宋高僧傳 21.13

21.13

釋常遇，俗姓陰，范陽人也，出家於燕北安集寺。襟懷灑落，道貌清奇，晦跡林泉，避脫聲利。大中四年，杖錫離燕，孤征朔雪，祁冱千里，徑涉五峯，詣華嚴寺菩薩堂，矚文殊睟容，施右手中指，沃以香膏，爇以星焰，光騰半日，怡顏宛然。次遍遊聖境，終始兩朞，其所覩祥瑞，不可勝紀。後至西臺，遇古聖跡曰祕魔巖，乃文殊降龍之處也。遇稽首之際，忽見輕雲金光，爛爛駭目，漸分雉堞，方勢如城——咸曰「金色世界」也。化事畢，復問其處，僧曰：「是地古德甞止，國贈金光照大師，名節孤峻，神異不測，載錄圖記，人具爾瞻。」遇悲喜交感，久而不已，始結茅茲地，滌慮澄神，入三摩呬多四十九日，鳥排華雨，人萃香雲，揚袂摳衣，歸依若市。乃剏興佛廟僧宇，十有七年不下山頂。日以《九會雜華》、《五部》等法，翫味精課，不遺寸陰。覺聖力潛通，道出凡境，事或禮問，他見莫尋。士嚮庶歸，克念如聖。洎懿皇運末，遇易舊規，或拊掌大咍，或擊石異語，類不輕之海記，同楚客之佯狂。及禍發中原，寇盜交騁，夷撤宮壼，鑾輅蒙塵，因省師言，其若合契矣。時屬河東武皇遙嚮真德，就山致信。迨文德元年夏四月，命憲州刺史馬師素傳意邀請，遇曰：「浮世之寵辱，我何累哉？」堅拒遠徵，確乎不拔。以其年七月十八日，召門弟子曰：「爾可檢護戒足，好住餘生，吾與汝決矣。」言訖，儼然蟬蛻，俗歲七十二，僧夏五十一。門人太文等哀慟哽絕。龍紀初祀四月十八日闍維，獲設利羅凡數十粒。文公堅貯孝思，旌建靈塔，銜哀出入，投詣天府。武皇賵贈加等，文武崇烈，及嵐、憲等州牧守，例刻清俸，俾助良因，建乎墳塔。即以九月二十五日封窆基𡑞也。

Shi Changyu, whose secular surname was Yin, was a native of Fanyang and took the tonsure at Anji Temple in Yanbei. His character was detached and easy, his religious demeanour pure and extraordinary; he hid his traces among forests and springs, avoiding and escaping worldly fame and profit. In the fourth year of the Dazhong era, staff in hand, he left Yan, journeying alone through the northern snows across a thousand leagues of freezing cold. He proceeded straight across the Five Peaks and came to the Bodhisattva Hall of Huayan Temple. Beholding Mañjuśrī's serene countenance, he offered up the middle finger of his right hand, pouring fragrant balm over it and igniting it with a spark; its radiance surged for half a day, yet his joyful expression remained unchanged. Next he wandered throughout the sacred precincts for two full years; the auspicious omens he witnessed were too numerous to record. Later he reached the Western Terrace and came upon the ancient sacred site named Bimo Rock, which was the place where Mañjuśrī had subdued a dragon. Just as Yu was bowing down in reverence, he suddenly saw light clouds and golden radiance dazzling his eyes, gradually taking the shape of battlements and squaring off like a fortress—everyone called it the 'Golden World.' After this apparitional event ceased, he inquired again about the place, and a monk told him: 'An ancient worthy once stayed in this land, upon whom the state bestowed the posthumous title Grand Master Jin Guangzhao ('Golden Light Illuminating'). His high integrity was exceptional and aloof, his divine marvels unfathomable; recorded in charts and chronicles, he was revered by all.' Yu was overcome by both sorrow and joy for a long time without ceasing. He thereupon built a thatched hut in this place, cleansed his mind, cleared his spirit, and entered samāhita for forty-nine days. Birds dropped rains of flowers, people gathered like fragrant clouds, raising their sleeves and lifting their garments, taking refuge as in a crowded market. He then founded a Buddhist temple and monastic dwellings, and for seventeen years did not descend from the mountain peak. Daily he deeply savoured and meticulously studied such teachings as the Nine Assemblies of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and the five divisions of the vinaya, not wasting an inch of daylight. He felt the secret resonance of the power of the sages; his realization transcended the ordinary realm. When people inquired about affairs or paid him homage, he revealed insights that others could never fathom. Scholars turned to him and commoners sought refuge in him, holding him in mindful reverence as a sage. Toward the end of the reign of Emperor Yizong, Yu altered his previous demeanour: at times clapping his hands and laughing uproariously, at times striking stones while uttering strange phrases, resembling the Sea Records of Sadāparibhūta, and akin to the feigned madness of the man of Chu. When disaster broke out in the Central Plains and bands of bandits rode about unchecked, razing the imperial palaces and driving the imperial carriage into exile, people reflected on the master's words and found they tallied perfectly. At that time, Martial Emperor of Hedong [Li Keyong] looked up with reverence to his true virtue from afar and sent letters to the mountain. By the fourth month in the summer of the first year of the Wende era, he ordered Ma Shisu, the Prefect of Xianzhou, to convey his wish to invite him. Yu said: 'The favor and disgrace of this floating world—how could they burden me?' He firmly refused the summons from afar, steadfast and unyielding. On the eighteenth day of the seventh month of that year, he summoned his disciples and said: 'You must guard and preserve the foundation of the precepts, and live well for the rest of your lives; I am parting from you.' Having spoken, he peacefully underwent his metamorphosis like a cicada shedding its shell, at the secular age of seventy-two and a monastic age of fifty-one. His disciple Taiwen and others wailed in grief, choking with tears. On the eighteenth day of the fourth month in the first year of the Longji era, they performed the jhānita (cremation) and obtained several tens of grains of śarīra. Master Wen firmly held to his filial devotion, erecting an efficacious stūpa; full of grief, he travelled to and fro and appealed to the imperial government. The Martial Emperor granted additional levels of posthumous gifts, and the civil and military ministers, as well as the governors of prefectures such as Lan and Xian, all donated from their stipends to aid this meritorious cause and build the sepulchral stūpa. On the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, his tumulus was sealed.