宋高僧傳 6.4

6.4

Shi Weique, whose secular surname was Lian, was a descendant of the Qi grandee Cheng. Originally from Pingyi, his ancestors held office and settled in Shangdang, making him a person of Lu. At nine years of age he renounced familial affection, and upon reaching adulthood he received the precepts. His mother and brothers had taken refuge in the Dharma, so Que received instruction from them; ripples of clarity settled within him, and lush brilliance flourished outwardly. Fond of study and diligent in service, he showed no weariness. He then took leave of his maternal relatives, seeking teachers and studying their subjects: at times taking the head seat in scriptural lectures, at times leading debates on treatises, at times questioning masters of the Chan tradition, or affiliating himself with vinaya masters. His aspiration was deep and vast, desiring to absorb them all. As he approached the age of forty, he still resided in the Divine Capital (Luoyang). On one occasion, he received an invitation to the residence of the former minister Master Fang Rong. Before the meal, a scriptural case was brought out from the household, and they said: 'When the Chancellor was in the Southern Seas supervising the southern civil service examinations, he participated in translating scriptures and personally took down by brush the Śūraṅgama-sūtra in one roll [set], keeping it at home for veneration. Today there happen to be ten monks at this gathering; each may open and explicate one roll.' Que sat in the fourth seat; unrolling the scripture, he saw Pūrṇa questioning the meaning of origination. Finding its text graceful and its principle profound, he made a vow to compose a commentary to clarify the scriptural meaning. Upon returning to his cloister, he took an oath to paint an image of Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva and separately chanted his name for ten years. His determination was firm and resolute, and he had an unseen resonance: suddenly he dreamed that Mañjuśrī, mounted on a lion, entered through Que's mouth. From this point on, when he set brush to paper, it was as though the Great Awakened One were expounding the Prajñā to Subhūti. This began in the first year of the Dali era (bingwu). As he was about to conclude the manuscript, he saw in his sleep the deity emerge from his mouth; in the Huayan school, this corresponds to Mañjuśrī's wisdom. He condensed it into three rolls, considering it to have sprung from his modest wisdom. It circulates widely today. Another account says: The Śūraṅgama-sūtra was originally acquired by Chan Master Shenxiu of Dumen Temple in Jingzhou while he was at court; later, through the Śramaṇa Huizhen of Guantao, it was transmitted out of Dumen Temple, and Que encountered it and wrote an explanatory commentary. Later, Dharma Master Hongyan, a man of Shu, composed doctrinal treatises to explicate this scripture, entitled the Zizhong Commentary. In it he also cited the exegetical conventions of Master Zhen, as if presenting both ancient and modern views. This circulates in Min and Shu, and has recently spread to the region south of the Yangzi as well.