宋高僧傳 25.8

25.8

釋少康，俗姓周，縉雲仙都山人也。母羅氏因夢遊鼎湖峯，得玉女手捧青蓮授曰：「此華吉祥，寄於汝所，後生貴子，切當保惜！」及生康之日，青光滿室，香似芙蕖。迨綳褓之年，眼碧脣朱，齒得佛之一相，恒端坐含笑。時鄉中善相人也，目之：「此子將相之才，不語，吾弗知也」。年甫七歲，抱入靈山寺中，佛生日禮聖容，母問康曰：「識否？」忽發言云：「釋迦牟尼佛。」聞皆怪之——蓋生來不言語也。由是父母捨其出家。年十有五，所誦之經已終五部，於越州嘉祥寺受戒，便就伊寺學毘尼。五夏之後，往上元龍興寺，聽《華嚴經》、《瑜伽論》。貞元初，至于洛京白馬寺殿，見物放光，遂探取為何經法，乃善導〈行西方化導文〉也。康見歡喜，呪之曰：「我若與淨土有緣，惟此軸文斯光再現！」所誓纔終，果重閃爍，中有化佛菩薩無算。遂之長安善導影堂內乞願。見善導真像化為佛身，謂康曰：「汝依吾施設，利樂眾生，同生安養。」康如有所證，南至江陵果願寺，遇一法師，謂康曰：「汝欲化人，徑往新定，緣在於彼。」言訖不見，止有香光望西而去。洎到睦郡，入城乞食得錢，誘掖小兒能念「阿彌陀佛」一聲即付一錢。後經月餘，孩孺螘慕，念佛多者即給錢。如是一年，凡男女見康，則云「阿彌陀佛」。遂於烏龍山建淨土道場，築壇三級，聚人午夜行道，唱讚二十四契，稱揚淨邦。每遇齋日雲集，所化三千許人。登座，令男女弟子望康面門，即高聲唱「阿彌陀佛」，佛從口出，連誦十聲，十佛若連珠狀，告曰：「汝見佛身，即得往生。」以貞元二十一年十月示眾囑累，止勸急修淨土。言畢跏趺，身放光明而逝。天色斗變，狂風四起，百鳥悲鳴。烏龍山也一時變白。今墳塔存于州東臺子巖，歲久唯餘方石。石傍之土，相傳療疾，州民凡嬰眾病，悉焚香取土，隨服多差。石之四隅若車轍焉。漢乾祐三年，天台山德韶禪師重建其塔，至今高敞，時號後善導焉。

Śramaṇa Shaokang, secular surname Zhou, was a native of Mount Xiandu in Jinyun. His mother, Lady Luo, once dreamed that she roamed Dinghu Peak, where a jade maiden holding a blue lotus in her hands offered it to her, saying: 'This flower is auspicious. I entrust it to your keeping; later you will bear a noble son, whom you must cherish and protect!' On the day Kang was born, a blue-green light filled the chamber, with a fragrance like that of lotuses. When he reached infancy, his eyes were jade-blue and his lips vermilion; his teeth possessed one of the bodily marks of a Buddha, and he would constantly sit upright with a smile. At that time, a skilled physiognomist of the village looked at him and said: 'This boy possesses the talent of a general or minister, yet he does not speak, so I cannot tell.' When he was just seven years old, he was carried into Lingshan Temple. On the Buddha's birthday, as they paid homage to the sacred image, his mother asked Kang, 'Do you recognise him?' He suddenly spoke, saying, 'Śākyamuni Buddha.' All who heard were astonished, for he had never spoken since birth. Because of this, his parents permitted him to leave home. At the age of fifteen, the scriptures he had recited already numbered five divisions. He received upasampadā at Jiaxiang Temple in Yuezhou, and straightaway studied the vinaya at that monastery. After five summer retreats, he went to Longxing Temple in Shangyuan to listen to the Avataṃsaka-sūtra and the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. At the beginning of the Zhenyuan era, he arrived at the hall of Baima Temple in the eastern capital, Luoyang, where he saw an object radiating light. Reaching for it to see what scripture or teaching it was, he found it was Shan Dao's 'Text on Guiding and Transforming Beings to Proceed to the Western Land'. Kang saw it with joy and made a vow, saying: 'If I have an affinity with the Pure Land, may this scroll of text re-emit this light!' No sooner had his vow ended than it truly flashed anew, with countless transformation Buddhas and bodhisattvas within it. He then went into Shan Dao's memorial hall in Chang'an to make a prayer. He saw the true portrait of Shan Dao transform into the body of a Buddha, which addressed Kang, saying: 'If you rely on my expedients to benefit and gladden sentient beings, together you will be born in the Land of Peaceful Nurture.' Feeling as if he had attained realization, Kang traveled south to Guoyuan Temple in Jiangling, where he met a Dharma master who said to him: 'If you wish to convert people, go directly to Xinding; your affinity lies there.' Having spoken, he vanished, leaving only fragrance and light heading westward. When Kang reached Mu prefecture, he entered the city to beg for food and obtained copper coins; he induced and encouraged little children, giving them one coin whenever they could recite 'Amitābha Buddha' once. After more than a month, children flocked to him like ants, and he gave coins to those who recited the Buddha's name most often. After one year like this, whenever any man or woman saw Kang, they would say, 'Amitābha Buddha.' He then built a Pure Land bodhimanda on Mount Wulong, constructing a three-tiered altar. He gathered people at midnight to practice the Path, singing twenty-four rounds of praises to extol the Pure Land. Every fasting day they gathered like clouds, those he converted numbering about three thousand. Ascending the seat, he would instruct the male and female disciples to gaze at his face; as he then chanted 'Amitābha Buddha' in a loud voice, a Buddha would emerge from his mouth. Reciting ten times in succession, ten Buddhas appeared like a string of pearls, and he told them: 'If you see the Buddha's body, you will immediately attain rebirth.' In the tenth month of the twenty-first year of Zhenyuan, he gave his final instructions to the assembly, urging them solely to cultivate the Pure Land with urgency. Having spoken, he sat cross-legged, radiated light from his body, and passed away. The sky abruptly changed, violent winds arose on all sides, and hundreds of birds cried sorrowfully. Mount Wulong suddenly turned white. Today his funerary stūpa remains at Taiziyan to the east of the prefecture; with the passing of years, only a square stone is left. The earth beside the stone is said to cure diseases; whenever the prefectural people suffer from various ailments, they burn incense and take the earth, and upon ingesting it most are cured. The four corners of the stone are grooved like cart ruts. In the third year of the Qianyou era of the Han, Chan Master Deshao of Mount Tiantai rebuilt his stūpa, which remains tall and spacious to this day; at that time he was called the Latter Shan Dao.