宋高僧傳 4.33

4.33

釋元曉，姓薛氏，東海湘州人也。丱䰂之年，惠然入法，隨師稟業，遊處無恒。勇擊義圍，雄橫文陣，仡仡然，桓桓然，進無前却，蓋「三學」之淹通，彼土謂為萬人之敵，精義入神，為若此也。甞與湘法師入唐，慕奘三藏慈恩之門，厥緣既差，息心遊往。無何，發言狂悖，示跡乖疎，同居士入酒肆倡家，若誌公持金刀鐵錫，或製疏以講《雜華》，或撫琴以樂祠宇，或閭閻寓宿，或山水坐禪，任意隨機，都無定檢。時國王置百座《仁王經》大會，遍搜碩德，本州以名望舉進之。諸德惡其為人，譖王不納。居無何，王之夫人腦嬰癰腫，醫工絕驗，王及王子臣屬禱請山川靈祠，無所不至。有巫覡言曰：「苟遣人往他國求藥，是疾方瘳。」王乃發使泛海入唐，募其醫術。溟漲之中，忽見一翁由波濤躍出，登舟邀使人入海，覩宮殿嚴麗，見龍王。王名鈐海，謂使者曰：「汝國夫人是青帝第三女也，我宮中先有《金剛三昧經》，乃『二覺』圓通，示菩薩行也。今託仗夫人之病，為增上緣，欲附此經出彼國流布耳。」於是將三十來紙重沓散經付授使人。復曰：「此經渡海中，恐罹魔事。」王令持刀裂使人腨腸，而內于中，用蠟紙纏縢，以藥傅之，其腨如故。龍王言：「可令大安聖者銓次綴縫，請元曉法師造疏講釋之，夫人疾愈無疑。假使雪山阿伽陀藥力亦不過是。」龍王送出海面，遂登舟歸國。時王聞而歡喜，乃先召大安聖者黏次焉。大安者，不測之人也，形服特異，恒在市𮠔，擊銅鉢唱言：「大安、大安……」之聲，故號之也。王命安，安云：「但將經來」，不願入王宮閾。安得經，排來成八品，皆合佛意。安曰：「速將付元曉講，餘人則否。」曉受斯經，正在本生湘州也，謂使人曰：「此經以本、始二覺為宗，為我備角乘，將案几，在兩角之間置其筆硯。」始終於牛車造疏，成五卷。王請剋日於黃龍寺敷演。時有薄徒竊盜新疏，以事白王，延于三日，重錄成三卷，號為《略疏》。洎乎王臣道俗雲擁法堂，曉乃宣吐有儀，解紛可則，稱揚彈指，聲沸于空。曉復昌言曰：「昔日採百椽時，雖不預會。今朝橫一棟處，唯我獨能。」時諸名德俯顏慚色，伏膺懺悔焉。初曉示跡無恒，化人不定，或擲盤而救眾，或噀水而撲焚，或數處現形，或六方告滅，亦盃渡、誌公之倫歟？其於解性，覽無不明矣。「疏」有廣、略二本，俱行本土。略本流入中華，後有翻經三藏改之為論焉。

Śramaṇa Wonhyo, surnamed Seol, was a native of Sangju in the Eastern Sea. In the years of his boyhood tufts, he graciously entered the Dharma. Following masters to receive training, he had no fixed dwelling. Valiantly storming the bastions of doctrinal debate and boldly sweeping across the literary array, he was vigorous and stalwart, pressing forward without retreating. Indeed, having thoroughly mastered the threefold learning, he was called in that land a match for ten thousand men; his penetrating insight was marvelous like this. He once set out for the Tang with Dharma Master Sang, admiring the lineage of Tripiṭaka Master Xuanzang and Ci'en. But when their conditions fell through, he ceased his intention to travel there. Soon after, his words became wild and erratic, and his conduct departed from standard decorum. Together with laypeople he entered wine shops and brothels, like Master Baozhi holding his golden knife and iron khakkhara; or he composed commentaries to lecture on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra; or he strummed the zither to make music at shrines; or he lodged in humble lanes; or he sat in meditation amid mountains and waters. Giving free rein to his intent and adapting to occasions, he had no fixed standard of conduct at all. At that time, the king of the country instituted a great assembly of one hundred seats for the Benevolent King Sūtra, searching everywhere for eminent virtues. His home province recommended him for advancement based on his prestige, but the other venerables despised his character and slandered him to the king, so he was not admitted. Before long, the king's consort suffered from an ulcer on her head, and physicians had no effect. The king, princes, and ministers prayed at spirits' shrines among mountains and rivers, leaving no place unvisited. A shaman said: 'Only if someone is sent to another country to seek medicine will this sickness then be cured.' The king thereupon dispatched an envoy to cross the sea to the Tang to recruit their medical arts. In the midst of the vast sea, an old man was suddenly seen leaping out from the surging waves. Boarding the boat, he invited the envoy to enter the sea. Observing that the palaces were ornate and magnificent, he met the Dragon King. The king was named Qianhai, and he said to the envoy: 'Your country's queen is the third daughter of the Blue Emperor. In my palace there has long been the Vajrasamādhi-sūtra, which completely penetrates the two awakenings and reveals the bodhisattva practices. Now, relying on the queen's illness as a predominant condition, I wish to entrust this sūtra to emerge and be disseminated in that country.' Thereupon he handed over thirty-some sheets of unbound and scattered sūtra pages to the envoy. He added: 'While crossing the sea with this sūtra, I fear it will suffer from demonic interference.' The king ordered someone to take a knife and slit open the envoy's calf muscle, placing it inside, wrapping it with waxed paper, and smearing it with medicine; the calf was restored as before. The Dragon King said: 'You should have the holy one Da'an collate and stitch it together, and invite Dharma Master Wonhyo to compose a commentary and lecture on it; the queen's illness will be cured beyond doubt. Even the power of the agada medicine from the Snow Mountains could not surpass this.' The Dragon King escorted him back to the surface of the sea, whereupon he boarded the boat and returned to his country. When the king heard this, he was delighted, and first summoned the holy one Da'an to collate and paste it. Da'an was an unfathomable person whose appearance and clothing were extraordinary. He was always in the markets, striking a copper bowl and crying out with the sound: 'Da'an, Da'an [Great peace, great peace]...', which was why he was so named. The king summoned [Da]'an, but [Da]'an said: 'Just bring the sūtra here,' unwilling to cross the threshold of the royal palace. Once [Da]'an received the sūtra, he arranged it into eight chapters, all conforming to the Buddha's intent. [Da]'an said: 'Quickly deliver it to Wonhyo to lecture on; others will not do.' When Wonhyo received this sūtra, he happened to be in his native Sangju. He said to the envoy: 'This sūtra takes original awakening and initial awakening as its cardinal principles. Prepare for me an ox cart, bring a table, and place the writing brush and inkstone between the two horns.' From beginning to end, he composed the commentary upon the ox cart, completing it in five scrolls. The king invited him to fix a date to expound it at Hwangnyong Temple. At that time, a base fellow stole the new commentary. Reporting the matter to the king, he was granted a three-day extension and recorded it again into three scrolls, entitling it the Abbreviated Commentary. When the king, ministers, monks, and laity crowded like clouds into the Dharma hall, Wonhyo spoke with dignified deportment, resolving doubts in an exemplary way; they praised him, snapped their fingers, and the acclaim boiled up to the sky. Wonhyo further declared boldly: 'In the past, when gathering the one hundred rafters, I did not join the gathering; this morning, where a single ridgepole is laid across, only I alone am capable.' At that time the eminent virtues bowed their heads in shame and submissively repented. At first, Wonhyo's manifestations were unfixed, and his conversion of people was unpredictable: sometimes throwing a plate to rescue the multitude, sometimes spouting water to extinguish a fire, sometimes manifesting his form in several places, or announcing his passing in the six directions. Was he not of the same ilk as Beidu and Baozhi? As for his understanding of the nature of things, there was nothing he looked upon that he did not comprehend. His commentary had both an extensive and an abbreviated version, both of which circulated in his homeland. The abbreviated version flowed into China, and later a scripture-translating Tripiṭaka master altered it into a treatise.