sui, bandit rebellions erupted within and without. A certain Lin Shihong gathered a horde in Yuzhang and falsely proclaimed himself Emperor of Chu. His pseudo-Secretariat Director, Hu Xiucai of Poyang, personally led troops to occupy Jiujiang. Moved by this, he brought forth the intention to reproduce the auspicious image of Mañjuśrī at Donglin Temple on Mount Lu. Throughout the territory under his guard, he searched for an overseer. In general consultation, the clerics and laypeople considered that Huiyun possessed extraordinary talent surpassing the crowd and was properly suited for this selection. Once the furnaces and hammers were prepared, they proceeded to cast it in molds. The luminous form was complete, but there were holes at the neck and the flank; the assembly at the time did not understand why. In that year, Hu Xiucai, pursuant to a forged imperial decree, requisitioned one hundred and twenty ounces of image-colored gold, which was stored in a bamboo cylinder. Since the bandit bands were swarming and there was no way to safeguard it, Huiyun entrusted it all to Xiucai, and also presented Xiucai with a bronze rosary bead as a pledge of trust. Arriving at Gongting, the soldiers prayed for blessings; Xiucai caught a favorable wind, raised the sails, and advanced. Midstream in the river, they encountered waves and the boat sank; their goods and wealth were completely lost, with only the men reaching the shore. Xiucai regretted nothing except the loss of the image-colored gold. Distraught on the riverbank, he wept and lamented without cease, [thinking that] the failure of his vow was due to heavy past karma. In an instant, the golden cylinder followed the waves upstream, and the gifted bronze bead followed along, one after the other, bobbing indistinctly toward the shore toward Xiucai. Once he recovered the colored gold, the whole company shouted together with boundless joy. By calculation, it was over thirty li from where it sank to the shore where it emerged; heavy though it was, it floated, delivered against the waves. The soldiers and civilians alike were astonished, marveling at the spiritual resonance. Later, when Xiucai was killed, blades pierced his neck and flank, precisely matching the image. Initially, when Xiucai was about to attack the bandits, he entrusted the gold to his uncle, Dhyāna Master Xiao. When the Chu capital was overthrown and invading bandits swept in, Xiao wrapped the gold in coarse cloth and carried it on a shoulder pole to escape the disaster, but could not avoid being plundered by bandits. Having lost the image-gold, he had no means of retrieving it. Soon after, someone coming from among the bandits stole the gold and brought it to Xiao, neither of them knowing it was the load of gold [lost before]. Xiao recovered the original gold and entrusted it to Huiyun to complete the task. The luminous mark was transcendentally imposing and is now in the mountain pavilion. When the image was first cast, a certain Li Wujie had privately made a vow: 'On the day the gold is melted, I vow to burn one arm.' Because the mold was finished early, Huiyun advanced the date. Li did not know it had already been cast, but dreamt of the image saying, 'You previously vowed to burn an arm; why have you broken your word?' Waking from the dream, Li then learned of it, and immediately before the image cut off his arm with a knife, wrapped the bone in waxed cloth, and burned it. There were further signs and responses, but these matters are omitted here. Seeing that the Jiang region was turbulent and repeatedly suffered from lawlessness, and that though scriptures and treatises were accumulated, the monastic precepts were not yet widely propagated, Huiyun traveled far to the imperial capital to study in the academies in person. Meeting Vinaya Master Shou as he was propagating the teachings in the capital, it thoroughly suited his original aspiration, moving him to mixed sorrow and joy. The deeds and conduct he cultivated became known to the court, and an imperial decree was issued ordering him to reside at Hongfu Temple. His appearance was tall and imposing, his bony face full of beard, and his conversation formed eloquent compositions, making him well known to all. He was particularly skilled in cantillation and recitation and possessed grand dignity; thus, whenever there was a great assembly for a vegetarian feast of merit, he always sat at the head of the row. The dukes, ministers, and gentry sat respectfully aside and listened with open minds. In a single breath he could recite five fascicles, finishing them in an instant; no choking or stumbling was ever heard, and none failed to praise him. Since his capacity and character are evident to modern eyes, they are only briefly narrated here.