宋高僧傳 23.35

23.35

釋志通，俗姓張氏，右扶風著姓家之子也。早知遺世，克務淨門，選禮名師，登于上品，諸方講肆，遍略留心。後唐之季，兵革相尋，自此駕已東巡。薄遊洛下，遇嚩日囉三藏，行瑜伽教法，通禮事之。乃欲陟天台、羅浮，遂辭。三藏曰：「吾此求翻譯，屬中原多事。子議南征奈何路梗何？」通曰：「泛天塹其如我何？」三藏曰：「苟去吳、會間，可付之梵夾，或緣會傳譯。」通曰：「已聞命矣。」以天福四年己亥歲，天王錫命于吳越，遂附海艦達浙中。時文穆王錢氏奉朝廷之故，具威儀樂部，迎通入府庭供養，於真身塔寺安置，施賚豐腆。通請往天台山。由是登赤城，陟華頂，既而於智者道場挂錫。因覽《西方淨土靈瑞傳》，變行迴心，願生彼土，生常不背西坐。山中有招手石者，昔智顗夢其石上有僧臨海上舉手相招召之狀。顗入天台見其僧名定光，耳輪聳上過頂，亦不測之神僧也。乃相見，乃問顗曰：「還記得相招致否？」顗曰：「唯。」此石峻峙，顧下無地。通登此投身，願速生淨土。奮軀而墮一大樹中，枝軟幹柔，若有人扶接焉，殊無少損。乃再叩榼投之，落于巖下蒙茸草上，微有少傷，遲久蘇矣。眾僧謂為豺虎所啖，及見其猶殗殜然，舁就本道場。初通去不白眾，遂分人各路尋覓，至螺溪，民村有巫者言事多驗，或就問焉。神曰：「伊僧在西南方，現有金鎧神扶衛不死，我到彼神氣盡矣，固難近也。」皆符協神言。後往越州法華山，默修淨業，將欲化去，所止房地生白色物，如傅粉焉。未幾，坐禪床而終，遷座闍維，有五色煙覆于頂上，法華山中咸聞異香焉。

Śramaṇa Zhitong, secular surname Zhang, was a son of a prominent family of Youfufeng. Having early realized that he should abandon the worldly life, he applied himself earnestly to the gate of purity, chose and paid homage to renowned teachers, and attained the upper ranks [of ordination]. He paid close attention throughout to the lecture halls of all quarters. At the end of the Later Tang, military conflicts followed one another in succession, whereupon he drove his carriage east on a peregrination. Traveling briefly to Luoyang, he met the Tripiṭaka Master Vajra, who was practicing the teachings of Yoga; Tong paid homage and served him. He then wished to ascend Mount Tiantai and Mount Luofu, and thereupon took his leave. The Tripiṭaka Master said: 'I seek to translate scriptures here, but the Central Plains are plagued by many troubles. You propose to journey south, but what if the roads are blocked?' Tong said: 'I shall cross the celestial moat—how could it hinder me?' The Tripiṭaka Master said: 'If you go to the region of Wu and Kuaiji, I can entrust you with Sanskrit manuscripts, so that perhaps, conditions meeting, they may be transmitted and translated.' Tong said: 'I have already received your command.' In the fourth year of Tianfu, a j Test-hai year, the Son of Heaven bestowed a mandate upon Wuyue, whereupon Tong boarded a seagoing vessel and arrived in Zhejiang. At that time, because King Wenmu Qian revered the court, he provided full ceremonial regalia and musical troupes to welcome Tong into the princely compound to make offerings to him, accommodated him at the True Body Pagoda Monastery, and bestowed generous gifts upon him. Tong requested to proceed to Mount Tiantai. Thereupon he climbed Chicheng and ascended Huading, and soon hung up his staff at the bodhimaṇḍa of the Master of Great Wisdom [Zhiyi]. Because he perused the Accounts of Spiritual Auspices of the Western Pure Land, he altered his practice and turned his mind, vowing to be born in that land, and in daily life he never sat with his back to the west. In the mountain there is the Beckoning Rock; of old Zhiyi dreamed that upon this rock there was a monk facing the sea, raising his hand in the gesture of beckoning him. When Zhiyi entered Tiantai, he met this monk, whose name was Dingguang, whose ear lobes rose above his crown—he too was an unfathomable, divine monk. When they met, he asked Zhiyi: 'Do you still remember my beckoning you?' Zhiyi said: 'Indeed.' This rock is towering and steep, and looking down one sees no ground. Tong climbed this rock and threw himself down, vowing to be born quickly in the Pure Land. Hurling his body, he fell into a large tree whose branches were pliable and trunk supple, as if someone were supporting and receiving him; he suffered no injury whatsoever. Thereupon he struck his bottle again and cast himself down, falling onto the lush grass beneath the cliff; he was slightly injured and only revived after a long while. The assembly of monks thought he had been eaten by wolves or tigers, but when they found him still breathing feebly, they carried him back to the original bodhimaṇḍa. Earlier, when Tong had left without informing the assembly, they had dispatched men to search along various routes. Arriving at Luoxi, in a common village there was a shaman whose pronouncements were often verified, and someone went to inquire of him. The spirit said: 'That monk is in the southwest; there is presently a golden-armored spirit guarding and defending him so that he does not die. When I reach that place, my divine energy is exhausted, so it is truly difficult to approach.' Everything matched the spirit's words. Later he went to Mount Fahua in Yuezhou, where he quietly cultivated the karma for the Pure Land. When he was about to pass away, white substance like powdered makeup grew on the floor of the room where he stayed. Shortly thereafter, he passed away sitting on a meditation couch. When they moved his seat for the cremation, a five-colored smoke covered the crown of his head, and throughout Mount Fahua everyone smelled an extraordinary fragrance.