宋高僧傳 10.10

10.10

釋靈坦，姓武氏，太原文水人也。則天太后姪孫。父諱宣，洛陽縣令。母夏侯氏，初妊坦也，夢神僧授與寶鑑，表裏瑩然，且曰：「吾以此寄汝，善保護之。」及誕，親無所苦。年甫七歲，誦習畢通，應童子舉。十三從宦，旋升太子通事舍人。如是悅學不休，三教之書彌增洞達。然而恒嗟朽宅，誓入空門，已備大乘之資糧，終到涅槃之境域。于時洛都盛化荷澤寺神會禪師也，方遮普寂之光，漸沒秀師之道，坦往參焉。會施善誘，頓見其心，默而許之，容其執侍。父母不能迴其意。飛颺莫繫，始末研磨，得破疑滯。天寶初載，召坦曰：「吾有一句，是祖祖相傳至曹溪，曹溪付吾，汝諦受之。吾當有留難。」遂辭遊方焉。未幾果勅移會于弋陽。坦遂向廬州浮槎寺，覽大藏經。後聞忠國師自南陽詔入，於大曆五年禮覲之。八年，欲出關，忠奏曰：「此人是貧道同門，俱神會弟子。」勅賜號曰大悲，兼齎墨勅。行化至梁園，時相國田公神功供養。邐迤適維揚六合，方嘆大法凌夷，忽聞空中聲云：「開心地。」即見菩薩如文殊像曰：「與汝印驗。」令舉項以掌按之，尋觀有四指赤痕，其印跡恒現。又止潤州江中金山，今澤心也。其山北面有一龍穴，常吐毒氣如雲，有近者多病或斃。坦居之，毒雲滅迹。又於江陰定山結庵，俄聞有讚歎之聲。視之，則白龜二，坦為受歸戒。又見二大白蛇，身長數丈，亦為受戒懺悔。如是却往吳興林山造一蘭若，有三丈夫衣金紫，趨步徐正，稱嘆道場唯善，村落之民多棄罟網。元和五年，相國李公鄘之理廣陵也，以峻法操下，剛決少恩，一見坦，鄭重加禮，召居華林寺。寺內有大將軍張遼墓，寺僧多為鬼物惑亂。坦居，愀然無眹矣。又揚州人多患山妖木怪之所熒惑，坦皆遏禦焉。人爭歸信。至十年，忽見二胡人稱自龜茲國來，彼無至教，遠請和尚敷演。十一年五月十三日，於荷澤忌齋，告眾：「吾赴遠請。七月示疾，九月將滅，斯預告也。」至季秋八日，果寂爾而終。遷塔于揚州西馴翟坊之南岡，越州掾鄭詹建塔。報齡一百八歲，僧臘八十四焉。坦即曹溪之孫，荷澤之子也。

Śramaṇa Lingtan, whose lay surname was Wu, was a native of Wenshui in Taiyuan. He was a grand-nephew of Empress Zetian. His father was named Xuan and served as the magistrate of Luoyang County. His mother, of the Xiahou clan, when first pregnant with Tan, dreamed that a divine monk gave her a precious mirror, gleaming both inside and out, who said, "I entrust this to you; protect it well." When he was born, his mother suffered no pain. When barely seven years old, he had mastered all his reading and took the examination for child prodigies. At thirteen he entered official service, soon being promoted to Assistant in the Crown Prince's Office of Transmission. Thus he took unending delight in study, gaining an even deeper and thorough understanding of the books of the three teachings. Yet he constantly lamented the burning house and vowed to enter the gate of emptiness, having already prepared the provisions for the Mahāyāna, ultimately to reach the realm of nirvāṇa. At that time, Chan Master Shenhui of Heze Temple was spreading his teachings widely in the capital Luoyang, overshadowing the light of Puji and gradually superseding the way of Master Xiu; Tan went to consult him. Shenhui guided him skillfully, and Tan instantly perceived his own mind. Shenhui tacitly approved him and permitted him to attend upon him. Tan's parents could not change his mind. Flying free without restraint, he refined himself from beginning to end and was able to shatter his doubts and blockages. In the beginning of the Tianbao reign era (742), Shenhui called Tan and said, "I have a phrase, passed down from patriarch to patriarch to Caoxi; Caoxi entrusted it to me, and you must accept it attentively. I am about to encounter trouble." Tan then took his leave and traveled about. Not long after, an imperial decree indeed banished Shenhui to Yiyang. Tan then went to Fucha Temple in Luzhou to read through the Tripiṭaka. Later, hearing that National Preceptor Zhong had been summoned from Nanyang to the court, Tan paid homage to him in the fifth year of the Dali reign era (770). In the eighth year (773), when Tan wished to depart the passes, Zhong memorialized the throne: "This person is a fellow disciple of this poor monk, both being disciples of Shenhui." The Emperor bestowed the title "Dabei" (Great Compassion), together with an imperial handwritten decree. Traveling to convert beings, he reached Liangyuan, where Chancellor Duke Tian Shenggong made offerings to him. Continuing on his way, he reached Liuhe in Weiyang. Just as he was lamenting the decline of the Great Dharma, he suddenly heard a voice in the sky say: "Open the mind-ground." Then he saw a bodhisattva resembling the image of Mañjuśrī say, "I bestow upon you a verifying mark," and told him to raise his neck and pressed his palm against it; upon inspection, there were red marks of four fingers, and the imprint remained permanently visible. He also stayed at Mount Jin in the middle of the river in Runzhou, now known as Zexin. On the north face of the mountain was a dragon's cave that constantly spewed poisonous vapor like clouds; those who approached it mostly fell ill or died. Tan dwelt there, and the poisonous clouds vanished without a trace. He also built a hut on Mount Ding in Jiangyin; suddenly he heard the sound of praise. Looking, he saw two white turtles; Tan administered the refuge precepts to them. He also saw two great white serpents, several rods in length, and likewise administered the precepts to them and had them repent. He then went to Mount Lin in Wuxing to build an aranya; three gentlemen dressed in gold and purple walked up slowly and formally, praising the sanctuary as supremely good, and the village folk mostly cast aside their fishing nets. In the fifth year of the Yuanhe reign era (810), when Chancellor Duke Li Yong governed Guangling, he commanded his subordinates with severe laws and was stern, decisive, and lacking in mercy; yet upon seeing Tan, he treated him with great gravity and respect and invited him to dwell at Hualin Temple. Within the temple was the tomb of General Zhang Liao, and the monks of the temple were often bewitched and disturbed by ghosts. When Tan dwelt there, they vanished completely without a trace. Moreover, the people of Yangzhou were often troubled and deluded by mountain demons and tree monsters; Tan suppressed them all, and the people vied to take refuge in him with faith. In the tenth year (815), he suddenly saw two foreigners claiming to have come from the Kingdom of Kucha, stating that their land lacked the ultimate teaching and respectfully asking from afar that the Venerable Monk expound it. On the thirteenth day of the fifth month of the eleventh year (816), at the memorial vegetarian feast for Heze, he announced to the assembly: "I shall answer a distant invitation. In the seventh month I shall show illness, and in the ninth month I shall pass away; this is a forewarning." On the eighth day of the last month of autumn, he indeed passed away peacefully. His stūpa was moved to the south ridge of Xundizhai Ward to the west of Yangzhou; Zheng Zhan, assistant magistrate of Yuezhou, erected the stūpa. His reported age was one hundred and eight, and his saṅgha age was eighty-four. Tan was indeed a grandson of Caoxi and a son of Heze.