[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) › 6.26 # 續高僧傳 6.26 續高僧傳 6.26 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [6.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.6.26) 釋曇鸞。或為巒。未詳其氏。雁門人。家近五臺山。神迹靈怪逸于民聽。時未志學。便往尋焉備覿遺蹤。心神歡悅便即出家。內外經籍具陶文理。而於四論佛性彌所窮研。讀大集經。恨其詞義深密難以開悟。因而注解。文言過半便感氣疾。權停筆功周行醫療。行至汾川秦陵故墟。入城東門上望青宵。忽見天門洞開。六欲階位上下重複歷然齊覩。由斯疾瘉。欲繼前作。顧而言曰。命惟危脆不定其常。本草諸經具明正治。長年神仙往往間出。心願所指修習斯法。果剋既已方崇佛教不亦善乎。承江南陶隱居者方術所歸。廣博弘贍海內宗重。遂往從之。既達梁朝。時大通中也。乃通名云。北國虜僧曇鸞故來奉謁。時所司疑為細作。推勘無有異詞。以事奏聞。帝曰斯非覘國者。可引入重雲殿。仍從千迷道。帝先於殿隅却坐繩床。衣以袈裟覆以納帽。鸞至殿前顧望無承對者。見有施張高座上安几拂正在殿中傍無餘座。徑往昇之竪佛性義。三命帝曰。大檀越。佛性義深。略已標敘。有疑賜問。帝却納帽便以數關往復。因曰。今日向晚明須相見。鸞從座下仍前直出。詰曲重沓二十餘門。一無錯誤。帝極嘆訝曰。此千迷道。從來舊侍往還疑阻。如何一度遂乃無迷。明旦引入太極殿。帝降階禮接。問所由來。鸞曰。欲學佛法限年命促減。故來遠造陶隱居求諸仙術。帝曰。此傲世遁隱者。比屢徵不就任往造之。鸞尋致書通問。陶乃答曰。去月耳聞音聲。茲辰眼受文字。將由頂禮歲積。故使應真來儀。正爾整拂藤蒲具陳花水。端襟斂思竚耹警錫也。及屆山所接對欣然。便以仙經十卷。用酬遠意。還至浙江。有鮑郎子神者。一鼓涌浪七日便止。正值波初無由得度。鸞便往廟所以情祈告。必如所請當為起廟。須臾神即見形。狀如二十。來告鸞曰。若欲度者明旦當得。願不食言。及至明晨濤猶鼓怒。纔入船裏帖然安靜。依期達帝具述由緣。有勅為江神更起靈廟。因即辭還魏境。欲往名山依方修治。行至洛下。逢中國三藏菩提留支。鸞往啟曰。佛法中頗有長生不死法勝此土仙經者乎。留支唾地曰。是何言歟。非相比也。此方何處有長生法。縱得長年少時不死。終更輪迴三有耳。即以觀經授之曰。此大仙方。依之修行當得解脫生死。鸞尋頂受。所齎仙方並火焚之。自行化他流靡弘廣。魏主重之號為神鸞焉。下勅令住并州大寺。晚復移住汾州北山石壁玄中寺。時往介山之陰。聚徒蒸業。今號鸞公巖是也。以魏興和四年。因疾卒于平遙山寺。春秋六十有七。臨至終日。幡花幢蓋高映院宇。香氣𤑫勃音聲繁鬧。預登寺者並同矚之。以事上聞。勅乃葬于汾西泰陵文谷。營建塼塔并為立碑。今並存焉。然鸞神宇高遠機變無方。言晤不思動與事會。調心練氣對病識緣。名滿魏都。用為方軌。因出調氣論。又著作王邵。隨文注之。又撰禮淨土十二偈。續龍樹偈後。又撰安樂集兩卷等。廣流於世。仍自號為有魏玄簡大士云。 > Shi Tanluan, also written as Luan, whose clan name is unknown, was a native of Yanmen. His home was near Mount Wutai, where miracles and marvels far exceeded what common people had heard. Before reaching the age of formal study, he went there to seek them out and saw all the remaining traces. His heart and spirit rejoiced, and he forthwith renounced household life (pravrajyā). He thoroughly mastered the literary principles of both internal and external scriptures, and deeply investigated the Four Treatises and the Buddha-nature. While reading the Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra, he regretted that its language and meaning were so profound and abstruse that they were difficult to understand. He thereupon wrote a commentary on it. When the text was more than half finished, he contracted an illness of the qi. He temporarily set aside his brushwork to travel about seeking medical treatment. Traveling to the ancient ruins of Qinding in Fenling, he entered the eastern gate of the walled city and looked up into the blue sky. Suddenly he saw the gates of heaven open wide; the ranks and stages of the Six Heavens of Desire, above and below, one upon another, were distinctly and simultaneously beheld. Through this his illness was cured. Intending to resume his previous work, he turned to reflect and said, 'Life is fragile and brittle, and its course is never constant. The various herbal classics fully elucidate proper treatments; long-lived divine immortals occasionally appear. If I direct my heart's aspiration to practicing such arts, and once that is accomplished, then revere the Buddhist teaching—would that not also be good?' Hearing that in Jiangnan, the Recluse Tao \[Hongjing\] was the authority on magical arts, possessing broad, profound, and abundant learning, and was revered by the entire realm, he went to join him. Upon reaching the Liang court during the Datong era, he reported his name as: 'The monk Tanluan, a captive from the Northern Kingdom, has purposely come to pay his respects.' At that time, the officials suspected he was a spy. They interrogated him, but found no discrepancy in his statements, and memorialized the matter to the throne. The Emperor said, 'This is no spy sent to spy out our state. Let him be led into the Hall of Layered Clouds by way of the Thousand-Labyrinth Path.' The Emperor had earlier sat in a corner of the hall on a rope-chair, wearing a kaṣāya and covered in a patch-robe cowl. When Luan reached the front of the hall, he looked around and saw no one receiving him. He saw an erected high seat with a small table and a chowry placed upon it right in the middle of the hall, and no other seats beside it. He walked straight up to ascend it and set forth the meaning of Buddha-nature. Calling out to the Emperor three times, he said, 'Great dānapati! The meaning of the Buddha-nature is profound; I have already briefly outlined it. If you have any doubts, please deign to ask.' The Emperor threw back his patch-robe cowl, and then went back and forth with several subtle points. He then said, 'It is getting late today; we must meet tomorrow.' Luan came down from the seat and walked straight out as before. Passing through more than twenty winding, overlapping gates, he made not a single mistake. The Emperor was extremely amazed and sighed, 'This Thousand-Labyrinth Path has always baffled even my long-serving attendants who come and go. How could he traverse it just once without being bewildered?' The next morning, he was ushered into the Taiji Hall. The Emperor descended the steps to receive him with courteous etiquette and inquired about his purpose in coming. Luan said, 'I wish to learn the Buddha-Dharma, but my lifespan is short and dwindling. Therefore, I have come from afar to visit the Recluse Tao to seek arts of immortality.' The Emperor said, 'He is a hermit who disdains worldly affairs. Lately, though repeatedly summoned, he has refused to come. You are free to go visit him.' Luan thereupon sent a letter conveying his inquiries. Tao replied, saying: 'Last month my ears heard your voice, and today my eyes receive your writing. It must be that accumulated years of prostrations have brought an arhat to grace us with his presence. I am at this moment dusting the cane-mat, setting out flowers and water, straightening my lapel and collecting my thoughts, waiting to hear your warning staff.' When Luan reached his mountain retreat, Tao received him joyfully, and presented him with ten fascicles of Daoist scriptures to reward his intention in coming from afar. Returning to the Zhe River, there was a spirit named Lord Baolang: when he raised waves, they would only cease after seven days. It happened to be the beginning of the surges, so there was no way to cross. Luan went to the spirit's shrine and prayed earnestly, saying that if his plea were granted, he would build a shrine for him. In an instant, the spirit appeared in bodily form, appearing as if twenty years old, and came to tell Luan, 'If you wish to cross, you will be able to do so tomorrow morning. I hope you will not break your word.' When the next morning came, the waves were still raging, but no sooner had Luan entered the boat than it became calm and peaceful. Reaching the Emperor on schedule, he recounted the circumstances in detail. An imperial edict ordered an efficacious shrine to be built for the river god. Thereupon taking his leave, Luan returned to the Wei territory, intending to go to a famous mountain to cultivate the methods according to the recipes. Traveling as far as Luoyang, he met the Tripiṭaka Master Bodhiruci from India. Luan went to address him, asking, 'In the Buddha-Dharma, is there any method of eternal life without dying that surpasses the scriptures of immortality in this land?' Bodhiruci spat on the ground and said, 'What kind of talk is this? They are not comparable! Where in this land could there be a method for eternal life? Even if one attains longevity and does not die for a short while, in the end one still transmigrates in the three realms of existence!' He immediately handed him the Contemplation Sūtra (Guan jing) and said, 'This is the recipe of the Great Immortal. Cultivating and practicing according to it, you will attain liberation from birth and death.' Luan thereupon received it atop his head and burned all the immortal recipes he had brought with him. He practiced it himself and transformed others, spreading the teaching far and wide. The ruler of Wei respected him, designating him 'Divine Luan.' An imperial decree ordered him to reside in the Great Monastery of Bingzhou. Later he moved to Xuanzhong Monastery at the stone cliff of the Northern Mountains in Fenzhou. He occasionally went to the shady side of Mount Jie, where he gathered disciples and energetically pursued his work; today this is called Master Luan's Cliff. In the fourth year of the Xinghe era of Eastern Wei, he died of illness at the mountain monastery of Pingyao, at the age of sixty-seven. On the day he approached his end, banners, flowers, streamers, and canopies shone high over the courtyard, fragrance billowed up, and music and chanting resounded loudly. All those who were at the monastery witnessed it together. When the matter was reported to the throne, an imperial decree ordered him to be buried at Wengu in Tailing, west of the Fen River. A brick stupa was constructed and a stele erected for him; both still survive today. Moreover, Luan's spiritual bearing was lofty and far-reaching, and his resourcefulness without limit. In conversation he did not pause to think, yet his actions accorded with circumstances. He regulated his mind, practiced breath control, and discerned causes according to illnesses. His fame filled the Wei capital, where he was taken as a model. He composed the Tiaogi lun (Treatise on Regulating the Breath); Wang Shao, the Director of the Palace Library, annotated it according to the text. He also composed the Twelve Gāthās of Praise to the Pure Land, continuing after the gāthās of Nāgārjuna. He also compiled the Anle ji (Collection of Peace and Joy) in two fascicles, among others, which circulated widely in the world. He still referred to himself as the Great Being Xuanjian of the Great Wei. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 6.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.6.25) - [Next: 6.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.6.27) - [Up: 6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.6) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.6.26) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.6.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.6.26) · Pramāṇa