宋高僧傳 13.19

13.19

釋桂琛，俗姓李氏，常山人也。甫作童兒，篤求遠俗，齋茹一餐，調息終日。秉心唯確，鄉黨所欽。二親愛縛而莫辭，群從情纏而難脫。既冠，繼踰城之武，求師得解虎之儔，乃事本府萬歲寺無相大師矣。初登戒地，例學毘尼，為眾升臺宣戒本畢，將知志大安拘之於小道乎？乃自誨曰：「持犯束身，非解脫也。依文作解，豈發聖乎？」於是誓訪南宗，程僅萬里。初謁雲居，後詣雪峯、玄沙兩會，參訊勤恪。良以嗣緣有在，得旨於宗一大師，明暗色空，廓然無惑。密行累載，處眾韜藏。雖夜光所潛，而寶器終異，遂為故漳牧太原王公誠請於閩城西石山建蓮宮而止。駐錫一紀有半，來往二百眾。琛以祕重妙法，罔輕示徒，有密學懇求者，時為開演。後龍溪為軍倅勤州太保瑯瑘公志請於羅漢院為眾宣法，諱讓不獲，遂開方便。不數載，南北參徒喪疑而往者，不可殫數。有角立者，撫州曹山文益、江州東禪休復，咸傳琛旨，各為一方法眼，視其子則知其父矣。以天成三年戊子秋，復屆閩城舊止，遍翫近城梵宇。已俄示疾數日，安坐告終，春秋六十有二，僧臘四十。遺戒勿遵俗禮而棺而墓。於是茶毘於城西院之東崗，收其舍利，建塔于院之西，稟遺教也，則清泰二年十二月望日也。琛得法密付授，耳時神晏大師，王氏所重，以言事脅令捨玄沙嗣雪峯，確乎不拔，終為晏讒而凌轥，惜哉！

Shi Guichen's secular surname was Li, and he was a native of Changshan. As soon as he became a young child, he earnestly sought to depart from the mundane, eating only one vegetarian meal a day and regulating his breath all day long. His resolve was singularly firm, earning the respect of his local community. His parents were bound by affection and could not let him go, while his kin were entangled in sentiment and found it hard to part. Once he reached capping age (twenty), he followed in the footsteps of the Prince leaping over the city walls; seeking a master, he found an equal to the tiger-tamer, serving Grand Master Wuxiang of Wansui Temple in his home prefecture. Upon first ascending the precept platform, he routinely studied the vinaya; after he climbed the dais to proclaim the prātimokṣa for the assembly, could one of great aspiration be confined to a minor path? He then admonished himself, saying, "Restraining the body through precepts on keeping and breaking is not liberation. Fabricating interpretations based on the letter—how could that awaken sagehood?" Thereupon, he vowed to seek out the Southern School, traveling nearly ten thousand li. First he called upon Yunju, and later visited the two assemblies of Xuefeng and Xuansha, inquiring with diligence and reverence. Truly, because the conditions for inheritance lay there, he received the core teaching from Grand Master Zongyi; regarding dark and light, form and emptiness, he became open and free of doubt. He practiced covertly for many years, concealing his talents within the assembly. Although the night-glowing jewel was hidden, a precious vessel is ultimately distinctive. Thus, he was earnestly invited by the former governor of Zhangzhou, Lord Wang of Taiyuan, to reside at a lotus palace constructed at Mount Shishan west of the city of Min. He stayed for eighteen years, with two hundred monks coming and going. Because Chen held the wondrous Dharma in secret veneration, he would not casually display it to his followers; whenever there were sincere aspirants who earnestly pleaded, he would expound it for them. Later, Lord Langya, Grand Protector of Qinzhou who served as military adjunct of Longxi, earnestly invited him to proclaim the Dharma for the assembly at Luohan Cloister; unable to decline, he opened his expedient means. Within a few years, the itinerant students from north and south who resolved their doubts and departed were beyond count. Among those who stood out prominently, Wenyi of Mount Cao in Fuzhou and Xiufu of Dongchan in Jiangzhou both transmitted Chen's core teaching, each becoming the Dharma-eye of a region: by looking at the son, one knows the father. In the autumn of the wuzi year, the third year of Tiancheng (928 CE), he returned to his former residence in the city of Min, visiting and admiring the Buddhist monasteries near the city. Soon he manifested illness for a few days, sat peacefully, and announced his demise, at the age of sixty-two, with a saṅgha age of forty. In his testament, he gave instructions not to follow secular rites with a wooden coffin and grave. Thereupon, he was cremated on the eastern ridge of the cloister west of the city; his relics were gathered, and a pagoda was erected to the west of the cloister in accordance with his bequeathed instructions, on the fifteenth day of the twelfth month of the second year of Qingtai (936 CE). Chen had received the Dharma through a secret transmission in person; at that time, Grand Master Shenyan, who was honored by the Wang clan, threatened him with matters of state to abandon Xuansha and succeed Xuefeng, but Chen remained utterly unyielding. In the end, he was slandered and trampled upon by Yan—how lamentable!