宋高僧傳 26.16

26.16

釋玄朗，字慧明，姓傅氏。其先浦陽郡，江夏太守拯公之後。曹魏世，避地于江左，則梁大士翕之六代孫，遂為烏傷人也。母葛氏初妊，夢乘羊車飛空躡虛而覺身重。自茲已後，葷血惡聞。殆乎產蓐，亦如初寐。覺後心輕體安，嬰兒不啼，唍爾而笑。九歲出家，師授其經，日過七紙。如意元年閏五月十九日，勅度配清泰寺。弱冠，遠尋光州岸律師，受滿足戒。旋學律範。又博覽經論，搜求異同，尤切《涅槃》。常恨古人雖有章疏，判斷未為平允。往在會稽妙喜寺與印宗禪師商確祕要，雖互相述許，大旨未周。聞天台一宗可以清眾滯，可以趣一理，因詣東陽天宮寺慧威法師。威稟承括州智威——時傳威是徐陵後身，灌頂師之高足也。朗親附之，不患貧苦。達《法華》、《淨名》、《大論》、《止觀》、《禪門》等，凡一宗之教迹，研覈至精。後依恭禪師重修觀法，博達儒書，兼閑道宗，無不該覽。雖通諸見，獨以「止觀」以為入道之程，作安心之域。雖眾聖繼想，而以觀音悲智為事行良津，遊心十乘，諦冥三觀，四悉利物，六即體徧。雖致心物表，身厭人寰，情捐舊廬，志栖林壑。唯十八種，十二頭陀，隱左溪巖，因以為號。獨坐一室，三十餘秋，麻紵為衣，糲蔬充食。有願生兜率宮，必資福事，乃構殿壁，繢觀音、賓頭盧像。乃焚香斂念，便感五色神光，道俗俱瞻，歎未曾有。此後或猿玃來而捧鉢，或飛鳥息以聽經。時有盲狗來至山門，長嘷宛轉于地，朗憫之，焚香精誠，為狗懺悔，不踰旬日，雙目豁明。至開元十六年，刺史王上客屈朗出山，暫居城下。朗辭疾，仍歸本居。厥後誨人匪倦，講不待眾。一欝多羅四十餘年，一尼師壇終身不易。食無重味，居必偏廈。非因尋經典，不然一燭；非因覲聖容，不行一步。其細行修心，蓋徇律法之制，遂得遠域沙門、隣境耆耋擁室填門，若冬陽夏陰，弗召而自至也。其寺宇凋弊，乃指授僧靈稟建其殿宇形像，累二甎塔。繢事不用牛膠，悉調香汁。天台之教鼎盛，何莫由斯也？一日，顧謂門人曰：「吾眾事云畢，年旦暮焉！」以天寶十三年九月十九日薄疾而終，春秋八十有二，僧夏六十一。置塔於巖所，生常撰《法華經科文》二卷。付法弟子衢州龍丘寺道賓、淨安寺慧從、越州法華寺法源、神邕、常州福業寺守真、蘇州報恩寺道遵、明州大寶寺道原、婺州開元寺清辯。「齠年慕道，志意求師；不踰三年，思過半矣！行其道者，號左溪焉！第其傳法，號五祖矣！」禹山沙門神逈著乎真讚矣！

Śramaṇa Xuanlang, styled Huiming, was surnamed Fu. His ancestors were of Puyang commandery, descendants of Duke Zheng, Governor of Jiangxia. During the Cao-Wei period, they took refuge in the region east of the Yangtze; he was thus the sixth-generation descendant of the Great Being Xi of the Liang dynasty, and became a native of Wushang. When his mother, Lady Ge, first conceived, she dreamed that she rode a sheep-cart flying through the sky and stepping on empty space, and upon waking felt a heaviness in her body. From then on, she abhorred the smell of meat and blood. When she was on the verge of giving birth, it was just as if she were in an initial slumber. After waking, her mind was light and her body at ease; the newborn did not cry, but smiled serenely. At the age of nine, he renounced the household life. When his master taught him the scriptures, he exceeded seven sheets a day. On the nineteenth day of the intercalary fifth month of the first year of the Ruyi era (692), he was ordained by imperial order and assigned to Qingtai Temple. At the age of twenty, he traveled far in search of Vinaya Master An of Guangzhou and received full ordination. Soon afterward, he studied the models of the vinaya. He also read extensively in the sūtras and treatises, searching out agreements and differences, taking the Nirvāṇa Sūtra to be of utmost importance. He often lamented that although earlier scholars had composed commentaries, their judgments were not completely fair and balanced. Formerly, while at Miaoxi Temple in Guiji, he discussed the esoteric essentials with Chan Master Yinzong; though they praised and endorsed each other, their grasp of the overarching purport was not yet complete. Hearing that the single lineage of Tiantai could clear away all attachments and guide one toward the one principle, he went to visit Dharma Master Huiwei at Tiangong Temple in Dongyang. Wei had received the transmission from Zhiwei of Kuozhou—at that time Zhiwei was rumored to be the rebirth of Xu Ling, and was the eminent disciple of Master Guanding. Lang attached himself to him in person, unmindful of poverty and hardship. He attained a thorough grasp of the Lotus Sūtra, the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra, the Dàzhìdù lùn, the Zhǐguān, the Chánmén, and other texts; in every respect concerning the teaching traces of this single tradition, he investigated with supreme precision. Later, relying on Chan Master Gong, he renewed his cultivation of the contemplation methods. He was widely versed in Confucian books and equally skilled in Daoist traditions, reading through them without omission. Although he mastered various viewpoints, he solely took "cessation and contemplation" (zhǐguān) as his path of entry into the Way and as his realm of settling the mind. Although he kept all the holy beings continually in mind, he took the compassion and wisdom of Avalokiteśvara as the excellent ford for practical cultivation. He let his mind wander through the ten vehicles, quietly harmonized with the three contemplations, benefited sentient beings with the four methods of instruction (siddhānta), and pervaded the essence of the six identifications. Although his mind reached beyond worldly things, his body grew weary of the human world; in feeling he abandoned his old home, and his intention settled in forest and ravine. Keeping only the eighteen articles of personal property and observing the twelve ascetic practices (dhūtaguṇa), he secluded himself on the crags of Zuoxi, from which he took his sobriquet. Sitting alone in a single room for over thirty years, he wore hemp and ramie, and ate coarse greens to satisfy his hunger. Having a vow to be reborn in Tuṣita Heaven, for which merit must be accumulated, he erected walls for a hall and painted images of Avalokiteśvara and Piṇḍola. Then he burned incense and concentrated his mindfulness, whereupon he elicited a miraculous light of five colors; both monastic and lay gazed upon it and praised it as unprecedented. After this, sometimes monkeys and apes would come to hold his almsbowl, or flying birds would alight to listen to the scriptures. At that time, a blind dog arrived at the mountain gate, howling continuously and rolling on the ground. Lang took pity on it, burned incense with sincere heart, and performed repentance on the dog's behalf; before ten days had passed, both of its eyes opened with clear sight. In the sixteenth year of the Kaiyuan era (728), Regional Inspector Wang Shangke prevailed upon Lang to leave the mountain and reside temporarily below the city walls. Lang excused himself on account of illness and returned to his original dwelling. Thereafter, he taught others tirelessly, delivering lectures without waiting for an audience to gather. He wore a single uttarāsaṅga for over forty years, and never changed his single niṣīdana throughout his life. His meals never had two flavors at once, and his lodging was always under a lean-to. Unless to consult the scriptures, he would not light a single candle; unless to gaze upon the holy images, he would not take a single step. His meticulous conduct and cultivation of the mind conformed entirely to the regulations of the vinaya, so that śramaṇas from distant regions and elders from neighboring territories crowded his chamber and filled his doorway, like the sun in winter or shade in summer, coming of their own accord without being summoned. Since the buildings of his monastery were dilapidated, he gave instructions to the monk Lingbing to construct halls, make images, and pile up two brick pagodas. In the painting work, no ox glue was used; all was mixed with fragrant juices. That the Tiantai teachings flourished so vigorously—how could it not be due to this? One day, he looked around and said to his disciples, "My tasks among the multitude are done; my years have reached their dawn and twilight!" On the nineteenth day of the ninth month of the thirteenth year of the Tianbao era (754), he passed away after a slight illness, at the age of eighty-two, with sixty-one saṅgha years. A stupa was erected at the crag. During his life, he composed the Two-Fascicle Sectional Analysis of the Lotus Sūtra. His dharma-transmission disciples included Daobin of Longqiu Temple in Quzhou, Huicong of Jing'an Temple, Fayuan and Shenyong of Fahua Temple in Yuezhou, Shouzhen of Fuye Temple in Changzhou, Daozun of Bao'en Temple in Suzhou, Daoyuan of Dabao Temple in Mingzhou, and Qingbian of Kaiyuan Temple in Wuzhou. "In tender childhood he yearned for the Way, his resolution seeking a teacher; before three years had passed, his understanding surpassed the halfway mark! Those who practiced his way called him Zuoxi! When counting his transmission of the Dharma, he was called the Fifth Patriarch!" Śramaṇa Shenjiong of Mount Yu composed his portrait eulogy.