宋高僧傳 7.46

7.46

釋晤恩，字修己，姑蘇常熟人也。姓路，母張氏甞夢梵僧入其家而妊焉。及稚孺，見沙門相，必起迎遲。年十三，聞誦《彌陀經》，遂求出家。親黨饒愛，再三沮之，乃投破山興福寺受訓。後唐長興中受滿分戒，登往崑山慧聚寺，學南山律。晉天福初，從檇李皓端師聽習經論，懸解之性天然，時輩輒難抗敵。後微聞天台三觀、六即之說，冥符意解。漢開運中，造錢唐慈光院志因師，講貫彌年，通達《法華》、《光明經》、《止觀論》，咸洞玄微。尋施覆述，出弟子相次角立。雍熙三年八月朔日，恩於中夜覩白光自井而出，明滅不恒，謂門人曰：「吾報齡極於此矣。」乃絕粒禁言，一心念佛。次夢擁納沙門執金罏焚香，三遶其室，自言：「祖師灌頂來此相迎，汝當去矣。」夢覺，呼弟子至，猶聞異香。至二十五日為弟子說「止觀」旨歸及「觀心」義。辰時，端坐面西而化，享年七十五，僧臘五十五。其夜院僧有興、文偃等皆聞空中絲竹嘹亮而無鞉鼓，且多鈴鐸，漸久漸遠，依稀西去。迨九月九日，依西域法焚，獲舍利青白圓粒無算。恩平時謹重一食，不離衣鉢，不畜財寶，臥必右脇，坐必加趺。弟子輩設堂居，亦同今之禪室。立制嚴峻，日別親視明相，方許淨人施粥，曾有晚飲薯蕷湯者，即時擯出黌堂。每一布薩，則澘洒不止，蓋思其《大集》「滿」「洲」之言耳。偏誨人以彌陀淨業救生死事，受教得生感祥可見者，往往有之。凡與人言，不問賢、不肖，悉示以一乘圓意。或怪不逗機者，乃曰：「與作毒鼓之緣耳。」不喜雜交游，不好言世俗事。雖大人豪族，未甞輒問名居，況迂趨其門乎？先是天台宗教，會昌毀廢，文義殘缺。談妙之辭，沒名不顯。恩尋繹十妙之始終，研覈五重之旨趣。講《大玄義》、《文句》、《止觀》二十餘周，解、行兼明，目、足雙運。使《法華》大旨全美流于代者，恩之力也。又慊昔人《科節》與荊溪《記》不相符順，因著《玄義》、《文句》、《止觀》、《金光明》、《金𰼺》論科，總三十五帖，見行於世。吁，河、漢中有魚泝流而上者何？潛泳有所取故。恩公不寬乘戒而出弟子十有七人，求解而行行耳。

Śramaṇa Wuen, whose style was Xiuji, was a native of Changshu in Gusu. His surname was Lu. His mother, Lady Zhang, once dreamed that an Indian monk entered her home, whereupon she became pregnant. When he was a small child, whenever he saw the appearance of a śramaṇa, he would invariably rise to welcome him. At the age of thirteen, upon hearing the Amitābha Sūtra recited, he sought to leave the household life (pravrajyā). His relatives and kin loved him dearly and dissuaded him repeatedly, so he went to Poshan Xingfu Temple to receive instruction. During the Changxing era of the Later Tang [930–933], he received the complete precepts (upasampadā), and ascended Huiju Temple on Mount Kun to study the Nanshan vinaya. In the early Tianfu era of the Jin [936–944], he studied the sūtras and treatises under Master Haoduan of Zuili; his capacity for intuitive comprehension was natural, so that his contemporaries could hardly rival him. Later, upon faintly hearing of the Tiantai teachings on the three contemplations and the six stages of identity, they secretly accorded with his own understanding. During the Kaiyun era of the Han [944–946], he visited Master Zhiyin of Ciguang Cloister in Qiantang, and having studied continuously for over a year, he attained complete penetration into the subtle obscurities of the Lotus Sūtra, the Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra, and the Zhiguan lun (Treatise on Śamatha-Vipaśyanā). Soon after, he provided expositions of them, and his outstanding disciples arose in succession. On the first day of the eighth month in the third year of the Yongxi era [986], in the middle of the night, En saw a white light emerging from a well, shimmering intermittently. He said to his disciples, 'My allotted lifespan reaches its end here.' Thereupon he ceased eating grains, observed silence, and single-mindedly recollected the Buddha. Next, he dreamed of a patchwork-robed śramaṇa holding a golden brazier and burning incense, who circled his room three times and said, 'The Ancestral Master Guanding has come here to welcome you; you should depart.' Waking from the dream, he called his disciples to his side, and the wondrous fragrance could still be smelled. On the twenty-fifth day, he explained to his disciples the ultimate import of śamatha-vipaśyanā and the meaning of 'contemplating the mind.' At the chen hour [7–9 a.m.], he sat upright facing west and passed away, at the age of seventy-five, with a saṅgha age of fifty-five. That night, monks of the cloister including Youxing and Wenyan all heard string and wind music ringing clearly in the sky, without drums, and with abundant bells and chimes, which gradually grew faint in the distance, seemingly receding toward the west. On the ninth day of the ninth month, he was cremated according to the Western method, and countless round, bluish-white śarīra relics were obtained. In ordinary times, En strictly observed taking only one meal a day, never parted from his robe and bowl, kept no wealth or treasures, always lay on his right side when sleeping, and always sat in the lotus posture. The hall residence established for his disciples was also like the meditation halls of today. He instituted strict regulations, personally inspecting the signs of dawn each day before permitting the pure attendants (kappiyakārakas) to serve congee; once, when someone drank yam soup in the evening, he was immediately expelled from the academy hall. At every upoṣadha, he would weep without ceasing, recalling the words regarding 'fullness' and 'continent' in the Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra. He exclusively instructed people to cultivate the pure karma of Amitābha to save themselves from samsāra, and there were often visible, miraculous signs of those receiving his instruction obtaining rebirth. Whenever he spoke with others, regardless of whether they were worthy or unworthy, he revealed to them the complete meaning of the One Vehicle (ekayāna). If someone wondered why he did not adapt to their capacities, he would say, 'It is simply to create the karmic affinity of the poison drum.' He disliked mingled socializing and had no fondness for speaking of worldly matters. Even toward nobility and powerful clans, he never inquired into their names and residences, much less deviated from his way to approach their gates. Prior to this, the Tiantai teachings had been destroyed and abandoned during the Huichang era, their texts and doctrines broken and incomplete. The words expounding the marvelous were obscured and not prominent. En unraveled the beginnings and ends of the Ten Marvels and closely investigated the purports of the Five Layers [of Profound Meaning]. He lectured on the Da xuanyi, Wenju, and Zhiguan for more than twenty cycles, illuminating both understanding and practice, operating both eyes and feet. That the grand purport of the Lotus Sūtra has been preserved in its full beauty and handed down in the world is indeed due to En's efforts. Furthermore, resenting that previous scholars' sub-commentarial outlines did not harmonize with the Records of Jingxi [Zhanran], he authored sub-commentaries (kejie) on the Xuanyi, Wenju, Zhiguan, Jin guangming, and Jinpi lun, comprising thirty-five fascicles in total, which are currently circulating in the world. Alas, why do fish in the rivers and the Han swim against the current? Because by swimming submerged they obtain what they seek. Master En was uncompromising in both vehicle and precepts, yet produced seventeen disciples who sought understanding and put it into practice.