宋高僧傳 29.20

29.20

釋慧日，俗姓辛氏，東萊人也。中宗朝得度，及登具足後，遇義淨三藏，造一乘之極，躬詣竺乾，心恒羨慕。日遂誓遊西域。始者泛舶渡海，自經三載，東南海中諸國——崑崙、佛誓、師子洲等——，經過略遍，乃達天竺，禮謁聖迹。尋求梵本，訪善知識，一十三年。咨稟法訓，思欲利人，振錫還鄉，獨影孤征。雪嶺胡鄉，又涉四載。既經多苦，深厭閻浮，何國何方，有樂無苦？何法何行，能速見佛？遍問天竺三藏學者，所說皆讚淨土，復合金口；其於速疾，是一生路；盡此報身，必得往生極樂世界，親得奉事阿彌陀佛。聞已頂受，漸至北印度健馱羅國。王城東北有一大山，山有觀音像，有志誠祈請，多得現身。日遂七日叩頭，又斷食，畢命為期，至七日夜且未央，觀音空中現紫金色相，長一丈餘，坐寶蓮華，垂右手，摩日頂曰：「汝欲傳法，自利利他，西方淨土極樂世界彌陀佛國，勸令念佛誦經，迴願往生，到彼國已，見佛及我，得大利益。汝自當知淨土法門，勝過諸行。」說已忽滅。日斷食既困，聞此強壯。及登嶺東歸，計行七十餘國，總一十八年，開元七年方達長安。進帝佛真容、梵夾等，開悟帝心，賜號曰慈慜三藏。生常勤修淨土之業，著《往生淨土集》，行于世。其道與善導、少康異時同化也。又以僧徒多迷五辛中「興渠」。「興渠」人多說不同，或云蕓薹、胡荽，或云阿魏，唯《淨土集》中別行書出云：「五辛，此土唯有四，一蒜，二韮，三葱，四薤，闕於興渠。」梵語稍訛，正云「形具」，餘國不見。迴至于闐，方得見也。根麁如細蔓菁根而白，其臭如蒜，彼國人種取根食也。于時冬天到彼，不見枝葉。薹、荽非五辛，所食無罪。日親見為驗歟？以天寶七年卒于住寺，報齡六十九。葬于白鹿原，成小塔焉。

Shi Huiri, whose secular surname was Xin, was a native of Donglai. He was ordained under Emperor Zhongzong, and after ascending to the full precepts, he met Tripiṭaka Master Yijing, who had attained the pinnacle of the Single Vehicle and personally journeyed to India. Huiri’s mind constantly yearned [for this], and he vowed to travel to the Western Regions. At first he boarded a ship and crossed the sea. After three years had passed, he had traveled through nearly all the various kingdoms in the southeastern sea—Kunlun, Fo-shi [Śrīvijaya], the Isle of Lions [Siṃhala], and others—and then reached India, where he paid homage to the sacred traces. For thirteen years he sought Sanskrit manuscripts and visited spiritual friends. Having consulted them and received the Dharma’s instructions, he longed to benefit others, so he shook his monk’s staff and set out for his homeland, journeying as a solitary shadow. Through the snowy ranges and barbarian lands, he spent another four years. Having experienced many hardships, he felt a deep revulsion toward Jambudvīpa: In which land, in which direction, is there joy without suffering? Through what Dharma, what practice, can one swiftly see the Buddha? He asked widely among the Tripiṭaka masters and scholars of India, and what they taught all praised the Pure Land, which also accords with the golden mouth [of the Buddha]; for quickness, it is the path of a single lifetime; exhausting this retribution body, one will certainly attain rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, and personally serve Amitābha Buddha. Having heard this, he accepted it atop his head and gradually reached the kingdom of Gandhāra in northern India. Northeast of the royal city there was a great mountain with an image of Avalokiteśvara; when one prayed with sincere resolve, the bodhisattva would often manifest a body. Huiri then kowtowed for seven days and also fasted, making the end of his life his term. On the seventh night, before it had ended, Avalokiteśvara manifested in the sky a purple-gold form over ten feet tall, seated upon a precious lotus flower. Lowering his right hand, he rubbed Huiri’s crown and said: “If you wish to transmit the Dharma to benefit yourself and others, it is the Western Pure Land, the World of Ultimate Bliss, the Buddha-land of Amitābha! Urge people to recite the Buddha’s name and chant sūtras, dedicated and aspiring to rebirth. Having arrived in that land, seeing the Buddha and me, they will attain great benefit. You yourself should know that the Pure Land teaching surpasses all other practices.” Having spoken, he suddenly vanished. Huiri was exhausted from fasting, but upon hearing this he felt invigorated. Crossing the mountain ranges on his eastward return, he calculated that he had traversed more than seventy kingdoms, taking eighteen years in total, and finally reached Chang’an in the seventh year of Kaiyuan. He presented to the Emperor an authentic portrait of the Buddha, Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts, and the like, awakening the Emperor’s heart, and was bestowed the title of Tripiṭaka Master Cimin. Throughout his life he diligently cultivated the practices of the Pure Land, and authored the *Wang sheng jing tu ji* (Collection on Rebirth in the Pure Land), which circulated in the world. His path was of identical transformation in a different era with Shandao and Shaokang. Moreover, because the monastic assembly was largely confused about *hiṅgu* among the five pungent roots—regarding *hiṅgu*, many people spoke differently, some saying it was rape-turnip or coriander, others saying it was asafetida—only in his *Jingtu ji* did he write separately: “Of the five pungent roots, there are only four in this land: first, garlic; second, leek; third, scallion; fourth, Chinese onion; it lacks *hiṅgu*.” The Sanskrit term is slightly distorted; it is properly called *xingju* [hiṅgu], and it is not found in other kingdoms. Only upon returning to Khotan did he manage to see it. Its root is as thick as a slender turnip root and is white, smelling like garlic; the people of that kingdom cultivate it and take the root to eat. When he arrived there during winter, he did not see its branches and leaves. Turnip and coriander are not among the five pungent roots, and eating them incurs no guilt. Did Huiri not verify this with his own eyes? In the seventh year of Tianbao he passed away at his home temple, at the retribution age of sixty-nine. He was buried on Bailuyuan, and a small stūpa was erected.