大明高僧傳 1.29

1.29

釋允若字季蘅號浮休因雲門之傍有若耶溪後又號若耶。郡之相里人。年九歲能通春秋大義。父母鍾愛之。稍長翛然有絕塵之趣。遂依雲門元和尚。十五祝髮為大僧。隨渡濤江。首謁大山恢法師於杭之興福。山授以天台四教儀金錍十不二門指要鈔諸書。一覽而知大旨。聞湛堂主南竺往依焉。凡法智所結立陰觀別理隨緣六即蛣蜣理毒性具等文靡不精究。至於思清之兼業昭圓之異說齊潤之黨邪仁岳之背正。亦皆察其非是。於是湛堂甚器重之俾司賓客。元至治初湛堂奉詔入燕都校大藏。因奏若之行業錫以慈光圓照之號。即命出住昌源淨聖院。其院頗頹弊。乃力為經度。田蕪者闢之。室圮者葺之。三年遂成巨剎。湛堂復招之。徠歸命居第一座攝眾規範。泰定中復出主杭之興化。時與天岸濟我庵無玉庭罕三公。道望並峙湖上。世稱為錢塘四依。未幾退居越之雲門。又與斷江恩休耕逸。臨風吟咏不知夕陽在樹。世又稱為雲門三高。至正住越之圓通遷上竺。其山舊有纓絡泉涸久。若至持錫叩巖禱曰。苟吾緣在是泉當為我一來。不然則涸如故。言訖泉涌出淵冷漸盈。時戶部尚書貢師泰稱比慈雲之重榮檜。命之曰再來泉。復退隱雲門。築精舍專修法華三昧為暮年淨業。會天下大亂干戈紛擾。眾欲擁若避去。若斥曰。難可苟免乎。吾對將至。待以酬之。眾遁若獨危坐。賊眾入其舍。若毅然不為屈。辭色俱厲。賊首知為有道者約退。一賊獨怒直前揮刃中之。白乳溢出於地。實元至正十九年二月二十九日也。世壽八十僧臘六十有五。賊退眾歸荼毘。舍利如菽無算。若平生風度簡遠不妄言笑。趙孟頫稱為僧中御史。得法弟子集慶友奎演福良謹延慶如瑩隆德法讓淨聖圓證等若干人。所著內外集黃溍為敘。

Shi Yunruo, whose courtesy name was Jiheng and whose sobriquet was Fuxiu, was later also styled Ruoye because Mount Yunmen borders the Ruoye Stream. He was a native of Xiangli in the commandery. At nine years old, he could comprehend the grand principles of the Spring and Autumn Annals; his parents deeply doted on him. When he grew slightly older, he had a transcendent aspiration to abandon the dust of the world; he then relied on Upādhyāya Yuan of Yunmen. At fifteen he shaved his hair and became a fully ordained monk. He then crossed the roaring river, first calling upon Dharma Master Dashan Hui at Xingfu in Hangzhou. Shan taught him texts such as the Tiantai Fourfold Teachings Outline, the Diamond Cleaver, the Ten Non-Dual Gateways, and the Explication of Essentials; upon one perusal he knew their grand essentials. Hearing that Zhantang presided over Nantianzhu, he went to rely on him. All the texts established by Fazhi—such as contemplating the aggregates, the distinct principle following conditions, the six identities, dung beetles, the principle poison, and the inherent possession of nature—he thoroughly investigated without exception. As for the concurrent practices of Siqing, the aberrant views of Zhaoyuan, the partisan heresy of Qirun, and the departure from correctness of Renyue, he also discerned their falsities. Thereupon Zhantang deeply esteemed him and put him in charge of guests. In the early Zhizhi era of the Yuan (1321), Zhantang received an imperial decree to enter the capital Yandu to collate the Great Canon; he memorialized Ruo's conduct and practice, and Ruo was granted the title of Ciguang Yuanzhao (Compassionate Light of Perfect Illumination), and was immediately ordered to emerge and preside over the Jingsheng Hermitage in Changyuan. The hermitage was rather dilapidated; he made great efforts to manage it, cultivating overgrown fields and repairing ruined rooms; in three years it became a great monastery. Zhantang summoned him again, and when he returned, ordered him to occupy the head seat to govern the monastic standards. During the Taiding era (1324–1328), he again emerged to preside over Xinghua in Hangzhou. At that time, alongside the three masters Tian'an Ji, Wo'an Wu, and Yuting Han, his doctrinal prestige stood tall on the West Lake; the world called them the Four Reliances of Qiantang. Soon after, he retired to Yunmen in Yue, and along with Duanjiang En and Xiugeng Yi, chanted poetry in the wind unaware that the evening sun had reached the trees; the world also called them the Three Lofty Ones of Yunmen. In the Zhizheng era (1341–1368), he resided at Yuantong in Yue and moved to Shangtianzhu. On that mountain, there was an ancient Yingluo Spring that had long been dried up; when Ruo arrived, he held his tin staff, struck the crag, and prayed, saying: "If my conditions lie here, this spring ought to return once for me; otherwise, let it remain dry as before." As soon as he finished speaking, the spring gushed forth, deep, cold, and gradually filling. At that time, Gong Shitai, Minister of Revenue, compared it to Ciyun's revitalization of the juniper, and named it the Re-arriving Spring. He retired once more to Yunmen and built a hermitage, solely cultivating the Lotus Samādhi as his pure karma in his late years. It coincided with great chaos under heaven and the turmoil of war; the assembly wished to escort Ruo away to flee, but Ruo rebuked them, saying: "Can calamity be avoided by improper means? My retribution is about to arrive, and I await it to pay it back." The assembly fled, while Ruo sat upright alone. When the bandit band entered his hermitage, Ruo stood resolute and unyielding, his words and expression both stern. The bandit leader recognized him as a man of the Way and restrained his followers to withdraw. One bandit alone was enraged, stepped forward brandishing a blade, and struck him. White milk welled up and flowed onto the ground; it was truly the twenty-ninth day of the second month in the nineteenth year of the Zhizheng era of the Yuan (1359). His worldly age was eighty, and his Dharma age was sixty-five. After the bandits withdrew, the assembly returned and held his jhāpita; śarīra like beans were beyond counting. Throughout his life, Ruo's demeanor was restrained and detached, without frivolous speech or laughter; Zhao Mengfu called him "the Censor among monks." His Dharma-inheriting disciples included several persons: Youkui of Jiqing, Liangjin of Yanfu, Ruying of Yanqing, Farang of Longde, and Yuanzheng of Jingsheng. Huang Jin wrote the preface for his Collected Internal and External Works.