[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [宋高僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061) › 8.4 # 宋高僧傳 8.4 宋高僧傳 8.4 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.8.4) 釋弘忍，姓周氏，家寓淮左潯陽，一云黃梅人也。王父暨考，皆干名不利，賁于丘園。其母始娠，移月而光照庭室，終夕若晝。其生也灼爍如初，異香襲人，舉家欣駭。迨能言，辭氣與隣兒弗類。既成童丱，絕其遊弄。厥父偏愛，因令誦書，無記應阻其宿熏，真心早萌其成現。一旦出明，徙倚間如有所待，時東山信禪師邂逅至焉。問之曰：「何姓名乎？」對問朗暢，區別有歸，理逐言分，聲隨響答。信師熟視之，歎曰：「此非凡童也！具體占之，止闕七大人之相，不及佛矣。苟預法流，二十年後必大作佛事，勝任荷寄。」乃遣人隨其歸舍，具告所親，喻之出家。父母欣然，乃曰：「禪師佛法大龍，光被遠邇，緇門俊秀，歸者如雲。豈伊小騃，那堪擊訓，若垂虛受，因無留悋。」時年七歲也。至雙峯，習乎僧業，不逭艱辛。夜則歛容而坐，恬澹自居。洎受形俱，戒檢精厲。信每以頓漸之旨，日省月試之。忍聞言察理，觸事忘情，瘂正受塵，渴方飲水如也。信知其可教，悉以其道授之。復命建浮圖，功畢，密付法衣以為質要。將知齕雪山之肥膩，構作醍醐，飡海底之金剛，棲傾巨樹。擁納之侶麕至蟬聯，商人不入於化城，貧女大開於寶藏，入其趣者號「東山法門」歟。以高宗上元二年十月二十三日告滅，報齡七十有四。是日氛霧冥暗，山石崩圮。門弟子神秀等奉瘞全身于東山之岡也。初，忍於咸亨初命二、三禪子各言其志，神秀先出偈，惠能和焉。乃以法服付慧能，受衣化於韶陽。神秀傳法荊門、洛下，南北之宗自茲始矣。又信禪師甞於九江遙望雙峯，見紫雲如蓋，下有白氣，橫開六岐。信謂忍曰：「汝知之乎？」曰：「師之法旁出一枝，相踵六世。」信甚然之。及法融化金陵牛頭山，貽厥孫謀，至于慧忠凡六人，號牛頭六祖，此則四祖法又分枝矣。然融望忍則庶孽耳，安可匹嫡乎？開元中，太子文學閭丘均為塔碑焉。代宗勅諡大滿禪師，塔曰法雨也。蘄春自唐季割屬偏霸，暨開寶乙亥歲王師平江南之前，忍肉身墮淚如血珠焉。僧徒不測，乃李氏國亡之應也。今每歲孟冬，州人隣邑奔集作忌齋，猶成繁盛矣。其諱日將近，必雨霧陰慘，不然霰雪交霏，至日則晴朗焉。 > Shi Hongren's surname was Zhou. His family resided in Xunyang, Huaizuo, though one account says he was a native of Huangmei. Both his grandfather and father sought fame without success, retiring gracefully to their country estate. When his mother first conceived him, after a month had passed, light illuminated their courtyard and chambers, turning the entire night bright as day. When he was born, the brilliant radiance was just as before, a wondrous fragrance wafted over everyone, and the whole family was filled with joy and wonder. By the time he could speak, his words and manner were unlike those of the neighboring children. Once he reached boyhood, he completely renounced frivolous play. His father doted on him and made him recite books, but indeterminate karmic traces could hardly obstruct his past cultivation, and his true mind early on sprouted its realized presence. One morning, he stepped out into the light, pacing about as if waiting for something. Just then, Chan Master Xin of Dongshan arrived by chance. He asked him, "What is your surname and name?" His replies to the questions were lucid and unhindered, his distinctions apt, the principles unfolded along with his speech, and his voice answered like an echo. Master Xin gazed closely at him and sighed with admiration, saying: "This is no ordinary boy! Judging by his bodily form, he lacks only seven marks of a great man to equal a Buddha. If he enters the stream of the Dharma, after twenty years he will surely perform great Buddha-deeds and prove fully capable of bearing the entrusted burden." He then dispatched someone to accompany him back to his dwelling, fully inform his parents, and urge them to let him enter the monastic life. His parents were delighted and said: "The Chan master is a great dragon of the Buddha-dharma, whose light spreads near and far. The outstanding talents of the black-robed sangha flock to you like clouds. How could this little simpleton ever be worthy of your instruction? Yet if you condescend to receive him, we certainly have no reluctance in letting him go." He was seven years old at the time. When he arrived at Shuangfeng, he trained in the monastic vocation, never shirking hardship. At night, he would compose his expression and sit, abiding peacefully in tranquility. When he received the full precepts, his observance and discipline were pure and rigorous. Xin continually tested him daily and examined him monthly with the principles of the sudden and gradual approaches. Hongren, hearing his words, discerned their principle, forgetting ordinary sentiments whenever encountering phenomena, just as a mute experiencing dust, or a parched man drinking water. Xin knew he was capable of receiving the teaching, and transmitted his complete Way to him. He then ordered him to build a stupa; when the work was completed, he secretly entrusted the dharma robe to him as a pledge. This was indeed chewing the rich grease of the Snow Mountains to churn it into the finest ghee, and feeding on the adamantine gem of the ocean depths to topple the giant tree. Companions wearing patch-robes flocked to him in swarms and unbroken succession; merchants did not halt at the conjured city, and the poor maiden threw wide open the precious treasury. Those who entered his lineage were called the "Dongshan Dharma Gate." On the twenty-third day of the tenth month in the second year of the Shangyuan reign era of Emperor Gaozong, he announced his extinction, having reached the worldly age of seventy-four. On that day, a dismal mist and gloom descended, and rocks collapsed from the mountain. His disciples Shenxiu and others reverently interred his whole body on the ridge of Dongshan. Earlier, at the beginning of the Xianheng reign era, Hongren ordered two or three of his Chan followers to express their intentions; Shenxiu presented a verse first, and Huineng matched it. Hongren then transmitted the dharma robe to Huineng, who received the robe and converted people in Shaoyang. Shenxiu propagated the Dharma in Jingmen and Luoyang; the Northern and Southern lineages began from this point. Furthermore, Chan Master Xin once looked toward Shuangfeng from Jiujiang in the distance and saw purple clouds resembling a canopy, beneath which was white vapor branching into six forks. Xin said to Hongren, "Do you know what this means?" Hongren replied, "A side branch will issue from the Master's Dharma, continuing for six generations." Xin thoroughly agreed with him. When Farong later taught at Mount Niutou in Jinling, laying down plans for his spiritual successors, down to Huizhong there were six individuals in total, called the Six Patriarchs of Niutou; this was another branch diverging from the Fourth Patriarch's Dharma. Yet compared to Hongren, Farong was merely like a concubine's offspring; how could he rival the legitimate heir? During the Kaiyuan reign era, the Prince's Erudite of Literature Lüqiu Jun composed an inscription for his stupa. Emperor Daizong posthumously bestowed on him the title of Chan Master Daman, and his stupa was named Fayu. From the late Tang onward, Qichun was partitioned into regional hegemonies; before the imperial army pacified Jiangnan in the yihai year of the Kaibao reign era, blood-red tears fell like beads from Hongren's physical body. The monks could not fathom it, but it was an omen of the fall of the Li clan's state. Nowadays, every year in the first month of winter, people from the prefecture and neighboring districts rush to gather and hold a memorial vegetarian feast, which remains very bustling. When the day of his death approaches, it is invariably overcast and bleak with rain and fog, or else sleet and snow fall together, but on the day itself, it turns clear and bright. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 8.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.8.3) - [Next: 8.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.8.5) - [Up: 8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.8) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061~en-mt.8.4) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2061.8.4) · Pramāṇa