宋高僧傳 23.18

23.18

釋元慧，俗姓陸氏，晉平原內史機之裔孫也。父丹——文林郎雲騎尉溫州紏曹——，慧即仲子也。髫齡頴悟，長而溫潤，畏作枯龜，思為瘦雁。以開成二年辭親，於法空王寺依清進為弟子。會昌元年，往恒陽納戒法，方習毘尼。入禮五臺，仍觀眾瑞。二年，歸寧嘉禾，居建興寺，立志持三白法，諷誦五部曼拏羅，於臂上爇香炷。五年，例遭澄汰，權隱白衣。大中初，還入法門。至七年，重建法空王寺。又然香於臂，供養報恩山佛牙。次往天台山，度石橋，利有攸往，略無憂虞焉。咸通中，隨送佛中指骨舍利，往鳳翔重真寺。煉左拇指，口誦《法華經》，其指不踰月復生如故。乾寧三年，偶云乖悆。九月二十八日，歸寂于尊勝院，報齡七十八，僧臘五十八。弟子端肅等奉神座葬之吳會之間，謂為三白和尚焉。其禮拜誦持，不勝其計，如別錄也。

Śramaṇa Yuanhui, whose secular surname was Lu, was a descendant of Lu Ji, Interior Scribe of Pingyuan under the Jin dynasty. His father, Dan, was a Gentleman of the Literary Forest, Commandant of Fleet Cavalry, and Registrar of Wenzhou; Hui was his second son. Clever and discerning from his childhood, he grew up to be gentle and refined, fearful of becoming a dried tortoise and longing to be a lean wild goose. In the second year of the Kaicheng era [837 CE], he took leave of his parents and became a disciple under Qingjin at Fakongwang Temple. In the first year of the Huichang era [841 CE], he went to Hengyang to receive the precepts and then studied the vinaya. He went to pay homage at Mount Wutai, observing numerous auspicious omens. In the second year [842 CE], he returned home to Jiahe and resided at Jianxing Temple, resolving to uphold the three white purifications, recite the five divisions of maṇḍalas, and burn incense cones upon his arms. In the fifth year [845 CE], he was swept up in the purge of the saṅgha and temporarily disguised himself in white robes (as a layman). At the beginning of the Dazhong era, he returned to the Dharma. In the seventh year [853 CE], he rebuilt Fakongwang Temple. He again burned incense on his arm as an offering to the Buddha's tooth relic on Mount Bao'en. Next, he went to Mount Tiantai, crossed the stone bridge, and found benefit in his travels, completely free of anxiety. During the Xiantong era [860–874 CE], he accompanied the procession of the middle-finger bone relic of the Buddha to Chongzhen Temple in Fengxiang. He burned off his left thumb while reciting the *Lotus Sūtra*; before a month had passed, his thumb regenerated as before. In the third year of the Qianning era [896 CE], he unexpectedly felt unwell. On the twenty-eighth day of the ninth month, he entered nirvāṇa at the Zunsheng Cloister, with a worldly age of seventy-eight and a saṅgha age of fifty-eight. His disciples Duansu and others escorted his spirit seat and buried him in the Wu region, referring to him as the Upādhyāya of the Three Whites. His prostrations, intonations, and recitations were beyond count, as detailed in a separate record.