弘贊法華傳 4.6

4.6

釋智璪。俗姓張氏。清河人。晉室播遷。寓居臨海。祖元秀。梁倉部侍郎。任臨海內史。父文懷。陳中兵將軍。璪受經之歲。言無虛發。行不慚人。親里鄉隣。深加敬愛。年登十七。二親俱逝。便投安寧寺慧憑法師。以為弟子。逖聞智者軌行超群。為世良導。即泛舸豐流。直指台岫。伏膺受道。乃遣行法花懺悔。第二七日初夜。懺訖。還就禪床。始欲安坐。仍見九頭龍。從地涌出。上昇虛空。明旦諮白。云此是表九道眾生。聞法華經。將來之世。破無明地。入法性空耳。又陳至德四年。永陽王伯智。作牧仙都。延屈智者。來于鎮所。璪隨師受請。同赴稽山。九旬坐訖。仍即辭王。往寶林山寺。行法華三昧。初日初夜。如有人來搖動戶扉。璪即問之。汝是何人。夜來搖戶。即長聲答云。我來看燈耳。頻經數過。問答如前。其寺內。先有大德惠成禪師。夜具聞之。謂弟子曰。彼堂內。從來有大惡鬼。今聞此聲。必是鬼來取人也。天將欲曉。成師扣戶而喚。璪未暇得應。便繞堂唱云。苦哉苦哉。其人了矣。璪即開戶問意。答云。汝猶在耶。吾謂昨夜鬼已害汝。故此嗟耳。成師以事諮王。王遣數十人。執仗防護。璪謂防人曰。命由業也。豈防護所加。願諸仁者。將領還城所。啟王云爾。防人去後。第二日夜。鬼入堂內。槌壁打柱。周遍東西。堂內六燈。璪即滅五留一。行道坐禪誦經。坦然無懼。於三七日中。事恒如此。行法將訖。見一青衣童子。稱讚善哉。言已不現。雖值此二緣。心無憂喜。隋大業元年。駕幸江都。璪銜僧命出參。引入內殿。御遙見璪。即便避廗。命令就坐。種種顧問。便遣通事舍人盧正方。送璪還山。為智者。設一千僧齋。度四十九人出家。施寺物二千段。米三千石。并香蘇等。前後凡經八迴。參見天子。並蒙喜悅。供給豐厚。以貞觀十二年。卒於寺。春秋八十三矣。

Shi Zhizao, secular surname Zhang, was a native of Qinghe. When the Jin royal house was driven south, his family resided in Linhai. His grandfather Yuanxiu was Vice Director of the Ministry of Granaries under the Liang and served as Internal Scribe of Linhai. His father Wenhuai was Central Armed Corps General under the Chen. In the years when Zhizao received the scriptures, not a single word was spoken in vain and his deeds were without shame before others; his kin and neighbours deeply revered and loved him. When he reached the age of seventeen, both of his parents passed away, whereupon he went to Master Huiping of Anning Temple and became his disciple. Hearing from afar that Zhizhe's conduct and practice surpassed the crowd and made him an excellent guide for the world, he sailed by boat along the abundant current, heading directly for the peaks of Tiantai, and submitted with heart and soul to receive the Way. Zhiyi sent him to practice the Lotus repentance. On the first night of the second seven-day period, when the repentance concluded, he returned to his meditation seat. Just as he was about to sit at ease, he saw a nine-headed dragon gush forth from the earth and ascend into empty space. The next morning he inquired of Zhiyi, who said, 'This signifies that sentient beings of the nine paths, upon hearing the Lotus Sūtra, will in future ages break through the earth of fundamental ignorance and enter the emptiness of dharma-nature.' Furthermore, in the fourth year of Zhide under the Chen, Bozhit, King of Yongyang, served as shepherd of Xiandu and invited Zhizhe to his garrison post. Zhizao accompanied his master upon accepting the invitation, traveling together to Mount Kuaiji. When the ninety-day retreat concluded, he took leave of the king and went to Baolin Mountain Temple to practice the Lotus Samādhi. On the first day during the first night watch, it was as if someone came and shook the door leaves. Zhizao immediately asked, 'Who are you, shaking the door by night?' A voice replied in a drawn-out tone, 'I have only come to look at the lamps.' This occurred repeatedly several times, with the questions and answers being the same as before. Within the monastery, there was previously a venerable elder, Chan Master Huicheng, who heard it all during the night and said to his disciples, 'Inside that hall, there has always been a great evil demon. Hearing this sound now, it must surely be the demon coming to take someone.' As dawn was about to break, Master Cheng knocked on the door and called out. Before Zhizao had leisure to respond, Cheng circled the hall shouting, 'How bitter! How bitter! The man is finished!' Zhizao opened the door and asked what he meant, and Cheng replied, 'Are you still alive? I thought the demon had killed you last night, which is why I lamented!' Master Cheng reported the matter to the king, who sent several dozen men bearing weapons to guard him. Zhizao said to the guards, 'Life depends on karma; how could guarding help? May you benevolent ones take your troop back to the city and inform the king accordingly.' After the guards departed, on the night of the second day, a demon entered the hall, pounding the walls and striking the pillars, all around the east and west. There were six lamps inside the hall; Zhizao extinguished five and kept one, circumambulating, sitting in meditation, and reciting the scripture, completely calm and fearless. Throughout the three seven-day periods, it remained constantly like this. As the practice was about to conclude, he saw a youth in blue clothes praising him, saying, 'Excellent!' Having spoken, he vanished. Although he met with these two conditions, his mind harboured neither sorrow nor joy. In the first year of Daye under the Sui, the imperial carriage visited Jiangdu. Zhizao, bearing the monastic community's mandate, went out to pay audience, and was led into the inner palace. The emperor, seeing Zhizao from afar, stepped off his mat, ordered him to take a seat, and inquired after him in various ways. He then sent the Palace Receptionist Lu Zhengfang to escort Zhizao back to the mountain, host a vegetarian feast for one thousand monks for Zhizhe's sake, ordain forty-nine persons into the monastic life, and donate two thousand bolts of goods, three thousand piculs of rice, as well as incense and clarified butter to the monastery. In total, Zhizao had audience with the Son of Heaven on eight occasions, all meeting with imperial pleasure and bountiful provisions. In the twelfth year of Zhenguan, he passed away at the monastery at the age of eighty-three.