宋高僧傳 10.12

10.12

釋道通，姓何氏，廬江人。其為童也，持重寡辭，見佛形像，必對禮嘆咏不捨。因父宦于泉州南安，便求捨丱披緇。誦經合格，勅度之，當天寶初載也。時道一禪師肇化建陽，佛跡巖聚徒，通往焉。一師於臨川南康龔公山，亦影隨而去。然誓遊方吳、越之間，台、明山谷，靡不登陟。迨乎迴錫江西泐潭山門，勵心僧務，不憚勤苦。貞元二年往南嶽，見石頭禪師，猶采縷加朱藍之色也。四年，大寂禪師垂欲歸化，昌言曰：「夫玉石潤山秀利，益汝道業，遇可居之。」通聞此言，且同隱讖，殊不詳練。其年秋與伏牛山自在禪師同遊京、洛，迴至唐州西。有山峯孤林密，四絕人煙，實有塵外之趣。乃問鄉人，云此山是紫玉山。通方憶大寂之懸記，「我合居是峯也。」乃陟崔嵬，見山脊有石方正，其色紫玉瑩然，嘆曰：「號紫玉者，合其稱也。先師之言，非虛記也。」挂錫解囊，參學之徒霧集。始則誅茅構舍，刺史李道古作意為建禪宮焉。元和八年，弟子金藏出參禮百丈山海禪師，迴見通。通愀然作色：「汝其來矣，此山有主也。」曳杖徑去，襄州道俗皆迎。至七月十五日，無疾而終，春秋八十三。一云故相國于頔最所歸心，尚書李翱禮重焉。

Śramaṇa Daotong, whose lay surname was He, was a native of Lujiang. When he was a child, he was grave and spoke little; whenever he saw a Buddha image, he unfailingly made obeisance, praising and chanting without wanting to leave. Because his father held an official post in Nan'an in Quanzhou, he asked to abandon his childhood topknots and don the black robes. Passing the test in chanting the scriptures, he was ordained by imperial decree; this was in the beginning of the Tianbao reign era (742). At that time, Chan Master Daoyi had begun converting beings in Jianyang and gathering disciples at Fotiyan; Tong went there. When Master Yi moved to Mount Gonggong in Linchuan and Nankang, Tong followed him like a shadow. Yet he vowed to travel throughout the regions of Wu and Yue, climbing every valley of Tiantai and Mingzhou. When he turned his staff back to the gate of Letan Monastery in Jiangxi, he applied his mind to saṅgha duties without shunning toil or hardship. In the second year of the Zhenyuan reign era (786), he went to the Southern Peak and met Chan Master Shitou, which was like adding vermilion and indigo dye to gathered threads. In the fourth year (788), when Chan Master Daji was about to pass away, he declared openly: "Jade and stone enrich the mountains, bringing elegance and benefit; it will benefit your work in the Way, and when you encounter such a place you may dwell there." Hearing these words, Tong took them as a hidden prophecy, but did not understand them in detail. In the autumn of that year, he traveled together with Chan Master Zizai of Mount Funiu to the capitals Chang'an and Luoyang, and on their return arrived west of Tangzhou. There was a mountain whose solitary peak had dense woods, completely cut off from human habitation, possessing a truly other-worldly atmosphere. He asked the locals, who said this mountain was Mount Ziyu (Purple Jade). Tong only then remembered Daji's prediction: "I am destined to dwell on this peak." He then climbed the steep heights and saw on the ridge a square stone, its color lustrous like purple jade; he sighed and said, "To be called Purple Jade truly matches its name! My late master's words were no false prediction." He hung his staff and unpacked his bag, and students gathered like clouds. At first he cleared thatch and built a dwelling; later, Prefect Li Daogu took it upon himself to build a Chan monastery for him. In the eighth year of the Yuanhe reign era (813), his disciple Jinzang went out to pay homage to Chan Master Baizhang Huaihai and returned to see Tong. Tong said with a solemn countenance, "You have indeed come; this mountain now has its master." Trailing his staff, he directly departed, and the clergy and laity of Xiangzhou all welcomed him. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, he died without illness at the age of eighty-three. Another account says that the late Chancellor Yu Di took refuge in him above all others, and Minister Li Ao deeply revered him.