宋高僧傳 14.41

14.41

釋守直，字堅道，錢塘人也，姓范氏，齊信安太守瑝之八葉。禮既冠眾，君子器之。夙有丘園之期，不顧玄纁之錫。遂詣蘇州支硎寺圓大師所受具足律儀。是夜，眼中光現長一丈餘，持久方滅，蓋得戒之驗也。後抵江陵，依真公。三年練行。尋禮天下二百餘郡，聖跡所至，無不至焉。見無畏三藏，為受菩薩戒。聞普寂大師傳《楞伽》心印。講《起信宗論》二十餘遍；《南山律鈔》四十遍，平等一雨，大小雙機在乎圓音，未嘗少異。乃立願誦《華嚴經》，還於中宵夢神人施珠一顆。及覺，惘惘然如珠在握。是歲入五臺山，轉《華嚴經》二百遍，追夙心也。宏覽大藏經三過，廣正見也。至開元二十六年，有制舉高行，俗道請正名隷大林寺，後移籍天竺住靈隱峯，時大曆二年也。至五年三月，寓于龍興淨土院，謂左右曰：「夫至人乘如而來，乘如而去，示其心然也。而愚夫欲以長繩繫彼白日，安可得乎？吾景落桑榆，豈淹久也？」以其年此月二十九日告終，春秋七十一，僧臘四十五。其間臨壇度人多矣，顯名者洞庭辯秀、湖州皎然、惠普、道莊、會稽清江、清源、杭州擇隣、神偃、常州道進。晝公著塔銘云。

Śramaṇa Shouzhu, courtesy name Jiandao, was a native of Qiantang whose surname was Fan, an eighth-generation descendant of Fan Huang, Grand Protector of Xin'an under the Qi dynasty. His adherence to propriety excelled the multitude, and superior men valued his caliber. From early on, he had an aspiration for a life in the hills and gardens, paying no heed to the bestowals of dark and crimson silks of imperial summons. He then went to Master Yuan at Zhixing Temple in Suzhou to receive the full vinaya precepts. That night, a light appeared in his eyes more than ten cubits in length and was extinguished only after persisting for a long while; this was indeed a verification of his attaining the precepts. Later, he arrived in Jiangling and relied on Master Zhen, refining his practice for three years. Soon afterwards, he went on pilgrimage through more than two hundred commanderies across the realm; wherever there were sacred traces, there was nowhere he did not go. Meeting Tripiṭaka Master Wūwèi (Śubhakarasiṃha), he received the bodhisattva precepts from him. He heard Grand Master Puji transmit the mind-seal of the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra. He lectured on the Awakening of Faith more than twenty times and on the Nanshan lüchao forty times; like the single impartial rain, both large and small capacities were embraced in the perfect sound, without the slightest divergence. He then made a vow to chant the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, and in the middle of the night he dreamed of a divine being bestowing a single jewel upon him. Upon waking, in a daze, it felt as though the jewel were still in his grasp. That year, he entered Mount Wutai and intoned the Avataṃsaka-sūtra two hundred times, pursuing his long-held aspiration. He broadly surveyed the Tripiṭaka three times to expand his correct view. In the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan (738), there was an imperial decree recommending those of exalted practice; lay and clergy requested that his name be officially registered at Dalin Temple. Later, his registration was transferred to Tianzhu and he resided at Lingyin Peak; this was in the second year of Dali (767). In the third month of the fifth year (770), while staying at the Pure Land Cloister of Longxing Temple, he said to his attendants: "The consummate person comes by riding suchness and departs by riding suchness, showing forth the nature of his mind. How could a foolish person succeed in tying down the bright sun with a long rope? My sun is sinking behind the mulberry and elm; how could I linger for long?" On the twenty-ninth day of that month in that year, he passed away at the age of seventy-one, with a saṅgha age of forty-five. During his life, many were those he ordained upon ascending the platform; among the renowned were Bianxiu of Dongting, Jiaoran, Huipu, and Daozhuang of Huzhou, Qingjiang and Qingyuan of Kuaiji, Zelin and Shenyan of Hangzhou, and Daojin of Changzhou. Master Zhou (Jiaoran) composed his stūpa inscription.