弘贊法華傳 4.4

4.4

Shi Huisi, whose secular surname was Li, was a native of Wujin. In his youth, he was known throughout his village for his kindness and forbearance. He once repeatedly dreamed of an Indian monk urging him to renounce secular life; startled into awakening by this auspicious sign, he took leave of his parents and entered the Way. The monastery to which he first committed himself was not a place of refined cultivation, but he was moved by a divine monk who instructed him to keep the fasts and precepts. Upholding them, he maintained purity and simplicity, eating only one meal a day and never accepting individual invitations; socializing, receiving, and seeing off [guests] were all entirely cut off. At the age of thirty, he stayed in a desolate marsh, resolved to recite the Lotus Sūtra. When his recitation was only half completed, a hidden torrent suddenly swelled, inundating everywhere, submerging his meditation couch. When the water reached half his body, his entire body suddenly became swollen, making him unable to move. Thereupon he made a vow, saying, "If I have a destined affinity with this sūtra, the water should subside, and my illness should also be cured; if I have no destined affinity, let the water increase further." That very night, the water subsided, and the illness of his body was also cured. He then stayed in this place for ten years. When he recited the sūtra with his eyes closed, he would see Śākyamuni and Maitreya coming to preach the Dharma for him. At that time, looking out toward the near and far hills and ridges, all was flat, without heights or depths. When he collected his thoughts and recited the sūtra, the lines, verses, characters, and meanings of all the chapters of its seven scrolls appeared distinctly before his eyes. Later he moved to Mount Taoqiu. In front of the mountain, where he recited the sūtra, there were very many trees; whenever secular people encroached and felled them, they immediately contracted leprosy, and only upon entreaty and prayer were they cured again. Furthermore, during one summer retreat, he practiced the Lotus Repentance: he only walked and sat, his ribs never touching the couch. When the summer retreat ended, he sighed, saying, "I have toiled bitterly for a whole summer retreat, yet gained nothing in vain." Just as he was about to relax his body and lean against the rope-couch, he was suddenly opened and illuminated, his mind becoming luminous and clear, and he realized and entered into the Dharma gate. Not yet daring to trust himself, he tried reading the first scroll of the Da zhidu lun; his mind was immediately enlightened, not forgetting a single point, and also discerning the intent behind the words. In this manner he read through all one hundred scrolls, being able to recite and memorize them, and clearly understanding their meanings and flavours. Thereafter, during his leisure from recitation and contemplation, he mostly lectured on the treatise (*Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa*) and the Lotus Sūtra. Knowing that the Qi dynasty's calendar had come to an end, Huisi entrusted himself to the state of Chen. He then entered Mount Heng beneath Huagai Peak, where he established a monastery and practiced the Way. At first he saw a bird-catcher digging the earth to set a snare, so he went and told him, "Dig shallowly, dig shallowly; do not damage my skull." Before [the man] had dug deep into the ground, a set of white bones was indeed found. The catcher was astonished and questioned him earnestly. Huisi replied, saying, "I have already lived beneath this peak for two lifetimes, reciting the Lotus Sūtra and relinquishing my body here. The skeletal remains of my earlier life have all perished and dissolved; what is seen in this present life is only my second body." When the hut where he stayed was burned down by local people, they subsequently manifested a severe pestilence; they came with sincere devotion to repent, and after he accepted a grass hut, he upheld the sūtra as before, and the people soon recovered from their afflictions. He also dreamed of several hundred Indian monks of extraordinary appearance and attire. The senior monk among them commanded him, saying, "The precepts you received before, their disciplinary rules were not supreme. Now that you have encountered a pure assembly, you should overturn the ordination platform and supplicate once more." Thirty-two master-monks performed the karmavācanā rite, fully accomplishing it. Later he suddenly awoke with a start, only then realizing he had received them in a dream. From then on, his diligent endeavors grew even deeper. Because of these austerities, he was able to see the events of the Way he had practiced in three lifetimes. He also dreamed of Maitreya and Amitābha preaching the Dharma to open and awaken him; therefore he made two images, enshrining and venerating them side by side. He also dreamed that he followed Maitreya together with his retinue, gathering together at the Dragon Flower Tree. In his heart he reflected, "In the Latter Day of Śākyamuni's Dharma, I uphold the Lotus; now I meet the Merciful Honored One!" Moved to tears of grief and joy, he was suddenly awakened, and became all the more vigorous. Furthermore, using merit offerings from both monastics and laity, he had the Lotus Sūtra produced in gold characters, with a lapis lazuli jewel case, adorned and dazzlingly radiant, a peerless meritorious deed, greatly inspiring the minds of the multitude. He also lectured on this sūtra, producing writings according to the text, none of which were not profound traces. Later he commanded the scholar Zhiyi to lecture on the golden sūtra on his behalf. When Zhiyi reached the place where "one mind is endowed with ten thousand practices," he had a doubt. Huisi explained it to him, saying, "What you just doubted is merely the sequential meaning of the Great Prajñāpāramitā; it is not yet the round and sudden principle of the Lotus. Formerly, during a summer retreat, I contemplated this with bitter discipline; late at night, in a single thought, all phenomena suddenly erupted. Since I have personally verified this myself, there is no need for you to harbor doubts." Zhiyi then consulted him and received the ritual practice of the Lotus. The realms of the three-seven [twenty-one days] are difficult to narrate fully. Every year, the sovereign of Chen would send three letters to inquire after his welfare, and offerings were piled up in abundance, with glory and prosperity unsurpassed. His preaching of the Dharma redoubled beyond the ordinary, and his divine anomalies were difficult to fathom: sometimes he manifested his form as small or large; sometimes he silently concealed his body; sometimes unusual fragrances and wondrous colors, auspicious omens arose in profusion. When he was about to approach his end, he descended from the mountain summit to the bodhimaṇḍa halfway down the mountain, convened a great assembly of disciples, and for consecutive days preached the Dharma, bitterly and piercingly rebuking them so that those who heard were chilled to the heart. He announced to the assembly, "If there are ten persons who do not begrudge their bodies or lives, who constantly cultivate the Lotus Samādhi and the Vaipulya Repentance, and who constantly sit and constantly walk, then whatever they require, I myself will provide for them; they must attain benefit. If there are no such persons, I shall depart far away." The matter of austerity was difficult, and in the end no one responded. He therefore dismissed the assembly, gathered his thoughts, and in a moment his life came to an end. All smelled an extraordinary fragrance filling the room; smoke rose from the crown of his head, his body was light, and his facial complexion was as normal. This was on the twenty-second day of the sixth month in the ninth year of the Taijian era of the Chen (577 CE), at the age of sixty-four. His physical appearance had been remarkably prominent, able to hold itself up with ease, neither leaning nor slanting; he walked like an ox and gazed like an elephant, had an uṣṇīṣa on the crown of his head, and was adorned with extraordinary marks. Those who saw him converted their hearts and involuntarily submitted to him. He was also skilled at knowing people's minds; his insight illuminated their hidden inner faults while he was slow to speak of their errors, guiding them by expedient means, practicing great compassion, and upholding the bodhisattva precepts. As for silk, floss, and leather, which mostly result from taking life, his disciples' clothing was uniformly made of cloth; in cold weather, they wore mugwort-padded robes to withstand wind and frost. Since the eastward transmission of the Buddha's Dharma, nearly six hundred years had passed, and only this compassionate practice of Mount Nanyue is truly worthy of refuge. His works include the Forty-Two Character Gate in two scrolls, the Non-Contention Practice Gate in two scrolls, the Xuan of the Expository Treatise, Following One's Own Will, Sequenced Essentials of Dhyāna for Peaceful and Joyful Practice, the Three Wisdom Contemplations, etc., five works each in one scroll, all circulating in the world.