宋高僧傳 16.13

16.13

釋慧琳，字抱玉，俗姓柯，新安人也。丱齡受業于靈隱西峯，為金和尚弟子，所傳法要，斷無重問。大曆初，受具足戒於靈山會，習學三教，一領無遺。不樂聲華，止好泉石，一入天眼二十餘年。天眼即天目也，其山高三千丈，周圍三百里，與天柱、廬阜等相儔匹。上有二湖，謂為左右目，登涉艱阻，數日乃到巔頂。多蛟龍，池潭三所。最上池，人不可近，氣臭逆人，不可久視。或說山神作白鹿形，每五月與震澤龍會，必暴風雨焉。琳居此，率多妖異，而心不撓。元和丁亥，太守禮部員外城南杜陟請出永福寺登壇。至己丑歲春，刺史兵部郎中裴常棣召臨天竺寺壇。度人畢，歸寺講訓生徒，向二十載。郡守左司郎中陸則、刑部侍郎楊憑、給事中盧元輔、中書舍人白居易、太府卿李幼公、刑部郎中崔鄯、刑部郎中路異相繼九邦伯，皆以公退至院，致禮稽問佛法宗意，染指性相。此諸名公簪組上流，辭學高度，或號毘曇孔子，或名勝力菩薩，非琳何以感動哉？太和六年四月二十五日示滅，享壽八十有三，法臘六十四。以其年五月十二日葬于今永安寺西山之陽，碼碯坡之左，石塔巋然存矣。

Shi Huilin, courtesy name Baoyu, was secularly surnamed Ke and was a native of Xin'an. In his youth, he received instruction at the Western Peak of Lingyin as a disciple of Master Jin; regarding the Dharma essentials transmitted to him, he never asked a second time. Early in the Dali era, he received the full precepts at the Lingshan assembly; he studied the three teachings, mastering all of them without omission. Taking no pleasure in fame or worldly splendor, he was fond only of springs and rocks; once entering Tianyan, he stayed for more than twenty years. Tianyan is Tianmu: the mountain is thirty thousand feet high and three hundred li around, rivaling Tianzhu and Mount Lu. Atop it are two lakes called the Left and Right Eyes; climbing and ascending are perilous and difficult, taking several days to reach the summit. There are many flood dragons and three ponds. As for the highest pond, people cannot approach it; its noxious vapor revolts people, and one cannot gaze at it for long. Some say the mountain spirit takes the form of a white deer, and whenever it meets with the dragon of Lake Zhenze in the fifth month, there is bound to be a violent storm. While Huilin dwelt here, eerie portents were frequent, yet his mind was undaunted. In the dinghai year of the Yuanhe era, Du Zhi of Chengnan, Vice Director in the Ministry of Rites serving as prefect, invited him to leave the mountain, come to Yongfu Temple, and ascend the ordination platform. By the spring of the yichou year, Pei Changdi, Bureau Director in the Ministry of War serving as governor, summoned him to preside over the platform at Tianzhu Temple. Having finished ordaining people, he returned to the temple to lecture and train students for nearly twenty years. Prefect Lu Ze (Bureau Director of the Left Bureau), Vice Minister of Justice Yang Ping, Supervising Secretary Lu Yuanfu, Secretariat Drafter Bai Juyi, Director of the Court of the National Granaries Li Yougong, Bureau Director in the Ministry of Justice Cui Shan, and Bureau Director in the Ministry of Justice Lu Yi—successively nine prefects—all visited his courtyard when off duty, paying their respects, inquiring into the principal tenets of the Buddha's Dharma, and dipping into the natures and characteristics [of phenomena]. These illustrious gentlemen were eminent figures of the official elite, of exalted literary learning, sometimes called the 'Confucius of Abhidharma' or named 'Bodhisattva of Superior Strength'; had it not been for Huilin, how could they have been so moved? On the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month of the sixth year of the Taihe era, he manifested extinction, enjoying a lifespan of eighty-three and a dharma age of sixty-four. On the twelfth day of the fifth month of that year, he was buried on the south of the western mountain of what is now Yong'an Temple, to the left of Agate Slope; his stone stupa remains standing lofty and towering.