續高僧傳 25.142

25.142

Śramaṇa Fayun's secular surname was Deng, and he was a native of Changlin in Jingzhou. His demeanor and appearance were handsome and graceful, endowed with an excellence that stood out from the crowd. As for calendar-reckoning and the Five Phases, he penetrated their obscure subtleties. A transmission noted that of the two hidden stars of Chu, Yun was one of them. Later he met Dhyāna Master Zhikuang, who instructed him in the provisions for renouncing the world. He then shed worldly pleasures, shaved his head, and entered the path. Cultivating and studying the essentials of dhyāna, his aspiration delighted in quietude. Separately, to the northwest of Kaisheng, he established a sanctuary (bodhimaṇḍa), where he practiced meditative contemplation as usual, uninterrupted from dusk to dawn. He would frequently recite the dhāraṇī of the Seven Buddhas and other spells to bring deliverance and aid, and there was none that did not respond immediately. At the end of the Sui dynasty, when tigers were running rampant, he rubbed their heads and said, 'All under heaven is in turmoil and the common people are in anxiety. You may hide yourselves afar; do not bring loathing from others.' When the rebel leader of the eight encampments, Yang Daosheng, heard his renown, he welcomed him, settled him, and provided offerings. When Xiao Xian next established himself, he further paid reverent homage to him. The offerings [Yun] obtained were immediately placed into the two fields of compassion and reverence. Moreover, another sanctuary was separately established within the prefecture, named the Dragon Return Hermitage. Xian then inquired about his rise and fall, and Yun replied, 'This poor monk has meager virtue and cannot remain your good spiritual friend for long.' At the time, people could not fathom his words. Before long, Prince Gong of Zhao Commandery sailed upstream with naval troops; he too prostrated to Yun, and as his army went east, he took an image [of Yun] with him, leaving behind another portrait for Yun to regard with loving-kindness. This was truly what is meant by the moving resonance of moral virtue! Faithful men and women constantly made morning and evening offerings. When malevolent apparitions and demons saw him, they inevitably turned their hearts. The deities of local altars and shrines all took refuge and received the precepts. He passed away during the Wude era at the age of sixty. He was buried beside the stūpa of Dhyāna Master Zhikuang at Kaisheng Temple.