宋高僧傳 5.9

5.9

釋一行，俗姓張，鉅鹿人也，本名遂，則唐初佐命郯國公公謹之支孫也。丱歲不群，聰黠明利，有老成之風。讀書不再覽，已暗誦矣。因遇普寂禪師大行禪要，歸心者眾，乃悟世幻，禮寂為師，出家剃染。所誦經法，無不精諷。寂師甞設大會，遠近沙門如期必至，計逾千眾。時有徵士盧鴻，隱居於別峯，道高學富，朝廷累降蒲輪，終辭不起。大會主事先請鴻為導文，序讚邑社。是日鴻自袖出其文，置之机案。鐘梵既作，鴻謂寂公曰：「某為數千百言，況其字僻文古，請求朗俊者宣之，當須面指擿而授之。」寂公呼行，伸紙覽而微笑，復置机案。鴻怪其輕脫。及僧聚於堂中，行乃攘袂而進，抗音典裁，一無遺誤。鴻愕視久之，降歎不能已，復謂寂公曰：「非君所能教導也，當縱其遊學。」自是三學名師，罕不諮度。因往當陽，值僧真纂成〈律藏序〉，深達毘尼。然有陰陽讖緯之書，一皆詳究，尋訪算術，不下數千里，知名者往詢焉。末至天台山國清寺見一院，古松數十步，門枕流溪，淡然岑寂。行立于門屏，聞院中布算，其聲䔩䔩然。僧謂侍者曰：「今日當有弟子自遠求吾算法，計合到門，必無人導達耶？」即除一算子。又謂侍者曰：「門前水合却西流，弟子當至。」行承其言而入，稽首請法，盡授其決焉，門前水復東流矣。自此聲振遐邇，公卿籍甚。玄宗聞之，詔入，謂行曰：「師有何能？」對曰：「略能記覽，他無所長。」帝遂命中官取宮籍以示之，行周覽方畢，覆其本，記念精熟，如素所習。唱數幅後，帝不覺降榻稽首曰：「師實聖人也。」嗟歎良久。尋乃詔對無恒，占其災福，若指于掌，言多補益。時邢和璞者，道術人，莫窺其際，甞謂尹愔曰：「一行和尚真聖人也。漢洛下閎造曆云：『八百歲當差一日，則有聖人定之。』今年期畢矣。屬《大衍曆》出，正其差謬，則洛下閎之言可信。非聖人孰能預於斯矣！」又於金剛三藏學陀羅尼祕印，登前佛壇，受法王寶；復同無畏三藏譯《毘盧遮那佛經》，開後佛國。其傳《密藏》，必抵淵府也。睿宗、玄宗並請入內集賢院，尋詔住興唐寺。所翻之經，遂著疏七卷，又《攝調伏藏》六十卷、《釋氏系錄》一卷、《開元大衍曆》五十二卷。其曆編入《唐書．曆律志》，以為不刊之典。又造游儀，黃、赤二道以鐵成規，於院製作。次有王媼者，行隣里之老嫗，昔多贍行之貧，及行顯遇，常思報之。一日拜謁云：「兒子殺人，即就誅矣。況師帝王雅重，乞奏減死，以供母之殘齡！」如是泣涕者數四，行曰：「國家刑憲，豈有論請而得免耶？」命侍僧給與若干錢物，任去別圖。媼戟手曼罵曰：「我居隣周給迭互，繃褓間抱乳汝。長成，何忘此惠耶！」行心慈愛，終夕不樂。於是運算畢，召淨人戒之曰：「汝曹挈布囊於某坊閑靜地，午時坐伺，得生類投囊，速歸。」明日，果有𭸞彘引㹠七箇，淨人分頭驅逐，𭸞母走矣，得㹠而歸。行已備巨瓮，逐一入之，閉蓋，以六乙泥封口，誦胡語數契而止。投明，中官下詔入問，云：「司天監奏：『昨夜北斗七座星全不見』，何耶？」對曰：「昔後魏曾失熒惑星，至今帝車不見。此則天將大儆於陛下也。夫匹夫匹婦不得其所，猶隕霜天旱，盛德所感，乃能退之。感之切者其在葬枯骨乎！釋門以慈心降一切魔，微僧曲見，莫若大赦天下。」玄宗依之。其夜占奏北斗一星見，七夜復初，其術不可測也。又開元中甞旱甚，帝令祈雨，曰：「當得一器上有龍狀者，方可致雨。」勅令中官同於內庫中遍視之，皆言弗類。數日後指一古鑑，鼻盤龍，喜曰：「此真龍也。」乃將入壇場，一日而雨。其異術通感為若此也。玄宗在大明宮，從容密問社稷吉凶，并祚運終畢事，行對以他語。帝詢之不已，遂曰：「陛下當有『萬里』之行。」又曰：「社稷畢得終吉。」帝大悅。復遺帝一金合子，形若彈丸，內貯物，撼必有聲，發之不得，云：「有急則開。」帝幸蜀，倉黃都忘斯事，及到成都，忽憶啟之，則藥分中當歸也。帝曰：「伊藥產於此，師知朕違難至蜀當歸也。」復見萬里橋，曰：「一行之言，信其神矣。」命中官焚香祝之，乃告謝也。及昭宗初，封吉王，至太子德王，唐為梁滅，終行之言「社稷畢得終『吉』」也。開元十五年九月於華嚴寺疾篤，將輿病入辭，小間而止。玄宗此夜夢瞰禪居，見繩床、紙隔、開扇，曉而驗問，一如所覩。乃詔京城名德致大道場，為行祈福，危疾微愈。其寵愛如是。十月八日隨駕幸新豐，身無諸患，口無一言，忽然浴香水換衣，趺坐正念，怡然示滅。一云，辭告玄宗後，自駕前東來嵩山謁禮本師，即寂也。時河南尹裴寬正謁寂，寂云：「有少事，未暇與大尹欵話。且請踟蹰休息也。」寬乃屏從人，止於旁室，伺寂何為。見潔淨正堂，焚香默坐，如有所待。斯須，叩門連聲云：「天師一行和尚至（僧號天師，始見於此，言天子師也）。」行入，頗怱切之狀，禮寂之足，附耳密語，其貌愈恭。寂但頷應曰：「無不可者。」語訖又禮，禮語者三，寂唯言「是是，無不可者。」行語訖，降階入南室，自閉其戶。寂乃徐召侍者曰：「速聲鐘，一行已滅度。」左右疾走視之，瞑目而坐，手掩伺息，已絕。四眾弟子悲號沸渭，撼動山谷，乃停神於罔極寺。自終及葬，凡經三七日，爪甲不變，髭髮更長，形色怡悅，時眾驚異。帝覽奏悲愴曰：「禪師捨朕，深用哀慕！」喪事官供，詔葬于銅人原，諡曰大慧禪師。御撰塔銘，天下釋子榮之。

Shi Yixing's secular surname was Zhang, and he was a native of Julu. His original name was Sui, and he was a collateral grandson of Gongjin, Duke of Tan, an founding supporter at the beginning of the Tang. In his youth he did not mingle with the crowd; he was clever, acute, and sharp, possessing the demeanor of a mature adult. He did not read a book a second time before he could recite it from memory. Coming across Chan Master Puji broadly practicing the essentials of Chan, with numerous followers submitting their hearts, he came to realize the world was an illusion, bowed to Puji as his master, and went forth from household life, shaving his hair and dyeing his robes. Of the scriptures and dharmas he recited, there were none he did not master thoroughly. Master Puji once held a great assembly, and śramaṇas from near and far arrived punctually as expected, numbering more than a thousand. At that time there was a summoned scholar, Lu Hong, who lived in seclusion on another peak, renowned for his lofty virtue and vast learning. The imperial court repeatedly sent carriage invitations, but he consistently declined and refused to leave seclusion. The director of the great assembly beforehand requested Lu Hong to compose an introductory text to preface and praise the community. On that day, Lu Hong took his text out from his sleeve and placed it on the desk. After the striking of the bells and the Sanskrit chanting had commenced, Lu Hong said to Master Puji, "I have composed several hundred to a thousand words, and moreover, the characters are rare and the prose archaic. I beg you to seek a bright and talented person to recite it, and I must instruct him face-to-face." Master Puji summoned Yixing, who unfolded the paper, glanced at it, smiled faintly, and set it back on the desk. Lu Hong wondered at his flippancy. When the monks gathered in the hall, Yixing rolled up his sleeves, stepped forward, and in a resounding voice and measured cadence, recited it without a single error. Lu Hong stared in astonishment for a long time, sighing in admiration without cease, and said again to Master Puji, "He is not someone you can instruct; you should let him travel and study freely." From then on, among famous masters of the three trainings, there were few he did not consult. Traveling to Dangyang, he met the monk Zhen, who had compiled the 'Preface to the Vinaya Piṭaka' and was deeply versed in the vinaya. Furthermore, as for books on yinyang and prophetic apocrypha, he investigated all of them in detail; he sought out mathematics over distances of no less than several thousand li, visiting and consulting anyone renowned for it. Finally, arriving at Guoqing Temple on Mount Tiantai, he saw a compound with old pines spanning several tens of paces, its gate overlooking a flowing stream, serene and secluded. Yixing stood at the gate screen and heard the calculation counting-rods clicking rapidly inside the compound. A monk said to his attendant, "Today there should be a disciple coming from afar to seek my mathematical methods. By calculation he ought to have reached the gate; surely there is no one to guide him in?" He immediately removed a counting rod. He then said to the attendant, "The stream before the gate ought to flow westward instead, and the disciple shall arrive." Yixing, taking him at his word, entered, bowed his head to request the Dharma, and was fully taught his methods; the stream before the gate flowed eastward again. From this time onward, his renown shook near and far, and the nobility held him in the highest esteem. Xuanzong heard of him, summoned him to the palace, and asked Yixing, "What ability do you possess, Master?" He replied, "I can somewhat memorize and read; I have no other special talent." The emperor then ordered a palace official to fetch the palace registers and show them to him. Just as Yixing finished browsing through them, he turned the text over and recalled it with thorough mastery, as though it were something he had always practiced. After he chanted several scrolls, the emperor unconsciously stepped down from his couch, bowed his head, and said, "You are truly a sage, Master!" and marveled for a long time. Soon afterward, imperial summonses for audience were without fixed limit; when he divined disaster and fortune, it was as if pointing to his own palm, and his words brought much benefit. At that time, Xing Hepu, a master of Daoist arts whose depths no one could fathom, once said to Yin Yin: "The upādhyāya Yixing is truly a sage. Luoxia Hong of the Han dynasty, when creating the calendar, said: 'After eight hundred years there will be a discrepancy of one day, and then a sage will correct it.' This year the period is completed. Now that the Dayandali (Great Expansion Calendar) has appeared and corrected its errors, Luoxia Hong's words are indeed trustworthy. If not a sage, who could anticipate this?" Moreover, under the Tripiṭaka Master Vajra[bodhi] he studied the esoteric seals of dhāraṇī, mounted the altar of the former Buddha, and received the treasure of the Dharma King; he also translated the Vairocana Buddha Sūtra with the Tripiṭaka Master [Śubhakara]siṃha, opening the realm of the later Buddha. In transmitting the Esoteric Treasury, he was sure to reach its deepest abyss. Ruizong and Xuanzong both invited him into the Academy of Scholarly Worthies within the palace, and soon decreed that he reside at Xingtang Temple. For the scripture he had translated, he then composed a commentary in seven scrolls, as well as the 'Compendium of the Vinaya Treasury' in sixty scrolls, the 'Genealogical Record of the Śākyas' in one scroll, and the 'Kaiyuan Dayan Calendar' in fifty-two scrolls. His calendar was incorporated into the 'Treatise on Calendars and Pitch Pipes' in the Tangshu and regarded as an unalterable classic. He also constructed an ecliptic-equatorial observation armillary instrument, casting the ecliptic and equatorial rings in iron, and manufactured it in the academy. Next, there was Old Woman Wang, an elderly neighbor of Yixing's. Formerly, she had often provided for Yixing in his poverty, and when Yixing attained honor and prominence, he constantly thought of repaying her. One day she paid a visit, saying: "My son killed someone and is about to be executed. Furthermore, as you, Master, are deeply respected by the sovereign, I beg you to memorialize the throne to commute his death penalty, so as to support this mother's remaining years!" Weeping thus several times, Yixing said: "The laws and penal codes of the state—how could they be excused through pleading?" He ordered an attendant monk to give her a certain amount of money and goods, letting her go and seek other plans. The old woman pointed her finger and reviled him, saying: "When I lived as your neighbor, we aided one another, and in swaddling clothes I held and nursed you. Having grown up, how could you forget this kindness!" Yixing's heart was benevolent and loving, and he was unhappy the entire night. Thereupon, having finished calculating, he summoned purifiers and instructed them, saying: "Carry a cloth sack to a quiet place in a certain ward, sit and wait at midday, and when you obtain living creatures, throw them into the sack and return quickly." The next day, there indeed was a sow leading seven piglets; the purifiers scattered to chase them; the mother sow fled, but they captured the piglets and returned. Yixing had already prepared a huge vat; he put them in one by one, closed the lid, sealed the opening with Liuyi mud, and chanted several verses of foreign incantations before stopping. At dawn, a palace eunuch brought an imperial decree summoning him for inquiry, saying: "The Directorate of Astronomy memorialized: 'Last night the seven stars of the Northern Dipper were completely invisible.' What is the reason?" He replied: "Formerly, the Later Wei once lost the planet Mars, and now the Imperial Carriage (the Dipper) is not seen. This means Heaven is about to give Your Majesty a great warning. When common men and women fail to find their proper place, it is like falling frost and drought; only the resonance of abundant virtue can avert it. That which resonates most urgently—is it not in burying dried bones? The Buddhist order overcomes all māras with a compassionate heart. In this humble monk's modest view, nothing is better than a general amnesty for all under heaven." Xuanzong complied with it. That night, the astrologers memorialized that one star of the Northern Dipper was seen, and after seven nights it was restored as before; his arts were unfathomable. Furthermore, during the Kaiyuan era, there was once a severe drought; the emperor ordered him to pray for rain. He said: "We must obtain a vessel with the shape of a dragon upon it, and only then can rain be brought about." The emperor ordered palace eunuchs to inspect the imperial storehouses everywhere together with him, but all said none resembled it. Several days later, he pointed to an ancient mirror with an entwined dragon knob, saying with delight: "This is a true dragon." It was then brought into the altar site, and within one day it rained. His extraordinary arts and supernatural resonance were like this. Xuanzong, at the Daming Palace, leisurely and secretly inquired about the good and bad fortune of the dynasty and matters regarding the end of the dynastic destiny. Yixing answered with other words. The emperor questioned him without ceasing, so he said: "Your Majesty will have a journey of 'ten thousand li (wanli)'." He also said: "The dynasty will ultimately end in 'auspiciousness (ji)'." The emperor was greatly pleased. He further presented the emperor with a small gold box shaped like a pellet, with something stored inside; it made a sound when shaken, but could not be opened, saying: "Open it when there is an emergency." When the emperor took refuge in Shu, in the panic he completely forgot this matter; upon arriving in Chengdu, he suddenly remembered and opened it: inside was the medicinal ingredient dang gui (angelica / 'ought to return'). The emperor said: "This medicine is produced here; the Master knew that when I fled disaster to Shu, I ought to return." Seeing the Wanli Bridge, he said: "Yixing's words—truly they are divine!" He ordered palace eunuchs to burn incense and offer prayers, thereby offering thanks. In the beginning of Zhaozong's reign, the Prince of Ji was enfeoffed, down to Crown Prince Prince De, when the Tang was destroyed by the Liang, ultimately fulfilling Yixing's words that "the dynasty will end in Ji ('auspiciousness' / King of Ji)." In the ninth month of the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan, his illness grew grave at Huayan Temple; about to be carried in his sickness to the palace to bid farewell, he stopped when he felt slightly better. That night, Xuanzong dreamed of looking into the Chan abode, seeing a rope bed, paper partition, and open door leaves; at dawn he investigated and found it was exactly as he had seen. Thereupon, he decreed that eminent and virtuous monks of the capital establish a great ritual site to pray for blessings for Yixing, and his critical illness improved slightly. Such was the favor he enjoyed. On the eighth day of the tenth month, following the imperial entourage to Xinfeng, his body was free of ailments, and not a word came from his mouth; suddenly he bathed in fragrant water, changed his clothes, sat cross-legged with correct mindfulness, and serenely demonstrated extinction. Another account says: after bidding farewell to Xuanzong, he came east ahead of the imperial carriage to Mount Song to pay homage to his original teacher, who was Puji. At that time, Pei Kuan, Governor of Henan, was visiting Puji. Puji said: "I have a minor matter and do not have leisure to converse intimately with the Governor. Please wait and rest a while." Pei Kuan then dismissed his attendants and stayed in a side room, watching what Puji would do. He saw the main hall being cleaned, with incense burning, and Puji sitting silently as if waiting for someone. In a short while, there was continuous knocking at the gate, saying: "The Heavenly Master Upādhyāya Yixing has arrived!" (The monk title 'Heavenly Master' is first seen here, meaning 'Teacher of the Son of Heaven'). Yixing entered, appearing quite hurried; he bowed to Puji's feet, whispered closely in his ear, his demeanor ever more reverent. Puji only nodded and responded: "There is nothing unallowable." When the words ended, he bowed again; he bowed and spoke three times, and Puji only said, "Yes, yes; there is nothing unallowable." When Yixing finished speaking, he descended the steps, entered the southern room, and shut the door himself. Puji then slowly called his attendant, saying: "Quickly strike the bell; Yixing has attained extinction." Those around ran quickly to look at him; he sat with closed eyes, and when they covered his breath to check, it was already severed. The fourfold assembly of disciples wailed and wept profusely, shaking the mountain valley; his spirit was then laid to rest at Wangji Temple. From his demise to his burial, three times seven days passed in all; his fingernails did not change, his beard and hair grew longer, and his expression was serene and pleasing; the assembly of that time was astonished. The emperor, reading the memorial, said with grief: "The Chan Master has abandoned Us, plunging Us into deep sorrow and longing!" The funeral expenses were supplied by the government, and it was decreed that he be buried on Tongren Plain, posthumously titled Chan Master Dahui. The imperial brush composed the stupa inscription, and Buddhist disciples under heaven took pride in it.