神僧傳 3.14

3.14

曇摩密多。此云法秀。罽賓人也。年至七歲神明澄正。每見法事輒自然欣躍。其親愛而異之。遂令出家。罽賓多出聖達。屢值明師。博貫群經特深禪法。所得之要皆極其微奧。為人沈邃有慧解。儀軌詳正。生而連眉。故世號眉禪師。少好遊方誓志宣化。周歷諸國遂適龜茲。未至一日王夢神告王曰。有大福德人明當入國。汝應供養。明旦即勅外司。若有異人入境必馳奏聞。俄而密多果至。王自出郊迎。乃請入宮。遂從稟戒盡四事之禮。密多安而能遷不拘利養。居數載密有去心。神又降夢曰。福德人捨王去矣。王惕然驚覺。既而君臣固留莫之能止。遂度流沙進到燉煌。於閑曠之地建立精舍。植㮈千株開園百畝。房閣池林極為嚴淨。頃之後適涼州。仍於公府舊寺更葺堂宇。學徒濟濟禪業甚盛。常以江右王畿志欲傳法。以宋元嘉元年展轉至蜀。俄而出峽停止荊州。於長沙寺造立禪閣。翹誠懇惻祈請舍利。旬有餘日遂感一衝器出聲放光滿室。門徒道俗莫不更增勇猛。人百其心。頃之沿流東下至于京師。初止中興寺。晚憩祇洹。密多道聲素著化洽連邦。至京甫爾傾都禮訊。自宋文袁皇后及皇太子公主。莫不設齋桂宮請戒椒掖。參候之使旬日相望。即於祇洹寺譯出禪經禪法要普賢觀虛空藏觀等。常以禪道教授。或千里諮受四輩。遠近皆號大禪師。會稽太守平昌孟顗。深信正法。以三寶為己任。素好禪味敬心殷重。及臨浙右請與同遊。乃於鄮（音茂）縣之山建立塔寺。東境舊俗多趨巫祝。及妙化所移比屋歸正。自西徂東無思不服。元嘉十年還都止鍾山定林下寺。密多天性凝靜雅愛山水。為鍾山鎮岳埒美嵩華。常歎下寺基構臨㵎低側。於是乘高相地揆卜山勢。以元嘉十二年斬木刊石營建上寺。士庶欽風獻奉稠疊。禪房殿宇欝爾層構。於是息心之眾萬里來集。諷誦肅邕望風成化定林達禪師即神足弟子。弘其風教聲震道俗。故能淨化久而莫渝。勝業崇而弗替。蓋密多之遺烈也。爰自西域至于南土。凡所游履靡不興造檀會敷陳教法。初密多之發罽賓也。有迦毘羅神王衛送。遂至龜茲於中路欲反。乃現形告辭密多曰。汝神力通變自在遊處。將不相隨共往南方。語畢即收影不現。遂遠從至都即於上寺圖像著壁。迄至于今猶有聲影之驗。潔誠祈福莫不享願。以元嘉十九年七月六日卒于上寺。春秋八十有七。

Dharmamitra means 'Prosperous in the Dharma'. He was a man of Kapiśa. By the age of seven, his spiritual perception was pure and upright; whenever he witnessed Buddhist services, he was naturally elated. His parents, loving him and marveling at his difference, permitted him to renounce household life. Kapiśa brought forth many holy and accomplished masters; he often encountered enlightened teachers. He was broadly versed in various scriptures and particularly profound in dhyāna practice. The essential teachings he attained were all utterly subtle and profound. He was a person of deep reserve and had great insightful understanding; his demeanor and decorum were meticulous and correct. He was born with connected eyebrows, so the world called him the 'Eyebrow Dhyāna Master'. In his youth, he was fond of traveling abroad, vowing to disseminate the teachings. Traversing various lands, he eventually arrived in Kucha. One day before he arrived, the king dreamed of a deity who informed him, saying, 'A person of great fortune and virtue will enter your state tomorrow; you ought to provide for him.' The next morning, the king immediately commanded his external officers that if any extraordinary person entered the realm, they must rush to report it. Shortly thereafter, Dharmamitra indeed arrived. The king personally went outside the suburbs to welcome him and invited him into the palace. He then received the precepts from him and offered the four requisites of support with utmost ritual respect. Dharmamitra was content yet able to move on, unattached to material benefits. After dwelling there for several years, he secretly harbored an intention to depart. The deity again sent a dream, saying, 'The person of fortune and virtue has abandoned the king and left.' The king awoke in alarm and fright. Soon after, the ruler and ministers tried firmly to detain him, but none could stop him. He then crossed the shifting sands and proceeded to Dunhuang. In a vacant and open land, he established a vihāra, planted a thousand apple-plum trees, and opened an orchard of a hundred mu; the rooms, pavilions, pools, and groves were exceedingly adorned and pure. Shortly thereafter, he went to Liangzhou, where he repaired halls and residences at an old monastery belonging to the government offices; his students gathered in great numbers, and dhyāna practice flourished greatly. Always cherishing the royal capital of Jiangyou, he resolved to transmit the Dharma there. In the first year of the Yuanjia era of the Song dynasty (424 CE), he traveled stage by stage and reached Shu. Soon after, he left the gorges and halted in Jingzhou. At Changsha Monastery, he built a dhyāna pavilion. With fervent sincerity and deep grief, he prayed for relics. After more than ten days, a vessel suddenly sprang up, making a sound and emitting light that filled the chamber. Among his disciples, monastics and laypeople alike, none failed to redouble their vigor, each person increasing their determination a hundredfold. Shortly after, he sailed down the river east to the capital. At first, he stayed at Zhongxing Monastery; later, he rested at Jetavana Monastery. Dharmamitra's reputation in the Path was long established, and his transformative influence had reached neighboring states. As soon as he arrived in the capital, the entire city poured out to pay respects and inquire after him. From Empress Yuan of Emperor Wen of Song down to the crown prince and princesses, none failed to set up vegetarian feasts in the cinnamon palaces and request the precepts in the pepper apartments; the envoys sent to attend and inquire upon him were in sight of each other daily. Right at Jetavana Monastery, he translated the Dhyāna Sūtra, The Essentials of Dhyāna Practice, The Contemplation of Samantabhadra, The Contemplation of Ākāśagarbha, and others. He constantly taught the way of dhyāna; the four assemblies from a thousand li around consulted and received instruction from him, and people near and far all called him the 'Great Dhyāna Master'. Meng Yi of Pingchang, the grand administrator of Kuaiji, had deep faith in the correct Dharma and took the Three Jewels as his own responsibility; he was long fond of the taste of dhyāna and held an earnest and reverent mind. When he took office east of the Zhe River, he invited Dharmamitra to travel with him, whereupon they established a stūpa and monastery on the mountains of Mao County. The old customs of the eastern regions mostly favored shamans and sorcerers; but when transformed by wonderful conversion, household after household returned to the correct path. From west to east, none failed to submit with their whole mind. In the tenth year of the Yuanjia era (433 CE), he returned to the capital and stayed at Lower Dinglin Monastery on Mount Zhong. Dharmamitra was by nature tranquil and quiet, with an elegant love of mountains and waters. Seeing Mount Zhong as a guardian peak equaling the beauty of Song and Hua, he often lamented that the foundations of the lower monastery faced a ravine and were low and sloping. Thereupon, ascending high to examine the ground and divining the lay of the mountain, in the twelfth year of the Yuanjia era (435 CE) he cut timber, carved stone, and built Upper Dinglin Monastery. Scholar-officials and commoners admired his style, offering continuous gifts; dhyāna chambers and palace halls stood lofty in multistoried structures. Thereupon, those who set their minds at rest gathered from ten thousand li; their chanting was solemn and harmonious, and people were converted merely upon catching wind of him. Dhyāna Master Da of Dinglin was his foremost disciple, who propagated his style and teachings so that his renown shook monastics and laypeople alike. Thus, the pure transformation endured long without declining, and the sublime enterprise was exalted without lapse; this was indeed the lasting merit of Dharmamitra. From the Western Regions down to the southern lands, wherever his feet trod, there was none where he did not initiate dhyāna assemblies and expound the teachings of the Dharma. When Dharmamitra first set out from Kapiśa, the spirit king Kapila escorted him. When he reached Kucha, the deity wished to return midway, so he manifested his form and took leave of Dharmamitra, saying, 'Your divine powers are transforming and unobstructed, and you travel wherever you please; I shall not accompany you to the south.' Having finished speaking, he withdrew his shadow and vanished. When Dharmamitra came from afar to the capital, he had an image of the spirit painted on the wall at the upper monastery. Down to the present day, there are still verifications of sounds and shadows; whoever prays for blessings with pure sincerity never fails to obtain their wish. On the sixth day of the seventh month in the nineteenth year of the Yuanjia era (442 CE), he passed away at the upper monastery at the age of eighty-seven.