神僧傳 9.53

9.53

釋圓照。諱宗本。出於管氏。常州無錫人也。性質直少緣飾貌豐碩言無枝葉。年十九師事蘇州承天永安道昇禪師。其住瑞光。民有屠牛者。牛逸赴本跪若自訴。遂買而畜之。其住淨慈。歲大旱湖井皆竭。寺之西隅有甘泉自湧。得金鰻魚因浚為井投魚其間。寺眾千餘人汲以不竭。民張氏有女子死。夢其母曰。我以罪為蛇。既覺得蛇於棺下。持以詣本。乃為說法。復置故處。俄有黑蟬翔棺上。而蛇失所在。母祝曰。若我女當入籠中。當持汝再詣淨慈。如其祝。本復為說法。是夕夢女曰。二報已解脫矣。其顯化異數如此。元符二年十二月甲子將入滅。沐浴而臥。門弟子環擁請曰。和尚道遍天下。今日不可無偈。幸強起安坐。索筆大書五字曰。後事付守榮。擲筆憨臥若熟睡然。撼之已去矣。門弟子塔師全身於靈嵒寺。閱世八十。坐五十二夏。

Śramaṇa Yuanzhao, taboo name Zongben, came from the Guan clan and was a native of Wuxi in Changzhou. By nature he was straightforward and possessed little embellishment; his appearance was robust, and his speech was free of superficialities. At the age of nineteen, he served Chan Master Daosheng of Chengtian Yong'an in Suzhou. When he resided at Ruiguang, there was a man who slaughtered cattle; an ox broke loose, ran to Ben, and knelt down as if pleading. He thereupon bought and kept it. When he resided at Jingci, there was a severe drought and the lakes and wells all dried up. In the western corner of the monastery, a sweet spring welled up on its own, and a golden eel was found. They thereupon dredged it to make a well and put the fish into it; the monastery's assembly of over a thousand drew water from it without it ever being exhausted. A daughter of a commoner named Zhang died, and she appeared in a dream to her mother, saying, "Because of my sins, I have become a snake." After waking, she found a snake beneath the coffin, took it, and went to Ben, who thereupon preached the Dharma for it. She put it back in its former place. Soon, a black cicada soared above the coffin, and the snake vanished. The mother prayed, "If you are my daughter, you should enter the cage, and I will take you again to Jingci." As she prayed, it happened. Ben again preached the Dharma for it. That night the daughter appeared in a dream, saying, "The two karmic retributions have already been liberated." His manifest transformations and extraordinary events were like this. In the twelfth month, on the jiazi day, in the second year of the Yuanfu reign era, when he was about to enter extinction, he bathed and lay down. His disciples gathered around, entreating him, "Master, your Way covers the entire world; today there must be a gāthā. We hope you will force yourself to rise and sit peacefully." He asked for a brush and wrote five characters in large script: "The affairs afterward are entrusted to Shourong." He threw down the brush and lay sleeping soundly as if in deep slumber. When they shook him, he was already gone. His disciples enshrined the master's whole body in a stūpa at Lingyan Monastery. He lived for eighty years and saw fifty-two rains retreats.