弘贊法華傳 4.6

4.6

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.