宋高僧傳 9.6

9.6

Shi Puji's secular surname was Feng, and he was a native of Hedong in Puzhou. Barely out of his youth, he had a lofty and spirited nature; leaving the secular world to ascend the ordination platform, he complied strictly with the sūtras and vinaya. When examining texts and weighing their meanings, he was far beyond ordinary monks. Hearing at first that Shenxiu was at Yuquan Temple in Jingzhou, Puji went there to serve him as a teacher, for a total of six years. Shenxiu marvelled at him and transmitted his teachings to him in their entirety. During the Jiushi era, Empress Zetian summoned Shenxiu to the Eastern Capital to discuss the Dao, and taking the opportunity, he recommended Puji, who was then ordained as a monk. When Shenxiu passed away, all throughout the empire who loved the Buddhist teachings took Puji as their master. Emperor Zhongzong, hearing of Shenxiu's advanced age, specially issued a decree ordering Puji to take the place of his master in leading the assembly of his Dharma. In the twenty-third year of Kaiyuan, an imperial decree commanded Puji to reside in the capital. At that time, princes, dukes, and high officials vied to pay him courtly homage; Puji was grave, solemn, and sparing of words, so that visitors seldom saw a genial countenance on him, and people near and far revered him all the more for this. In the twenty-seventh year, he passed away at Xingtang Temple in the Upper Capital at the age of eighty-nine. At that time, scholars and commoners of the capital who had visited him all donned the mourning garb of disciples. An imperial decree bestowed the posthumous title 'Chan Master Dazhao' (Great Illumination). At his burial, Pei Kuan, the Governor of Henan, along with his wife and children, wore hemp mourning garments and stood among the ranks of his disciples. The entire city turned out weeping to see him off, leaving the neighbourhoods deserted. Governor Pei's reverence for Puji had good reason: in Puji's propagation of the teachings there were many miraculous phenomena which Pei had witnessed with his own eyes; having also received the mind-seal, his devotion was exceedingly deep, though he was often ridiculed by contemporaries. Pei paid visits day and night, observing the etiquette of a disciple without the slightest deviation. One day when he went to Puji, Puji already knew from afar of the passing of his disciple Yixing. When Puji passed away, Pei's grief was like losing a parent; wearing mourning garments, he walked on foot out of the city, and his wife and children did the same, from which the mockery of the scholar-officials arose.