續高僧傳 8.22

8.22

Śramaṇa Fashang was surnamed Liu and was a native of Chaoge. At the age of five he entered school, mastering the texts in seven days. At six, following his uncle to a temple to watch the entertainments, his mind was not stirred by excitement; he only made obeisance to the Buddha and recited sūtras, his voice clear and extraordinary, so that the crowd rushed about in eagerness to watch and listen to him. Having reached the age of eight, he broadly examined the scriptures and treatises, largely exhausting their principles. At nine, obtaining the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, he opened and recited it, immediately giving rise to a renunciation of worldly life. At twelve, he underwent pravrajyā under Dhyāna Master Daoyao. He then traveled to the region of Xiang and soon returned to his home county of Ji. He also went to the Eastern Capital (Luoyang), actively pursuing the Way with diligent care, his spirit soaring and lofty, illuminating debates and discourses; wherever he went he was respected, all calling him a holy novice (śrāmaṇera). Later he withdrew to Linlü, ascending to Hushan Temple to recite the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra and the Lotus Sūtra; in barely two decades of days (twenty days), he had mastered both texts. Because of his recitation he sought their comprehension, and returned to Luoyang. With a broad penetration of the pure and profound, his renown was heard along the Yi and Fu rivers. Upon reaching the age of majority, he began lecturing on the Lotus Sūtra, responding to difficult objections so that all were filled with admiration. Skilled in dialectical inquiry and fond of precise examination, he overturned illegitimate premises and proclaimed victory and defeat. Yet his appearance was not handsome, so his contemporaries had a proverb: "If the black novice comes, disaster befalls the high seat." Later, encountering a time of scarcity when food and clothing were both lacking, he focused his mind entirely on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, unconcerned with hunger and cold. Thus he ate a single grain of rice supplemented with wild herbs, wore a single garment made with grass, and though his physical form was almost exhausted, his spirit advanced daily. He then went to Master Guang and received the full ordination. Possessing an inherent discipline from the past, he required no guidance from a teacher; diligently attending to the ultimate truth, he did not waste an inch of time. Suddenly hearing that his father was ill, he immediately went to visit him; having arrived, his father passed away. After staying for one night, he departed for Luoyang the next morning. Bringing his mother and elder sister, they were about to enter the capital of Ye. At that time, during a severe famine, there was no place to seek shelter; his resolve to hear the Dharma was so intense that he left them to turn south. In the summer he listened [to lectures] at Shaolin, and in the autumn returned to the banks of the Zhang. When mother and son met again, they could not help but weep. As his intellectual achievements became renowned, the assembly all presented requests; he then lectured on the Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna, the Bodhisattvabhūmi, the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, and other texts in successive cycles, composing written commentaries on them all. Moreover, he had an exceptional mastery of calculation and clearly understood management and administration; his regulation of Buddhist affairs was difficult to match. Thus his contemporaries said: "The pinnacle of expectations in the capital is Fashang of the Bodhimaṇḍa." This saying was indeed fitting. Approaching the age of forty, he traveled and taught in Huai and Wei. Gao Cheng, Generalissimo of Wei, memorialized that he be brought to Ye. As soon as the subtle teachings were sounded, the assemblies gathered like clouds. Shang's mountain of discipline towered loftily, and his ocean of wisdom was clear and deep; his virtue was worthy of serving as a model for men, and his dignity could inspire awe. Thus, through both the Wei and Qi dynasties, he repeatedly served as Monastic Superintendent. The Office of Buddhist Affairs (Zhaoxuan Cao) was solely in charge of the monastic registry, with an establishment of about fifty clerks, overseeing more than two million monks and nuns. Shang directed them for nearly forty years; monastics and laypeople were joyful, and the imperial court was pleased. Therefore, the monasteries in all four directions received his established customs, and the foundation of his veneration and protection was rarely equaled in subsequent times. Since the light of his Way shone far and wide, an imperial edict appointed him Preceptor of the Precepts. Emperor Wenxuan often spread his hair upon the ground and had Shang walk upon it. In the second year of Tianbao, an edict was again issued stating: "Looking up in reverence to his merciful brilliance that brings peace and tranquility to the four seas, in order to repay his virtue we rely upon the Right Enlightenment. All birds of prey and creatures that harm life should be released into the mountain forests; on this very site a precious pagoda shall be constructed for the Grand Empress Dowager, and the Falconers' Office (Yingshi Cao) shall be abolished to establish the Baode Temple." This was the shattering of heterodox mists and the clearing of the Buddha-ocean; its splendor at that time has been celebrated since ancient times. Shang carried this heavy responsibility and harmonized all things; propagating the teachings both within and without, both monastics and laity were content. Without this pillar and stone, who could be such a ridgepole and beam? Moreover, when his exemplary conduct was proclaimed, his exalted renown reached far and wide, leading Wang Gaode, the Grand Chancellor of the kingdom of Goguryeo, who deeply cherished the true Dharma and revered the Mahāyāna, to desire the spread of this Buddhist influence to the maritime corners of the world. However, he did not know the origins and development of the Buddhist teachings, nor the years, generations, and dynasties of its transmission from the West to the Eastern land. Therefore, he recorded a detailed list of inquiries and dispatched a monk to Ye to present questions on what he had not yet heard. The query briefly stated: "Since Śākyamuni Buddha entered nirvāṇa, how many years have passed until now? Moreover, how many years was it in Tianzhu before it reached the land of Han? Under which emperor and in what reign era did it first arrive? Furthermore, between Qi and Chen, who was first to receive the transmission of the Buddha's Dharma? From then until now, through how many years and emperors has it passed? We pray that you will write out full annotations from afar, and also ask about the transmission of doctrines and figures concerning the Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna, the Dazhidulun, and so forth." Shang briefly replied: "The Buddha was born in the twenty-fourth year (jiayin) of King Zhao of the Ji-Zhou dynasty. At nineteen he went forth into homelessness, and at thirty he attained the Way. This fell in the twenty-fourth year (guiwei) of King Mu. When King Mu heard that a transformed being had appeared in the west, he immediately went west and never returned; this serves as verification. He dwelt in the world for forty-nine years. From his parinirvāṇa until now, the seventh year of Wuping (bingshen) of the Qi dynasty, a total of 1,465 years have elapsed. In the tenth year of the Yongping era of Emperor Ming of the Later Han, the scriptures and Dharma first arrived, being transmitted and circulating through the Wei and Jin down to the present day." Shang replied in detail to the lineage and background, his text being extremely precise and conclusive; here I present only a brief outline to show what was transmitted. Later, he was imperially ordered to reside at Dingguo Temple in Xiangzhou. As his demeanor and virtue were prominent, the offerings inspired by him were manifold; with the worldly wealth he acquired, he constructed a mountain temple originally named Heshui, located in the Western Mountains of Ye, which is the present-day Xiuding Temple. At the very summit of the mountain, he built a Maitreya Hall, decorated by the assembly to the utmost magnificence, providing the four requisites of support for one hundred and fifty monks. When the Qi dynasty suppressed the Dharma and it was ruined, the monastics did not venture to the mountain temple; Shang privately concealed himself in secular clothes and pursued his religious practice as usual. He made a vow: "If I pass away, may I behold the Compassionate Honored One; if I have remaining years, may I see the prosperity of the Dharma and make one more obeisance to Maitreya Tathāgata." Because his religious practice was earnest and focused, he moved both the hidden and the manifest realms. As the Sui dynasty was about to rise, the sun of the Buddha emerged again; his longstanding wish was deeply fulfilled, and joy filled his heart. Emaciated and slightly unwell, he arranged a sedan chair to sit in; with his kāṣāya covering his head, his disciples lifted and carried him up to the mountain temple. Joining his palms, he made three prostrations and circumambulated thrice to the right; he then returned to the mountain dwelling and recited the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra and the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra. When the scroll came to an end, he passed away in his former chamber at Heshui on the eighteenth day of the seventh month in the second year of Daxiang of the Zhou dynasty, at the age of eighty-six. Shang's physical stature surpassed that of ordinary men, towering conspicuously above the crowd; in an assembly of hundreds of thousands, his neck stood out distinctly. His garments were simple and plain, making patched robes his primary attire; his five-strip robe and antarvāsa were consistently made of coarse cloth. Beyond his Dharma robes, water bottle, and bowl, he possessed no other property. Throughout his life he never rode in a vehicle, traveling entirely on foot until the end of his life. His disciples became masters, free to pursue their studies according to their own inclinations; he did not hoard his own expertise, nor did he use it exclusively to instruct others. He always spoke with a smile, and never applied a rod for offenses. Prior to Shang taking office, monastic demeanor and attire were mixed and undifferentiated; once he assumed administrative charge, he established distinct regulations and uniforms, causing the monastic and the secular to be distinguished from one another, which was due to Shang's merit. The regulation of monasteries and the establishment of purifications also originated with him. Thus, the broad opening of the gates of Śākya's lineage in the east, which fanned the pure breeze, had no predecessor equal to him. Earlier, during the Tianbao era, the state established ten monastic superintendents (tong); when the relevant officials memorialized that a distinction had to be made among them, Emperor Wenxuan personally inscribed on the document: "Dharmabhāṇaka Shang shall be the Grand Superintendent (Datong); the others shall be General Superintendents (Tongtong)." Thus the emperor treated him with reverence, serving him like a Buddha; whatever words he uttered were invariably adopted. Furthermore, he revered and observed the monastic prohibitions, wishing to proclaim them constantly and practice them for the rest of his life. Every morning on the poṣadha days, he prepared generous offerings to courteously invite the monks; even in his advanced age when his voice altered and he feared troubling the assembly, on the eve of the closing of the year he still followed this practice, such was the depth of his devotion. He compiled the Zengyi shufa (Numerical Dharma according to the Ekottarika) in forty fascicles, condensing all the doctrinal classifications of the various sūtras and treatises, starting from one dharma up to tens, hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands, like a forest of numbers; it was truly an indispensable guide for transmission and preservation. He also authored the Foxing lun (Treatise on Buddha Nature) in two fascicles and the Dacheng yizhang (Essays on the Meaning of the Mahāyāna) in six fascicles, whose literary style and principles were harmonious and thorough, renowned for their detail and conciseness. He also compiled the Zhongjing lu (Catalogue of All Sūtras) in one fascicle, embracing and categorizing their varieties; all of these circulate in the world. He had a disciple named Facun, who was originally a Daoist; upon observing the abolition of Daoism in the Tianbao era of Qi, he took refuge in the Śākya clan. Clear in his understanding of contemporary affairs, his divisions and outlines were well-founded. Shang then promoted him to be the Rector (duweina) of Heshui Temple. During the height of the Qi dynasty, the emperor visited the mountain temple three times each year to pay respects. When the imperial armies arrived, provisions were supplied from the monastic kitchen; Cun directed affairs in accordance with the circumstances, providing sustenance so that the three imperial palaces were all supplied. Later, he passed away in the early Sui. Dharmabhāṇaka Lingyu, who had inherited his learning, composed a biography for him.