[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) › 8.31 # 續高僧傳 8.31 續高僧傳 8.31 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [8.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8.31) 開皇十二年六月二十四日矣。俗年七十僧臘五十。又當終之日。澤州本寺講堂眾柱。及高座四脚。一時同陷。僉議以感通幽顯。勒碑。薛道衡製文。虞世基書。丁氏鐫之。時號為三絕。初遠同聽大乘可六七載。洞達深義神解更新。每於鄴京法集竪難罕敵。由此名冠遠近。異論所推既而勤業曉夕。用心大苦遂成勞疾。十五日內覺觀相續不得眠睡。氣上心痛狀如刀切。食弱形羸殆將欲絕。憶昔林慮巡歷名山見諸禪府備蒙傳法。遂學數息止心於境。剋意尋繹經于半月。便覺漸差少得眠息。方知對治之良驗也。因一夏學定。甚得靜樂身心怡悅。即以己證用問僧稠。稠云。此心住利根之境界也。若善調攝堪為觀行。遠每於講際至於定宗。未嘗不讚美禪那。槃桓累句。信慮求之可得也。自恨徇於眾務無暇調心。以為失耳。七夏在鄴創講十地。一舉榮問眾傾餘席。自是長在講肆。伏聽千餘。意存弘獎。隨講出疏。地持疏五卷。十地疏七卷。華嚴疏七卷。涅槃疏十卷。維摩勝鬘壽觀溫室等並勒為卷部。四字成句。綱目備舉。文旨允當罕用擬倫。又撰大乘義章十四卷。合二百四十九科分為五聚謂教法義法染淨雜也並陳綜義差。始近終遠。則佛法綱要。盡於此焉。學者定宗不可不知也。自遠之通法也。情趣慈心至於深文隱義。每丁寧頻復提撕其耳。唯恨學者受之不速。覽者聽之不盡。一無所惜也。是以自於齊朝至于關輔及畿外要荒。所流章疏五十餘卷。二千三百餘紙。紙別九百四十五言。四十年間曾無痾疹。傳持教導所在弘宣。並皆成誦在心。于今未絕。本住清化祖習涅槃。寺眾百餘。領徒者三十。並大唐之稱首也。而遠勇於法義慈於救生。戒乘不緩偏行拯溺。所得利養並供學徒。衣盋之外片無留惜。嘗製地持疏訖。夢登須彌山頂。四顧周望但唯海水。又見一佛像身色紫金在寶樹下。北首而臥體有塵埃。遠初則禮敬後以衣拂。周遍光淨。覺罷謂所撰文疏頗有順化之益故為此徵耳。又自說云。初作涅槃疏訖。未敢依講。發願乞相。夢見自手造素七佛八菩薩像。形並端峙還自繢飾。所畫既竟像皆次第起行。末後一像彩畫將了。旁有一人來從索筆。代遠成之。覺後思曰。此相有流末世之境也。乃廣開敷之信如夢矣。又未終一年。夢見淨影長竿自倒燈耀自滅。便至歲日所使淨人小兒二人。手放從良分處什物並為功德。又勅二時講前令大眾誦般若波羅蜜呪。限五十遍。以報四恩初不中怠。又傷學眾不能課力。每因講日。如此正義須臾不聞。識者以為達宿命也。及覺輕貶於房外香湯洗浴。即在外宿至曉入房。食粥倚床而臥。問曰早晚。答云今可卯時。乃曰。吾今覺冷氣至臍。去死可二三寸在。可除倚床。自跏其足。正身斂目不許扶侍。未言其卒驗方知化。香若栴檀久而歇滅。後乃臥之。手足柔軟身分並冷。唯頂上暖焉。有沙門智猛者。相人也。伏佩法教每蒙延及。故疏為行狀。擬學者所承。猛談說有偏機會稱善。振名東夏云。 > It was the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the twelfth year of the Kaihuang reign (592 CE), at the worldly age of seventy and a monastic age of fifty. On the day of his passing, the pillars of the lecture hall at his original temple in Zezhou, as well as the four legs of the high seat, all sank into the ground at the same moment. All agreed that this was a spiritual resonance bridging the unseen and visible realms. A stele was engraved: Xue Daoheng composed the text, Yu Shiji wrote the calligraphy, and a Mr. Ding carved it; at the time it was called the "Three Superlatives." Earlier, Huiyuan had attended lectures on the Mahāyāna with others for about six or seven years. Thoroughly mastering the profound doctrines, his inspired comprehension was renewed every day. Whenever difficulties were raised at the Dharma assemblies in the capital of Ye, he rarely met an equal; because of this, his fame led near and far, and he was esteemed by differing theoretical traditions. Thereafter, he applied himself diligently morning and night; putting extreme strain on his mind, he eventually contracted an illness caused by overexertion. For fifteen days, coarse and subtle mental activities succeeded one another uninterruptedly, preventing him from sleeping. Qi surged upward with heart pain sharp as a knife cut, his food intake dwindled, and his body grew so emaciated that he was on the verge of perishing. Remembering that in past years when traveling across the famous mountains of Linlü he had visited various dhyāna monasteries and had fully received the transmission of the Dharma, he then studied counting the breaths to quiet his mind on an object. With resolute intent, he pursued this for half a month, after which he felt a gradual improvement and was able to sleep and rest a little. Only then did he realize the efficacy of this curative remedy. Having studied concentration for one summer, he attained profound quietude and bliss, his body and mind filled with joy. He then took his own realization to inquire of Sengchou. Chou said: "This is the realm where the mind abides for those of sharp faculties. If you regulate and maintain it well, it is fit for the practice of contemplation." Whenever Huiyuan reached the topic of concentration in his lectures, he never failed to praise dhyāna, lingering over it for many sentences, \[saying\] that if sought with faith and mindfulness, it could be attained. He only lamented that he had been preoccupied with monastic duties and lacked leisure to train his mind, which he regarded as a loss. In his seventh summer \[retreat\] in Ye, he inaugurated lectures on the Daśabhūmika; with a single question on that auspicious occasion, the audience poured away from the other seats. From then on, he was permanently in the lecture hall, with over a thousand people bowing to listen. Intent on broadly encouraging \[students\], he produced commentaries along with his lectures: a five-fascicle commentary on the Bodhisattvabhūmi (Dichi lun), a seven-fascicle commentary on the Daśabhūmika, a seven-fascicle commentary on the Avataṃsaka, a ten-fascicle commentary on the Mahāparinirvāṇa, and commentaries on the Vimalakīrti, the Śrīmālā, the Amitāyus Contemplation, and the Wen shi \[sūtra\], all compiled into fascicles. Formulating phrases in four characters and presenting both outline and details, the doctrinal meaning of his texts was apt, with few equals. He also composed the Essay on the Meaning of the Mahāyāna (Dacheng yizhang) in fourteen fascicles, containing two hundred forty-nine topics divided into five gatherings: teaching, meaning, defilement, purity, and miscellaneous. Systematically outlining the distinctions among doctrines from proximate beginnings to ultimate conclusions, the essentials of the Buddha's Dharma were completely encompassed within it; students setting their doctrinal tenets must not fail to know it. When Huiyuan explained the Dharma, he was motivated by compassion; when coming to obscure texts and hidden meanings, he repeatedly and earnestly instructed them, tugging at their ears to get their attention. He regretted only that students did not receive it swiftly enough and readers did not hear it completely, begrudging nothing. Therefore, from the Qi dynasty down to the Guanzhong region and the outlying frontiers, the treatises and commentaries he circulated amounted to more than fifty fascicles and over two thousand three hundred sheets of paper, with nine hundred forty-five characters per sheet. In forty years he never suffered from illness. Transmitting and teaching everywhere, widely preaching, \[his disciples\] committed them all to memory, and even to this day it has not ceased. Originally residing at Qinghua Temple, he took the Mahāparinirvāṇa as his lineage's practice. The temple community exceeded one hundred, with thirty leading disciples, all recognized leaders under the Great Tang. Huiyuan was bold in doctrinal debate and compassionate in rescuing sentient beings; he was slack in neither precepts nor doctrine (yāna), focusing on saving the drowning. Whatever donations he received were entirely provided to his students, keeping nothing for himself except his robes and bowl. Once, after completing his commentary on the Bodhisattvabhūmi, he dreamed that he climbed to the top of Mount Sumeru and looked out in all four directions, seeing only ocean waters; he also saw an image of the Buddha, purple-gold in color, lying with its head to the north under a jeweled tree, with dust upon its body. Huiyuan first paid homage and then brushed it clean with his robes, so that it shone everywhere. Upon awakening, he thought that the commentary he had composed must bring considerable benefit to converting others, and thus this sign had appeared. He also said of himself: After first writing the commentary on the Mahāparinirvāṇa, he did not dare lecture on it based on his own authority; he made a vow praying for an omen, and dreamed that with his own hands he made plain statues of the seven Buddhas and eight bodhisattvas. Their forms were upright and majestic, and he painted and adorned them himself. When the painting was finished, the statues all stood up in sequence and walked. Just as the final statue was about to be finished with color, someone came from the side, asked him for the brush, and completed it on Huiyuan's behalf. Upon awakening, he reflected: "This omen signifies that \[the commentary\] will spread in the Latter Age." He then broadly expounded it, and it proved true to the dream. Furthermore, one year before his passing, he dreamed that the tall flagpole at Jingying Temple fell down on its own and the light of the lamp extinguished itself. Thereupon, on New Year's Day, he released his two young temple servants to become commoners, and distributed his belongings to generate merit. He also ordered that before the two daily lectures, the assembly should recite the Prajñāpāramitā mantra a full fifty times to repay the four debts of gratitude, never growing lax midway through. He also grieved that the students could not exert their strength; every lecture day, he lamented that such correct principles would in an instant be heard no more. Those who understood thought he had achieved knowledge of past lives. When feeling slightly indisposed, he bathed in fragrant water outside his room; he slept outside until dawn, and then entered the room. After eating gruel, he leaned against the couch and lay down. He asked what time it was, and was told it was about the hour of the rabbit (5:00–7:00 a.m.). He then said: "I now feel cold air reaching my navel; death is about two or three inches away. Remove the couch." He folded his legs in the lotus position, straightened his body, closed his eyes, and did not allow anyone to support him. Before one could say he had died, by testing it one knew he had transformed. A fragrance like sandalwood lingered long before fading. Only then did they lay him down. His hands and feet were soft and his body was cold, with only the crown of his head remaining warm. There was a śramaṇa named Zhimeng, a man of Xiangzhou; reverently receiving his teachings, he was constantly invited by him, and thus drafted an account of Huiyuan's conduct as a record for students to inherit. Zhimeng spoke with exceptional acuity, seizing every opportunity with skill, and made his name resound throughout the eastern lands. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 8.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8.30) - [Next: 8.32](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8.32) - [Up: 8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060~en-mt.8.31) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2060.8.31) · Pramāṇa