宋高僧傳 14.43

14.43

釋嚴峻，姓樊氏，濰州人也。父任硤州長史、昭王府司馬。峻性地夷然，學習明利。年及十九，應進士舉。倏罹荼蓼，思報劬勞，投南陽佛寺。後抵荊州玉泉山蘭若，遇真禪師，示其禪觀，入城泊大雲寺。峻秉持戒印，用之不刓；憑附浮囊，渡之攸往。眾請臨壇，復舉律之宗主，僶俛承命。忽逢觀淨禪師，頓明心法。大曆元年，思往清涼山，未達廬陵，見顏魯公，一言相契，膠漆如也。二年春，宜春太守俾僧正馳疏請召。四年春，洪州刺史李華員外延入大明寺住止。三月中，俄命沐浴換衣，舉望空虛，合掌而逝，春秋五十九。遷塔，弟子圓約等於寺前大泉池立碑存焉。

Śramaṇa Yanjun, surname Fan, was a native of Weizhou. His father served as Administrative Assistant of Xiazhou and Marshal of the Prince of Zhao's Princely Mansion. Jun's natural disposition was placid, and his studies were bright and sharp. When he reached nineteen, he sat for the jinshi examination. Suddenly he met with parental bereavement; yearning to repay his parents' toil, he betook himself to a Buddhist temple in Nanyang. Later, he arrived at the hermitage of Mount Yuquan in Jingzhou, where he encountered Chan Master Zhen, who instructed him in Chan contemplation; he then entered the city and lodged at Dayun Temple. Jun held fast to the seal of the precepts, never wearing it down; relying on it as a floating buoy, he crossed wherever he went. The assembly invited him to ascend the platform, and furthermore recommended him as leader of the vinaya lineage, which he reluctantly accepted. Suddenly encountering Chan Master Guanjing, he instantly understood the mind Dharma. In the first year of Dali (766), he thought of going to Mount Qingliang; before reaching Luling, he met Duke Yan of Lu (Yan Zhenqing), and with a single word they harmonized, becoming as close as glue and lacquer. In the spring of the second year (767), the Grand Protector of Yichun had the Rectifier of the Saṅgha dispatch a letter to invite him. In the spring of the fourth year (769), Li Hua, Vice Director and Prefect of Hongzhou, invited him to reside at Daming Temple. In the middle of the third month, he suddenly ordered a bath and change of clothing, gazed up into empty space, and passed away with palms joined, at the age of fifty-nine. When his stūpa was moved, his disciple Yuanyue and others erected a stele beside the Great Spring Pool in front of the temple, which remains preserved.