大明高僧傳 7.29

7.29

Shi Fachang was a native of Kaifeng and a descendant of Prime Minister Xue Juzheng. In the seventh year of the Xuanhe era, he first untied the fetters of the dust of the world. Thinking far and aiming high, he went to rely on Master Huayan Shi in Yiyang, Changsha, who shaved his beard and hair. He received the patchwork robe. Those who saw him regarded him as a lion king. Whenever he dwelt, it was always with a treasured assembly. If it was not the Dharma, he would not speak of it; deviant paths he would not heed. Deeply admiring the Mahāyāna, he did not denigrate the lesser teachings. One day, while reading the Śūraṅgama-sūtra, the vast sky of meaning opened wide to him, and he penetrated deeply into the sea of Dharma. From then on, he roved freely through Huai and Si, wandering at will through Hu and Xiang. Later, coming to Wannian on Mount Tiantai, he called on and paid respects to Xuechao. At their first encounter, their dynamic words tallied and met. [Xuechao] ordered him to take charge of correspondence and writings. Before long, he invited him to serve as head of the assembly. When he entered the room as a monk, he had great presence and bearing. Placidly dwelling in the world, he did not embellish his many conditions. In his room there was only a single low couch, and no other superfluous possessions. On the full moon of the ninth month of the gengchen year of the Shaoxing era, he said to the assembly: "After one month, I will remain no longer." On the twenty-first day of the tenth month, he wrote a "Fisherman's Song" on his room's door, which said: / "This matter was once laid bare in the Śūraṅgama: / Where plum blossoms, snow, and moonlight mingle their light. / A single smile, vast and empty through ten thousand ages; / The wind cup speaks; / Far off, the Silver River spans the heavens. / A butterfly dreaming of Nanhua, fluttering and light; / In stripes and patterns, who straddles Fenggan's tiger? / And now I have forgotten the road by which I came. / Evening over rivers and mountains; / At the horizon, my eyes watch the wild geese fly away." / Having finished writing, he went to the couch, gathered his feet, and passed away. His stūpa was erected southwest of the temple.