[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [宋高僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061) › 22.31 # 宋高僧傳 22.31 宋高僧傳 22.31 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [22.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.22.31) 釋法圓，俗姓郝，真定元氏人也。宿殖之緣，出塵無滯。後唐長興二年，投本府觀音院。勤勤誦習，師與落髮，間歲受滿足戒。後策杖負囊，巡禮諸方。至韶山挂錫，看大藏經焉。晉開運三載，却來本生地，寓天王院。越來年，契丹犯闕，戎王耶律德光迴至常山欒城而死。永康王兀谷代為蕃國之主，時旋軍自鎮州董戎北返，留酋長麻答、耶律解里守于下京——即常山也——晉之臣寮兵士盡在斯矣。漢兒將帥謀逐醜虜，其計未決，兩分街巷，漢人在蕃之中者，蕃人先發，無少長皆被屠戮之。天王院八僧殊死，圓預其數也——其時見殺者尤眾。初圓引頸兩受刃，如擊木石然，圓呼曰：「猛乞一劍。」遂身首異處。至暮，圓如夢中忽覩晚照，亦微悟被戮，意之自謂死已，冥寞亦見日月。逡巡舉一臂試捫其頭，乃覺如故。再三疑之，不敢搖動，慮其分落也。又謂血凝所綴，重捫之，遶頸有痕，縫如線許大，終身如此。時城中既逐出蕃部，稍定，傍人扶起，詰朝歸院。院僧方將食粥，見圓，謂為鬼物，一皆奔散。遲久，審得其實，喜言再生，遠邇觀禮，且歎希奇。常山之人競陳供施。圓自後復往諸方，居無定所。暨周顯德中，寓大名府成安縣卯齋院溫尋藏教。以開寶六年，忽謂眾曰：「人生虛幻，何能久長？物極則遷，生死涅槃，必無少別。」遂不數日而長逝。黑白之眾，若喪所親。及送就茶毘日，感舍利若黍粟之皁粒焉。春秋七十四，法臘五十一。時范魯公質親問圓厥由，深加鄭重。再詢履行，則大藏經已兩過披讀矣。又福州楞伽寺鑛師者，海壇戍卒之子。厥初母氏懷娠，冥然不喜葷胾。洎乎誕育，岐嶷異常，不嚌魚肉。年及八歲，甘嗜野菜，若鉏斸種者，即言殺傷物命。每見家厨烹燀毛鱗，則手掬沙灰，投于爨鑊，貴其不食。自言：「開元寺塔，隋朝中我造也。」多說未萌事，後皆契合。便請出家，因披法服，頂有香氣，如爇沈檀，號為聖僧。時侍御史皇甫政為留後，請入府署，因作肉䭔子百數，唯一是素者，盤器交錯，悉陳于前，意驗其凡聖耳。鑛臨筵，徑拈素者啖之，餘者手拂而作。時皇甫部曲一皆驚歎。每出街巷，眾人圍遶。自言「壽止十三，當定歸滅。」至是果終。遂於寺前火化，傾城士女哭泣，依輪王法，樹浮圖焉。復次唐開元中太原東北有李通玄者言是唐之帝胄，不知何王院之子孫。輕乎軒冕，尚彼林泉，舉動之間，不可量度。身長七尺餘，形貌紫色，眉長過目，髭鬢如畫，髮紺而螺旋，脣紅潤，齒密緻。戴樺皮冠，衣大布縫掖之制。腰不束帶，足不躡履，雖冬無皴皸之患，夏無垢汗之侵。放曠自得，靡所拘絆。而該博古今，洞精儒釋，發于辭氣，若鏗巨鐘。而傾心華藏，未始輟懷。每覽諸家疏義繁衍，學者窮年無功進取。開元七年春，齎《新華嚴經》，曳笻自定襄而至并部盂縣之西南同頴鄉大賢村高山奴家，止於偏房中造論，演暢華嚴，不出戶庭，幾于三載。高與隣里怪而不測。每日食棗十顆，柏葉餅一枚，餘無所須。其後移於南谷馬家古佛堂側，立小土屋，閑處宴息焉。高氏供棗餅亦至。甞齎其論并經往韓氏莊——即冠蓋村也——，中路遇一虎，玄見之，撫其背，所負經論搭載去土龕中，其虎弭耳而去。其處無泉可汲用，會暴風雨，拔老松去，可百尺餘成池，約深丈許，其味香甘，至今呼為長者泉。里人多因愆陽臨之祈雨，或多應焉。又造論之時，室無脂燭。每夜秉翰於口，兩角出白色光長尺餘，炳然通照，以為恒矣。自到土龕，俄有二女子衣貲布，以白布為幓頭，韶顏都雅，饋食一奩于龕前，玄食之而已。凡經五載，至於紙墨供送無虧，及論成亡矣。所造論四十卷，總括八十卷經之文義。次《決疑論》四卷，綰十會果因之玄要，列五十三位之法門。一日，鄉人聚飲酒之次，玄來謂之曰：「汝等好住，吾今去矣！」鄉人驚怪，謂為他適。乃曰：「吾終矣。」皆悲泣戀慕，送至土龕，曰：「去住常也。」鄉人下坡，迴顧其處，雲霧昏暗，至子時儼然坐亡龕中，白色光從頂出，上徹太虛，即開元十八年暮春二十八日也。報齡九十六。達旦，數人登山，見其龕室內蛇虺填滿，莫得而前。相與啟告，蛇虺交散。耆少追感，結輿迎于大山之北，甃石為城而葬之。神福山逝多林蘭若——方山是也。葬日，有二斑鹿、雙白鶴、雜類鳥獸，若悲戀之狀焉。大曆九年六月內，有僧廣超到蘭若收論二本，召書生就山繕寫，將入汾川流行，其論由茲而盛。至大中中，閩越僧志寧將論注於經下，成一百二十卷。論有會釋七卷，不入注文，亦寫附於初也。宋乾德丁卯歲，閩僧惠研重更條理，立名曰《華嚴經合論》，行於世，人所貴重焉。 > The śramaṇa Fayuan, worldly surname Hao, was a native of Yuanshi in Zhending. Due to causes planted in past lives, he left worldly dust behind without hindrance. In the second year of Changxing of the Later Tang, he went to the Guanyin Cloister in his home prefecture. Diligently chanting and studying, his master shaved his hair, and in the following year he received the complete precepts (upasampadā). Later, grasping a staff and shouldering his bag, he went on pilgrimage throughout various regions. Arriving at Shaoshan, he hung his staff and perused the Tripiṭaka. In the third year of Kaiyun of the Jin, he returned to his native place and stayed at Tianwang Cloister. In the following year, the Khitan invaded the capital. The barbarian king Yelü Deguang turned back and died upon reaching Luancheng in Changshan. King Yongkang, Wugu, replaced him as ruler of the barbarian realm; he then withdrew the army and returned north under martial discipline from Zhenzhou, leaving the chieftains Mada and Yelü Jieli to guard the Lower Capital—namely Changshan—where all the Jin courtiers and soldiers were stationed. When the Han generals plotted to expel the ugly barbarians, before their plan was decided, the streets and alleys were split in two: for those Han people caught amid the barbarians, the barbarians struck first, and without distinction of young or old, all were slaughtered. Eight monks of Tianwang Cloister met their deaths, and Yuan was among their number—at that time, those killed were exceedingly numerous. At first, Yuan extended his neck and took two blade strikes, which sounded like striking wood or stone; Yuan shouted, 'Strike forcefully with a single sword!' Thereupon his head and torso were severed. By dusk, Yuan seemed to behold the evening glow as if in a dream, and also vaguely realized he had been slain; thinking to himself that he was already dead, he wondered that he could still see the sun and moon in the netherworld. After a while, he raised an arm to feel his head, and found it as it had been before. Repeatedly doubting it, he dared not move, fearing it would fall apart. He also thought it was merely held together by congealed blood; feeling it again, there was a scar circling his neck, a seam the width of a thread, which remained so for the rest of his life. At that time, once the barbarian tribes had been driven out of the city and things were slightly settled, bystanders helped him up, and at dawn he returned to the cloister. The cloister monks were just about to eat congee; seeing Yuan, they took him for a ghost and all fled in disarray. After a long while, upon ascertaining the truth, they rejoiced, saying he had been reborn; people from far and near came to gaze upon and pay homage to him, sighing at the rarity. The people of Changshan vied to present offerings. Thereafter, Yuan traveled again to various regions, having no fixed dwelling. Then, during the Xiande era of the Zhou, he stayed at Maozhai Cloister in Cheng'an County, Daming Prefecture, reviewing and investigating the Tripiṭaka teachings. In the sixth year of Kaibao, he suddenly said to the assembly, 'Human life is illusory; how could it last long? When things reach their extreme they transform; between birth-and-death and nirvāṇa there is surely not the slightest difference.' Within a few days he passed away forever. Both monastics and laity mourned as if having lost an intimate kin. When they escorted him to the day of cremation, śarīra like black grains of millet and broomcorn were obtained. He was seventy-four years of age, with a dharma age of fifty-one. At that time, Duke Lu Fan Zhi personally asked Yuan about the circumstances, showing great reverence. When he further inquired into his conduct, \[he learned that Yuan\] had read through the Tripiṭaka twice. Moreover, Master Kuang of Lengqie Temple in Fuzhou was the son of a garrison soldier of Haitan. At first, when his mother was pregnant, she inexplicably disliked meat and fish. When he was born, he was extraordinarily precocious, and would not taste fish or meat. By the age of eight, he relished wild herbs; if someone hoed and dug to plant them, he would say it killed living beings. Whenever he saw the household kitchen boiling or scorching beasts with fur or scales, he would grab handfuls of sand and ash with his hands and throw them into the stoves and cauldrons, wishing that they not be eaten. He said of himself, 'The pagoda of Kaiyuan Temple was built by me during the Sui dynasty.' He often spoke of matters before they occurred, and later they all matched. He then requested to leave the household life (pravrajyā). Upon donning the Dharma robes, a fragrance arose from his crown, as if burning aloeswood and sandalwood, so he was called a holy monk. At that time, Attendant Censor Huangfu Zheng, serving as acting governor, invited him into the administrative office and made over a hundred meat pastries, with only one being vegetarian; these dishes were mixed together and displayed before him, intending to test whether he was ordinary or holy. When Kuang approached the banquet, he went straight to pick out the vegetarian one and ate it, and brushing aside the rest with his hand, he got up. At that time, Huangfu's attendants were all astonished and sighed in praise. Whenever he went out into the streets, crowds surrounded him. He said of himself, 'My lifespan is limited to thirteen; I shall surely return to extinction.' When the time arrived, he indeed passed away. Thereupon, he was cremated before the temple; the men and women of the entire city wept, and according to the rite for a cakravartin, they erected a stupa for him. Furthermore, during the Kaiyuan era of the Tang, northeast of Taiyuan there was Li Tongxuan, who was said to be an imperial descendant of the Tang, though it is unknown from which prince's lineage he came. Disdaining carriages and caps of office, he esteemed forests and springs; his actions could not be fathomed. He was over seven feet tall, with a purple complexion, eyebrows extending past his eyes, beard and sideburns like a painting, dark blue and curling hair, moist red lips, and densely set teeth. He wore a birchbark cap and clothes tailored in the broad-sleeved style of coarse cloth. He did not tie a belt at his waist, nor wear shoes on his feet; yet in winter he had no affliction of chapped skin, and in summer he was not beset by grime and sweat. Free and easy, self-contented, he was bound by nothing. Moreover, he was broadly learned in ancient and modern lore, penetrating the depths of both Confucianism and Buddhism; when he expressed himself in speech, it sounded like the striking of a great bell. Yet he devoted his mind to the Avataṃsaka, never ceasing to cherish it. Whenever he perused the commentaries and explanations of various schools, which were overly verbose, he found that students exhausted their years without making any progress. In the spring of the seventh year of Kaiyuan, carrying the New Avataṃsaka Sūtra and leaning on a bamboo staff, he traveled from Dingxiang to the household of Gao Shannu in Daxian Village, Tongying Township, southwest of Yu County in the Bingbu region. He stayed in a side room to compose a commentary expounding the Avataṃsaka, not stepping outside the courtyard for nearly three years. Gao and the neighbors found him strange and unfathomable. Every day he ate ten jujubes and one cypress-leaf cake, needing nothing else. Later he moved beside the ancient Buddha hall of the Ma family in Southern Valley, erecting a small earthen hut to live in seclusion and rest in ease. Offerings of jujubes and cakes from the Gao family also continued to arrive. He once carried his commentary and the scripture toward the Han Family Estate—namely Guange Village—and on the way he met a tiger. Upon seeing it, Xuan stroked its back, placed the scriptures and commentary he carried upon it, and took them to an earthen niche; the tiger dropped its ears and departed. In that place there was no spring water to draw and use. It happened that a violent storm uprooted an old pine tree, and more than a hundred feet away a pool was formed, about ten cubits deep, its flavor fragrant and sweet; up to this day people call it the Elder's Spring. Villagers often went to it to pray for rain when there was a drought, and there were many responses. Furthermore, while he was composing the commentary, there was no lamp or candle in the room. Every night, holding the brush, white light more than a foot long emanated from both corners of his mouth, brilliantly illuminating everything, which became a constant phenomenon. From the time he arrived at the earthen niche, suddenly two women dressed in fine linen with white cloth headbands, of lovely and graceful countenance, delivered a basket of food before the niche; Xuan simply ate it. Throughout five years, paper and ink were provided without lack, and when the commentary was completed, they vanished. The commentary he composed comprised forty fascicles, summing up the texts and meanings of the eighty-fascicle scripture. Next was the Resolution of Doubts in four fascicles, integrating the profound essentials of the causes and fruits of the ten assemblies, and setting forth the Dharma-doors of the fifty-three stages. One day, while the villagers were gathered drinking wine, Xuan came and said to them: 'Take good care, all of you; I am now leaving!' The villagers were surprised and thought he was going elsewhere. Then he said, 'I am passing away.' They all wept with longing affection, and escorted him to the earthen niche; he said, 'Departing and staying are ordinary.' As the villagers went down the slope and looked back at the place, clouds and mist had grown dark; at the midnight hour, he passed away sitting upright within the niche, a white light emerging from his crown and piercing straight up to the great void—this was on the twenty-eighth day of the late spring in the eighteenth year of Kaiyuan. His age was ninety-six. At dawn, several people ascended the mountain and saw that his niche-room was filled with venomous serpents, so that none could advance. When they prayed together, the serpents scattered. Old and young, touched with remembrance, constructed a litter to receive him to the north of the great mountain, building a stone wall to bury him. This was the Jetavana Hermitage on Mount Shenfu—namely Mount Fang. On the day of his burial, two spotted deer, a pair of white cranes, and assorted birds and beasts appeared as if in sorrow and longing. In the sixth month of the ninth year of Dali, a monk named Guangchao came to the hermitage, gathered two copies of the commentary, summoned scholars to the mountain to transcribe them, and took them to the Fen River region to circulate them; from this, the commentary began to flourish. During the Dazhong era, the Minyue monk Zhining annotated the commentary beneath the scripture text, completing one hundred and twenty fascicles. The commentary had seven fascicles of Synthesized Explanations, which were not incorporated into the notes, but were also transcribed and appended at the beginning. In the dingmao year of the Qiande era of the Song, the Min monk Huiyan rearranged them once more, entitling it the Combined Treatise on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, which circulated in the world and was prized by people. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 22.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.22.30) - [Next: 22.32](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.22.32) - [Up: 22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.22) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061~en-mt.22.31) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [神僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2064.9.49) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.22.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.22.31) · Pramāṇa