宋高僧傳 30
English (machine translation) 30
- Language
- English
30.1
Compiled under Imperial Order by Śramaṇa Zanning and others, Grand Master Tonghui of Tianshou Temple on the Left Street of the Song, Recipient of the Purple Robe
30.2
Section Ten, Part Two: Miscellaneous Practices: Vocal Resonance (Nineteen main biographies, with six appended)
30.3
Biography of Haozhi of Great Anguo Temple in the Superior Capital under the Tang
30.4
Śramaṇa Haozhi, whose secular surname was Ding, was a native of Zhuji in Kuaiji. In his youth, he took no pleasure in mundane affairs; naturally, he ate neither wine, meat, nor pungent roots. He therefore went to Master Zang of Mount Hangwu to shave his hair. Early in the Yuanhe era, he received the full precepts at Tianzhu Temple in Hangzhou. Among the hundreds of scriptures, vinaya texts, treatises, commentaries, and subcommentaries, he savoured their richness. One day, wearing straw sandals and leaning on a staff, he proceeded to the Chan gate of Hongzhou, where he thoroughly penetrated the essentials of mind, going empty and returning full. He then went back to Daqing Temple in his native commandery to guide and instruct those seeking benefit for over twenty years, becoming an eminent monk of the region south of the Yangzi. When he met Confucian scholars, he looked upon them with favor; therefore, many renowned figures associated with him. He often playfully composed verses of poetry, the words of which were astonishing. Whenever officials served as surveillance commissioners or military governors in Yue, they would visit his door as soon as they entered the region, guided by his reputation and actual virtue. He was not only able to attract and guide others, but was also skilled in social interaction. During the Dahe era, he traveled to Mount Wutai, his route passing through the capital city, where he stayed only one night before departing. The former military commissioner Qie Zhirong and Palace Attendant Song Changchun particularly relished his Way and eagerly summoned him from afar. Early in the Kaicheng era, he arrived at the capital again; the two nobles joined their efforts to chant in unison, pulling at his hems and stubbornly detaining him, so that they installed him in the grand abbot's quarters of Anguo Temple to dwell there. Among the dragon-elephants of the royal capital, none failed to esteem and revere him. Before long, he was summoned to serve as an imperial attendant of great virtue. This was not what he liked, but he yielded to convention and accepted it. Yet his sighs of longing to return home were never once cast aside. On the twenty-fifth day of the tenth month of the fourth year, having finished his instructions to his disciples, he peacefully passed away at the age of fifty-six, with thirty-two summer retreats. The Qie and Song households pooled their funds to temporarily bury him by the Chan River; the people of the east all grieved for him. Later, his disciple Jianzhu brought his remains back to be buried south of Mount Chong, erecting a stupa at Huayan Temple. In the fourth year of the Huichang era, Wei Xuan, Retainer of the Court Cadre, composed a stele inscription to record his generation.
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Biography of Guangxiu of Shanlin Temple on Mount Tiantai under the Tang (Gaoxian)
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Śramaṇa Guangxiu, whose secular surname was Liu, was a native of Xiakun in Dongyang. With a pure character and upright clarity, he early entered the gate of Master Sui, thoroughly examining the traces of the teachings, and students gathered around him like clouds. Daily he recited the Lotus Sūtra, the Vimalakīrti, the Suvarṇaprabhāsa, the Fanwang, and the Sifen jieben. During the six periods of the day, he practiced the Way without rest, becoming even more devoted as the years passed. Every year he practiced the repentance ritual for seven weeks, which was the fourth samādhi of following one's own intent. In the third year of the Kaicheng era, the monk Enzai from Japan came in person to request the Dharma. Wei Heng, the governor of Taizhou, invited him to lecture on Śamatha-vipaśyanā in the commandery hall. On the sixteenth day of the second month of the guihai year, the third year of the Huichang era, he passed away at his home temple of Shanlin, with a worldly age of seventy-three and a dharma age of fifty-two. His spirit was moved to the Jindi Bodhimanda, and the Dharma was entrusted to his disciple Wuwai. In the seventh year of the Xiantong era, his disciple Liangwen opened the grave and cremated him, washing and collecting more than a thousand grains of śarīra, which were sealed and stored within duplicate stupas. There was also Śramaṇa Gaoxian of Kaiyuan Temple in Huzhou, originally a native of Wucheng. In his youth he was outstanding, revealing extraordinary talent in his conduct. After receiving the Dharma, he showed resolute determination toward his neighbors, wearing down his body through arduous study, never being the least bit indolent. Later he entered Chang'an, where at temples such as Jianfu and Ximing he devoted himself to studying the scriptures and the vinaya, excelling in lecture and recitation. When Emperor Xuanzong revived the Buddhist Dharma, he summoned him to face the imperial presence and write cursive script as a master; he was thereupon granted a purple robe and was further invited to attend the purificatory repentance ordination platform, holding the title of 'Great Virtue of the Ten Prospects.' By nature, he had lofty integrity and steadfast principles, towering and difficult to bend. In his old age, thinking of returning to his hometown, he passed away at his home temple. His disciple Jianzong was imperially appointed as the Supreme Great Master, and also acquired Gaoxian's calligraphic technique. Gaoxian often liked to write in regular and cursive scripts on white ramie cloth from the Zha River, offering it to others as a model for their study.
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Biography of Yuanbiao of Goryeo under the Tang (Quanqing)
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Śramaṇa Yuanbiao was originally a man of the Three Han. During the Tianbao era, he came to travel in China, and further went to the Western Regions to pay homage to the sacred sites. Meeting the Bodhisattva King of Mind, who pointed him toward the spiritual dwelling of Mount Zhiti, he thereupon carried on his back the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka Sūtra, sought out Huotong, paid homage to the Bodhisattva Tianguan, and came to live in the stone chamber of Zhiti. Prior to this, this mountain did not permit people to dwell there; if one lived there, there would inevitably be many thunderclaps, fierce beasts, and venomous insects, or else ghosts and goblins would bewilder and disturb them. Once, a monk who had not attained the Way boldly stayed there for a night, but was driven out by the mountain god; the next morning, his body was seen cast down several li below the mountain. Biao carried his scriptures and stayed there, drinking from mountain torrents and feeding on trees; later, no traces of his comings and goings were known. At that time, when the Huichang suppression and destruction occurred, Biao took the scriptures, placed them in a box of rosewood, and concealed them deep within the stone chamber. By the bingyin year, the first year of the Dazhong era of Emperor Xuanzong, Chan Master Huiping of Baofu, having long heard of past events, personally led faithful laypeople to welcome them out into the Ganlu Duwei Cloister; their paper and ink looked as if newly written, and they are now stored in a Buddhist temple in Fuzhou. There was also Śramaṇa Quanqing of Kuaiji, a native of Yue. Plowing and weeding the field of precepts, he was fragrant like sweet basil. In the esoteric mantras and spells, he was able to interrogate and indict ghosts and spirits. At that time, the wife of Wang, a marketplace broker, suffered from an evil affliction; her speech was wild and inverted, and she would either weep or laugh, continuing like this for several years. They summoned Qing to cure her; he thereupon tied up a straw figure over a foot long, clothed it in five colors, placed it on an altar, and cast spells and prohibitions over it. After a long while, the woman spoke, begging for her life, and then recorded her situation, saying, 'In a past year on a spring day, I attached myself to her in front of the Shrine of Yu. If the Master will not kill me, I will leave and go far away.' Qing then took a jar and used a whip to drive the straw effigy into it, which made whimpering sounds; he sealed the mouth of the vessel with Liuyi mud, stamped it with a talisman drawn in cinnabar, and buried it beneath a mulberry grove, warning the family members not to disturb it, whereupon the woman's illness was cured. Five years later, when Liu Hanhong and Dong Chang confronted each other across the river, the city of Yue fell. People thought this was a hidden treasure hoard; when they dug up and smashed the jar, they saw a crow burst out flying, perch on the tip of a mulberry tree, and speak in human words, saying, 'Now I get to see the light of the sun!' At that time, Master Qing had already passed away.
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Biography of Toutuo of Longxing Temple in Zhenzhou under the Tang
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Śramaṇa Toutuo was originally the son of a miller from the lower mill; yet his capacity and demeanor were gentle and generous, showing the standard of an elder. His father tasked him with guarding the mill; deep in the night, pitying the exhaustion of the donkeys and oxen, he replaced them with himself, turning the animals loose to graze on grass, drink water, and rest. When his parents learned of this, they ceased their business for his sake. The son also begged to renounce worldly life; he thereupon shaved his hair and received the full precepts. He upheld a mind free from anger, and only gathered rag-heap garments to make robes, which weighed several pounds. For thirty years, he never once changed his bedding. The practice of his bitter asceticism was without equal, and the people of Zhending held him in high esteem. Yet he did not accept offerings from others, so they called him the 'Senior Ascetic' (Dhūta).
30.11
The appraisal says: 'Rag-heap robes are one of the four noble lineages. All who cultivate and refine themselves must vow to accomplish this practice, but alas, how few can bear it! Those who surpass others in it are people of valiant capacity.'
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Biography of Quanci of Mount Nanyue under the Tang
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Śramaṇa Quanci was originally a native of Yuhang. He entered Mount Jing to pay homage to Grand Master Faji and seek ordination. His endowed constitution was robust and fertile, and he could withstand hunger and cold. Having traveled and studied broadly, he concealed himself on Mount Heng and erected a grass hut. Feeding on trees and drinking from torrents, he wove soft grass into clothing, changing it neither in winter nor in summer. There was a poem presented to Ci that said: 'Since the dweller of the nest, who has there been / To genuinely transmit the Tathāgata's true seal of the Dharma? / Yesterday, seen beneath Zhurong Peak, / This body clothed in grass is none other than the body of the Snowy Mountains.' This was composed by the former minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Sun Wo when he was demoted to the south; the affair is detailed in the Biographies of Eminent Monks of Nanyue.
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The appraisal says: 'Wearing grass clothing in the blazing southern regions of Nanyue may be fine in one's prime of life, but it is unknown whether one could endure it in frailty and old age if moved to the remote northern wastes. If one can, then one is a superior practitioner of the highest capacity.'
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Biography of Huimu of Mingxin Cloister in Yuezhou under the Tang
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Śramaṇa Huimu, whose secular surname was Zhu, was a native of Jiyang for generations, belonging to an eminent lineage. In his tender youth, the family discipline was strict and clear; he was instructed in the Confucian classics and flourished into an outstanding talent. When he was about to accompany the accounting clerk [to the capital], he visited Chan Master Qizhen of Juezhi Temple—that is, the one posthumously titled Daguan—who subtly admonished him. From this, Mu attained awakening. The following year, he received tonsure and proceeded to Hongjing, where he paid homage to Chan Master Guanyin and instantly understood the mind-tally. In the seventh year of the Xiantong era, he returned to his home district; the county magistrate Master Wei then led the faithful to construct Qizhen Cloister, and Chan travelers from the four quarters arrived from far and near. Surveillance Commissioner Pei Yanlu summoned Mu; thereupon a vihāra was built in the Jianshui Quarter and inscribed with the name of the quarter. After living there, he was content yet able to relocate. Assenting to the request of Qi Zhao, assistant magistrate of Mingzhou, he went to reside on Mount Yusi, and died not long after, at the age of eighty-eight, with a monastic age of forty-five. This was on the third day of the seventh month of the fifth year of the Qianning era.
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Biography of the Anonymous Monk of the South Tile Kiln in Youzhou under the Tang (The Chan Practitioner of Zhurong Peak)
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Śramaṇa The Anonymous had exceptionally strict conduct, dwelling alone among the kiln ovens south of the city of Yan. During the Tianyou era, there was famine in You and Ji, and the corpses of those starved to death lined the roads. Returning from gathering alms, he heard wailing sounds in the wheel ruts; taking pity, he gathered it up and returned home: it was a baby girl abandoned by starving people. He sought cow's milk to feed her. When she was seven or eight years old, he led her into the city to beg for colored silk to clothe her. When she reached marriageable age, her countenance was beautiful and charming, scarcely like that of ordinary mortals. Though some ridiculed and reproached him, the monk never wavered in his purpose. It happened that Liu Rengong, the military commander of Yan, pursued rabbits on a hunt and rode straight into the monk's dwelling inside the kiln. A soldier saw the young woman attending beside the monk and reported it to the commander. Liu went in person to see her and asked the reason; the monk answered everything with the truth. Liu said, 'This disciple wishes to take her in; may I?' The monk said, 'Yes.' Having early tested that he had no begrudging intent, [Liu] personally helped her mount a horse. When they returned to the mansion, she was fundamentally a pure maiden. Liu pitied her all the more and did not place her in a low rank. Furthermore, he revered the monk, regarding him as a person established in the stage of realization. He specially built a vihāra for him to dwell in, and Liu went to visit him twice every ten days. When the monk fell ill and died, a disciple came to deliver the funeral announcement; the girl was sitting alone, and upon hearing it, she died of grief and lamentation. Liu erected a stupa for the monk to commemorate him. There was also the Chan Practitioner of Zhurong Peak (Anonymous), who was upright and straightforward in nature, paying no heed to formal decorum. Whenever he expounded [the Dharma], he skillfully indicated the essentials of the lineage, and monastics and laypeople flocked to him like a marketplace. Once, he drank poisoned wine; at that moment, he vomited and purged it downward, and wherever it seeped or fell, it rotted clothes and cracked stone, yet there was no distress within his body. There was always a snake and a tiger acting as his guards. When he died and was cremated (jhāpita), a piece of bone remained, as large as the body of a pipa. The monastic assembly built up a fire to burn it again; while burning, its color was identical with the substance of fire, and when the fire died out and the ashes cooled, its color was white as snow—was this not the attainment of a firm śarīra from a whole-body division? To this day, his sayings are transmitted on the mountain, and a stupa has been erected for him, hailing him as the Daoist Practitioner of Zhurong Peak.
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Biography of Qiyin of Kaiyuan Temple in Hongzhou under the Tang (Bao'an)
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Śramaṇa Qiyin, courtesy name Juzheng, was surnamed Xu. From an early age he was dignified and stern, endowed with natural spiritual insight. At the age when boys wear the horn awl, he developed a passionate desire to leave the dust of worldly life, and his parents could not break his determination. After shaving his head and receiving the ordination, he exerted himself diligently in his studies, deeply penetrating the inner mysteries of the vinaya. Moreover, his mastery of refined poetry was not acquired through artificial carving and polishing, but was formed from natural genius. During the Guangming era, to escape the rebel Huang Chao, he entered Mount Lu and went to Zhejui Peak—truly an admirable retirement into seclusion. Yet on radiant mornings and moonlit evenings, amid twilight glows and crisp autumns, he often refined lines into couplets and gathered verses into collections; they were frequently vigorous and resonant, circulating on people's lips. Wearing patched and tattered hemp robes, those who did not know him took him for an old mountain peasant, assuming he had no ability at all. He obtained the Zen purport from Guizong and expounded it with others without being stingy with the Dharma. He regularly traveled in the fellowship of poetry with Guanxiu, Chumo, and Xiumu; Shen Yan, Cao Song, Zhang Ning, and Chen Changfu, who were all retired scholars, were his friends in poetic exchange. Though crowds of scholars flocked to him, Yin remained calm and indifferent as water. Later, when the bandits were somewhat suppressed, he entered Jingchu, ascended Zhurong Peak, and wandered freely and aloofly. In the third year of the Guanghua era, he traveled to Panyu and was recognized and appreciated by Grand Defender Xu Yanruo. In the second year of the Tongguang era, in Hongjing, he happened upon Wei Zhongfu of Julu, and they bonded closely through their love of literature and the Way. He passed away during the Tiancheng era of the Later Tang. His poetic disciple Yingzhi took about a hundred of Yin's poems and presented them to Zhongfu to write a preface for the collection; what circulates today under the title *Guifeng ji* (Collection of Guifeng) is this work. Next is Śramaṇa Bao'an of Lingguang Temple in Jiahe, whose secular surname was Xia, a native of Changshu in Gusu. His demeanor was crisp and outstanding, and his conduct was gentle and upright. In his prime, entangled with household affairs, he vowed and yearned to cast them aside like worn shoes. After receiving full ordination, he devoted himself exclusively to the practice of dhyāna, thoroughly grasping the true secret; he wore no silk or woven fabrics, sustained himself solely by collecting alms, and slept upon straw and husks. Formerly, when An traveled to Mount Wutai, he lamented that people of the south were unfamiliar with it; he therefore led monks and laity alike to replicate and construct the layout of Mount Wutai at Lingguang Temple, which still exists today. Once the work was completed, he passed away without illness. He lived to the age of one hundred and eighteen, with a dharma age of seventy-eight. Because his body did not decay, his disciples coated it with lacquer and made offerings to it in a separate courtyard. When the temples were destroyed during the Huichang era, it was subsequently burned.
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Tang: A Biography of Preceptor Jin of Xuanyong Temple in Hedong
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Śramaṇa Preceptor Jin was surnamed Wang and was a native of Pingyao in Xihe; his birthplace was Zhukeng Village. In his youth he was tall and robust, but simple and rustic in disposition. His actions were bizarre and unlike those of ordinary people. He renounced the world at Mount Songyan. Later, his body measured one zhang in height and his waist one span in circumference; his predictions of events were often extraordinarily accurate. After his demise, he seemed as if still alive. When the local people made offerings and sacrifices to him, praying for wishes, everyone's requests were fulfilled. From Xihe to the Jihu, all treated him with profound respect.
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Liang: A Biography of Wuzuo of Mount Siming
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Śramaṇa Wuzuo, courtesy name Buyong, was surnamed Sima and was a native of Gusu. His father was the county defender of Wanqiu in Chen. When his mother, Lady Dai, first conceived, she dreamed of an extraordinary śramaṇa who claimed his surname was Xu and that he resided at Liushui Temple, wishing to stay here for the retreat; having spoken, he sat cross-legged. That same night, his father dreamed of writing a character in a tray, which was so pleasing to his mind that he said to himself it could be presented to the Emperor. At dawn, each recounted their dream, and the mother said: "I think what is in my womb must be a śramaṇa." She vowed, saying: "If I give birth to a boy, I will allow him to leave the world at Liushui Temple." When he was born, he was indeed exceptionally bright and lovable, and he detested the smell of meat and grease. When he reached the age of four, his mother taught him to chant and recite; like sharp metal easily polished, he retained everything in his memory without loss. His father wanted him to prepare for the examinations for prodigies, but gradually seeing his refined, gentle manner and his constant intention to leave the worldly dust, the father hesitated. Soon after, his father secretly caught sight of a daughter of the Yao family who had a beautiful face and deportment, and he intensely wished to take her [as a concubine]. The mother was exceedingly jealous, so she said: "If you give up this boy to leave the world, I will let you take what you desire." The father then consented and sent him into Liushui Temple. Barely a month later, the Yao woman departed; at the time, people said this woman was a good spiritual friend who served as a predominant condition for Zuo's renunciation. At the age of twenty, he received the full precepts. Successively, he lectured and thoroughly mastered the *Lüchao* (vinaya commentary) with its eliminations and supplements, the *Lotus Sūtra*, sūtras on rebirth in Tuṣita, and the *Baifa lun* (*Śatadharma-vidyāmukha-śāstra*). Regarding the doctrines of one nature or five natures, he investigated them with utmost diligence. As for the works of Confucius and Laozi, there were none he did not browse through. Later, he sought the esoteric teachings under Chan Master Xuefeng Yicun and penetrated deeply into their inner chamber. When he arrived at Mount Sangu in Luling, a donor built the Yunting Cloister for him; in Yuzhang, the Nanping Cloister was founded, and both invited Zuo to become abbot, but he shook his sleeves and departed from both. The former Jinshi scholar Tang Bing composed a stele inscription for the Tripiṭaka, recounting the reasons why Master Zuo avoided these invitations. He resided in Hongjing for ten years without ever meeting Master Hong of the Zhong clan face-to-face. He then traveled to Siming in Kuaiji, where he developed the resolve to end his days. King Wusu of Wuyue, Qian [Liu], held him in high esteem and summoned him to step out briefly from Siming, but he immediately returned to the mountain, declining on grounds of illness. He presented a poem expressing his sentiments to the king, and the king did not detain him. The poem went: "The nature of a cloud-dwelling crane is solitary and aloof; / How can it bear the gates of fame and profit? / Though I entered the capital to acknowledge your grace, / Pleading illness, I return once more to the mountains." At that time, Sun He of Le'an, residing in Fenghua, had retired from public life and chanted leisurely; he did not associate with the clergy, but only received Zuo, conversing with him all day long. The Jinshi scholar Yang Yan also admired his hermit lifestyle and visited him. During the Kaiping era of the Liang dynasty, he passed away at Siming at the age of fifty-six. Earlier, Zuo was skilled in cursive and clerical scripts, his brushstrokes vigorous and strong, and many people copied them as models. He composed several tens of volumes of varied repentance liturgies, annotated Dao'an's one-volume *Six-Interval Buddha-Worship Text*, which along with his poems and songs all circulate in the world. Zuo never entered nunneries, never visited official yamens, never exchanged visiting cards, and never chased contemporary gain, styling himself the "Carefree Master" (Xiaoyaozi).
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Liang: A Biography of Guanxiu of Dongchan Cloister in Chengdu Prefecture (Chumo, Tanyu)
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Śramaṇa Guanxiu, courtesy name Deyin, secular surname Jiang, was a native of Denggao in Lanxi, Jinhua. When he was seven years old, his parents, who loved him dearly, sent him to Chan Master Yuanzhen of He'an Temple in the local county to leave the world as an acolyte. He recited one thousand characters of the *Lotus Sūtra* daily; what he heard even once was never forgotten. He was tonsured together with Chumo, and they lived in adjacent cloisters; across the fence, they discussed poetry, composing and chanting parallel couplets back and forth, so that monks who witnessed this were all astonished. After receiving the full precepts, his poetic fame shook the era. He then went to Yuzhang to transmit the *Lotus Sūtra* and the *Awakening of Faith*, thoroughly mastering their profound meanings and lecturing diligently. The prefect of the commandery, Wang Zao, respected him even more deeply. The succeeding prefect, Jiang Gui, opened an ordination platform for repentance, and appointed Xiu as the platform superintendent. In the beginning of the Qianning era, bearing high aspirations, he visited King Wusu of Wuyue, Qian [Liu], and presented five eight-line poems; they pleased the king's intention greatly, and the gifts bestowed upon him were also lavish. When the king accomplished the merit of eliminating rebels, the imperial court honored him as a meritorious official. The king then erected a separate hall with a stele recording the names of the generals and officers who joined forces to pacify Yue, and subsequently had Xiu's poems carved on the back of the stele, such was the high regard he enjoyed. Xiu was skilled in delicate painting and mastered the Six Canons of painting. He excelled in ink-wash, and his depictions of forms were striking to behold. At the invitation of the Qiang family's pharmacy at Zhongan Bridge, he produced a complete set of paintings of arhats, saying: "Every time I paint one image, I always pray in dreams to obtain the likeness of the True One before completing it." They were unlike ordinary styles. From then on, he traveled through Yi and She, finding spiritual resonance with Ācārya Lan of Tang'an Temple. Later, wishing to climb the Southern Peak, he went north to visit the commander of Jing, Cheng Rui, who initially treated him with great courtesy and accommodated him at Longxing Temple. At that time, Hanlin Academician Wu Rong, having been demoted, met him there, and they came and went discussing the Way and poetry. Rong composed a preface for Xiu's collection in the third year of the Qianning era. Soon after, Xiu was slandered before the Jing commander and banished to Gong'an. Depressed, he inscribed on his inkstone: "Only upon entering its case does the body find peace." His disciples urged their master to enter Shu; at that time, the Wang clan was plotting an illegitimate claim to the throne and inviting worthy scholars from all quarters. Delighted to obtain Xiu, they received him with lavish courtesy and bountiful gifts, bestowing on him the title "Grand Master Chanyue" (Zen Moon). The ruler of Shu often called him "The Monk Who Arrived Specially" (Dede lai Heshang). At that time, Wei Ai lauded his splendid title. What he excelled at were songs and chants, whose satirical subtleties were oriented toward moral instruction; in style and tune, he was not inferior to the two Lis—Li Bai and Li He. In the second year of the Qianhua era of the Liang dynasty, he passed away at his residence at the age of eighty-one. The ruler of Shu was deeply grieved; all funeral rites were conducted at public expense. His stūpa was named White Lotus, erected outside the north gate of Chengdu; this relocation of his stūpa took place in the Qiande era of the Former Shu, which corresponds to the third year of Qianhua of the Liang, the year Guiyou. Xiu was proficient in the sage-like cursive script. His disciple Tanyu compiled his master's literary collection in the year Guiyou, placing Academician Wu's preface at the beginning, with Yu writing an afterword. Wei Zhuang once presented him with a poem: "Is it on account of poverty that we are often kept apart? / It must only be your aversion to wine that keeps you from visiting." He was also on good terms with Master Guangcheng, Du Guangting, being his fellow countryman. Xiu's calligraphic hand was transmitted by enthusiasts under the name "Jiang style." When one once viewed Xiu's portrait, he was stout and short; the Shu prime minister Wang Kai wrote a eulogy for it. Tanyu was meticulous in vinaya studies and powerful in seal script; he recompiled Xu Shen's *Shuowen*, which currently circulates in Shu. He had a poetry collection, which was second only to his master's style.
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Liang: A Biography of Daoist Guo of Shuangxi Cloister on Mount Lu
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Śramaṇa Daoist Guo: it is not known where he was from. His capacity was pure and refined, and his conduct was honest and transcendent; dwelling alone and solitary, he soared high above material forms. Having studied widely under masters, he wished to halt his solitary travels, and loving the extraordinary beauty of Mount Lu, he vowed to live in obscurity to pursue his aspirations. He built a thatched hut, watered his garden, and planted vegetables, allowing the mountain dwellers to pick them as they pleased. When someone asked him the reason, he replied: "This poor monk plants with no mind, and gives away with no mind." Examining this perception, he was truly an eminent person who had reached the Way. Saṅgha Rectifier Xiumu constantly revered and respected him, presenting Master Guo with a poem: "Entering the gate, all is empty and still; / Truly an authentic child of the Dharma. / Having conduct unseen by ghosts, / Possessing no mind, men call him a fool." Later he passed away in the cloister and was buried on the mountain plateau of Shuangxi, where a small stūpa stands. Today people call him by the character "Guo"; whether it was his name or his surname remains unclear.
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Liang: A Biography of Zhixuan of Quanzhou
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Śramaṇa Zhixuan was a native of Quanzhou. In his prime, he yearned for the Dharma and emulated Yijing's conduct. Taking life lightly and pledging death, he wished to travel to the Western Regions to pay homage to the eight stūpas of the Buddha and to seek scriptures and teachings that had not yet reached this land. In the late Tang, he joined companions to cross the shifting sands; wherever he arrived in foreign realms, he cherished antiquity and sought teachers, pursuing the curious and following the unusual, gathering Sanskrit manuscripts and seeking relics. In the fifth month of the first year of the Kaiping era, he reached the present Eastern Capital and presented a pratyekabuddha bone relic and palm-leaf manuscripts of Sanskrit sūtras and vinaya. Xuan had gone in his prime and returned already frail and aged. Emperor Taizu of the Liang, having newly altered the Tang mandate, was overjoyed to hear of Xuan's return; he bestowed gifts upon him and requested translations of the palm-leaf manuscripts he brought back. At that time, however, warfare raged, leaving no leisure for such pursuits.
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Liang: A Biography of Qiji of Longxing Temple in Jiangling Prefecture
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Śramaṇa Qiji, whose secular surname was Hu, was a native of Yiyang. He maintained high and brilliant moral integrity, though his appearance was unimposing and crude. While young, he abandoned secular life at the monastery on Mount Dawei; exceedingly intelligent and surpassing the ordinary run of people, he received the full ordination precepts and studied the vinaya rules and deportment. Yet by nature he was addicted to chanting and composing poetry, with a style clear and untrammelled. A Chan traveler arrived from Deshan and expounded its principles, whereupon Qiji unconsciously found his spirit roaming the vast and boundless realm. He then personally went to pay homage and make inquiries, and having attained understanding and awakening, all traces and omens vanished entirely. In this way, Yaoshan, Lumen, Huguo—among all the hundreds of Chan groves, which did he not visit and consult? He looked upon fame and profit entirely as floating clouds. At the Dharma assembly of Shishuang, he was invited to direct monastic affairs. When the Liang displaced the Tang mandate, the realm was in turmoil. At that time, Gao Jichang, acting on the Liang emperor's orders, attacked and drove Lei Man out of Zhugong; thereupon he became the acting governor of Jingzhou, and soon formally received appointment as military commissioner. By the time Emperor Jundi lost control and Zhuangzong of Hedong entered Luoyang from Weifu, the Gao clan carved out an autonomous regional domain, gathering men of fame and integrity from afar; he obtained Yifeng of Qi and Qiji of the Southern Peak, regarding this as the initial verification of building his Golden Terrace. In the first year of Longde (xinsi, 921 CE), he showed respect to Qiji by settling him in a pure cloister at Longxing Temple, providing him with a monthly stipend and appointing him saṅgha director; this was not what Qiji preferred. Thus, on quiet mornings and calm nights, he was much occupied with verses; he composed fifteen pieces of the 'Zhugong mowen pian' (Ask Not in Zhugong) to express his mind, merely complying with Gao's orders. Qiji had a tumor on his neck, which contemporaries dubbed his 'poetry pouch.' He rested content in austerity, wrapping himself in a tattered robe and binding his knees with hemp. He delighted in mountains and waters and was averse to visiting kings and nobles, even composing the familiar lines: 'Never have I taken a single word / Lightly to call upon the feudal lords.' He exchanged poems with the Mount Hua recluse Zheng Gu. When he passed away, his Bailian ji (White Lotus Collection) circulated in the world; he styled himself 'the Śramaṇa of Mount Heng.'
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Later Tang: Biography of Wuji of Guangfu Temple in Lingzhou
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Śramaṇa Wuji, whose secular surname was Shi, was a native of Shuofang. When Emperor Xuanzong ruled the realm, the Buddhadharma underwent a revival. In the ninth year of Dazhong, when he was just thirteen, he resolutely determined to leave home, presenting himself as a disciple to Grand Master Fakong of Baicao Cloister; his practice was rigorous and meticulous, brushing away the noisy dust of the world. In the third year of Xiantong, he was received as a guest at the capital and received ordination and upasampadā at Ximing Temple. Among all the hundreds of arts, he wished to engage in every one. He admired Dinglin Wei's skill in painting and Dai Andao's mastery of the zither, thinking: 'Aside from lecturing and studying, I too shall master and practice them.' Earlier, Tang Hengfu had once served as military governor of Shuofang; later, meeting him in the capital, he treated Wuji with the etiquette accorded a family monk, knowing that Wuji's words and conduct were equally exalted and that he was also famous for his guiding recitations. Hengfu reported to the Commissioners of Merit and Virtue of the Two Streets, requesting that Wuji be enrolled at Ximing Temple. Soon after, when Emperor Yizong welcomed the authentic śarīra at Famen Temple in Fengxiang, Zhang Siguang, Vice Commissioner of the Right Proclamation, memorialized that Wuji serve in chanting praise and guidance; he pleased the imperial mind, and the imperial gifts were lavish. In the Guangqi era, he was transmitted the method of the ritual site for the auspicious vanquishing of all asterisms by the blazing light of the Uṣṇīṣa, and returned to his home prefecture. The prefectural governor Lord Han heard that he was capable of dispelling disasters within their astrological station, and thereupon erected and decorated an altar on the polo grounds, where many supernatural resonances occurred. In the Jingfu era, Grand Defender Lord Han founded and renovated Guangfu Temple, memorializing that Wuji serve as its abbot. He regulated all matters with the vinaya standards, so that those along the frontier seeking the precepts always requested him as their upādhyāya. In the bingzi year of the Qianhua era of the Liang, Han Zhu, Director of the Secretariat, memorialized to grant him the master title Hongyuan. On the first day of the fourth month in the third year of Tongguang of the Later Tang (yiyou, 925 CE), he passed away sitting upright in his abbot's room. His sinews and bones remained as if alive, and his spiritual bearing persisted. Both non-Chinese and Chinese people who came to pay respects exclaimed in praise: 'Formerly, during the Zhide era, Biancai, a man of lofty virtue at Longxing Temple in this prefecture, died sitting upright and was subsequently lacquered with cloth. In the first year of Qianning, the prefectural commander memorialized the throne, and he was posthumously granted the title Nengjue. May not Master Wuji now do the same thing at a different time?' Secretariat Director Lord Han ordered artisans to lacquer the body with cloth. During the reign of Zhuangzong, Xue Zhaoji, an administrative assistant in the military government, composed a stele inscription praising his virtue.
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Later Tang: Biography of Bianguang of Guoning Temple in Mingzhou
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Śramaṇa Bianguang, whose style was Dengfeng and secular surname was Wu, was a native of Yongjia and a descendant of Jing, the Tang historiographer and Mentor of the Left. In his youth, he left home and had his head shaved at Taoshan Temple. In his dwelling he was invariably unyielding and aloof, not mingling with ordinary people. He liked to elevate himself and looked down upon his fellow monks. He wrote many poems in the ancient style, which were bitter, eccentric, and sparse in flavor; whenever he captured a good line, a smug expression appeared on his face. He excelled in cursive and clerical script; hearing that Lu Xisheng was banished to serve in Yuzhang, Bianguang went to visit him. Lu was tranquil yet haughty, residing on a boat; Bianguang submitted his calling card many times, but Lu would not grant him an audience. One day Bianguang devised a stratagem to gain entrance, spoke with him several times, and earnestly begged for his method of cursive calligraphy, whereupon Lu transmitted to him the secret of 'stirrup-flicking with five fingers.' Bianguang's calligraphic style instantly revealed strength and vigor, turning the wrist and revolving the brush beyond ordinary comprehension. He then traveled west to the capital; Emperor Zhaozong summoned him to an audience to write before the imperial couch and bestowed upon him a purple rectangular robe. Later he visited Han Jian, the military governor of Hua, who recommended him for the title Guangli. Returning to his home region from Mount Hua, he visited King Wusu of the Qian clan, who received him with guest etiquette. But as his nature was recalcitrant, he did not suit the king's pleasure, so he returned to Yongdong to spend his remaining days. He left a literary collection, prized by those who understood his tone. His disciples who learned his brush technique, Conggui and the saṅgha director of Wenzhou, Zhicong, both obtained his secrets of ink. Court notables presented him with songs and poems; there were fifty authors, including Hanlin Academician Wu Rong and Luo Yin of Jiangdong, just enough to form one collection. At that time, Yang Quan, the prefect of Siming, had always esteemed Bianguang's lofty retirement; he personally acted as the host of the funeral, organizing and ordering his burial. Three years later, following the Western Regions' custom of cremation, they opened the coffin; his appearance was as dignified as in life, with his beard, hair, and nails all having grown. They cremated him, collected the śarīra, and erected a small stupa; this was during the Changxing era of the Later Tang.
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Later Jin: Biography of Zixin of Xuanzhou
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Śramaṇa Zixin, whose secular surname was Sun, was a native of Linzi. Cleansing himself with the precepts, he sought masters without ever slackening or remiss. Hearing that Chan Master Ying was converting people in Zhongling, he went to consult him. Departing definitively from Mount Yunju, he turned his staff and once lived in seclusion in the mountains of Guangde. When King Wenmu of the Qian clan of Liangzhe led his officers and soldiers in person to campaign against Yuanling and entered the mountain temple, all the monks fled, and only Zixin remained calm and collected. The king asked, 'Why do you not take flight?' He replied, 'Both east and west are full of bandits; where would you have this old monk flee?' The king was astonished by his blunt straightforwardness, turned back his weapons, and sent him back. Meeting King Wusu, the king questioned him, and his words yielded to nothing. Moreover, due to his lofty conduct, Yingrui Cloister was built for him to reside in, and he was provisionally titled Grand Master Guangxian. Earlier, Zixin had once entered the mountains of Xuancheng to gather medicinal herbs; penetrating deep through a cavern, it was dark at first, but soon daylight became clear. Walking for barely several leagues, there was another opening at the side of the cavern, with a stream flowing copiously. Beside a great pine tree, beneath its branches, was a grass hut where a white-browed monk sat in dhyāna wrapped in a patched robe. Beside him was a chiming bell and fire-striking implements. Zixin struck the bell, and the monk opened his eyes in surprise, saying, 'Aha! What brings the Master here?' Zixin related his background and journey, whereupon the monk greeted him, had him sit, took a stone to strike fire, and boiled tea, whose fragrance was delightful. As the sun was setting, the monk yielded the hut for Zixin to lodge overnight; Zixin looked up and saw the monk climb into a large nest atop the pine tree, from which he heard the recitation of the Lotus Sūtra, the sound exceedingly clear and bright. In a short while, he scolded loudly, saying, 'You beasts and furred creatures, why do you needlessly terrify people? Return quickly to the woods and thickets; you must not burst out at will!' With a shout he drove them away; Zixin peeked out and saw tigers and leopards drooping their ears and departing. The next day, Zixin said to the monk, 'I wish to remain here to attend to your towel and shoes.' The monk replied, 'Since residing here, I have seen the grass wither a hundred times; cut off on all four sides from human habitation, this is no dwelling place for you, Master.' He also asked, 'Are you not hungry?' He led him to the stream bank where there were over a hundred ears of rice; he harvested the grain and rubbed three handfuls of yellow millet with his hands. Gathering wild vegetables, he boiled them together and offered them to Zixin. Afterward he sent him on his way, escorting him to the mouth of the cavern, saying, 'Our meeting was not accidental. Having eaten the tea and vegetable gruel, you, Master, shall never lack food for your entire life.' Zixin then followed the path back to his cloister, and more than a month later he invited a like-minded companion to seek it again, but they lost all traces of the cavern. Later, in Zhejiang, he served as the abbot of Baota Temple, and passed away at his resident temple during the Tianfu era, over eighty years old. Today his portrait is in front of Lengshuiwan, where a small cloister still survives.
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Later Han: Biography of Xingxiu of the Ear-Mark Cloister in Hangzhou
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Śramaṇa Xingxiu, whose secular surname was Chen, was a native of Quanzhou. In his youth he went to Beiyan Cloister to leave home, carefully receiving his lessons and reciting with utmost diligence. At thirteen he shaved his hair and went to the ordination platform of Changle Commandery to receive the highest grade of vinaya rules. When he was just eighteen, he visited Chan Master Cun of Mount Xuefeng; joining the assembly to ask questions, he did not yet understand the ultimate import. Taking leave of Master Cun, he said he was going to Zhe. Cun said, 'I shall adjust your appearance for you, so that the people of that land, seeing your bodily marks, will generate the resolve [for awakening].' Thereupon he pointed to his ears, saying, 'Fortunately the helix is long, but the dangling lobes are still short; I will stretch them for you.' Pulling both hands evenly, they immediately reached the shoulders; after doing this thrice, they dangled long ever after, so that onlookers raised their eyes in wonder. In the dinghai year, the second year of Tiancheng of the Later Tang (927 CE), he entered Zhe; the whole city gazed at him in admiration, and patronal alms poured in profusely. Thereupon a room was constructed for him on the high peak of Xiguan for his quiet rest, which later grew into a great monastery. Xingxiu made no other expounding or teaching, but sat silently. When people questioned him, he merely smiled and stopped. Men and women tied his ears together under his chin; the people of Hangzhou called him the Long-Eared Monk. In the eleventh month of the gengxu year, the third year of Qianyou (950 CE), he manifested illness, though his daily activities were as usual; in the middle of the night of the third month he passed away sitting upright. His patrons and disciples lacquered his body with cloth, which still survives today. Later he appeared in a dream to Chen Rong, the prefect of Muzhou, saying, 'My seat below is not yet finished.' Upon inspection, the cloth and lacquer had not originally been applied underneath, so they added further work to it.
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Song: Biography of Zongyuan of Mount Bogao in Yiyang
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Śramaṇa Zongyuan, whose secular surname was Gong, was a native of Gaomi. In his youth he was well versed in the classics and commentaries, with discernment and wisdom like a spirit; suddenly he resolved to leave home at the North Chan Cloister in Donglai. Later he traveled to study with patriarchs and excellent friends across the Yangtze and in the sacred peaks, nourishing his spirit and enriching himself, advancing his attainments before returning home. He was passionately fond of composing poetry, and in the Jingchu region he once studied the style of Qiji, saying of himself that his emotions lodged beyond the physical shapes of things. Surveying the mountains and rivers of the realm, he remarked, 'On a hill of a few paces and fathoms, a great beast cannot conceal its body.' He grew fond of Mount Bogao in Yiyang and dwelt there to pursue his aspirations. In his solitary purity and unbending integrity, ordinary folks could not casually gain an audience with him. Daily he recited an individual chapter of Avalokiteśvara, for a skilled physiognomist had once told Zongyuan that his lifespan would be brief, urging him to accept and uphold the 'Universal Gate Chapter.' In the tenth month of the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo (980 CE), he predicted the time of his death and ordered a carpenter to make a seat in the shape of a deer's crown. Repeatedly pressing the carpenter, saying he would need it at tomorrow's mealtime, when the time arrived he indeed died sitting upright. Local people from near and far all came to burn incense and bow in homage; that year they moved his small stupa to the mountain plateau of Baoyun Temple, at the age of eighty-three. He left the Luoxi ji (Collection of West of Luoyang). He composed fifty funerary elegies, one of which read: 'In this entire world there are surely no hundred-year-old men, / After a hundred years one ends up dust within the tomb. / I am now eighty-three, / And compose my own lament to send this body off.' He was buried in a single suite of paper garments. Later, when the grave was opened, his spiritual countenance was just as in life; his disciples Danran and Fengming reinterred him within a rock cave.
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The appraisal states:
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The Great Ultimate generates the Two Modes; the Two Modes generate the myriad things, which emerge in vital intermingling and sprout through stirring and agitation. Through the multitude of kinds they appear in teeming abundance, each receiving nature with distinct clarity. 'Nature' is the Way. The Way is simply the original mind; the mind pervades everything, and pervading the principles of things is what is called the Way. The Way is not uniform: it flourishes, multiplies, and flows into form, as if fathoming the heavenly pivot. Things, too, are singular: Qian is one, and Kun is one; but when through movement changes are effected and one seeks divination through these changes, do not the arising phenomena cease to be uniform? As for beasts and birds mingling their breath, and grasses and trees conjoining their essences, some resemble the female and are estranged from the male; some share the same root yet differ in their fruits. The flying alligator resembles a bird; the orange transplanted becomes a bitter trifoliate orange. Crossing with an ape yields a savage; the Feathered Jia gave birth to the phoenix. Such kinds as these are brought about by the intermixing of things. Great indeed is the time of the miscellaneous! Affairs have manifold layers; things are intricately tangled: thus the name 'Miscellaneous' is manifested, for no single label can subsume them entirely. Hence it is said: although the meaning is vast, one knows it can be encompassed by a single name. Formerly, the tenth chapter established in the Liang Biographies was entitled 'Guiding Recitation', which was based on the meaning in the scriptures that 'these bodhisattvas are all foremost in guiding recitation.' As for 'guiding recitation' (chang), must it not be answered by a response? As for 'leading' (dao), there must surely be those who are led to realization. When the Śākya [monk] of Zhongnan examined this title, [he found that] its merit lay in singing praises and proclaiming them publicly, but its defect lay in omitting versatile talents and distinct virtues. It is as if Heaven had bestowed an extraordinary endowment, conferring complete talent twice over—a tiger taking flight on a pair of wings, an eagle striking with four feet. Thereupon he established the 'Miscellaneous Section' to encompass and harbor manifold virtues: how could it be limited merely to vocal proclamation? Nothing was not included.
First 44 of 49 passages. Read on
Linked texts (1)
- 宋高僧傳 — 贊寧, Classical Chinese