續高僧傳 30.26

30.26

釋寶巖。住京室法海寺。氣調閑放言笑聚人。情存道俗。時共目之說法師也。與講經論名同事異。論師所設務存章句。消判生起結詞義。巖之制用隨狀立儀。所有控引多取。雜藏。百譬異相。聯璧。觀公導文王孺懺法。梁高。沈約。徐庾。晉宋等數十家。包納喉衿觸興抽拔。每使京邑諸集塔寺肇興。費用所資莫匪泉貝。雖玉石通集藏府難開。及巖之登座也。案几顧望未及吐言。擲物雲崩須臾坐沒。方乃命人徙物。談敘福門。先張善道可欣。中述幽途可厭。後以無常逼奪終歸長逝。提耳抵掌速悟時心。莫不解髮撤衣書名記數剋濟成造。咸其功焉。時有人云。夫說法者當如法說。不聞陰界之空但言本生本事。巖曰。生事所明為存陰入無主。但濁世情鈍。說陰界者皆昏睡也。故隨物附相。用開神府。可不佳乎。以貞觀初年卒于住寺。春秋七十餘矣。

Śramaṇa Baoyan resided at Fahai Monastery in the capital. His demeanor was leisurely and untrammeled, and his conversation and laughter gathered people together. His affections embraced both monastics and laity, and contemporaries all regarded him as a "Dharma preacher" (shuofashi). This differed in essence, though sharing a title, from lecturing on sūtras and treatises. What a master of treatises (lunshi) set forth strictly observed the sentences and sections, clarifying, analysing, introducing, and concluding the doctrinal meanings. Yan's method adapted forms to the circumstance. His citations were mostly drawn from the Samyuktābhidharma-hṛdaya, Bai piyu jing (Hundred Parables Sūtra), Yixiang jing (Scripture on Different Manifestations), the Lianbi, Master Guan's ritual proclamations, Wang Ru's repentance rituals, as well as dozens of writers such as Emperor Wu of Liang, Shen Yue, Xu Ling, Yu Xin, and authors of the Jin and Song dynasties. Ingesting them into his bosom, he drew upon them whenever inspiration arose. Whenever the capital assembled resources to initiate the founding of stūpas and monasteries, the expenses were inevitably financed by donations of coin and cowries. Even when jade and stones were amassed together, treasury vaults were hard to open. Yet when Yan ascended the seat, while leaning on his armrest and looking around before uttering a word, offerings thrown to him tumbled like collapsing clouds, so that in an instant he was engulfed where he sat. Only then would he order people to remove the goods and begin expounding on the gates of merit. First, he extolled the pleasing nature of the wholesome realms; next, he recounted the abhorrent nature of the dark destinies; and finally, showed that through the coercion and deprivation of impermanence, all beings eventually meet their long demise. Admonishing them closely and clapping his hands, he swiftly awakened the hearts of his listeners. None failed to untie their hair, strip off their robes, or write down their names and pledges to ensure the successful completion of the construction; all this was due to his merit. At that time, someone said, "A preacher of the Dharma should speak in accordance with the Dharma; yet you do not preach on the emptiness of the aggregates and realms, speaking only of past lives (jātaka) and historical occurrences (nidāna)." Yan replied, "The clarification of past lives and occurrences is meant to reveal that the aggregates and sense-entrances lack a master. But beings in this defiled world are dull of mind; when the aggregates and realms are expounded, they all fall into a daze of slumber. Therefore, by according with tangible things and drawing on outward forms, I open their spiritual faculties. Is that not commendable?" In the early years of the Zhenguan reign era, he died at his residential monastery at the age of seventy-odd.