宋高僧傳 12.4

12.4

Śramaṇa Huanzhong was surnamed Lu, a native of Puban in Hedong. He was endowed with extraordinary spiritual qualities and had a stature superior to ordinary mortals: his limbs were well-proportioned, the bone of his crown round and elevated; his voice was like the sound of a bell, and his skin like curdled fat. His erudition spanned all antiquity, and his rhetoric was copious and rich. At age twenty-five, he went up for the imperial examinations and passed in the first tier, but this did not satisfy his aspirations, and he thought to succeed again. Soon after, he suffered the mourning for his mother, so he built a hut by her grave. When the mourning period concluded, he went straight to Tongzi Temple in the Northern Capital and renounced the world (pravrajyā). Before two harvests were completed, he had perused all the scriptures. The following year, he ascended Mount Song to receive the precepts, and studied the vinaya section. Thoroughly versed in this, he suddenly yearned for the Mahāyāna, decisively went to Mount Baizhang, and profoundly grasped the profound import. Later he lived in reclusion at Changle Temple on the Southern Peak, thatching a cottage on the mountain peak. Grand Master of Remonstrance Lord Cui deeply respected his conduct, and thereupon specially erected an abbot's quarters. He waited for the sun to sink in the Yu Abyss, taking only one meal throughout the long day. However, lacking water, he went far with an emaciated pitcher to fetch it. Suddenly, in the depths of the night, a tiger roared beside his hut; when inspected the next morning, a gushing spring had cracked the ground and bubbled up, sufficient for his drawing needs. Later he went to Hangzhou; north of the Zhejiang River was a mountain called Daci. Before he had dwelled there long, patrons and the faithful arrived in succession. Soon it grew into an enormous monastery, and monks from the four directions gathered to pay respects like clouds. During the suppression of the teaching by Emperor Wuzong, Zhong wore plain robes and was invited by someone to reside at the villa of the Dai family. In the renshen year of Dazhong, Prefect Lord Liu was the first to order him to shave his head and dye his robes, restoring prosperity to the Chan forest. On the fifteenth day of the second month of the renwu year, he gave his final instructions, and died just as his voice ceased. At that time, it was growing hot and humid, but examination of his body showed not the slightest change, and the crown of his head was warm and moist. In winter, he was interred at the stupa site, living to eighty-three years of age, with a dharma age of fifty-four. There is a saying that the Tiger Run Spring on the mountain of Changle Temple suddenly dried up on the day Master Zhong passed away. How marvelous! It had existed solely to support his use. In the dingyou year of Qianfu, an imperial decree posthumously titled the Grand Master Xingkong ('Nature of Emptiness'), and named his stupa Dinghui ('Concentration and Wisdom'). Duan Chengshi, prefect of Jinyun, composed a eulogy for his portrait.