宋高僧傳 6.24

6.24

釋宗密，姓何氏，果州西充人也。家本豪盛，少通儒書，欲干世以活生靈，負俊才而隨計吏。元和二年，偶謁遂州圓禪師，圓未與語，密欣然而慕之，乃從其削染受教。此年進具于拯律師。尋謁荊南張，張曰：「汝傳教人也，當宣導於帝都。」復見洛陽照禪師，照曰：「菩薩人也，誰能識之？」末見上都華嚴觀，觀曰：「毘盧華藏，能隨我遊者，其唯汝乎？」初在蜀，因齋次受經，得《圓覺》十二章，深達義趣，誓傳是經。在漢上因病僧付《華嚴》句義，未甞隷習，即爾講之。由是乃著《圓覺》、《華嚴》及《涅槃》、《金剛》、《起信》、《唯識》、《盂蘭盆》、《法界觀》、《行願經》等疏鈔，及《法義類例》、《禮懺》、《修證》、《圖傳》、《纂略》。又集諸宗禪言，為《禪藏》，總而序之，并《酬答》、《書偈》、《議論》等。又《四分律疏》五卷、《鈔懸談》二卷，凡二百許卷，圖六面。皆本一心而貫諸法，顯真體而融事理，超群有於對待，冥物我而獨運矣。密累入內殿，問其法要。大和二年慶成節，徵賜紫方袍為大德。尋請歸山。會昌元年正月六日坐滅於興福塔院，儼若平日，容貌益悅。七日，遷于函，其自證之力可知矣。其月二十二日，道俗等奉全身于圭峯，二月十三日茶毘，得舍利數十粒，明白而潤大。後門人泣而求諸煨中，必得而歸，悉斂藏于石室，其無緣之慈可知矣。俗齡六十二，僧臘三十四。遺誡令：「舁屍施鳥獸，焚其骨而散之，勿塔，勿得悲慕，以亂禪觀。每清明上山，必講道七日而後去。其餘住持儀則當合律科，違者非吾弟子。」初，密道既芬馨，名惟炟赫，內眾慕羶既如彼，朝貴答響又如此。當長慶、元和已來，中官立功執政者孔熾，內外猜疑，人主危殆。時宰臣李訓酷重于密，及開成中偽甘露發，中官率禁兵五百人出閤，所遇者一皆屠戮。時王涯、賈餗、舒元輿方在中書會食，聞難作，奔入終南投密。唯李訓欲求剪髮匿之，從者止之，訓改圖趨鳳翔。時仇士良知之，遣人捕密入左軍，面數其不告之罪，將害之。密怡然曰：「貧道識訓年深，亦知其反叛，然本師教法，遇苦即救，不愛身命，死固甘心。」中尉魚恒志嘉之，奏釋其罪。朝士聞之，扼腕出涕焉。或曰：「密師為禪耶，律耶，經論耶？」則對曰：「夫密者四戰之國也，人無得而名焉，都可謂『大智圓明自證利他大菩薩』也。是故裴休論譔云：

Shi Zongmi, surnamed He, was a native of Xichong in Guozhou. His family was originally prominent and wealthy. In his youth he thoroughly mastered Confucian texts, wishing to serve the world so as to save living beings; endowed with exceptional talent, he followed the fiscal envoys. In the second year of Yuanhe, he happened to visit Chan Master Yuan of Suizhou. Before Yuan had even spoken with him, Zongmi was filled with joy and admiration, whereupon he followed him, shaved his head, and received instruction. That year he received the full precepts from Vinaya Master Zheng. Soon after, he visited Master Zhang of Jingnan, who said: 'You are a person who will transmit the teaching; you should proclaim and guide in the imperial capital.' He then saw Chan Master Zhao of Luoyang, who said: 'You are a person of the bodhisattva vehicle; who could fully recognize you?' Finally he saw Huayan [Chengguan] of the Upper Capital, who said: 'Within the Flower Treasury of Vairocana, who could roam alongside me if not you alone?' Originally, while in Shu, upon receiving a scripture during a vegetarian feast, he obtained the twelve chapters of the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment; deeply penetrating its doctrinal purport, he vowed to transmit this scripture. While in Hanshang, because an ill monk entrusted him with the sentences and meanings of the Huayan, though he had never previously studied it, he immediately lectured upon it. Thereupon he composed commentaries and subcommentaries on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, Huayan, Nirvāṇa, Diamond Sutra, Awakening of Faith, Vijñaptimātra, Ullambana, Contemplation of the Dharmadhātu, and Bhadracarī-praṇidhāna, as well as the Categories and Examples of Doctrinal Meanings, Rites of Repentance, Cultivation and Realization, Illustrated Biographies, and Compendium. He also compiled the Chan sayings of various traditions into the Chan Canon, providing a general preface for it, along with Replies to Inquiries, Letters and Gāthās, Discussions, and other works. Furthermore, he composed a five-fascicle Commentary on the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and a two-fascicle Introductory Discourse to the Subcommentary, totaling some two hundred fascicles and six diagrams. All of them took the One Mind as their root to run through all dharmas, revealed the true essence to harmonize principle and phenomena, transcended the multitude of existents beyond dualistic opposition, and subtly unified object and self in solitary function. Zongmi was repeatedly summoned to the inner palace to be questioned on the essentials of the Dharma. On the Qingcheng Festival in the second year of Taihe, he was summoned, granted the purple square robe, and made a Grand Worthy. Soon after, he requested permission to return to the mountain. On the sixth day of the first month in the first year of Huichang, he passed away seated in the Stūpa Courtyard of Xingfu; his composure was as in life, his facial expression even more joyful. On the seventh day, when he was placed into the casket, the power of his self-realization was plain to see. On the twenty-second day of that month, monastics and laypeople conveyed his whole body to Guifeng; on the thirteenth day of the second month he was cremated, yielding several tens of relics, pure white, glossy, and large. Later his disciples wept and searched among the ashes, determined to find them and bring them back, and entirely enshrined them within a stone chamber; the reach of his unconditioned compassion was plain to see. His secular age was sixty-two; his saṅgha age was thirty-four. His testamentary injunction directed: 'Carry my corpse and bestow it upon the birds and beasts; burn my bones and scatter them. Do not build a stūpa, and do not grieve or long for me, lest you disturb your Chan contemplation. Whenever you come up the mountain on the Qingming festival, you must expound the Way for seven days before departing. As for the rest of the monastic etiquette, it should conform to the vinaya regulations; those who violate them are not my disciples.' Earlier, when Zongmi's Way had become fragrant and his fame truly resplendent, the inner congregation's yearning for him was like that, and the response of the court dignitaries was like this. From the Changqing and Yuanhe eras onward, the court eunuchs who performed meritorious service and held the reins of government were exceedingly powerful; suspicions arose between the inner court and outer officials, and the sovereign was imperiled. At that time, Chief Minister Li Xun held Zongmi in extreme esteem. When the Sweet Dew Incident falsely erupted during the Kaicheng era, the eunuchs led five hundred imperial guardsmen out of the palace gates, slaughtering all they encountered. At that time Wang Ya, Jia Su, and Shu Yuanyu were dining together in the Secretariat; hearing that catastrophe had broken out, they fled into the Zhongnan Mountains to throw themselves upon Zongmi. Only Li Xun sought to have his hair shorn and be hidden away, but his attendants dissuaded him, so Xun changed his plan and rushed toward Fengxiang. Qiu Shiliang, learning of this, dispatched men who arrested Zongmi and brought him to the Left Army, reproaching him to his face with the crime of failing to report the rebels, and intending to execute him. Zongmi said placidly: 'This poor monk has known Xun for many years and indeed knew of his rebellion; yet according to my original master's teachings, whenever one encounters suffering, one should rescue it without sparing life or limb. To die is indeed sweet to my heart.' Lieutenant Fish Hengzhi praised him and memorialized to pardon his crime. When the court officials heard of this, they gripped their wrists and shed tears. Someone said: 'Is Master Zongmi an expert in Chan, in vinaya, or in scriptures and treatises?' The reply was: 'Zongmi is like a land open to war on all four sides; no one can affix a single label to him. All that can be said is that he is a "Great Bodhisattva of Great Wisdom, Perfectly Luminous, Self-Realized, and Benefiting Others."' For this reason, Pei Xiu's essay states: