宋高僧傳 11
English (machine translation) 11
- Language
- English
11.1
Imperially compiled by Grand Master Tonghui, the purple-robe-bestowed śramaṇa Zanning and others, of Tianshou Temple on the Left Street under the Song
11.2
Chapter 3, Part 4 on the Practice of Dhyāna (Twenty-one primary biographies, four appended)
11.3
The Biography of Zizai of Mount Funiu in the Western Capital under the Tang (Venerable Yibo, Southern India)
11.4
Shi Zizai was surnamed Li and was a native of Wuxing. At his birth there were miraculous portents. As he grew a little older, whenever he sat down he would cross his legs, which his kin regarded as unusual. Bidding farewell to his beloved [family], he went to Mount Jingshan to leave home, and received the precepts at Xinding. When he traveled to various quarters to study, he joined the Dharma assembly of Chan Master Daoyi of Nankang. He intuitively understood the true tradition, and his transcendent conduct surpassed his contemporaries. His reputation for the Way was illustrious, and his demeanour was relaxed and leisurely. He mostly hid himself in mountain valleys, and Chan companions from the four quarters gathered at his gate like thickets. During the Yuanhe era, he resided at Xiangshan below Luoyang and was an intimate friend of Chan Master Tianran. Wherever he traveled, he was invariably fond of antiquity, longing to find the relics of former worthies to delight his wandering gaze: at Mount Longmen he found the place where the Tripiṭaka [master] of the Later Wei translated scriptures; at Mount Wangwu he found the place where Chan Master Chou parted the fighting tigers, and because he drank from a sweet spring in this mountain, he changed its name to Ganquan Temple; and at Mount Song he found Master Fan's Horse-Pawing Spring. In his dwellings he had no lingering attachments. The "Song of the Three Sorrows" that he composed was beautiful in both words and principle; it aroused the deluded and ignorant and was beneficial to the age. At the beginning of the bogus Qiande era under the Wang clan of Former Shu, there was a minor military commissioner, Lord Chen, who married a granddaughter of Zhongling Gao Pian. This man had observed the precept against killing for more than twenty years. Later, when arranging a marriage for his son in Shu, the rites required slaughtering animals. Gao at first was unwilling, but relatives said: "You observe the precepts yourself, but when carrying out the rites of a wine banquet, how will you entertain the guests?" Wavering in hesitation, he ended up engaging in extensive butchery. Before a ten-day period had fully elapsed, he suddenly contracted a quite strange illness. His mouth only rambled incoherently, and then after three nights he revived and recounted matters of the underworld. At first, an emissary in black arrested and brought him into the City God Temple of Qizhou. The temple deity wore a tall hat and wide sleeves and was seated facing a warrior in golden armour. The emissary led Gao to see the deity, and the warrior reproached Gao at length for breaking the precepts. Wringing his wrists, he cursed, saying: "I am the spirit general who protects the precepts! For twenty years on your account I have had no leisure to eat or sleep. How could I expect that you would suddenly conceive the intention to kill and abruptly compromise your discipline? Although your lifespan is not yet exhausted, your sin is also quite deep; you must be sent to the underworld court to be punished for your intentional offence." The City God deity asked Gao, saying: "What other good deeds have you practiced to redeem your transgressions?" Gao usually recited the Shangsheng jing very many times, but at that moment he was bewildered and had no memory of it at all. In his terror he stated: "I can recite the 'Gāthā on the Three Sorrows' and the 'Song of the One-Bowl Monk'." He then joined his palms facing the deity and chanted them in a stern voice. The deity and the warrior pricked up their ears and raised their fists, standing and listening, and their countenances gradually turned pleased. When he reached the final stanza, the deities were all moved to tears, and they said to Gao: "Return to the human world for now; you should strive earnestly to perform good deeds." Before his bow of departure was finished, he abruptly sat up and detailed the matter. From this time on, people all copied, recited, and intoned the songs and verses of the "Three Sorrows" and the "One Bowl". The lyrics of "The One-Bowl Monk" accord with principle and deeply stimulate and encourage earnest contemplation; however, its literary style touches upon the vulgar vernacular—how could it surpass the classical elegance of the "Three Sorrows"? Zizai sent his disciples to the south of the Yangzi to select the finest among mountains and waters, saying: "I wish to go there to live out my old age." When they reached Duchang County in Jiangzhou, there were fine forests and springs, and they returned to report. When Zizai traveled as far as Yexian, he was detained by clerics and laity. He proceeded to Kaiyuan Temple in Suizhou and manifested extinction at the age of eighty-one, in the first year of Changqing.
11.5
The appraisal says: Examining the Vinaya Piṭaka, when a renunciant violates a precept, it incurs two kinds of sin: first, violating the regulation; second, the karmic path. Since Mr. Gao was a layman and had never received the precepts, he had no fault of violating regulations. A layman may have the sin of the karmic path, but how could there be a precept-protecting spirit? Furthermore, since Mr. Gao had observed the precept against killing, he had imperceptibly induced the arising of non-manifest good from restraint and observance. Because "few are capable of carrying it through to the end," he brought upon himself punishment from the unseen world. Proclaiming this to the five assemblies: one ought to fear the spirits that protect the precepts! If it is like this, then overtly there is the Dharma of precepts, and covertly there are ghosts and spirits!
11.6
Next is Shi Nanyin of Yuanhe Shengshou Temple in Chengdu Prefecture, surnamed Zhang. His nature was bright and perceptive, and he was insatiable in seeking benefit. He obtained the profound purport of Caoxi, yet had no means to confirm it. He went to see Master Hui of Jingzhong Temple, where he was like brocade freshly off the loom, washed to enhance its splendour, or a candle-bearing dragon moving along to disperse the dark. Nanyin entered Shu from Jiangling, and on the southern bank of the Shu River, he cut the grass and built a thatched hut. The multitude all turned to him in reverence, and it gradually became a Buddhist sanctuary; this was in the early years of Zhenyuan. After Sikong Gao Chongwen pacified Liu Pi, he changed this temple's name to Yuanhe Shengshou; it was originally named Baoying. As Nanyin's conditions for conversion were drawing to a close, he manifested illness and entered extinction in the early years of Changqing. A stūpa was erected and he was buried within the temple. During the Huichang era the stūpa was destroyed, and during the Dazhong era this temple was re-established on the old foundation of Baoying north of the river, reverting to the name "Shengshou". Among Nanyin's disciples who transmitted his lineage was Yimian, who revived the Chan method.
11.7
Biography of Wuye of Kaiyuan Temple in Fenzhou under the Tang
11.8
Shi Wuye was surnamed Du and was a native of Shangluo in Shangzhou. His mother, Lady Li, suddenly heard a voice from the sky saying, "May I lodge here?" and only afterwards became pregnant. On the evening of his birth, a miraculous light filled the room. When he reached boyhood, he did not engage in playful trifles; when walking he always looked straight ahead, and when sitting he crossed his legs. When the black-robed clerics of Shang and Yu saw him, all marveled and exclaimed: "This is an unsurpassed vessel of the Dharma; he must quickly be made to leave home to continue and glorify the Three Jewels!" When he reached the age of nine, he petitioned his parents and placed himself under Chan Master Zhiben of Kaiyuan Temple in his native commandery. Zhiben then bestowed upon him scriptures such as the Diamond Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra, the Vimalakīrti, the Viśeṣacintī, and the Avataṃsaka; reading five lines at a glance, he recited them once without missing a single character. At twelve, he was permitted to have his head shaved. Whenever he attended lecture halls, with merely a hearing he understood. If his fellow students failed to understand something, he analyzed it for them as it arose, and all attained the profound gate. At the age of twenty, he received full ordination (upasampadā) from Vinaya Master You in Xiangzhou. As for the Commentary on the Four-Part Vinaya, after studying it for one summer retreat, he was able to expound it. He also lectured on the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra for the saṅgha; his Dharma assembly was continually opened, through winter and summer without fatigue. It may be said that Sengzhao and Daosheng had not perished, and that Huilin and Huiyuan were revived. Later, hearing of Daji of Hongzhou, the head of the Chan gate, he specially went to pay homage. Wuye's body exceeded six feet, standing erect like a mountain; his gaze was always steady and penetrating, and his voice matched a great bell. Daji was amazed upon first seeing him, and smiled, saying: "A magnificent Buddha hall, but there is no Buddha within it." Wuye thereupon bowed, knelt, and said: "As for the literature of the three vehicles, I have roughly fathomed its purport. I have often heard that in the Chan gate 'this mind is itself Buddha,' but I truly have not been able to understand it." Daji said: "Just this uncomprehending mind is it; there is no other thing. When uncomprehending, that is delusion. If you understand, that is awakening. Delusion is sentient beings; awakening is Buddha. The Way is not separate from sentient beings—how could there be another Buddha apart from them! It is just like a hand making a fist: the fist is entirely the hand." Wuye was thoroughly enlightened at these words. Weeping with tears and grief, he faced Daji and said: "Originally I thought the Buddha-way was long and distant, to be achieved only through diligent toil for vast kalpas. Today I have only now learned that the true mark of the Dharma-body is fundamentally complete in itself; all the myriad dharmas arise from the mind and merely have names, possessing no substantial reality." Daji said: "So it is, so it is! The nature of all dharmas is neither arising nor ceasing; all dharmas are fundamentally empty and quiescent. The scripture says: 'All dharmas from their origin are constantly quiescent and extinguished in appearance.' It also says: 'The lodge of ultimate emptiness and quiescence.' And it says: 'Taking the emptiness of all dharmas as one's seat.' This is precisely where all Buddhas and Tathāgatas abide without an abiding place. If you understand like this, you abide in the lodge of emptiness and quiescence and sit on the seat of the emptiness of dharmas; lifting your feet and lowering your feet, you never depart from the bodhimaṇḍa. You understand directly at these words without any gradual stages; this is what is called ascending the mountain of nirvāṇa without moving a foot." Having received the mind-seal, Wuye soon went to Caoxi to pay homage at the Patriarch's stūpa, and returned to travel to Mount Lu, Tiantai, and various famous mountains, seeking out sacred traces everywhere. Going from Luoyang to Chang'an, he rested at Ximing Temple. The saṅgha all wished to nominate and invite him to serve as Great Worthy of the Two Streets. Wuye remained silent and sighed, saying: "Drawing close to kings and great ministers is not my aspiration!" Thereupon he went to Shangdang. Military Commissioner and Chancellor Li Baozhen had repeatedly achieved military merits alongside Ma Sui, and also stirred up Wang Wujun to jointly defeat Zhu Tao; his merits were manifold and his power great. Yet he was fond of hearing of the worthy and good, and even if they were a thousand li away, he would surely send gifts to invite them. He deeply esteemed Wuye's fame and conduct; morning and evening he paid homage, with banners and pennants coming and going. Wuye often showed a look of weariness, and said to his disciples: "I originally avoided the clamour for fame and profit in the imperial capital, and now here I am again troubled with entertaining lords and nobles—how could this be my intention!" Having spoken, he strolled freely to Mount Baofu in Mianshang. He also went to Mount Qingliang, and at Jin'ge Temple read through the Tripiṭaka; only when the stars completed eight revolutions of heaven was this vow fulfilled. Again shaking his khakkhara, he went south and reached Xihe, staying at first at Zhongxiang Monastery. Governor Dong Shuchan invited him to reside at Kaiyuan Hermitage. Wuye said to his disciples: "Since arriving here, I no longer have any intention of traveling abroad; could my karmic affinity be here?" Thereupon he struck the bell to inform the assembly, roared the lion's roar, and showered the great Dharma rain for nearly twenty years. The people of Bing and Fen all turned toward conversion. When Emperor Xianzong had reigned for fourteen years, he had long aspired to Wuye's virtuous reputation, and so issued an edict inviting him to enter the palace, but Wuye declined on grounds of illness and did not go. The next year the imperial decree was sent down again, but he pleaded illness as before. In the year of Emperor Muzong's accession, the emperor's feelings were devout and sincere, longing to pay him homage once, so he ordered Lingzhun, Saṅgha Rectifier of the Two Streets, to travel far carrying an imperial decree to welcome and invite him. Zhun arrived, performed prostrations, and addressed him, saying: "I know that Master, you stand detached beyond dust and mundane things, treating worldly affairs as chaff. But the Dharma has been entrusted to kings—please, Master, consider this carefully! This gracious decree is not like ordinary times; I pray that you will certainly comply with the heavenly will and not decline again on grounds of illness. Act in accordance with the times, so as not to bring trouble upon those who come after." Wuye smiled and said: "What virtue does this poor monk have to repeatedly trouble the sagely lord? If I must go, then I shall go. But our paths are different." Thereupon he shaved his head and bathed. At midnight, he told his disciples Huiyin and others: "The nature of your seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing has the same lifespan as the great void; it is neither born nor destroyed. All objective realms are fundamentally empty and quiescent; not a single dharma can be grasped. Deluded people do not understand and are thus confounded by objective realms; once confounded by objective realms, they transmigrate without end. You should know that the nature of the mind fundamentally exists of itself; it is not due to artificial contrivance, just like diamond which cannot be destroyed. All dharmas are like shadows and echoes, possessing no substantial reality. Therefore the scripture says: 'Only this one matter is real; the other two are not true.' Constantly understanding that everything is empty, with not a single thing occupying the mind—this is where all Buddhas apply their minds alike. You must practice this diligently!" Having spoken, he crossed his legs and sat, then quietly passed into quiescence. Ah! He may truly be said to have attained mastery over birth and death! His secular age was sixty-two, and his saṅgha age was forty-two. Clerics and laity wailed and yearned as if having lost their own parents. They prepared fragrant flowers, banners, and pennants, and moved his whole body to an araṇya west of the city, piling up fragrant firewood to carry out the cremation (jhāpana). Thereupon auspicious clouds descended from the sky, five colours congealed in the void, and an unusual fragrance arrived from the west, its rich scent wafting through the air, seen and smelled by all the gentry and commoners throughout the region. When the firewood was consumed and the fire extinguished, śarīras were obtained, glittering like pearls and jade. His disciples Huiyin, Xingqin, Qianzong, Yiyou, Yuandu, Hengtai, and others wept tears of blood as they gathered them and encoffined them in a golden casket. They then ordered stonemasons of Ying to carve stone for a stūpa, and on the twenty-first day of the twelfth month in the third year of Changqing, they interred it in the courtyard of the araṇya. In the year of Wuye's demise, Governor Yang Qian obtained a full account of the matter from Saṅgha Rectifier Zhun and composed an inscription and hymn. By imperial decree he was posthumously granted the title State Preceptor Dada, and his stūpa was named Chengyuan.
11.9
Biography of Ruhui of Dongsi Temple in Changsha under the Tang
11.10
Śramaṇa Ruhui was a native of Shixing in Shaozhou. In the eighth year of the Dali era, he resided under Chan Master Guoyi, and later turned to the Dharma assembly of Daji. At that time, Chan seekers looked up to him with admiration and sought determinately the essentials of mind; within the monks' hall, the beds and benches caved in and broke beneath them, so that he was known at the time as "Broke-the-Benches Hui," just like the saying "burrowing beneath the Buddha's seat." Later, acceding to requests, he dwelt at Dongsi Temple in Changsha. From the time Daji passed away, his Dharma gate flourished mightily without peer in the realm, such that popular speech called Dongsi Temple a "Chan cave," which shows clearly how it was regarded. At that time, Chancellor Lord Cui Qun admired Hui's demeanor and came to call upon him at his gate; Hui's responses were limpid and clear, his words all attaining profound principle. From then on they forged an intimacy of teacher and friend. Earlier, Qun had consulted with Huangfu Bo about presenting an honorific title to Xianzong; being framed by Bo, he was demoted to become surveillance commissioner of Hunan, and during his leisure he turned his heart toward Hui. In the guimao year, the Changqing era of Muzong, he died at the temple at the age of eighty. At that time the well water dried up in advance, and an extraordinary fragrance wafted sweetly. They transferred his stupa to the south of the city. The surveillance commissioner Li Ao completely demolished the tombs and stupas near the city, leaving only the stūpa housing Hui's remains, writing on it with his brush: "I preserve this stupa alone, in order to distinguish the worthy from the foolish." Liu Ke of the Ministry of Sacrifices composed the stele inscription for him. An imperial edict posthumously granted him the title Grand Master Chuanming, and his stupa was named Yongji. He was also called "Venerable of Jiashan" after his dwelling place; was it so?
11.11
The Tang Dynasty Biography of Tianran of Mount Danxia in Nanyang
11.12
Śramaṇa Tianran—it is not known where he was from. In his youth he entered the Dharma gate, being unyielding and forthright by nature. He called upon Chan Master Shitou, who recognized him in silence; reflecting that he summoned his own nature and attained reality, he gave him the name Tianran ("Natural"). Tianran then took upon himself the work of the kitchen for full three years before at last being shorn of hair and robes. Later, he received the precepts from Vinaya Master Xi at Mount Yue Temple. He went to the assembly of Daji in Jiangxi; Daji guided him with words, and his responses were elegant and correct. Daji marveled at him greatly. Next he lived at the Huading Peak of Mount Tiantai for three years, and also paid homage to Grand Master Guoyi. During the Yuanhe era, he ascended Xiangshan at Longmen and formed a friendship beyond mundane things with the Chan master of Mount Funiu. Later, encountering bitter cold at Huilin Temple, Tianran burned a wooden Buddha statue to ward it off. Someone reproached him, and he said, "I am cremating it for śarīra." The person said, "How could a piece of wood have any?" Tianran replied, "If that is so, why blame me?" In the third year of the Yuanhe era, he crossed the Tianjin Bridge in the morning and lay across it horizontally; it happened that the regent Lord Zheng came out, and scolded him, yet he did not leave. He slowly looked up and said, "A monk of no affairs." The regent found him extraordinary and presented him with a bundle of two sets of plain robes, as well as a monthly allowance of rice and flour. The people of Luoyang gathered in faith to take refuge in him. In the spring of the fifteenth year, he said, "I long for the forests and springs," whereupon he divined a site at Mount Danxia in Nanyang and built a hermitage. In the sixth month of the fourth year of the Changqing era, he announced to his disciples, "Prepare a bath; I am about to depart." He then donned his bamboo hat, grasped his staff, stepped into his shoes, and while dangling one foot before it reached the ground, he passed away at the age of eighty-six. Liu Ke, vice director in the Ministry of Sacrifices, composed a stele recording his virtues. An imperial edict posthumously granted him the title Chan Master Zhitong, and his stupa was named Miaojue.
11.13
The Tang Dynasty Biography of Taiyu of Mount Furong in Changzhou
11.14
Śramaṇa Taiyu, surnamed Fan, was a native of Jinling. When he was barely twelve years of age, he set his heart on entering the monastic life, whereupon he paid homage to Chan Master Zhong of Mount Niutou and served him as his teacher. Thereupon, with valiant vigor, he sought its profound meaning; his capacity for the Dharma was luminous on the outside, and his spiritual clarity blended completely within. Though he comprehended the One Vehicle, he perfected the myriad practices. He went to Anguo Temple in Yongjing and received the full ordination, excelling far above the assembly. Moreover, his deportment was orderly and dignified, his marvelous countenance extraordinary, fathomless like the great ocean, measureless like empty space. He made pilgrimages to sites of practice and gathered his mind in pure realms; though his wisdom penetrated through without relying on teachers, receiving approval and confirmation still had to come from an enlightened predecessor. Thereupon he called upon Chan Master Daji of Hongjing, and beholding his countenance, he fully comprehended the Dharmakāya, instantly and suddenly accomplishing the Great Way. At that time, the Buddha Dharma was most flourishing throughout the realm, and nowhere surpassed the prefecture of Hongzhou; beneath his seat, sages and worthies stood shoulder to shoulder, and those who attained the Way were very many. Yu, together with Chan Master Dache, Chan Master Daxuanjiao, and Chan Master Dazhi, were all Dharma brethren. Later, he traveled in the south and north observing the quarters, never having any apprehension, so as to broaden his learning and experience and leisurely nurture the sacred embryo. In the thirteenth year of the Yuanhe era, he stayed at Mount Furong in Yixing, Piling, and so took his name from the mountain. Yu took conditions as causes; responding without clinging, wherever he dwelt there was transforming influence, and wherever he went people followed him with delight, monastics and laypeople gazing toward him in numbers often surpassing ten thousand. From this time on, many people in Jiangnan awakened to the principle of Chan. At that time, Chancellor Lord Cui Qun was demoted to an auxiliary post due to an administrative lapse, later serving in Huazhou, and from Sanfeng was assigned to govern Xuancheng. Though the place was near, the man had felt distant. Lord Cui took deep joy in paying homage and sent a messenger with sincere invitations; Yu, manifesting through empathetic response and with great compassion as his heart, never failed to fulfill their wishes and follow conditions, traveling to distant lands and obeying their orders. In the first year of the Baoli era, he arrived at Chanding Temple in Wanling, following accord so as to propagate the teaching. In the next year, he announced his return to Mount Qiyun. On the first day of the ninth month, his bodily form unmoving, he manifested extinction at the mountain compound, living to the age of eighty, with a monastic age of fifty-eight. On that day, heaven and earth seemed in mourning, the grass and trees as if broken down, birds and beasts cried in sorrow, and the clouded springs ceased their flowing and choked. Monastic followers, scholars, and commoners were filled with grief like that of children losing their parents. In the tenth month, his spirit was enshrined in the courtyard of the compound, in accordance with propriety. His disciples Zhifu, Qizhen, Qingwo, and others lamented that while their teacher had manifested extinction, they, the students, remained behind. In the second year of the Taihe era, Chancellor Wei Chuhou, who had long esteemed the profound trend and had an earnest mind for the Way, reported the matter to the throne. The Son of Heaven thereupon issued a gracious decree, praising him with extraordinary honors, posthumously bestowing a title and naming his stupa. Lu Gen, prefect of Yuezhou, wielded his brush to compose the inscription.
11.15
The Tang Dynasty Biography of Tancang of the Xiyuan Hermitage on Mount Nanyue (with Lingtuan and Chao'an)
11.16
Śramaṇa Tancang—it is not known where he was from. He received the secrets of Chan at the gate of Daji. Later he saw Chan Master Shitou Xiqian, illustrating the saying "that which is dyed twice becomes deep red." In the second year of the Zhenyuan era, he happily secluded himself on Mount Heng, dwelling at the very summit of the peak. In his late years, suffering from foot ailments, he moved down to Xiyuan and built a thatched hut, where visitors seeking instruction gathered in great numbers. In the first year of the Taihe era, he died on the sacred peak at the age of seventy. Prior to this, Cang had kept a dog that was remarkably clever; once, while he was doing walking meditation and then sitting to rest at night, the dog took Cang's robe in its mouth and led him back to the room, then lay on guard beside the door threshold, barking continuously and repeatedly leaping with fierce lunges. When dawn broke, they saw in the eastern kitchen a great python several tens of cubits long, coiled around the small lodge, threatening to topple it. It gaped its mouth wide, roared ferociously, and spewed a flood of venomous vapor. An attendant urged Cang to leave quickly to avoid it, but Cang said, "If death can be escaped, how far could one flee? It comes with venom, but I receive it with kindness. Venom has no intrinsic nature; only when provoked does it become strong. If kindness is without condition, foes and kin are treated as one. There is neither person nor self; the Dharma nature is entirely empty." When he finished speaking, the python lowered its head and slowly crept away, vanishing in an instant. Another night, a band of thieves arrived, and the dog also took Cang's robe in its mouth. Cang said to the thieves, "Gentlemen, if there is anything in this old hermit's thatched hut that pleases you, feel free to take it; there will never be any trace of stinginess from me." Moved by his words, the thieves dispersed and went down the mountain. Furthermore, there was Śramaṇa Lingtuan of Yongtai Temple in Jingzhou, surnamed Xiao, a native of Lanling. His ancestry traced back to the Later Liang, which was destroyed by the Zhou; the lineage branches scattered like stars, and Tuan's father dwelt in Changsha as a registered commoner. He gave birth to Tuan, who had a clear vow to transcend the dust of the world; whenever there was a Chan gathering, he rarely failed to ascend to it, anchoring wherever green mountains lay, leisurely and self-possessed. In the first year of the Changqing era, he dwelt at Baijiayan Temple. Shortly after, he walked on foot to Jiangling, where Prefect Wang Qian invited him to reside at Yongtai Temple. On the twenty-third day of the sixth month in the third year of the Taihe era, he died at the temple of his residence at the age of seventy-five. A stupa was erected north of the prefecture, which still survives. Furthermore, there was Śramaṇa Chao'an, a native of Danyang. He first met Chan Master Su of Helin, remaining silent with folded hands among the assembly. In the second year of the Tianbao era, he reached a hermitage in Fuzhou and received inspiration from Daji. Monks in patchwork robes from all four directions took refuge in him.
11.17
The Tang Dynasty Biography of Wudeng of Daji Cloister in Ezhou
11.18
Śramaṇa Wudeng, surnamed Li, was a native of Weishi in present-day Dongjing. He possessed extraordinary aspiration, and his speech and manner were upright and correct. In his youth he followed his father, who was an official in Nankang, frequently visiting Buddhist temples, gazing at the monks and looking upon the statues, often forgetting to return. After becoming a śramaṇa, he met Chan Master Daoyi at Mount Gonggong, where students swarmed like ants in admiration. Deng sought the Dharma among them, standing out preeminently from the rest. In the seventh year of the Yuanhe era, he traveled along the Han River. Later he arrived in Wuchang, and seeing the marvelous beauty of Mount Huanghu south-west of the prefecture, he built a thatched hut and practiced alms-gathering. Because of this, those from Ba, Shu, Jing, and Xiang who esteemed the profound principle came from far and wide, none failing to arrive. In the first year of the Dahe era, it happened that Chancellor Lord Niu Sengru was assigned to govern the Sanjiang region; hearing the fragrance of Deng's virtue perfuming far and near, he ordered his carriage and paid a personal call. Like the wind and tiger needing one another, he valued the person for the sake of the Dharma. Lord Niu, concerned that his hermitage was not officially registered, specially memorialized the throne to name it "Daji." Visitors bustlingly came and went, leaving no empty seats in the hall. In the tenth month of the fourth year, he manifested extinction at the age of eighty-two. His disciple Shitong placed his intact body into a stupa.
11.19
The Tang Dynasty Biography of Mingjue of Qianqing Cloister on Mount Tianmu
11.20
Śramaṇa Mingjue, secular surname You, was a native of Henai. His grandfather had served as an official in Lingnan and later relocated to become a resident of Jianyang. Jue was a son of a Confucian family, cultured and refined, fond of questioning and seeking knowledge without ever slacking. Having harbored an inclination toward the Way from past lives, when he heard that Chan Master Daoyi was practicing the Chan method at Fojiling, he went there to call upon him, and thereupon took refuge and was tonsured. From then on, he vowed to observe the quarters at Mount Heng, Tiantai, and Siming, tasting the Dharma flavor in full. He further turned his attention to seeking resolution at Mount Jingshan for several summer retreats, carrying firewood until his face grew sallow and his hands calloused. Descending the mountain, he reached Dayun Temple in Hangzhou, where he restricted his steps to the cloister gate. Next, he moved to stay at the summit of Qingshan by the lake, building a hermitage to reside in. It happened that Vice Censor-in-Chief Lu of Fanyang, admiring his demeanor, personally visited him and summoned him to return to Dayun Temple at the prefectural seat to serve as abbot. In the fifteenth year of the Yuanhe era, wishing to avoid suspicion and stay far from clamor, he retired to Mount Tianmu. This mountain was exceptionally magnificent, its base spanning across four commanderies. It had upper and lower Dragon Pools that were fathomlessly deep, where strange creatures frequently emerged. There was a white deer with an extraordinary coat, which the locals called the mountain spirit. Jue took refuge within it, and donors built a Chan dwelling for him. In the spring and winter of the third year of the Changqing era until the second month of the following year, there was a great drought; a wildfire spread, threatening to burn down the cloister, and the monks were terrified. Jue said, "I have karmic affinity with this mountain; the fire will soon be extinguished." Before long, a sudden thunderstorm arose, and the fire was entirely quenched, causing those near and far to marvel in awe. On the nineteenth day of the seventh month in the fifth year of the Taihe era, he manifested illness and passed away.
11.21
The Tang Dynasty Biography of Yuanxiu of Mount Qinwang in Hangzhou
11.22
Shi Yuanxiu's surname was Pan, and he was a native of Min in Fuzhou. From birth he was extraordinarily precocious, and when grown he was talented and eminent. Suddenly desiring to transcend the worldly, he sought out and attended on famous masters, shaved his hair, and donned the monastic robes. When he reached the full age, he received the precepts at Huishan Temple on Mount Songyang. Thereafter his deportment was relaxed and dignified, his virtue renewed day by day, and having exhaustively studied the sūtras and treatises, he soon resolved to travel and observe widely. Meeting Dhyāna Master Baizhang Hai, his capacity accordant with the teaching, he thereupon realized the essential truth of mind. Holding his bowl and shaking his staff, he reached Hangzhou. Seeing the towering and steep heights of Mount Qinwang, where a tall pine with luxuriant branches formed a canopy, he took up residence upon the crown of that pine. At that time he moved a magpie to build its nest again on a lateral branch; worldly things and the self were both forgotten, and the birds became tame and familiar. Due to this he did not descend for nearly forty autumns. Whenever a new prefect arrived at his post, he would go to pay homage, calling him the Bird's Nest Dhyāna Master (Niaoke). In the early Yuanhe reign, the regional governor Pei Changdi, deeply venerating his Way, requested him three or four times to descend and build a hut; on occasion he preached the Dharma for those who came to inquire. Lord Pei ordered the officials of the eight subordinate districts to unite their efforts in building a monastery, transferring an abandoned name plaque reading 'Zhaoxian' ('Summoning the Worthy') for his dwelling. On the twenty-second day of the ninth month in the guichou year, the seventh year of the Taihe era, he sat upright and serenely entered extinction at the age of ninety-nine, with a saṅgha age of eighty. Successive capable governors of Hangzhou without exception revered him, halting their carriages beneath the shade of the trees to request him to speak on the ultimate mystery, unaware of the passing of the hours as the servants rotated shifts. His stupa is now at the foot of Mount Shizeng; the monk Weizhen of Mount Nanyue composed the stupa inscription for it. Recently, thieves opened his stupa, and many uncanny signs appeared; they obtained only the memorial inscription and nothing more.
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Biography of Puyuan of Nanquan Cloister in Chizhou under the Tang
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Shi Puyuan's secular surname was Wang, and he was a native of Xinzheng in Zhengzhou. He was a lineage successor of Daji of Jiangxi; Daji's master was Guanyin Rang of Mount Nanyue, and Rang was the eldest son of Caoxi. Rang was thus a grandfather in the Dharma to Yuan, from which his great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather can be known, showing that the dhyāna of Nanquan had a venerable pedigree. While Yuan was in the womb, his mother had an aversion to pungent roots and meat. In the second year of the Zhide era, he knelt before his parents to beg for ordination, clearly wearing an expression of shedding his fetters. He then placed himself under Dhyāna Master Dahui of Mount Dawei in Mixian to receive instruction. In austere discipline and earnest diligence, developing calluses and chilblains, he dared not act as master of his own body; his master regarded him as extraordinary. In the twelfth year of the Dali era, when Yuan was thirty years of age, he went to Huishan Temple on Mount Song to receive full ordination from Vinaya Master Hao, studying the old regulations of the Xiangbu school and investigating the learning of the vinaya's divisions and groups. Later, traveling through lecture halls, he reached the summit of the Laṅkāvatāra, entered the vast ocean-assembly of the Avataṃsaka, unlocked the key to contemplation in the Mādhyamaka, Śata, and Dvādaśanikāya treatises, and grasped the profound mechanism beyond commentaries and expositions. Those who stood before his sharpness saw their banners collapse and their chariot tracks thrown into disorder. Under Daji there were more than eight hundred disciples; every time after attending his lectures and listening, they would unravel their master's teachings, arguing in confusion over right and wrong. Yuan would occasionally speak after keeping silence, and the crowd of debates would all cease, saying: 'This man does not speak, yet when he speaks, that is all there is to it!' From then on he concealed his radiance and hid his light, appearing as though he were unable to speak. People thought he had no Dharma to preach, and if someone knocked at his gate, he would firmly refuse to divulge anything. There were occasionally those who secretly probed his capacity and caught a glimpse of his eminence, realizing that it was not that he had no Dharma to preach, but that the time had not yet arrived. In the eleventh year of the Zhenyuan era, he hung his staff at Mount Nanquan in Chiyang, filling valleys and felling trees to construct a dhyāna cloister; donning a rain cape and straw hat, he tended oxen and mixed among the herd boys. Clearing the mountain to cultivate slash-and-burn fields, he grew crops in abundance. His feet did not descend Mount Nanquan for thirty years. Indeed, a great bell does not sound for the strike of a tiny reed; for it to sound, it must wait for the right cause. In the early Taihe era, the surveillance commissioner Lord Lu Gen and the former prefect of Chiyang both knew that he stepped far outside the dust of the world and served as the eye of the Dharma for all four quarters. Together with the army protector, Lord Liu of Pengcheng, they went to welcome him down the mountain, facing north to offer salutations. In less than two years, monks in patchwork robes hurried along the roads to him, numbering no fewer than several hundred. On the twenty-first day of the tenth month in the jia-yin year of the Taihe era, he showed illness. On the twenty-third day of the twelfth month, a white rainbow pierced the peak behind the dhyāna chamber; those who divined it said: 'Could it be that Nanquan is departing this world?' On that day, a massive boulder collapsed on the western peak, the sound echoing for dozens of li. In the middle of the day, a nursing tigress circled the dhyāna grove and wailed, which everyone found extraordinary. On the twenty-fifth day, when the eastern sky brightened, he told his disciples: 'The dimming of stars and the illusion of the lamp have lasted long already; do not say that I come and go.' Having finished speaking, he departed this life at the age of eighty-seven, with a saṅgha age of fifty-eight. Qiyuan, Wenchang, and others, totaling nine hundred people, all dressed in plain robes and black sashes, weeping blood at the mountain gate. Those proceeding to the funeral and gathering for the burial followed one after another on the roads, their wailing resounding through the cliffs and valleys. In the yimao year, his disciples placed his whole body in a sacred stupa in accordance with his instructions. Liu Ke, vice director of the Bureau of Provisions and compiler in the Historiographical Institute, revereing his former achievements, wrote a eulogy praising his virtues.
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Biography of Tancheng of Yunyan Temple in Liyang under the Tang
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Shi Tancheng's secular surname was Wang, and he was a native of Jianchang in Zhongling. At birth he naturally had an amniotic caul baring his right shoulder, resembling a monk's robe. He then requested to leave home at Shimen. Having reached the age of full ordination, he visited Dhyāna Master Baizhang Hai. For twenty years he served as an attendant; his duties were like those of Ānanda, and he certainly heard all the teachings, his body acting as an attendant while his mind remained detached. Later he was spurred to realization by Yaoshan, fully comprehending without a doubt. He transformed his disciples with utmost diligence, and those who benefited were numerous. On the twenty-seventh day of the tenth month in the jiyou year, the third year of the Taihe era, he showed extinction. By imperial decree, the grand master was bestowed the posthumous title Wuxiang ('Formless'), and his stupa was named Jingsheng ('Pure and Superior').
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The appraisal states: Śāṇavāsa means in Chinese 'linen robe'; because he was born wearing a caul, which was treated as silk and not flesh, it served as swaddling clothes in infancy and fit his body as he grew; when he left home it became a monastic robe, and only when he entered extinction and was cremated did it turn to ashes. Master Cheng's possessing an amniotic caul merely fell short of continuing as his garment after infancy, yet he was close to the Venerables Śuklā and Śāṇavāsa; he was more than halfway there. Why is this? Master Cheng was far removed from the sage: Śāṇavāsa, a hundred years after the Buddha's nirvāṇa, displayed the amniotic caul to disciples with fruit of practice, while Cheng today converted this age of doctrinal understanding with his shoulder-baring caul—is this not difficult indeed? Therefore, it is said that he was more than halfway there.
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Biography of Lord Zhen of Fushou Temple in Jingzhou under the Tang
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Shi the Venerable Zhen's surname was Lu, and he was a native of Jiangling. In his youth he was alert and intelligent; at the age of seven he recited through the Ya poems of the Shijing. He subsequently took the provincial examinations, passing three times with high rank, though he had not yet shed his plain clothes for office. Discussing profound principles with śramaṇas, he then resolved to don the black robes, placing himself under Dharma Master Bianchu of Fushou Temple as his exemplar. Later, he lectured on the Dharma for several series at Zhaocheng Temple in the Eastern Capital Luoyang. Paying respects to the dhyāna master of Mount Song, his mind's doubts were thoroughly resolved. He then arrived at Mount Mao in Danyang, and soon hung his staff at Mount Laṅkā in Suzhou, where seekers of the mystery from the four directions stood shoulder to shoulder and heel to toe. At that time Bai Letian (Bai Juyi) governed this commandery; when he received him and conversed on the Way, he unconsciously loosened his robe and unfastened his belt, his mind wandering into the realm of nothingness, having attained Zhen's inner sanctum. He then firmly invited him out to Shuiliu Temple, but Zhen took no delight in settling peacefully, finding pleasure only in mountain and river landscapes. In the third year of the Taihe era, he showed illness and passed away at the age of ninety. On the seventeenth day of the fourth month of that year, he was placed in a stupa.
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Biography of Congshen of the Eastern Cloister in Zhaozhou under the Tang
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Shi Congshen was a native of Linzi in Qingzhou. In his childhood he was aloof and independent, surpassing the constraints of his parents and rising transcendantly above the secular. He then went to Longxing Monastery in his home prefecture, shaving his head under a master. Soon he proceeded to the Liuli Altar on Mount Song to receive the precepts; his master encouraged him to listen and study, but he merely dipped his fingers into the sūtras and vinaya. Hearing that the Daoist transformations of Dhyāna Master Yuan of Chiyang were flourishing, Shen fixed his mind and settled his resolve, inquiring and looking up to him without wearying. Nanquan secretly transmitted the teaching to him, and Shen concealed his traces and hid his pointers, tranquil, peaceful, and joyful. Later, in Zhao Commandery, he opened the minds of beings and transformed the deluded, greatly propagating the dhyāna way. Because Commander Wang of Zhending rebelled with his troops, the borderlands were full of obstructions, which troubled the court. Wang resisted beyond measure, yet he devoted his heart exclusively to Shen. Shen once sent a whisk to Wang, saying: 'If the king asks where this whisk came from, answer: "It is something this old monk has used all his life without ever exhausting it."' Whatever he brought forth was transmitted throughout the realm, known as the Dharma-way of Zhaozhou. His recorded sayings circulated widely and were treasured by the world.
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Biography of Zhizang of Huayan Temple in the Capital Jingzhao under the Tang
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Shi Zhizang's surname was Huang, and he was a native of Shanggao in Yuzhang. His father was an administrator in Hongzhou. Zang followed his father into Baoguo Temple, where he saw Court Offerant Haoyue lecturing on the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra; faintly comprehending the sūtra's meaning, he delighted in entering the gate of the Buddha. When he was just thirteen, severing ties of affection and bidding farewell to his parents, he received instruction under Master Cong of Kaiyuan Temple. Later, he practiced the dhyāna method and realized the essential tenets of the venerable Daji. In the first year of the Jianzhong era, he entered Chang'an. Lu Yuanhao, who had long venerated his Way, submitted a memorial recommending him to be invited into the palace for offerings, and an imperial decree ordered him to reside at Huayan Temple. Within the imperial capital, practitioners of the mystery were in full fervor; they flocked to Zang's gate like sea waters returning to the deep of the guqin. In the ninth year of the Taihe era, he passed away at his resident temple, and was placed in a stupa on the twelfth day of the third month.
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Biography of Yuanzhi of Mount Daowu in Tanzhou under the Tang
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Shi Yuanzhi's secular surname was Zhang, and he was a native of Haihun in Yuzhang. In the years of his youth with hair in tufts, he suddenly sought transcendence, paying respects to the Upādhyāya Niepan and personally carrying his water jar and shoes. Thereupon ascending the precept platform, he vowed to knock at the gate of dhyāna; meeting Yaoshan, his mind's doubts were resolved. Later he resided at Mount Daowu in Changsha, where assemblies as vast as the sea followed him, like bees and ants clinging to their queen. On the eleventh day of the ninth month in the yimao year, the ninth year of the Taihe era, he passed away at the age of sixty-seven. At his cremation, several fragments of bone that did not turn to ashes and a section of skull cap were found, remarkably distinct, pure, and translucent, its color like gold and its resonance like bronze. A stupa was then erected on Mount Shishuang, and an imperial decree bestowed the posthumous title Grand Master Xiuyi and named the stupa Baoxiang ('Precious Form'). The one who attained his Way was Puhui. When Zhi first realized Yaoshan's tenets, Master Yan instructed him: 'I have no precious jade or great bow to give as a parting gift, but now I bestow upon you a single loincloth. Though it may be called slight, does it not symbolize intimacy?' The monk Xuantai of Mount Nanyue composed a stele and eulogy for him.
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Biography of Fachang of Mount Damei in Mingzhou under the Tang
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Shi Fachang's secular surname was Zheng, and he was a native of Xiangyang. In his youth, he followed a master at Yuquan Temple in Jingzhou. Whenever he encountered the hundred canonical scriptures, he was certain to recite them by heart after a single glance, forgetting nothing thereafter. Coming of age, he received the complete precepts (upasampadā) at Longxing Temple. His countenance was pure and austere, his nature firm and astute; wearing patched robes and carrying his begging bowl, he devoted his resolution to fasting by morning. In the twelfth year of the Zhenyuan era, he went from Tiantai to a place seventy li south of Yuyao in Siming, where he lodged in the former hermitage of Mei Zizhen, the immortal lieutenant. In former times, when Mei Fu first entered the mountain, he saw numerous dragon dens; divine snakes continually exhaled mist that formed towers and pavilions, while clouds and rain grew dim and dark. Beside them was a stone storehouse containing immortal elixirs and sacred scriptures of the transcendents. When Chang lodged overnight in the chamber, a divine being appeared in a dream and spoke to him, saying, "You are no ordinary mortal." He then spoke of the sacred books in the stone storehouse, which foresaw past and future affairs, telling him that whoever received them would become ruler of the subterranean realms, or else the preceptor and tutor to emperors and kings. Chang said to him, "The books in the stone storehouse are not what I desire. Formerly, Monk Chou paid no regard to the scriptures of transcendents, and their scrolls disappeared of themselves. I find joy in nirvāṇa; how could my lifespan be limited to enduring merely as long as heaven?" The spirit said, "This place is a numinous domain; those of worldly temperament can scarcely reside here without instantly bringing about strange transformations." Chang replied, "I am merely resting my traces in the domain of Lieutenant Mei, not occupying it permanently." The mountain was consequently called Mount Mei. From this time on, he bound reeds and felled wood, fashioning shelter to cover his body, and lived there for nearly forty years, proving indeed that he was an extraordinary person. At the beginning of the Kaicheng era, when the courtyard was completed, disciples gathered like spokes at a hub to inquire and resolve their doubts, amounting to some six or seven hundred robe-wearing disciples. In the fourth year, Chang suddenly showed signs of illness. On the nineteenth day of the ninth month, the mountain forests shook and swayed, while birds and beasts cried mournfully. He bid farewell to the assembly and passed away, with a reported age of eighty-eight and a precept age of sixty-nine. On the nineteenth day of the tenth month, he was cremated at the southern ravine; when his relics (śarīra) were collected, they were brilliant with five colours and rotated roundly. Earlier, when Chang was in seclusion on Mount Mei, a monk seeking a walking staff encountered him and reported it to Chan Master An of Yanguan. An said, "The plum (Mei) is ripe! Go seek him, and by good fortune he will quench your thirst." The jinshi Jiang Ji composed his memorial stele, recording these matters.
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Linked texts (1)
- 宋高僧傳 — 贊寧, Classical Chinese