大明高僧傳 5.4

5.4

釋正覺。隰州李氏子也。父諱宗道。母趙氏。誕師之夕光出于屋。人皆異之。年七歲日誦書數千言。十三通五經七史。一日乞從釋氏學無生法。依郡之淨明寺本宗和尚薙髮。受具戒於晉州慈雲寺智瓊和尚。年十八游方。因自訣曰。若不發明大事誓不歸矣於是渡河首謁枯木成公於汝州。久之無所入。時丹霞淳禪師道價方盛。乃頂笠造焉入門。霞便問。如何是空劫已前自己。師對曰。井底蝦蟆吞却月。三更不借夜明簾。霞曰。未在更道。師擬議。霞打一拂子曰又道不借。師忽大悟作禮。霞曰。何不道取一句。師曰。某甲今日失錢遭罪。霞曰。未暇打爾。在且去。值霞退居唐州大乘寺。師亦從焉。宣和二年霞遷大洪俾掌記室。三年遷首座。時金粟智雪竇宗輩皆參隨之。真歇了公住長蘆。招師首眾。未幾出主泗洲普照。高宗建炎間住舒州之太平。遷江之圓通能仁。次補長蘆。時寇酋李在抄掠境上乃入寺。眾懼奔散。師獨危坐堂中。但以善語諭之。李在稽首餽金贍眾僧。於是一方賴安寇靜。又越二年乃渡浙之錢塘至明州禮補陀大士。天童虛席。郡守馳檄請師住持。無何胡虜犯境虜至登嶺。遙望嶺上若有神衛。遂斂兵而退。次年被旨主靈隱。將行四眾號阻百鳥哀鳴。師居天童三十年。凡寺舍殿廊無不新者。紹興二十七年九月朔別郡帥檀越。七日還山飯客如常。次辰索浴更衣。端坐為書囑後事訖書偈曰。夢幻空花。六十七年。白鳥煙沒。秋水連天。擲筆而逝。詔諡曰宏智禪師。塔曰妙光。

Śramaṇa Zhengjue was a son of the Li family of Xizhou. His father's taboo name was Zongdao, and his mother was of the Zhao family. On the night the master was born, light issued from the house, and everyone thought it extraordinary. At age seven he memorized several thousand characters of books daily. At thirteen he mastered the Five Classics and the Seven Histories. One day he begged to follow the Buddhist path to learn the Dharma of non-arising. He relied on Master Benzong of Jingming Temple in the prefecture to shave his head, and received full ordination from Master Zhiqiong of Ciyun Temple in Jinzhou. At age eighteen he traveled wandering, taking a personal vow: "If I do not clarify the great matter, I swear never to return!" Thereupon he crossed the Yellow River and first visited Venerable Kumu Cheng in Ruzhou. After a long time, he still had no entry. At that time, Chan Master Danxia Chun's reputation for the Way was flourishing, so carrying his rain-hat, he went there. As he entered the gate, Danxia immediately asked, "What is your self from before the empty kalpa?" The master replied, "The frog at the bottom of the well swallows the moon; at the third watch, it borrows not the night-shining curtain." Danxia said, "Not yet! Say more!" The master hesitated. Danxia gave him a strike with the fly-whisk and said, "And you still say 'borrows not'!" The master suddenly had great awakening and made prostrations. Danxia said, "Why don't you utter a phrase?" The master said, "Today I lost money and incurred punishment." Danxia said, "I have no time to beat you yet; go for now!" It happened that Danxia retired to Dacheng Temple in Tangzhou, and the master followed him there. In the second year of the Xuanhe era, Danxia moved to Dahong and appointed him to manage the secretariat. In the third year, he was promoted to head seat. At that time, such figures as Jinsu Zhi and Xuedou Zong all studied under him. When Venerable Zhenxie Liao resided at Changlu, he invited the master to head the assembly. Before long, he left to preside over Puzhao in Sizhou. During the Jianyan era of Emperor Gaozong, he resided at Taiping in Shuzhou, moved to Yuantong Nengren in Jiangzhou, and next filled the vacancy at Changlu. At that time, the bandit chieftain Li Zai was raiding the borders and entered the temple. The assembly fled in fear, but the master alone sat upright in the hall, admonishing him solely with wholesome words. Li Zai bowed his head and offered gold to support the monks. Thereupon the whole region enjoyed peace and the bandits were quieted. After another two years, he crossed Qiantang in Zhejiang and reached Mingzhou to pay homage to the Mahāsattva of Putuo. The seat at Tiantong became vacant, and the commandery magistrate sent an urgent dispatch inviting the master to serve as abbot. Shortly thereafter, the northern barbarians invaded the borders. When the barbarians reached Deng Ridge, they gazed at the ridge from afar and saw what appeared to be divine guards, whereupon they withdrew their troops and retreated. The next year, he received an imperial order to preside over Lingyin. When he was about to depart, the four assemblies wailed to detain him, and hundreds of birds cried mournfully. The master resided at Tiantong for thirty years, and all the temple halls, quarters, and corridors were newly renovated. On the first day of the ninth month of the twenty-seventh year of the Shaoxing era, he took leave of the commandery commander and donors. On the seventh day he returned to the mountain and entertained guests as usual. The next morning he asked for a bath, changed his robes, sat upright, and wrote down his final instructions. After finishing, he wrote a gāthā: / "Dreams, illusions, flowers in the sky, / Sixty-seven years. / A white bird vanishes into the mist, / Autumn waters merge with the sky." / Throwing down his brush, he passed away. An imperial decree posthumously bestowed the title Chan Master Hongzhi, and his stupa was named Miaoguang.