宋高僧傳 28.17

28.17

釋光嶼，俗姓韓氏，應州金城邑人也。幼讀儒書，有佐國牧民之志。頻有神人夢中警策曰：「汝於佛法有大因緣。」遂投真容院附法威，侍其缾錫，謹弟子之職。受具後，誦《淨名經》，徹簡，每至「依於義，不依語」，告喻本師而求聽習，威尋許諾，遂詣太原三學院，涉乎寒燠，研覈孜孜，屢改槐檀。乃講《維摩》、《上生》二座，忽謂同志曰：「余憶昔年每念『依於義』，邇棲學院，今講二經，窮理見性，知果驗因，得不依教起行，免背四依之行乎？」俄辭晉水，却返故山，戴《華嚴經》，遶菩薩殿，六時右旋禮佛。時晉高祖握圖之三載也。名聞丹禁，遂賜紫衣。明年，授號通悟焉！山門僧官與大眾堅命臨壇，告辭不允。僧官謂曰：「師行解兼人，獨善其己，良璞不剖，必見泣血。」辭不獲已，度人三二載，堅求脫免。屬少王嗣位，院乏主守，大眾僉舉：非嶼而誰？辭曰：「此山四海客遊之所，奈何不出院門有年歲矣！令知供養，有何所須？」雖免不從，自後供施委輸，十八年中，供百萬餘僧。一夕雲霧俱發，霰雪交零，嶼之蓋經白練一條，可三四尺，忽爾不見。翌日深更，遺練俄還舊所也，蓋陰神之送至歟？顯德七年庚申歲十月示疾，謂諸子曰：「猶龍者厭乎大患，歎鳳者悲於逝川，諸行無常，是生滅法。」言訖如蟬蛻焉。俗壽六十六，僧臘四十六。茶毘於東峯下，取諸靈骨，瘞於塔幢，舍利隨緣供養焉！

Śramaṇa Guangyu, whose secular surname was Han, was a native of Jincheng Town in Yingzhou. In his youth, he read the Confucian classics and possessed the ambition to assist the state and shepherd the people. Repeatedly, a divine figure admonished him in dreams, saying, 'You have a great karmic connection with the Buddha-Dharma.' Thereupon he went to Zhenrong Cloister to attend upon Fawei, serving as attendant carrying his water pitcher and staff, scrupulously fulfilling the duties of a disciple. After receiving the full precepts, he recited the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra thoroughly. Whenever he came to the passage 'rely on the meaning, do not rely on the words,' he informed his original master and asked permission to listen and study [elsewhere]. Wei soon granted his request, and he proceeded to the Three Studies Cloister in Taiyuan. Braving cold and heat, he investigated and scrutinized diligently through the passing seasons. He then gave two series of lectures on the Vimalakīrti-sūtra and the Sūtra on Maitreya's Rebirth Above. Suddenly, he said to his fellow practitioners, 'I recall how in former years I constantly contemplated "rely on the meaning." Recently I have dwelt in this study cloister, and now I have lectured on these two scriptures, fathoming the principle and seeing the nature, knowing the fruition and verifying the cause. Must I not initiate practice according to the teachings, so as to avoid violating the practice of the four reliances?' Soon he bade farewell to the Jin River and returned to his home mountain. Bearing the Avataṃsaka-sūtra on his head, he circumambulated the Bodhisattva Hall, circumambulating clockwise six times a day to worship the Buddha. This was in the third year of the reign of Emperor Gaozu of the Later Jin. His renown reached the imperial palace, and he was bestowed a purple robe. The following year, he was granted the honorific title Tongwu. The mountain monastery's monastic officers and the great assembly adamantly commanded him to preside over the ordination platform; his requests to decline were not permitted. A monastic officer said to him, 'Master, your practice and understanding surpass others; yet you only cultivate yourself alone. If fine jade is not carved, one will surely weep tears of blood.' Having no alternative, he ordained people for two or three years, persistently pleading to be released. When the young king succeeded to the throne, the cloister lacked an abbot, and the great assembly unanimously selected him, asking: 'Who else could it be but Yu?' He declined, saying, 'This mountain is a place frequented by travelers from the four seas. How could I have not stepped outside the cloister gates for years? Let someone who understands offering manage it; what need is there for me?' Although he asked to be excused, they did not consent. From then on, offerings and donations were transported in; over eighteen years, he provided offerings to more than a million monks. One evening, clouds and fog arose together, and sleet and snow fell mingled. A piece of white silk covering the scriptures of Yu, measuring about three to four feet, suddenly disappeared. Late the following night, the lost silk suddenly returned to its former place—was it perhaps returned by a hidden spirit? In the tenth month of the gengshen year, the seventh year of Xiande, he manifested illness and said to his disciples, 'He who was like a dragon abhorred the great calamity; he who sighed over the phoenix grieved over the flowing river. All conditioned things are impermanent; this is the law of arising and ceasing.' Having finished speaking, he shed his body like a cicada. His secular age was sixty-six, and his saṅgha age was forty-six. He was cremated beneath the eastern peak; his sacred relics were collected and buried in a pagoda pillar, while his śarīra were distributed according to conditions for veneration.