宋高僧傳 4.29

4.29

釋義湘，俗姓朴，雞林府人也。生且英奇，長而出離，逍遙入道，性分天然。年臨弱冠，聞唐土教宗鼎盛，與元曉法師同志西遊，行至本國海門、唐州界，計求巨艦，將越滄波。倏於中塗遭其苦雨，遂依道旁土龕間隱身，所以避飄濕焉。迨乎明旦相視，乃古墳骸骨旁也。天猶霢霂，地且泥塗，尺寸難前，逗留不進。又寄埏甓之中，夜之未央，俄有鬼物為怪。曉公歎曰：「前之寓宿，謂土龕而且安；此夜留宵，託鬼鄉而多祟。則知心生故種種法生，心滅故龕墳不二。又三界唯心，萬法唯識。心外無法，胡用別求？我不入唐。」却携囊返國，湘乃隻影孤征，誓死無退。以總章二年附商船達登州岸，分衛到一信士家，見湘容色挺拔，留連門下既久，有少女麗服靚粧，名曰善妙，巧媚誨之，湘之心石不可轉也。女調不見答，頓發道心，於前矢大願言：「生生世世歸命和尚，習學大乘，成就大事，弟子必為檀越供給資緣。」湘乃徑趨長安終南山智儼三藏所，綜習《華嚴經》。時康藏國師為同學也。所謂知微知章，有倫有要。德瓶云滿，藏海嬉遊，乃議迴程，傳法開誘。復至文登舊檀越家，謝其數稔供施，便募商船，逡巡解纜。其女善妙預為湘辦集法服并諸什器，可盈篋笥，運臨海岸。湘船已遠，其女呪之曰：「我本實心供養法師，願是衣篋跳入前船！」言訖，投篋于駭浪。有頃，疾風吹之若鴻毛耳，遙望徑跳入船矣。其女復誓之：「我願是身化為大龍，扶翼舳艫到國傳法。」於是攘袂投身于海，將知願力難屈，至誠感神，果然伸形夭矯，或躍蜿蜒，其舟底寧，達于彼岸。湘入國之後，遍歷山川，於駒麗、百濟風馬牛不相及地，曰：「此中地靈山秀，真轉法輪之所。」無何，權宗異部聚徒可半千眾矣。湘默作是念，大《華嚴》教，非福善之地不可興焉。時善妙龍恒隨作護，潛知此念；乃現大神變於虛空中，化成巨石，縱廣一里，蓋于伽藍之頂，作將墮不墮之狀。群僧驚駭，罔知攸趣，四面奔散。湘遂入寺中，敷闡斯經，冬陽夏陰，不召自至者多矣。國王欽重，以田莊奴僕施之。湘言於王曰：「我法平等，高下共均，貴賤同揆。《涅槃經》八不淨財，何莊田之有？何奴僕之為？貧道以法界為家，以盂耕待稔，法身慧命藉此而生矣。」湘講樹開花，談叢結果，登堂覩奧者則智通、表訓、梵體、道身等數人，皆啄巨㲉飛出迦留羅鳥焉。湘貴「如說行」，講宣之外，精勤修練，莊嚴剎海，靡憚暄涼。又常行義淨洗穢法，不用巾帨，立期乾燥而止。持三法衣，瓶鉢之餘，曾無他物。凡弟子請益，不敢造次，伺其怡寂而後啟發。湘乃隨疑解滯，必無滓核。自是已來，雲遊不定，稱可我心，卓錫而居。學侶蜂屯，或執筆書紳，懷鉛札葉，抄如結集，錄似載言，如是義門隨弟子為目，如云《道身章》是也。或以處為名，如云《錐穴問答》等數章。疏皆明《華嚴》性海，毘盧遮那、無邊契經義例也。湘終于本國，塔亦存焉，號海東華嚴初祖也。

Shi Uisang's secular surname was Bak, and he was a native of Gyerim Prefecture. He was extraordinarily gifted from birth, and when grown he renounced the world. He entered the Way with ease and freedom, his nature being spontaneous. Approaching the age of twenty, he heard that the doctrinal traditions were flourishing in the Tang land. Sharing the same aspiration with Dharma Master Wonhyo, he traveled west. When they reached the boundary of their native country's Haemun and Dangju, they planned to find a large vessel and cross the blue waves. Suddenly on the way they encountered heavy rain, so they sheltered by the roadside in an earthen niche to escape the winds and wetness. When dawn came and they looked at each other, [they saw] it was next to the bones of an ancient tomb. The sky was still drizzling and the ground muddy, so that moving an inch forward was difficult, and they lingered unable to proceed. Again they lodged among clay bricks. Before the night was half over, ghost-beings suddenly manifested strange apparitions. Master Wonhyo sighed and said, "When lodging before, I thought it was an earthen niche and was at peace; staying the night here, I relied on a realm of ghosts and many baleful spirits arose. Thus I know that when the mind arises, various dharmas arise; when the mind ceases, the niche and the tomb are not two. Furthermore, the three realms are mind-only, and the ten thousand dharmas are consciousness-only. Outside the mind there is no dharma; what need is there to seek elsewhere? I will not enter Tang." Carrying his bag, he turned back to his country. Uisang, however, journeyed on as a solitary figure, vowing not to turn back even upon death. In the second year of Zongzhang [669 CE], he boarded a merchant ship and reached the coast of Dengzhou. Going on alms-round, he came to the house of a faithful layman. Seeing Uisang's commanding and outstanding appearance, [the layman] detained him under his gate for a long time. There was a young maiden, finely robed and beautifully adorned, named Shanmiao, who skillfully and seductively tempted him, but Uisang's mind was like a stone that could not be turned. Finding her overtures unreciprocated, the maiden suddenly gave rise to the aspiration for bodhi. In front of him, she made a great vow, saying, "Life after life, age after age, I take refuge in the Upādhyāya, to study the Mahāyāna and accomplish the great matter. I, your disciple, will surely serve as your dānapati to supply you with material support." Uisang then went straight to Mount Zhongnan in Chang'an, to the place of the Tripiṭaka Master Zhiyan, to study the Avataṃsaka Sūtra comprehensively. At that time, National Preceptor Fazang of Kang was his fellow student. He indeed discerned the subtle and the manifest, having order and grasp of essentials. When his vase of virtue was filled and he had roamed the sea of the canon, he resolved to return home to transmit the Dharma and instruct [the people]. He arrived again at Wendeng at the house of his former dānapati to thank them for their several years of offerings and alms, and then enlisted a merchant vessel, preparing to untie the moorings. The maiden Shanmiao had previously prepared for Uisang a collection of Dharma robes and various utensils, filling trunks and hampers, and had brought them to the seashore. Uisang's ship had already sailed far. The maiden prayed, "I originally had a true heart to make offerings to the Dharma Master; may this hamper of clothes leap into the ship ahead!" Having spoken, she threw the hamper into the surging waves. After a moment, a swift wind blew it like a wild goose feather, and from afar it was seen leaping directly into the ship. The maiden made another vow: "May this body of mine transform into a great dragon to support and flank the vessel, so that it reaches his homeland to transmit the Dharma." Thereupon she rolled up her sleeves and threw herself into the sea. Indeed, the power of vows is hard to thwart, and utmost sincerity moves the spirits: she indeed extended her form, leaping and winding gracefully, and the ship was calmed at its bottom and reached the other shore. After Uisang entered his homeland, he traveled throughout its mountains and rivers. In a place where Goguryeo and Baekje had no dealings with one another, he said, "The land here is numinous and the mountains refined; this is truly a place for turning the wheel of the Dharma." Before long, provisional traditions and heterodox factions gathered disciples numbering about five hundred. Uisang quietly thought: "The great Avataṃsaka teaching cannot flourish unless in a place of blessings and goodness." At that time, the Shanmiao dragon, constantly following as a protector, secretly knew this thought. She then manifested a great supernatural transformation in the open air, turning into a giant boulder a li across, which hovered over the roof of the saṅghārāma as if about to fall without falling. The assembly of monks was terrified, not knowing where to turn, and scattered in all four directions. Uisang then entered the temple and expounded this sūtra. Like winter sun and summer shade, many came unsummoned of their own accord. The king honored him and bestowed fields, estates, and servants upon him. Uisang said to the king, "My Dharma is impartial; high and low are treated equally, and noble and base share the same measure. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra lists the eight impure properties; how can there be fields and estates? What use are servants? This poor monk takes the dharmadhātu as home and plows with an alms-bowl while awaiting harvest; the Dharmakāya and wisdom-life arise depending on this." Uisang's lecture-tree blossomed, and the grove of his discourse bore fruit. Those who entered his hall and beheld the inner depths included several persons such as Jitong, Pyohun, Beomche, and Dosin; they were all garuḍa birds that pecked open giant shells and flew forth. Uisang prized "practicing in accordance with what is taught." Beyond lecturing and expounding, he practiced and trained with diligent effort, adorning the oceans of kṣetras without fearing heat or cold. He also constantly practiced Yijing's method of washing away filth, using no cloth or towel, but only stopping once dryness was naturally achieved. He kept the three Dharma robes, and apart from a water bottle and alms-bowl, he had nothing else. Whenever disciples requested instruction, they did not dare act rashly, but waited until he was at peace and ease before asking. Uisang would then resolve their doubts and remove their hindrances, ensuring that no impurities remained. From then on, he wandered like a cloud without fixed abode; wherever suited his mind, he planted his staff and dwelt there. Students swarmed like bees; some held brushes to write on their sashes, or carried lead pencils to write on leaves, transcribing as if compiling an assembly of teachings and recording as if writing historical records. Such doctrinal portals were named after disciples, such as the Chapter on Dosin. Others were named after places, such as the several chapters of the Awl Hole Questions and Answers. His commentaries all clarified the ocean of the nature of the Avataṃsaka, and the doctrinal paradigms of Vairocana's boundless sūtras. Uisang passed away in his native land, and his stūpa still remains there; he is called the First Patriarch of the Avataṃsaka of Haedong.