神僧傳 9.8

9.8

釋從諫。姓張氏。南陽人。徙居廣陵為土著姓。身長八尺眉目魁奇。越壯室之年忽頓悟真理。遂舍妻子從披削焉。於是研精禪觀心境明白。不逾十載耆年宿德皆所推服焉。及來洛師遂止敬愛寺。既年德並成緇黃所宗。每赴供皆與賓頭盧尊者對食。其為人天欽奉若此。唐武宗嗣曆改元會昌。愛馭鳳驂鶴之儀。薄點黑降龍之教。乃下郡國毀廟塔令沙門復。初諫公乃烏帽麻衣潛于皇甫枚之溫泉別業。後岡上喬木駢欝巨石砥平。諫公夏日常於中入寂。或補毳事。忽一日頹雲駛雨。霆擊石傍。諸兄走往林中。諫公恬然跏坐若無所聞者。諸兄致問。徐曰。惡畜生而已。至大中初宣宗復興內教。諫公歸東都故居。其子自廣陵來覲。適與諫遇于院門。威貌崇嚴不復可識。乃拜而問從諫所居。諫公指曰。近東頭。其子既去遂闔門不出。其割裂愛網又如此。咸通丙戌歲夏五月。忽遍詣所嚮信家。皆謂曰。善建福業。貧道秋初當遠行。故相別耳。至秋七月朔。清旦盥手焚香念慈氏如來。遂右脇而臥。呼門人玄章等誡曰。人生難得。惡道易淪。唯有歸命釋尊勵精梵行。龍華會上當復相逢。生也有涯與爾少別。是日無疾奄化。行年八十餘矣。玄章等奉遺旨送屍于建春門外尸陀林中施諸鳥獸。三日復視之。飢貌如生無物敢近。遂覆以餅餌。經宿有狼狐跡。唯㗖餅餌而豐膚宛然。乃依天竺法闍維訖。收餘燼起白塔于道傍。春秋奉香火之薦焉普聞。

Śramaṇa Congjian, whose secular surname was Zhang, was a native of Nanyang. His family moved to Guangling and became settled residents there. He was eight spans tall, with striking and extraordinary facial features. Past the prime of life, he suddenly had an awakening to the true principle; he thereupon renounced his wife and children to follow the tonsure and shaving of his head. Thereupon he investigated the essentials of chan contemplation, and his mental sphere became clear and distinct. In not more than ten years, seniors and venerable elders all deferentially submitted to him. When he came to the eastern capital, Luoyang, he took up residence at Jing'ai Monastery. As both his years and virtue matured, he became an authority revered by both Buddhist monastics and Daoists. Whenever he went to receive meal offerings, he would always eat facing the Venerable Piṇḍola. Such was the reverence and respect shown to him by humans and devas. When Emperor Wuzong of the Tang succeeded to the throne and changed the reign title to Huichang, he was fond of the ceremonies of riding the phoenix and driving the crane, and he looked down upon the teaching of black robes and subduing dragons. He thereupon issued an edict to the commanderies and principalities to demolish monasteries and pagodas, ordering the śramaṇas to return to lay life. At first, Master Congjian wore a black cap and hempen clothes, concealing himself at Huangfu Mei's Hot Springs villa. On the ridge behind, tall trees stood crowded and lush, and a massive boulder was as flat as a whetstone. During summer days, Master Congjian would often enter quiescence there, or mend patchwork robes. Suddenly one day, lowering clouds and driving rain arrived, and lightning struck beside the rock. The various brethren ran into the woods, but Master Congjian sat cross-legged with equanimity, as if he had heard nothing. When the brethren questioned him, he slowly said, 'It is only a wicked brute.' In the beginning of the Dazhong era, Emperor Xuanzong revived the Inner Teaching. Master Congjian returned to his old dwelling in the Eastern Capital. His son came from Guangling to visit him, and happened to meet Congjian at the courtyard gate. His dignified appearance was so awe-inspiring and solemn that he was no longer recognizable. [The son] bowed and asked where Congjian lived. Master Congjian pointed and said, 'Near the east end.' After his son left, he closed his door and did not come out. Such was his severance of the nets of affection. In the fifth month of the summer of the bingxu year of the Xiantong era, he suddenly made visits everywhere to the homes of the faithful he had frequented, and said to them all, 'Establish wholesome fields of merit. At the beginning of autumn, this poor monk must take a distant journey; hence I come to bid farewell.' On the first day of the seventh autumn month, at dawn, he washed his hands, burned incense, and recollected the Tathāgata Maitreya. Then he lay down on his right side, summoned disciples such as Xuanzhang, and admonished them, saying, 'A human life is difficult to obtain; the evil realms are easy to fall into. One can only take refuge in the Śākya Honoured One and vigorously refine one's pure conduct. We shall meet again at the Dragon Flower Assembly. Life has its end, and I part with you for a short while.' On that day, without illness, he suddenly passed away. His age was more than eighty. Xuanzhang and the others respectfully carried out his bequeathed instructions and took the corpse outside the Jianchun Gate into the Śītavana charnel ground to give it as an offering to the birds and beasts. Three days later, they looked at it again: his face, though starved, was as if alive, and no creature dared approach. They then covered it with cakes and pastries. Overnight, there were tracks of wolves and foxes; they had only eaten the cakes and pastries, while his plump flesh remained completely intact. They then cremated him in accordance with the Indian ritual. After gathering the remaining ashes, they raised a white pagoda by the roadside, and in spring and autumn offered incense and lamps in memorial to him.