神僧傳 7

English (machine translation) 7

Language: English

Shi Hui'an, whose lay surname was Wei, was a native of Zhijiang in Jingzhou. His appearance was dignified and elegant, with dark reddish-purple hair and clear blue eyes. In his study and cultivation of the Dharma methods, there was nothing he did not thoroughly master. During the Daye era, when the Tongji Canal was opened and corvée laborers were assembled, the starving and dead looked upon one another. An went on begging rounds with multiple alms bowls of food to rescue the sick and exhausted, and those he preserved and relieved were numerous. In the first year of the Linde era, he traveled to Mount Zhongnan and settled at Shibi. At that time, between the plateaus and valleys where he lived, early frost damaged the young crops, but An's dwelling place alone was spared. In the fourth month of the second year of the Shengli era, he told his disciples and the assembly of students, 'Each of you return and close your doors.' At the third watch, a divine person arrived, with an imposing retinue and bells ringing harmoniously, accompanied by wind and rain. The spirit circumambulated his courtyard several times. An spoke with him, offering earnest admonitions, and [the spirit] bowed twice and departed. When someone asked the reason, he said, 'I conferred the bodhisattva precepts upon the spirit of Mount Song.' The Empress Dowager once asked An his birth year. He replied, 'I do not remember.' She asked, 'Why do you not remember?' He said, 'The body of birth and death—is it not like a ring? A ring has no beginning or end; why bother to record it? Furthermore, this mind flows on continuously without intermission; seeing bubbles arise and vanish is also mere delusion. From the initial consciousness until the cessation of active marks, it is just like this. What year or month could be remembered?' The Empress Dowager bowed her head to the ground before him. Hearing that An lacked a well, an imperial decree ordered one to be dug for him. An said, 'Below this is an auspicious red creature; be careful not to harm it.' When they were about to reach the spring, they saw a golden-colored toad crawling out from the marshy earth, matching his advance prediction. The sovereign revered him all the more. On the third day of the third month in the third year of the Jinglong era, he instructed his disciples, saying, 'After I die, carry my corpse to the forest and wait for a wildfire to cremate it naturally; do not violate my wish.' Soon after, the Upādhyāya Wanhui arrived. Seeing An, he wildly took his hands and conversed with him for a long while. The attendants listening closely beside them could not understand at all. On the eighth day, he closed his door, lay down, and passed into stillness, at the age of one hundred and thirty.

7.3

Saṅgha

7.4

Master Sengqie was a native of the Western Regions whose secular surname was He. In the early Longshuo reign-period of the Tang, he arrived to travel in this land and registered his name at Longxing Monastery in Chu Prefecture. From this time onward, his divine anomalies began to show. At first, leading his disciple Huiyan, he came to Xinyi Ward in Linhuai County of Sizhou, where he begged for land and planted boundary markers, intending to build a monastery (saṅghārāma). Digging beneath his marker, they unearthed an ancient inscription of Xiangji Monastery together with a golden statue, upon which were the characters 'Buddha King of Universal Radiance'. The local inhabitants marveled and sighed, saying, 'He foresaw this with his divine eye; how could we not give alms?' Thereupon they vied with one another to make donations. He once lay down at the household of the Heba family, and his body suddenly lengthened so that it exceeded his couch by some three feet at each end; everyone was astonished and bewildered. Next, he manifested the form of Eleven-Faced Avalokiteśvara, whereupon the entire family rejoiced and trusted him with redoubled reverence; they then relinquished their residence and established a monastery there. From this, the traces of his marvelous anomalies and manifested transformations were manifold. At first, when Sengqie's teaching spread through the regions south of the Yangtze River, he stayed at Lingguang Monastery in Jiahe. That was a land of marshes; the fishing weirs and shooting arrows of the populace crossed every which way. Sengqie earnestly and repeatedly admonished them, pointing out that various killing karmas would plunge people into doom and that they should quickly seek other livelihoods, as a result of which many ripped their nets and broke their fishing rods. Sengqie was once resting at leisure when he saw a spirit who told him, 'The sky is currently parched with drought and the crops of the common folk are dying; why do you conceal your lazy dragon within yourself?' Sengqie asked, 'What can be done about it?' The spirit said, 'If tonight you merely extend your little finger through the gap of the window, what harm would there be?' Sengqie followed his advice. That night, thunder struck extraordinarily; when it was inspected at dawn, there was faintly the trace of a red thread. Sengqie said, 'I have no karmic connection with this soil,' and walked on until he reached Jinling, where he saw that Guoxiang Monastery was dilapidated and abandoned. Thereupon he left his robe on a temple crossbeam and departed. Later people smelled an extraordinary, fragrant aroma. Sengqie once made a prediction regarding it, saying, 'This monastery will have a king among men to revive it; thirty years after I depart, there will indeed be a monk whose secular surname is Quan to serve as the donor (dānapati).' During the Tongtian and Wansui reign-periods, amidst a multitude at Shanyang, he remotely knew that someone despised and disparaged him, so he proclaimed aloud, 'I have five hundred thousand coins to help with your merits; do not give rise to improper disputations.' On the bank of the Huai River, Sengqie hailed a boat and said, 'If you have wealth to give me as alms, you may mitigate your punishment and imprisonment. What you are carrying was merely obtained by plunder.' The bandit gave up everything in accordance with his words, and by this means the Buddha hall was immediately completed. Before long, the bandit was defeated and detained in the prison of Yangzi County. Sengqie descended riding a cloud and comforted him, saying that he would suffer no grief, and indeed within a few days an imperial amnesty arrived and he was spared from death. Long ago, while in Chang'an, Prince Consort Imperial Commandant Wu Youji fell ill; Sengqie sprayed him with water from a water vase, and he was cured. His reputation shook the heavenly capital. Later, when those with illnesses reported to him, he would sometimes brush them with a willow branch, sometimes order them to wash a stone lion and they would be cured, sometimes throw a water bottle, or sometimes order them to repent their transgressions; the proofs were not staged in vain, and the blessings were not unrewarded. To ward off disaster from their persons, he would demand a horse; to warn of an affliction of wind, he would ask for a fan. Sometimes he identified the stolen money of a thief, sometimes he gnawed the neck of a black rope, sometimes he sought the well of an arhat, sometimes he awakened the drowning of the Pei family, sometimes he foresaw heavy snowfall, and sometimes he flew rain to relieve drought. His divine transformations were boundless, beyond the measure of ordinary standards. In the second year of the Jinglong reign-period, Emperor Zhongzong dispatched an emissary to welcome the master into the inner court chapel, honoring him as State Preceptor. Soon he went out to reside at Jianfu Monastery. He once stayed alone in a room, and on the crown of his head was a hole which he constantly plugged with cotton wool. At night he would remove the cotton wool, and incense would emerge from the hole in the crown, the smoke filling the room with an extraordinary fragrance. When dawn came, the incense returned into the crown, and he plugged it again with cotton wool. The master once washed his feet, and people took the water to drink; their chronic illnesses were all cured. One day, Emperor Zhongzong spoke to the master in the inner palace, saying, 'The capital has had no rain for several months; we wish the master would exercise compassion to relieve our urgent anxiety.' The master sprinkled water from his bottle; in a short moment, dark clouds suddenly gathered and a sweet rain fell profusely. Emperor Zhongzong was overjoyed, and issued an edict bestowing the plaque for the monastery he was constructing with the name Linhuai Monastery. The master requested that it be named the Monastery of the King of Universal Radiance (Puzhaowang), wishing to follow the characters on the golden statue. Emperor Zhongzong, considering that the character *zhao* was the taboo name of Empress Wu's ancestral temple, changed it to Puguangwang Monastery, and personally inscribed the plaque in imperial calligraphy to bestow upon it. In the fourth year, on the second day of the third month, he passed away sitting upright at Jianfu Monastery in Chang'an. Emperor Zhongzong immediately ordered that a stupa be built at Jianfu Monastery to lacquer his body and make offerings to it. Suddenly, a violent wind arose and a foul stench filled everywhere. Emperor Zhongzong asked, 'What omen is this?' An intimate minister memorialized, 'Master Sengqie's karmic field of conversion lies in Linhuai; we fear he wishes to return there, which is why he manifests this anomaly.' Emperor Zhongzong silently consented in his heart, and the stench instantly ceased; in a moment, an extraordinary fragrance was intensely pungent. Thereupon, in the fifth month of that year, he was sent to Linhuai to build a stupa and make offerings to him, which is the present stupa. Later, Emperor Zhongzong asked Master Wanhui, 'What kind of person was Master Sengqie?' Wanhui said, 'He was a manifestation of Avalokiteśvara. The "Universal Gate Chapter" of the Lotus Sūtra says, "To those who should be saved by a monk or a nun, he manifests in that body and preaches the Dharma for them." This is precisely who he is.' When the master first arrived in Chang'an, Wanhui paid him homage with great reverence; the master patted his head and said, 'Young man, why have you stayed so long? It is time to go.' Within a few months after the master's passing, Wanhui also passed away.

7.5

Hui'an

7.6

Śramaṇa Hui'an: it is not known where he was from. His words often hit the mark, and he was fond of performing apotropaic arts. At that time, Tang Xiujing had already achieved frontier military exploits, and his nobility and prominence were matchless. One day, a monk came and said to Xiujing, 'The Prime Minister will soon face a great disaster, within no more than several months; nevertheless, it can be averted.' Xiujing was terrified and immediately bowed to him. The monk said, 'I have no other art, but merely offer one plan; I hope you will heed it.' Xiujing said, 'I am fortunate to receive my master's instruction.' The monk said, 'Now, are not the regional governors under Heaven appointed by the Prime Minister?' He replied, 'Indeed.' The monk said, 'The Prime Minister should search among the low-ranking and superfluous officials for a solitary, humble, and poor person of talent and competence, and promote him to be the Regional Inspector of Cao Prefecture. He will deeply appreciate the Prime Minister's kindness and can be dispatched on a trail. Once you find him, I hope you will inform me.' Xiujing was both delighted and grateful, and thereupon made inquiries among his relatives and friends, finding a certain Lord Zhang, whose family was extremely poor and who held a lowly post in the capital. On that very day, he was appointed Grand Master of Upright Goodness, and within ten days he was appointed Regional Inspector of Cao Prefecture. Afterwards, Xiujing summoned the monk and told him, 'Following your plan, I have obtained Zhang. How then may he be instructed?' The monk said, 'When Lord Zhang proceeds to his commandery, you should have him seek out two dogs several feet tall and of divine excellence.' Xiujing assented. Shortly thereafter, Lord Zhang was grateful for Lord Tang's exceptional kindness, though he did not comprehend its purpose. When he was about to set out for his commandery, he took leave of Xiujing, who said, 'I hear your noble commandery has many fine dogs; I wish to obtain two of extraordinary divine excellence.' Lord Zhang said, 'I respectfully heed your instruction.' After arriving at the commandery for several days, he summoned all the commandery clerks and told them, 'I have received profound kindness from Prime Minister Tang, being promoted out of turn to govern a great commandery. Now Lord Tang seeks two fine dogs; can they be procured?' A clerk stepped forward and said, 'My family alone has raised a dog of extraordinary physique and appearance; I wish to present it.' Lord Zhang was overjoyed and immediately took it. When it arrived, the dog was several feet tall and fat, its chest more than a foot wide, extraordinarily divine and excellent, and moreover docile and gentle. Lord Zhang said, 'What the Prime Minister seeks is two; how can this be?' The clerk reported, 'Of all those within the commandery, there is only this one; the others are all ordinary. However, ten li south of the commandery, in a certain village, a certain commoner household has one; the commoner cherishes it exceedingly. Unless you, Lord Governor, go in person, it cannot be obtained.' Lord Zhang immediately ordered his carriage, took a generous price, and paid a visit; he indeed obtained it. Its appearance did not differ from the one presented by the clerk, but its divine spirit surpassed it. Lord Zhang was delighted, and immediately summoned a close clerk to present the two dogs. Xiujing was exceedingly pleased and marveled at their appearance, considering them to be what he had never seen before; he then summoned the monk to view them. The monk said, 'Raise them well. What will deliver the Prime Minister from disaster are these two dogs alone.' Ten days later, the monk arrived again and said to Xiujing, 'The matter will occur tonight; I hope the Prime Minister will be strictly prepared for it.' Xiujing then kept the monk overnight in his mansion. That night, Xiujing sat in the front veranda of the hall, ordering more than ten attendants to hold bows and arrows and stand at the corners of the couch. The monk shared a single couch with Xiujing. In the middle of the night, the monk smiled and said, 'The Prime Minister's disaster has been averted; you may go to sleep.' Xiujing was overjoyed and thanked him, dismissed his attendants, and slept with the monk. At dawn, the monk called to Xiujing, saying, 'You may rise.' Xiujing immediately arose and said to the monk, 'The disaster is truly averted, but what were the two dogs used for?' The monk said, 'Let us go and see together.' Thereupon he and Xiujing together traced their tracks to the rear garden, where they saw a man fallen on the ground and dead. Looking at his neck, there was blood, for he had been bitten by an animal. They also saw the two dogs beneath a large tree; looking up, they saw a man with his upper body bared hiding atop it. Xiujing was astonished and interrogated him, saying, 'Who are you?' The man wept and pointed to the dead one, saying, 'I and that man were both brigands. Last night we came together, intending to inflict harm upon the Prime Minister. But we encountered these two dogs encircling and barking at us; he was thereupon bitten by them and died. Terrified, I concealed myself here. When the two dogs saw me, they crouched beneath the tree; I waited for them to leave so I could flee, but until dawn they never departed. Now I willingly accept death here.' Xiujing immediately summoned his attendants and ordered him to be bound, but the man said, 'For this crime I certainly deserve to die, but it was not my intention; I was constrained by others. I beg you to release me.' Xiujing ordered his bonds to be loosed; the brigand bowed, wept, and departed. Xiujing thanked the monk, saying, 'I relied on my master; otherwise, I would have died at the hands of those two men.' The monk said, 'This was entirely the Prime Minister's own blessing; how could I have achieved it?' Xiujing had a maternal cousin, Lu Zhen, in Jingmen. A diviner told him, 'You will face disaster and misfortune; you should seek a skilled expiator, and then you may perhaps be spared.' Zhen had long known of the monk, so he sent a letter to Xiujing requesting him. The monk immediately handed a letter to Xiujing, saying, 'The matter lies within it.' When the letter arrived in Jingzhou, Zhen had already died. His family opened and looked at the letter; it was merely a single sheet of paper without any writing. Xiujing marveled at him all the more. Several years later, he slipped away, and no one knew where he went.

7.7

Master Xiu

7.8

Śramaṇa Xiu: his secular surname was Li, and he was a native of Chenliu in Bian Prefecture. He practiced meditation with intense austerity. At first he reached Jing Prefecture, and later moved to Tiangong Monastery in the eastern capital Luoyang. He was deeply revered by Empress Dowager Wu; their mysterious insight and silent comprehension tallied as if they were matching tallies. During the Chang'an reign-period, he entered the capital and resided at Zisheng Monastery. He suddenly admonished the disciples in the meditation hall to extinguish their oil lamps and candles; when the disciples kept the perpetual lamps, he ordered them extinguished as well. He then remarked that fire disasters are unpredictable and one cannot fail to be prepared, stating that there was once a monastery that was not prepared for fire and candles, and its Buddha hall suffered disaster; another monastery's bell tower caught fire; and another monastery's scripture repository was burned, which was truly lamentable. The monastery assembly did not comprehend his meaning. When night came, a fire broke out accidentally, and it indeed burned down three locations: the Buddha hall, the bell tower, and the scripture repository. While Emperor Xuanzong was still an imperial prince in his fief, he once went with several princes to pay homage, leaving a flute as an offering. After Xuanzong left, Xiu summoned his disciples and said, 'Guard this carefully; when there is a need in the future, you should present it to him.' When Xuanzong ascended the throne, Damo and the others finally realized his meaning, took the flute, and presented it. Master Xiu reached one hundred years of age and died at this monastery; he was interred on Mount Longmen. Monastics and laypeople rushed to attend by the thousands. Zhang Yue, the Duke of Yan, composed the inscription for his stele.

7.9

Wanhui

7.10

Master Wanhui was a native of Wenxiang. His secular surname was Zhang. Initially, his mother prayed before an image of Avalokiteśvara, and as a result she became pregnant with Hui. Hui was born simple-minded. Only at eight or nine years of age did he begin to speak. His parents also reared him like a pig or a dog. When he grew up, his father ordered him to plow the fields. Hui plowed straight ahead without looking back, his mouth only constantly chanting, 'Equality.' In plowing a single ridge, he went for several tens of li, stopping only when he met an obstruction of a ditch or pit. His father beat him in anger. Hui said, 'In general plowing, what difference is there between self and other?' [His father] then stopped beating him and ceased his plowing. Hui's elder brother was on garrison duty in Anxi, and communication was cut off; their parents assumed he was dead. Day and night they wept and grieved incessantly. Seeing his parents moved with such deep grief, Hui suddenly knelt and said, 'Are your tears not out of anxiety for my brother?' His parents were partly credulous and partly doubtful, and said, 'Yes.' Hui said, 'Think carefully of what my brother needs by way of clothes and parched grain; please prepare them all. I will go and see him.' Suddenly one day, in the morning he took what had been prepared and left; by evening he had returned home. He told his parents, 'My brother is well.' Opening the letter and looking at it, it was indeed his brother's handwriting. The whole family marveled at him. From Hongnong to Anxi was more than ten thousand li. Because he had returned from ten thousand li, he was called Wanhui ('Ten-Thousand-Li Return'). Prior to this, when Xuanzang went to the Buddha Land to fetch the scriptures, he saw an inscription on a Buddhist niche stating, 'The Bodhisattva Wanhui has been exiled to the land of Wenxiang to teach and transform.' Xuanzang rode post-horses to Wenxiang and asked, 'Is there a Wanhui here or not?' and ordered him summoned. When Wanhui arrived, Xuanzang paid homage to him, gave him the three robes, a water jar, and a bowl, and departed. Later, Zetian summoned him into the palace, and many matters he spoke of were verified. At that time, Zhang Yizhi was building a massive residence. Wanhui once pointed at it and said, 'Jiangzuo (Work of the Directorate of Palace Buildings).' No one understood him. When Yizhi was executed, his residence was turned into the Directorate of Palace Buildings (Jiangzuo Jian). He once said to Commoner Wei and Princess Anle, 'The Third Son will chop off your heads.' Since Emperor Zhongzong was the third son, Commoner Wei feared the Emperor would cause trouble and thereupon poisoned him, not realizing she would be executed by Xuanzong [who was also the third son]. During the Empress's reign, when cruel officials were employed to fabricate false accusations, officials of somewhat higher rank bade farewell to their wives and children daily. At that time, Cui Riyong, Wu Pingyi, Song Zhiwen, Shen Quanqi, Cen Xi, and Xue Ji all made solemn bows and courteously inquired after Hui when they saw him. The gentlemen said, 'Each of us wishes for a single word from the holy man to determine our fortune.' Patting Shen on the back, he said, 'You are a true man of talent.' Shen could not contain his joy and said, 'The holy man has conferred a prophecy upon me; fellow disciples, you must dispute it no more.' He also said to Wu, 'I shall name you Buddhist Child, and you shall have no worries.' Looking at Xi and Ji, he wore an ill-favoured expression. Cen used his horse to avoid him. Looking at Ji, [Cen] said, 'This is a wild fox; why should his words be feared?' [Hui] then turned and said, 'You too will not escape.' When Xi and Ji were executed, people esteemed him even more. When Xuanzong was still in hiding, he went to visit him together with his disciple Zhang Wei and others. Upon seeing the Emperor, Hui treated him with utter indignity, taking a lacquered staff, shouting at him, and chasing him away. Those who had come with him were all driven out. He dragged the Emperor inside, locked the door behind them, patted the Emperor on the back, and said, 'Son of Heaven of fifty years of great peace, cherish yourself. What comes after, I know not.' Lord Zhang and the others clearly heard his words outside the door, and for this reason devoted their hearts to supporting [the Emperor]. The time after fifty years referred to the disaster of [An] Lushan. When Ruizong was still in his princely mansion, he would sometimes wander among the people. Wanhui would shout in the streets of the settlements, 'The Son of Heaven comes!' or 'The holy man comes!' Within a few days, Ruizong would surely pass by and linger there. Crown Prince Huizhuang was Ruizong's second son. Initially, Zetian showed him to Wanhui, who said, 'This child is the spirit of a great tree from the Western Regions; nourish him, and he will bring benefit to his brothers.' Later, Prince of Shen was born, whose appearance was magnificent and who was fond of drinking and eating. During the Jinglong era, he constantly went in and out [of the court], and gentry and commoners, noble and lowly, vied to come and pay homage. Wanhui wore a brocade robe; he would either laugh, scold, or beat a drum, and afterwards events were verified accordingly. Princess Taiping built a residence for him to the right of her own. During the Jingyun era, he passed away in this residence. Nearing death, he shouted loudly, sending people to fetch river water from his home village. His disciples and companions searched for it to no avail. Wanhui said, 'Before the hall is river water.' They then dug a well below the steps, and suddenly river water gushed forth. Having finished drinking, he passed away. To this day, the well water of this ward remains sweet and pleasant.

7.11

Chuji

7.12

Shi Chuji. His secular surname was Zhou. He was a native of Shu. He served Chan Master Baoxiu as his teacher. He served diligently, had few desires, and did not contend with external things. He was thoroughly versed in the profound mysteries. The Empress, hearing of this, summoned him to enter the palace and bestowed upon him a patch-robe saṅghāṭī. He declined and begged to return to the mountains. For forty years, his feet did not enter human settlements. He sat on a single barbarian couch in quietude and meditated without sleeping. There was often a tiger crouching beneath his seat, like a domestic beast. He was held in high esteem by the people of Zi[zhou], and those who studied his way flocked together. Because of this, extraordinary events frequently manifested. For instance, when Master Wuxiang was about to arrive from the kingdom of Silla to pay respects to Chan Master Shen, Ji warned the assembly in advance, saying, 'A guest from outside will be seen tomorrow; you should sprinkle and sweep [the grounds] to await him.' The next day, a guest from the Eastern Sea indeed arrived. At the beginning of the Kaiyuan era, the newly appointed Governor Wang Ye assumed office and issued an order instructing that all śramaṇas within the prefecture should be summoned and assembled. Only Ji had not descended from the mountain for a long time. Someone urged Ji to go and visit to avoid creating trouble. Ji said to his disciples, 'Although you have renounced household life, you still do not recognize karma. As long as I am not dead, what can Wang Ye do to me?' When Ye had been in office for three days, the monkhood had all arrived. Someone said, 'Only Chuji disdains the regional prince and has not come to offer congratulations.' Ye was slightly angered. He summoned the monks to go up to the hall and be seated, and was about to unleash his anger to interrogate them concerning the reason for Ji's non-compliance. His furious expression flared, and the monks all trembled with fear. Suddenly, Ye collapsed to the ground, and his attendants supported him by the armpits. Returning home to the main hall, sounds like the slapping of cheeks came from behind the screen. Shortly after, his breath ceased. Ji was eighty-seven years old when he manifested cessation in Zizhong. To this day he is revered. Yuangui.

7.13

Shi Yuangui, whose secular surname was Li, was a native of Yique. Having awakened under the Chan master of Shaolin Monastery, Datong, to the essentials of the mind, he penetrated deeply into the profound and subtle. He then chose a dwelling at Pangwu in the central peak of Mount Song. He said to his disciple Rensu: 'I first entered by the eastern ridge of the monastery. When I pass away, you must enshrine my remains in a stūpa here.' As Yuangui was peacefully seated in meditation within a rocky recess, someone wearing a high cap and pleated trousers, accompanied by a vast entourage, announced himself to pay respects to the Great Master. Yuangui, observing his majestic appearance and peerless spiritual radiance, said to him: 'Welcome, benevolent one. Why have you come?' He said: 'Does the master not recognise me?' Yuangui said: 'I see the Buddha and sentient beings as equal. I view them with a single regard; how could I make discriminating recognitions?' He replied: 'I am the god of this sacred peak. I have power over the benefit, harm, life, and death of humans. How can the Master view me with a single regard?' Yuangui said: 'You can bring life and death to humans. But I am inherently unborn; how could you cause me to die? I regard the body as equal to empty space, and I regard myself as equal to you. Can you destroy empty space and yourself? If you could destroy empty space and yourself, then I would be neither born nor extinguished. If you cannot even do this, how could you bring life and death to me?' The peak god bowed low and prostrated twice, saying: 'I am wiser and more upright than other gods, yet how could I have known that the Master possessed such vast wisdom and eloquence? I wish to be granted the correct precepts, so that I may be ferried across worldly life and aid in my majesty and merit.' Yuangui said: 'Since you, divine spirit, have begged for the precepts, you are already precepted. Why is this? Beyond the precepts there are no precepts; what precepts are there to receive?' The god said: 'This is the principle, yet what I hear is dim and obscure. I only ask for the Master’s precepts, that my person may become a disciple of your gate.' Yuangui could not decline, so he spread a seat, burned incense, took up the censer, and straightened the desk, saying: 'I confer upon you the five precepts. If you can observe them, face me and say "I can"; if not, say "no".' The god said: 'I wash my ears, listen intently, and empty my mind to accept the teaching.' Yuangui said: 'Can you refrain from sexual misconduct?' The god said: 'I take a wife.' Yuangui said: 'I do not mean this; I mean being free from entangling desires.' The god said: 'I can.' Yuangui said: 'Can you refrain from stealing?' The god said: 'Of what am I in want? How could I steal?' Yuangui said: 'I do not mean this; I mean accepting offerings yet blessing the dissolute, or bringing calamity upon the virtuous because they do not offer.' The god said: 'I can.' Yuangui said: 'Can you refrain from killing?' The god said: 'The handle of governance is in my person; how can it be said that I do not kill?' Yuangui said: 'I do not mean this; I mean indiscriminate, mistaken, muddled, or dubious [killings].' The god said: 'I can.' Yuangui said: 'Can you refrain from false speech?' The god said: 'I am inherently upright; how could I speak falsely?' Yuangui said: 'I do not mean this; I mean when prior and subsequent actions do not accord with Heaven's mind.' The god said: 'I can.' Yuangui said: 'Can you avoid being ruined by alcohol?' The god said: 'I have the strength to do so.' Yuangui said: 'The above are the Buddha’s precepts.' He further said: 'Observe them with intentional mind yet be without mental grasping. Act for the sake of beings with intentional mind yet be without mental thoughts of the self. If you can be like this, then being born before Heaven and Earth is not being pure; dying after Heaven and Earth is not being old. Transforming all day long is not movement; remaining silent and still is not [your true] essence. Awakening to this, though you marry it is not having a wife; though you receive offerings it is not taking; though you hold authority it is not power; though you act it is not deliberate; though you become intoxicated it is not confusion. If you can be without mind toward the ten thousand things, then entangling desires are not sexual misconduct; blessing the dissolute and bringing calamity upon the virtuous are not stealing; indiscriminate, mistaken, muddled, or dubious [actions] are not killing; divergence between prior and subsequent that contravenes Heaven is not false speech; and confused, disordered frenzy is not drunkenness. This is called mindlessness. Where there is no mind, there are no precepts; where there are no precepts, there is no mind. There is neither Buddha nor sentient beings, neither you nor me. Without self and without you, who can take precepts?' The god said: 'My spiritual powers are second only to the Buddha's.' Yuangui said: 'Of ten statements regarding your spiritual powers, there are five things you can do and five you cannot. As for the Buddha, of ten statements there are seven things he can do and three he cannot.' Startled, the god withdrew from his seat, knelt reverently, and said: 'May I hear of them?' Yuangui said: 'Can you overturn the Supreme Thearch, making the heavens travel eastward and the seven luminaries move westward?' He said: 'I cannot.' Yuangui further said: 'Can you strip the earth spirits of power, melt the five sacred peaks, and bind the four seas together?' He said: 'I cannot.' Yuangui said: 'These are among the five things you cannot do.' He further said: 'The Buddha can empty all characteristics and accomplish the wisdom of the ten thousand phenomena, yet he cannot immediately extinguish fixed karma. He can know the natures of all beings and exhaust the events of billions of kalpas, yet he cannot transform and guide those without affinity. The Buddha can liberate immeasurable sentient beings, yet he cannot exhaust the realm of sentient beings. These are the three things he cannot do. Yet fixed karma is also not permanent and lasting, and lack of affinity is also only for a single period. The realm of sentient beings is fundamentally without increase or decrease. Throughout all time, not a single person has ever been master of phenomena, and phenomena are without a master. This is called no-phenomenon. No-phenomenon and no-master is called mindlessness. As I understand the Buddha, he also has no spiritual powers; he is merely able to penetrate all phenomena through mindlessness. Their functioning is mysteriously manifested before sentient beings. If one has mind and intentional action, their functioning will certainly not be universal.' The peak god said: 'I am indeed shallow and ignorant, not having heard the meaning of emptiness. I beseech the Master to confer the precepts upon me; I will uphold them. What karmic cause could ever again bind me to this dust-filled realm? I wish to repay your compassionate virtue.' Yuangui said: 'I observe that the body is nothing, and I view the cave of impermanent phenomena as solitary and inert. What further desire could I have?' The god said: 'The Master must command me to do some worldly deed, to display a little of my spiritual power, so that the five classes of people—those who have already aroused the resolve, those who have newly aroused the resolve, those who have not yet aroused the resolve, those without faith, and those certain of faith—may witness my divine traces and know that there is the Buddha, there are gods, there is ability, there is inability, there is the natural, and there is the non-natural.' Yuangui said: 'Do not do this, do not do this.' The god said: 'The Buddha also commanded the gods to protect the Dharma. Would the Master betray the Buddha? Grant me your instruction as you wish.' Yuangui had no choice but to say: 'The eastern cliff is the screen of the monastery, yet it is bare and devoid of trees. The northern peak has them, but it is behind us and does not serve as a protective screen. Can you move those trees to the eastern ridge?' The god said: 'I have heard your command.' He further said: 'I will certainly shake and move them amid wind and rain in the dark night. I ask that the Master not be alarmed.' He then bowed in reverence and took his leave. Yuangui watched from the gate as he departed, seeing guards and regalia like the entourage of a king. That evening, there was indeed a violent storm, roaring thunder, rushing clouds, and shaking lightning. The lofty ridgepoles and grand halls trembled precariously as if about to collapse. The monks in meditation were terrified, and the roosting birds shrieked frantically. Objects struck against one another, and nothing remained settled. Yuangui said to the assembly of monks: 'Do not fear, do not fear. The god has made a pact with me.' At daybreak, the weather cleared and grew mild; the pines and junipers of the northern cliff had all been moved to the eastern ridge, densely planted in orderly rows. Yuangui said to his disciples: 'After I pass away, do not let outsiders know of this. If it becomes a topic of talk, people will consider me a sorcerer.' He passed away in the fourth year of the Kaiyuan era at the age of seventy-three.

7.14

Tongxuan

7.15

Tongxuan, whose secular surname was Li, was a native of the northeast of Taiyuan. His movements and demeanor were immeasurable. He was over seven feet tall, with a purplish complexion and eyebrows that extended past his eyes. His mustache and sideburns were like a painting, his hair was dark blue and curled into spirals, his lips were red and moist, and his teeth were closely set. He wore a birch-bark hat and coarse cloth garments made in the broad-sleeved Confucian style, without a belt around his waist or shoes on his feet. In winter he had no affliction of chapped skin, and in summer he was untouched by dirt or sweat. Unrestrained and self-composed, he was bound by nothing. Thoroughly versed in antiquity and the present, he had penetrated the subtleties of both Confucianism and Buddhism. When he spoke, his voice resonated like the tolling of a great bell. Devoting his heart to the Huayan [Avataṃsaka], he never set it aside. In the spring of the seventh year of the Kaiyuan era, carrying the new Avataṃsaka Sūtra and leaning on a walking staff, he traveled from Dingxiang to the southwest of Yu County in Bingbu, stopping at the house of Gao Shannu in Daxian Village of Tongying Township. There, in a side room, he composed a commentary expounding the Avataṃsaka, not stepping outside the courtyard for nearly three years. Gao and his neighbors found him strange and unfathomable. Each day he ate only ten dates and one cypress-leaf cake, requiring nothing else. Later, he moved to the side of an old Buddha hall belonging to the Ma family in the southern valley, where he built a small earthen hut and dwelt at leisure to rest. The Gao family continued to supply him with dates and cakes. He once carried his commentary along with the sūtra to the estate of the Han family. On the way he encountered a tiger; Tongxuan patted its back and loaded the scriptures and commentary he carried onto it, carrying them away to an earthen grotto, the tiger walking ahead with ears flattened. That place had no spring from which to draw water, but it happened that a violent storm uprooted an old pine more than a hundred feet away, forming a pool about ten feet deep with sweet and fragrant water. To this day it is called the Elder's Spring. Whenever there was a drought, villagers often went there to pray for rain, and their prayers were frequently answered. Moreover, while he was composing the commentary, there were neither candles nor lamp oil in the room; each night as he held his brush, white light over a foot long emanated from both corners of his mouth, shining brightly and illuminating the room as a constant occurrence. From the time he arrived at the earthen grotto, two maidens of blooming beauty and refined elegance suddenly appeared, each day bringing a box of food to the front of the grotto; after Tongxuan had eaten, they cleared the vessels and departed. This continued for five years, during which paper and ink were also supplied without lack. Once the commentary was completed, they vanished without a trace. The commentary he composed was in forty fascicles, comprehensively summarising the text and meaning of the eighty-fascicle sūtra; he followed this with the *Treatise Resolving Doubts* (*Jueyi lun*) in four fascicles. One day, while the local villagers were gathered drinking, Tongxuan came and said to them: 'Take care, all of you; I am now departing.' The villagers were startled and puzzled, thinking he was traveling elsewhere, but he said: 'I am dying.' They all wept with longing and affection and escorted him to the earthen grotto. He said: 'Coming and going are constant.' As the villagers walked down the slope and looked back toward the place, clouds and mist shrouded it in darkness. At the hour of zi, he passed away sitting upright within the grotto, a white light issuing from his crown and piercing up into the great void. This was on the twenty-eighth day of the third month in the eighteenth year of the Kaiyuan era. His age was ninety-six. At daybreak, several men climbed the mountain and saw that his grotto room was completely filled with vipers and serpents, so that no one could advance. They addressed them together with prayers, whereupon the vipers and serpents dispersed. Young and old, moved with remembrance, constructed a litter and bore him to the north of Mount Tai, where they laid stones to build a tomb and buried him. On the day of the burial, two spotted deer, a pair of white cranes, and various kinds of birds and beasts appeared, as if in sorrow and longing.

7.16

Yixing

7.17

Śramaṇa Yixing, whose secular surname was Zhang, was a native of Julu. His original given name was Sui. In his early years he stood out from the crowd, being clever and acute, with the demeanor of a mature and experienced person. When he read a book, he did not need to read it a second time before he could already recite it by heart. He served Chan Master Puji as his teacher, renounced household life, and had his head shaved on Mount Song. His master once provided a meal at the monastery, holding a great assembly of the monks and śramaṇas; those living within several hundred li all arrived as scheduled, gathering in great numbers. At that time there was a man named Lu Hong, whose virtue was lofty and whose learning was vast, living in reclusion on Mount Song. Puji therefore requested Hong to compose a text in praise of the assembly. On that day, Hong brought his text to the monastery, and the master received it and placed it upon the desk. When the bells and Sanskrit chants had sounded, Hong said to Puji, 'I have composed several thousand words; moreover, the characters are rare and the phrasing arcane. Why not select the most discerning among the monks, and I shall instruct him in person?' Puji then ordered Yixing summoned. When he arrived, he unfolded the paper, smiled faintly, and stopped after a single glance, placing it back on the desk. Hong looked down on his casual manner and secretly found it strange. Shortly thereafter, the assembly of monks gathered in the hall; Yixing rolled up his sleeves, stepped forward, and recited with a resonant voice and proper cadence without omitting a single word. Hong was astonished for a long time and said to Puji, 'He is not someone whom you can instruct. You ought to let him roam freely to study.' Yixing subsequently plumbed the depths of the Dayan [astronomy and calendar], and from then on sought out masters and teachers without minding journeys of several thousand li. He once went to Guoqing Monastery on Mount Tiantai and saw a courtyard with several tens of ancient pines and flowing water before the gate. Yixing stood between the screen-doors and heard a monk in the courtyard laying out counting rods on the flagstones, the sound clicking rapidly. Presently the monk said to his disciples, 'Today a disciple is supposed to come seeking my computational methods; he should have reached the gate by now. Is there no one to usher him in?' He then removed one rod and said further, 'The water before the gate should reverse and flow westward, and the disciple will arrive.' Yixing, hearing these words, entered, bowed his head to request the Dharma, and was fully transmitted the art; whereupon the water at the gate resumed its eastward flow. From then on, his fame shook far and wide. Emperor Xuanzong heard of him and summoned him to the inner palace, saying to him, 'What are your abilities, sir?' He replied, 'I am good at memorisation and reading.' Xuanzong thereupon summoned the inner palace attendants to bring the registers of the palace ladies to show him. Having browsed through them completely, he turned over the books, and his memory was so precise and familiar that it was as though he had practiced reciting them all along. After several folios, Xuanzong unconsciously descended from his couch to pay homage to him, hailed him as a sage, and sighed in admiration for a long time. Soon afterwards, decrees summoned him to imperial audiences without fixed schedule; his divinations of fortune and misfortune were as clear as pointing to the palm of his hand, and his advice was of great benefit. Xing Hepu once said to Yin Yin, 'Is Yixing not a sage? Luoxia Hong of the Han dynasty created the Dayan calendar and said, "After eight hundred years, it will differ by one day, and then a sage will correct it." This year the term is complete, and Yixing has created the Dayan calendar to correct its errors; thus the words of Luoxia Hong are verified.' Yixing also once went to the Daoist Yin Chong to borrow Yang Xiong’s Taixuan jing (Classic of Supreme Mystery). Several days later, he went back to Chong to return the book. Chong said, 'The purport of this book is deep and far-reaching; I have pursued it for years and still cannot understand it. You, young man, should try to investigate it further; why return it so hastily?' Yixing said, 'I have probed its meaning.' He then produced his own Dayan xuantu (Profound Diagrams of the Dayan) and Yijue (Judgments of Meaning) in one fascicle to show Chong. Chong sighed in great submission and said to others, 'This is a later-born Yanzi!' Earlier, when Yixing was young, his family was poor, and a neighbouring old woman named Wang had aided him on various occasions with roughly several hundred thousand coins. Yixing had always thought of repaying her. By the Kaiyuan era, Yixing was treated with great respect by Xuanzong, and whatever he said was granted. Before long, it happened that Old Woman Wang's son committed murder, and his sentencing was not yet finalised. The old woman came to Yixing to beg for help. Yixing said, 'If you want gold and silk, I will repay you tenfold. But as for the sovereign upholding the law, it is difficult to petition him; what can be done?' Old Woman Wang pointed her fingers at him and cursed loudly, saying, 'What was the point of knowing this monk!' Yixing followed and apologised to her, but she never looked back. Yixing considered that in Huntian Monastery there were several hundred labourers, so he ordered a room cleared and a large vat moved into it. He secretly selected two monastery slaves, gave them a cloth sack, and told them, 'In such-and-such direction and corner there is an abandoned garden. Lie in wait there from noon until dusk. Some creatures will enter; when their number reaches seven, you must capture them all. If you lose one, I will have you caned.' They went according to his words, and after the hour of the rooster, a herd of pigs indeed arrived; they captured them all and returned. Yixing was overjoyed, ordered them placed in the vat, covered it with a wooden lid, sealed it with 'six-one mud', and inscribed several tens of Sanskrit syllables in cinnabar. His disciples could not comprehend it. At dawn, a palace commissioner knocked on the gate and urgently summoned him to the informal audience hall. Xuanzong welcomed him and asked, 'The Grand Astrologer reported that last night the Northern Dipper was not seen. What portent is this? Does the master have a means to avert it?' Yixing said, 'In the Later Wei dynasty, Mars was lost, and now the Imperial Carriage is unseen. An event without precedent in antiquity means that Heaven is giving Your Majesty a great warning. When common men and common women fail to find their proper place, frost falls and severe drought ensues; only the resonance of abundant virtue can cause the stars to withdraw. What resonates most keenly is to bury the exposed bones and release the captives. In the Buddhist teaching, anger destroys all goodness, while compassion subdues all māras. In my humble view, nothing equals a grand amnesty throughout the realm.' Xuanzong complied. That evening, the Grand Astrologer reported that one star of the Northern Dipper had appeared, and after seven days it was restored. The Emperor once asked how long the dynastic fortune would last and whether there would be difficulties or delays. Yixing said, 'The imperial carriage will make a journey of ten thousand li; the altars of soil and grain will ultimately be fortunate (ji).' The Emperor was startled and asked for the reason, but he did not answer. After withdrawing, he presented a small gold box, saying, 'Open it only when you reach Wanli (Ten Thousand Li).' One day, the Emperor opened the box and looked into it; it contained a small piece of Chinese angelica (danggui, 'ought to return'). When An Lushan rebelled, the imperial carriage went to Chengdu; on reaching Wanli Bridge, the Emperor suddenly understood. Before long, he indeed returned (gui). Emperor Zhaozong was originally enfeoffed as Prince of Ji, and the Tang dynasty ended under Zhaozong; hence 'ultimately Ji.' Toward the end of the Kaiyuan era, Pei Kuan served as Governor of Henan. Kuan deeply believed in the Buddhadharma and served Chan Master Puji as his teacher, visiting him day and night. One day Kuan went to Puji, and Puji said, 'I have a small matter at hand and have no leisure for an intimate conversation; please wait and rest awhile.' Kuan then dismissed his attendants and stayed in an empty room, where he saw Puji clean the main hall, burn incense, and sit upright. Before he had sat for long, sudden repeated knocking at the gate was heard, saying, 'Heavenly Preceptor, the Venerable Yixing has arrived!' Yixing entered, bowed to Puji, and after paying homage, whispered in his ear, his manner exceedingly respectful. Puji merely nodded and said, 'Nothing is impermissible.' When he finished speaking, he bowed again, and having bowed, spoke again; this happened three times. Puji only said, 'Yes, yes, nothing is impermissible.' When Yixing finished speaking, he stepped down the stairs, entered the south hall, and closed the door himself. Puji then slowly instructed his disciples, saying, 'Sound the bell; the Venerable Yixing has passed away.' Those to his left and right ran swiftly to look, and it was exactly as he had said: he had passed into extinction. Afterward, Kuan wore hemp mourning garments, and on the day of the burial, he walked on foot out of the city to escort him. His age was forty-five. The Emperor wept for him in deep grief, suspended court audiences for three days, and retained the coffin for three weeks; Yixing's countenance was as if alive. The Emperor personally composed the stele inscription and carved it in stone, and dispatched five hundred thousand cash from the imperial treasury to construct a stupa on the Tongren Plain, conferring the posthumous title of Chan Master Dahui.

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神僧傳 — Classical Chinese