續高僧傳 5.23

5.23

Shi Fayun had the lay surname Zhou. He was a native of Yangxian in Yixing, and was a seventh-generation descendant of General Who Pacifies the West of the Jin, [Zhou] Chu. His mother was of the Wu clan. When she gave birth to him among the grasses, she saw a cloud-mist fill the chamber; on account of this, she named him. At the age of seven, he entered the monastic life (pravrajyā) and changed his name to Fayun. Following his master, he resided at Zhuangyan Monastery as a disciple of Sengcheng, Xuanqu, and Baoliang. He was sharp, bright, outstanding, and preeminent in his generation. At the age of thirteen, he first began receiving instruction, and Sengzong of Dachang and Sengda of Zhuangyan praised him greatly. Baoliang often remarked, "My own spiritual brightness falls far short of his; in the future he will surely become a pillar of the great Dharma." During the Yongming reign of the Qi, when Sengrou was returning to the east, he initiated lectures at Daolin Monastery. Fayun sought resolutions to his doubts over consecutive days, speaking with stirring force, such that the assembly sighed in marvel. Because he was young and sat far off, it was difficult to hear his words; [Sengrou] ordered a small couch to be placed in front for him, so that they might fully engage in exchanges. Because of this, his fame became renowned. He was of equal age and ordination seniority to Sengmin of the same monastery, and they shared equal fame. He sought out numerous masters, studying both sūtras and treatises, traveling to listen through the four seasons without stopping for cold or heat. Either before or after a lecture, during the first watch or the final watch of the night, he would review the texts and their meanings. In moments of leisure while walking along the road, he would ponder their principles, often unaware that he had walked past his destination. Such was his diligence and devoted single-mindedness. He once observed Fadiao lecturing on treatises at Changle Monastery; upon coming out, he looked around and said, "In the imperial capital of the Son of Heaven of Zhendan, wealthy with officials in robes and caps, one should not lightly conduct the dignified deportment of movement and stillness. Previous masters have either had eloquence without doctrinal meaning, or doctrinal meaning without eloquence, or both eloquence and meaning but excessively lacked dignified deportment. Today, upon the Dharma seat, both have been lacking. This is entirely because his study was not proficient; he should not yet have been lecturing." When he reached thirty years of age, in the summer of the fourth year of Jianwu, he first expounded the two sūtras of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka and the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa at Miaoyin Monastery. He set forth the preface and core text, divided them by category, and arrayed the terms and classifications. Students gathered like an ocean, and the fourfold assembly filled the hall. All maintained that the principles were exhausted by his words, rendering the paper scrolls mere empty shells. When he took the seat of the questioner, he launched broad attacks and drew diverse analogies, his swift wit moving like a rushing gale and his adaptability falling like showering rain. Few who faced his spearhead did not submit in mind. Guests and host sighed in admiration, and his peers were delighted. People of that time called him the "Illusion-Making Dharmabhāṇaka." The subtlety of his scriptural lectures stood peerless in his day. The Central Secretariat Drafter Zhou Yong of the Qi, Wang Rong of Langya, Liu Hui of Pengcheng, Xu Xiaosi of Dongguan, and other notables of that generation all forged bonds of closest friendship with him. Xiaosi would say daily, "Seeing the brilliant flair of Master Yun, I look upon myself and feel lacking." Yet Fayun’s character was earnest and filial, toiling in serving his parents with pleasant countenance. When he observed the mourning period for his mother, he wasted away in grief far beyond the rites, going several days without eating, nearly succumbing to mourning. Sengmin said to him, "The sages established the rites so that the worthy bend to them and the unworthy strive to reach them. Moreover, 'wasting away without destroying one's nature' comes from the Confucian tradition itself. How much more so does the Buddha have consummate words: if one wishes to repay the debt of life, in the short term one constantly attends to their visage to bring them joy; in the long term one inspires bodhi to guide their spiritual consciousness. It is also said that the bonds of affection are great thieves that must not be indulged; if one indulges them, both oneself and one's loved ones fall into the evil destinies. Only the wise can skillfully regulate them by means of skillful methods (upāya), thereby conferring benefit upon both the living and the deceased, causing them to enter the good destinies. You should reflect on the distant truth to make it an accomplished crossing; how can you abandon yourself to emotions and resemble the vulgar and petty?" Fayun then curtailed his mournful feelings and took a little porridge. In the first year of Yongyuan, he accepted an invitation from Piling Commandery; monastics and laypeople emptied their homes to attend, and heterodox schools gathered. He promulgated and shook the air with his virtuous influence, spreading the teaching across the capital; those who were inspired came to take refuge, and officials and recluses recognized their return. When the Liang dynasty ascended, he was held in the highest reverence. In the second year of Tianjian, an imperial decree appointed him to regular summons to enter and leave the palaces, making him a vanguard in propagating the teachings and praising the progressive stages of benefit. Whenever the Emperor convened assemblies on doctrinal meaning, he never failed to decree that Fayun enter first before issuing imperial orders. At that time, eminent masters had each compiled commentaries on the Chengshi [lun], but Fayun compiled a synthesis of both sūtras and treatises, comprising forty sections in forty-two fascicles. After completing his examination of the work, an imperial decree ordered him to expound it three times at the monastery, widely inviting doctrinal scholars to fill the halls. Messengers of transmission were provided by imperial order, and carts, oxen, and official attendants were all amply supplied. By the seventh year, the Emperor had composed a commentary on the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, and the court dignitaries invited Fayun to lecture on it. He declined on the grounds of illness. The Emperor said, "Since I occupy today’s throne, and the master is a renowned virtue of the later generation, the circulation of the Dharma has no other resort; you must exert yourself to lecture on it." He then complied. Soon an imperial edict was issued revering him as an imperial family monk, with lavish provisions and stipends. He was appointed by imperial order as abbot of Guangzhai Monastery, where he established monastic regulations that became refined models for later generations. The Crown Prince paid close attention to both inner and outer learning, selecting and inviting ten monks into the Xuanpu. For two summer retreats, they did not stop at lecturing on sūtras, but also engaged in profound discussions beyond the text. Fayun presided as the chief, receiving preferential offerings and donations. From princes and marquises down to the eminent and wealthy, none did not revere him. As for auspicious ceremonies, mourning, congratulations, and condolences, he did not avoid cold or heat. People of that time considered him somewhat like an itinerant knight, yet every move he made was to propagate the Dharma, and he did not pay heed to such remarks. The Secretariat Drafter Fan Zhen of Shunyang composed the Shenmie lun (Treatise on the Annihilation of the Spirit). The officials did not comprehend its reasoning and presented it first to the throne. An imperial order was issued commanding Fayun to refute it and circulate the refutation among the court officials. Fayun then wrote letters to the court dignitaries to discuss it; although the literary styles varied, the doctrinal reasoning was coherent and comprehensive. He also wrote a letter to the Junior Tutor Shen Yue, saying: "His Majesty ordered me to answer the Shenmie lun, and I now present it to you. The spiritual consciousness is subtle and tranquil; it can be known, but cannot be expressed in words. Its meaning was not made clear even through Confucius, and its principle remained obscure even across the Duke of Zhou. When the consummate person's reflective wisdom coalesces, he takes the fundamental and inherits the Way. Responding to the spiritual capacity, he condescends with scrutiny, and the instructions given to the ministers are thorough and meticulous. Once the sacrifices of filial offerings are made manifest, King Jie conceives the longing of Zeng and Shi; when the discourse on the three times is expounded again, King Zhou is bound with the sentiments of Sadāprarudita. Unless one is a plant or tree, who would not sigh in grief? Let us together draw from this virtuous tradition and jointly magnify its praise." Yue replied: "That the spirit originally does not perish is something to which my mind deeply submits; the talk of the spirit's annihilation truly causes shock and terror. Recently, within the palace, Dharmabhāṇaka Yue also received a copy of the refutation granted by imperial order; I rejoiced, placed it on my head, and read through it, forgetting all fatigue. How could it merely subdue these external heterodoxies so that we might forever depart from the hosts of Māra? The simultaneous propagation of Confucius and Śākya rests entirely on this. It is truly an unalterable, magnificent principle, a vessel for a hundred generations. I have also examined that treatise and set forth my humble doubts; I shall present them fully at our next meeting." Toward the end of the Tianjian reign, wishing to repay the benevolence of his donors, Fayun built a monastery in Tongxia Lane in Moling County. An imperial decree stated that because it was constructed by the dharmabhāṇaka, it should retain the master's name; this was the West Mountain of Zhangang. As an inner-city land within the suburbs, it was truly elevated and clear. The building was erected against an isolated cliff, facing north toward the city, embracing a mountain stream and concealed in the hills, exhausting the delights of wilderness among humanity. Discussions and debates went on all day without pause. Toward the end of the Tianjian reign, the kingdom of Funan presented three sūtras; an imperial order commanded Fayun to translate them. He scrutinized and determined the Liang and Sanskrit versions; the principles were clear and the meaning distinct, as though received directly in person. The Emperor compiled various vaipulya sūtras, formulated the method for receiving the bodhisattva precepts, constructed an Equal Enlightenment Bodhimaṇḍa, and invited Master Huiyue of Caotang Monastery to serve as the Zhizhe (Wise One), personally receiving the great precepts to adorn himself. From then on, princes, court officials, monastics, and laymen throughout the capital—some with ordination seniorities greater than the Zhizhe—all submitted from afar and sought to receive the precepts. Fayun said, "The precepts are fundamentally one and were already received before. To receive them again now is truly unnecessary, as if pursuing mere fashion." He thus remained steadfast. The Emperor repeatedly encouraged him and offered explanations, to which he replied, "One must first make a vow; if it resonates, only then will I receive them." Wanting to awaken the bodhicitta among his relatives and associates, Fayun renounced all his surplus worldly gifts and petitioned to hold a great assembly of a thousand monks at the Guanghua Hall in the Hualin Garden, dividing these goods among five kinds of merit. The Emperor rejoiced in his merit, sounded the brahma music at the right hour, struck bells at dawn, and burned myriad blended incenses. Many performances were gathered, and spectators filled the city, none failing to praise him. In the sixth year of Putong, an imperial order appointed him as Great Rectifier of Monks (Dāsēngzhèng). A thousand-monk assembly was held at Tongtai Monastery, broadly assembling the temple administrators (karmadānas) and monks renowned for their learning and practice. Through karma ritual, he was appointed with the full insignia of office; the assembly witnessed what had never before been heard, gaining what was unprecedented. Thereafter, although he fell ill with the changing seasons, he never neglected his lecturing. Even when he had to be supported to ascend the seat, he ceased only when his condition worsened. When the Emperor visited Tongtai Monastery to inaugurate the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, an imperial decree allowed him to ride a carriage up to the hall and lean upon an armrest to listen to the lecture. When his father passed away, he became critically ill from mourning, reaching his final decline. On the first watch of the night on the twenty-seventh day of the third month of the third year of Datong, he died in his living quarters at the age of sixty-three. Both palaces grieved and wept bitterly for him. An imperial decree provided funeral utensils from the Eastern Park, and all funeral expenses were covered by the royal household. A decree ordered him buried beside Dinglin Monastery. Wang Yun of Langya, Equerry to the Crown Prince, composed the epitaph. His disciple Zhou Changyin and others, harboring the longing of nephew-disciples, created two stelae and erected them at the tomb site. Xiao Yi, Prince of Xiangdong, composed the texts for each of them. Earlier, during the years when Fayun gave up worldly ties, he possessed a refined love for scriptural study. He scrutinized and repeatedly reflected on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, thoroughly discerning its doctrinal principles and surveying it from beginning to end. He then went to a secluded crag to lecture on this scripture alone, setting up stones to act as people and using pine needles as a chowrie (cāmara). Chanting and expounding by himself, he mastered the difficult passages. Thus did his renown descend upon the Liang dynasty, his achievements truly famous. Yet his commentaries and subcommentaries were overlapping and intricate, which sometimes impeded the continuous flow of regular lectures and recitations. Once, when finishing a lecture on this scripture at a monastery, he suddenly moved heavenly flowers to fall like drifting snow; they filled the sky and drifted into the hall, rising into the air without falling, departing only when the lecture concluded. There was the divine monk Baozhi, whose Way transcended the mundane, and whose inner sentiments few could fathom. He and Fayun revered and loved each other, and Baozhi called him "Dharmabhāṇaka Dalin." Whenever he came to Fayun’s dwelling, he stayed for several nights. He once said, "I wish to understand the Lion's Roar; I ask the dharmabhāṇaka to explain it for me." Fayun dissected it for him, whereupon Baozhi snapped his fingers and praised him, saying, "Excellent! How subtle, how subtle!" Yuan Ang of Chen Commandery, Equal to the Three Excellencies, said that there was a monk he regularly supported who studied Fayun’s Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, making vows day and night hoping to attain wisdom and comprehension equal to his. He suddenly dreamed of an extraordinary monk who said, "Master Fayun had already lectured on this scripture in the era of the Buddha Dīpaṃkara; how could you match him so suddenly?" Whenever, during the course of his lectures, people gave money and goods requesting the recitation of the sūtras, many obtained spiritual responses and auspicious dreams, as recorded elsewhere. A fisherman in Yiling County found a roll of a scripture in his net; it was the "Chapter on the Four Dharmas of Nirvāṇa." At the end, an inscription read: "Respectfully produced in the second year of Yuanhui of the Song by Wang Baosheng and offered to Dharmabhāṇaka Fayun of Guangzhai Monastery." Checking the timeline, Fayun was then only ten years old; his fame was not yet widespread, nor was there yet a Guangzhai Monastery. Furthermore, the main text of this chapter first spoke of propagating the Dharma and next of cutting off fish and meat; examining his present intentions and conduct, they matched remarkably. In his spiritual mechanism and transformative power, none dared compete with his peers. When Fayun received this report, he propagated [the Dharma] even more deeply.