天台九祖傳 1.8

1.8

五祖章安尊者。諱灌頂。字法雲。俗姓吳氏。常州宜興人也。祖世避地東甌。因而不返。今為臨海之章安焉。父夭早亡。母親鞠養。生甫三月。孩而欲名。思審物類。未知所目。母夜稱佛法僧名。師仍口斆。音句清辯。同共驚異。因告攝靜寺慧拯法師。聞而歎曰。此子非凡。即以非凡為字。及年七歲。還為拯公弟子。日進文詞。玄儒並騖。清藻才綺。即譽當時。年登二十。進具奉儀。德瓶油鉢。彌所留思。洎拯師厭世。沐道天台。承習定網。罔有虧緒陳至德元年。從大師出居光宅。研繹觀門。頻蒙印可。逮陳氏失馭。隨師上江州。勝地名山盡皆遊憩。三宮廬阜九向衡峯。無不揖迹依迎訪問遺逸。後屆荊部。停玉泉寺。傳法轉化教敷西楚。開皇十一年。晉王作鎮揚州。陪從大師。戾（郎計切。來也）止邗溝（邗音寒。邗溝水名。在廣陵）居禪眾寺。為法上將。日討幽求。俄隨大師。東旋止于台嶽。晚出稱心精舍。開講法華。跨朗籠基。超於雲印。方集奔隨。負笈屯涌。有吉藏法師。興皇入室。嘉祥結肆。獨擅浙東。聞稱心道勝。意之未許。求借義記。尋閱淺深乃知。體解心醉有所從矣。因廢講散眾。投足天台。飡稟法華。發誓弘演。至十七年。大師現疾。瞻侍曉夕。艱劬盡心。爰及滅度。親承遺旨。乃奉留書并諸信物。哀泣跪授晉王。五體投地。悲淚頂受。事遵賓禮。情敦法親。尋遣揚州總管府司馬王弘。送師還山。為大師設千僧齋。置國清寺。即昔有晉曇光道猷之故迹也。前峯佛隴寺號修禪。在陳之日。大師初建。隴南十里曰丹丘。經行平正。瞻望顯博。大師標基刊本。欲建道場。未果心期。故遺囑斯在。王工入谷。即事修營。置臬（古公切）引繩。一依舊旨。仁壽元年。晉王入嗣。采巡本國。萬里川途。人野畢慶。以檀越昇位寺宇初成。出山參賀。遂蒙引見。慰問重疊。酬對如響。言無失厝。臣主榮歎。前遣員外散騎侍郎張乾威。送還山寺。施物三千段氈三百領。又設千僧齋。寺廟臺殿。更加修緝。故丹青之飾亂發朝霞。松竹之嶺奄同被錦。斯實海西之壯觀也。遠符大師之言。具如別傳。仁壽二年下令。延請云。夏序炎赫。道體休宜。禪悅資神。故多佳致。近令慧日道場㽵論二師講淨名經。全用智者義疏。判釋經文。禪師既是大師高足。法門委寄。今遣延屈。必希霈然。并華經疏。隨使入京也。佇遲來儀。書不盡意。師持衣負錫。高步入宮。三夏闡弘。副君欣戴。每至深契。無不伸請。並隨問接對。周統玄籍後遣信送還。䞋遺隆倍。大業七年。治兵涿野。親總元戎。將欲蕩一東夷用清文軌。因問左右。備敘軒皇先壯阪泉之戮暴後歎峒山之問道。追思大師。感慕動容。下勅迎師。遠至行所。引見天扆（於蟻切。天子所居也）敘以同學之歡。又遣侍郎吳旻。送還台寺。爾後王人繼至房無虛月。師縱懷丘壑。絕迹世累。定慧兩修。語默雙化。乃有名僧大德近城遠方希覩三觀十如及以心塵使性。並拜手投身。請祈天鼓。皆疏瀹情性。澡雪胸襟。三業屢增二嚴無盡。忽以貞觀六年八月七日。終于國清寺房。春秋七十有二。初薄示輕疾。無論藥療。而室有異香。臨終命弟子曰。彌勒經說。佛入城日香煙若雲。汝多燒香。吾將去矣。因伸遺誡。詞理妙切。門人眾侶瞻仰涕零。忽自起合掌。如有所敬。發口三稱阿彌陀佛。低身就臥。累手當心。色白歡愉。奄然而逝。舉體柔軟。頂暖經日。甞有同學智晞。大師親度。清亮有名。先以貞觀元年卒。臨終云。吾生兜率矣。見師智者寶座行列皆悉有人。惟一座獨空云。却後六年。章安法師昇此。說法焚香驗旨。即慈尊降迎。計歲論期。審晞不謬矣。以其月九日。窆（保驗切。下棺也）于寺之南山。遠近奔號。喧震林谷。初師化流囂俗。神用弘方。村人於法龍去山三十餘里。染患將絕。眾治不愈。其子奔馳。入山祈禱求救。師為轉法華經。焚栴檀香。病者雖遠。乃聞檀香。入鼻應時痊復又樂。安南嶺地曰安洲。碧樹清溪。泉流伏溺。人徑不通。師留連愛翫。顧而誓曰。若使斯地夷坦。當來此講經。曾未浹旬。白沙通涌。平如玉鏡。師以感通相顯。不違前願。仍講法華金光明二部。用酬靈意。甞於章安攝靜寺。講涅槃經。值海賊上抄道俗奔委。師方撾鍾就講。顏無懾（章涉切。怯也）懼。賊徒麾旛詣寺。忽見兵旗曜日持弓執戟人皆丈餘雄悍奮發。群覩驚憚一時退散。甞於佛隴。講暇携引學徒。累石為塔。別須二片用搆塔門。弟子光英先以車運一石。咸疑厚大。更欲旁求。復勞神力。師舉杖聊撝前所運石。颯然驚列（說文曰。列分解也）遂折為兩段。厚薄等均。用施塔戶。宛如舊契。若斯靈應其相寔多。自師受業天台又稟道衡嶽。南嶽天台三世相繼宗歸莫二。若觀若講常依法華。又講涅槃金光明淨名等經。及說圓頓止觀四念等法門。其遍不少。且智者辯才雲行雨施或同天網。乍擬瓔珞。能領唯師一人。其私記大師詞旨。及自製義記。并雜文等題目。並勒于碑陰。弟子光英後生標俊優柔教義。與國清寺眾僉共紀其行。樹其碑于寺之門。常州弘善寺沙門法宣為文。其詞甚麗。見于別集。

The Fifth Patriarch, the Venerable Zhang'an. His taboo name was Guanding, his courtesy name was Fayun, and his secular surname was Wu. He was a man of Yixing in Changzhou. In the time of his ancestors, his clan fled troubles to Dong'ou, and consequently never returned, so that they now belonged to Zhang'an in Linhai. His father died early, and his mother reared and nurtured him. When he was scarcely three months old, as an infant needing a name, she considered and examined various sorts of things, not yet knowing what to designate him. At night, his mother recited the names of the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha; the master imitated them with his mouth, the sounds and phrases distinct and clear. All were astonished together. She then informed Dharma Master Huizheng of Shejing Temple. Hearing of it, he sighed and said: 'This boy is extraordinary (feifan)!' and straightway gave him 'Feifan' as his courtesy name. When he reached seven years of age, he returned to become Master Zheng's disciple. Daily he progressed in composition; the profound [learning of Laozi and Zhuangzi] and Confucianism galloped forward side by side. Pure in literary elegance and splendid in talent, he was already celebrated at that time. When he reached twenty years of age, he received the full precepts and upheld the deportment. The 'virtue flask' and the 'oil bowl' occupied his thoughts all the more. When Master Zheng departed this world, he bathed in the Way at Tiantai, inheriting and practicing the net of meditation without breaking its continuity. In the first year of the Zhide era of Chen (583 CE), he followed the Great Master to reside at Guangzhai [Monastery], investigating and explicating the gates of contemplation, repeatedly receiving his seal of approval. When the Chen dynasty lost its rule, he followed his master up to Jiangzhou; they traveled and rested in all its excellent sites and famous mountains. To the Three Palaces, Mount Lu, and the nine peaks of Mount Heng, there were none where they did not leave their tracks, being welcomed and seeking out remaining sages. Later they arrived at the Jing area and stayed at Yuquan Temple, transmitting the Dharma, converting [the people], and spreading the teachings throughout Western Chu. In the eleventh year of the Kaihuang era (591 CE), when the Prince of Jin was posted to govern Yangzhou, [Guanding] accompanied the Great Master, arriving at Hangou, where they resided at Chanzhong Temple; he served as a great general of the Dharma, daily investigating and seeking the profound. Soon he followed the Great Master on his eastward return, stopping at Mount Tiantai. Later he went out to Chengxin Hermitage and lectured on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, surpassing [Seng]lang and overshadowing [Ji]ji, transcending [Fayan of] Yun[ju] and [Fayun of Guang]yin. [Students] rushed together to follow him; carrying their book-chests, they surged forth in swarms. There was Dharma Master Jizang, who had entered the inner chamber [of Falang] of Xinghuang and established his school at Jiaxiang, holding sole sway east of the Zhe River. Hearing of the supreme Way at Chengxin, he did not assent to it in mind, and asked to borrow the record of its doctrines. Investigating and perusing its shallowness and depth, he came to understand that his realization and wholehearted admiration had an origin. Consequently, he stopped his lecturing, dispersed his assembly, and took his steps to Tiantai to receive and absorb the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, vowing to propagate and expound it. In the seventeenth year (597 CE), the Great Master manifested illness; [Guanding] attended upon him morning and night, expending all his heart through toil and hardship. Coming to his parinirvāṇa, he personally received the testamentary instructions. He then took the legacy letter and various tokens of faith, and weeping with grief, knelt and presented them to the Prince of Jin. [The Prince] threw himself to the ground in full prostration, receiving them on his crown with mournful tears; in matters he observed the etiquette of a guest, and in feeling he deepened his Dharma kinship. Soon he dispatched Wang Hong, marshal of the Area Command Headquarters of Yangzhou, to escort the master back to the mountain, host a vegetarian feast for a thousand monks for the Great Master, and establish Guoqing Temple—the ancient site of [monks] Tangguang and Daoyou of the Jin dynasty. On the peak in front, the temple of the Buddha's Ridge was named Xiuchan; in the days of Chen, the Great Master first built it. Ten li south of the ridge is called Danqiu, where walking meditation is level and straight, and the view is open and vast. The Great Master had marked out the foundations and felled the trunks, wishing to build a sanctuary, but had not fulfilled his intention; hence this testamentary wish remained. The royal artisans entered the valley and straightway undertook the construction, setting up gnomons and drawing cords entirely according to the old instructions. In the first year of the Renshou era (601 CE), the Prince of Jin acceded to the succession; surveying and touring his realm across ten thousand li of rivers and roads, both officials and commoners rejoiced completely. Because the dānapati had ascended the throne and the temple buildings were newly completed, [the master] left the mountain to offer congratulations. He was thereupon granted an audience; consolations and inquiries were repeated, and his responses came like an echo without a single misstep in speech, so that ministers and ruler praised him in admiration. Previously, Zhang Qianwei, Vice Director of the Court of Extrasensory Attendants, had been sent to escort him back to the mountain temple, bestowing three thousand bolts of fabric and three hundred felt cloaks, and again a vegetarian feast for a thousand monks was held. The temple halls and terraces were further repaired and renovated, so that the cinnabar and blue decorations vied with the morning clouds, and the ridge of pines and bamboos seemed suddenly wrapped in brocade: this was truly a magnificent sight west of the sea, profoundly matching the Great Master's prophecy, fully detailed in the separate biography. In the second year of the Renshou era (602 CE), an edict was issued inviting him, which read: 'The summer season is blazing hot; may the body of the Way be at ease and well! The joy of meditation nourishes the spirit, so fine states abound. Recently, we ordered the two masters Zhuang and Lun of the Huiri Sanctuary to lecture on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra, relying entirely on Zhizhe's commentary to judge and explain the scripture's text. Since the meditation master is the Great Master's foremost disciple, to whom the Dharma-gate was entrusted, we now send to invite your presence, earnestly hoping you will shower your grace upon us. Also, bring the commentary on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka along with the envoy into the capital. We await your arrival; the letter cannot convey our full sentiment.' Holding his robes and carrying his staff, the master strode proudly into the palace. For three summers he expounded and propagated the teachings, and the Crown Prince rejoiced and revered him. Whenever reaching deep agreements, there was nothing he did not ask, and [the master] answered each according to inquiry, comprehensively unifying the profound texts. Later an envoy was dispatched to escort him back, with donations doubled in magnificence. In the seventh year of the Daye era (611 CE), troops were drilled at Zhuoye, and [the Emperor] personally commanded the grand army, wishing to pacify the Eastern Barbarians so as to standardize literature and track-widths. Asking his attendants, he thoroughly recounted how the Yellow Emperor had first shown strength in slaying tyrants at Banquan and later sighed when inquiring about the Way at Mount Kongtong. Remembering the Great Master, he was moved to longing and tears, and issued an imperial decree summoning the master from afar to his traveling camp. He was granted an audience before the imperial screen, reminiscing on the joy of being fellow disciples. He again sent Vice Director Wu Min to escort him back to the Tiantai temple. Thereafter, royal envoys arrived in succession, leaving his room unvisited for not a single month. Although the master harbored a love for hills and ravines, severing ties with worldly burdens, cultivating both calm abiding and special insight, and transforming others through both speech and silence, eminent monks and great virtues from near cities and distant lands, yearning to behold the three contemplations, the ten suchnesses, and how mental defilements activate nature, all prostrated and bowed their bodies, praying for the Heavenly Drum [of Dharma], having their dispositions cleansed and their hearts washed white, with their three actions continually heightened and the two adornments limitless. Suddenly, on the seventh day of the eighth month in the sixth year of the Zhenguan era (632 CE), he passed away in his quarters at Guoqing Temple, at the age of seventy-two. At first he lightly manifested a mild illness, without resorting to medicine; an extraordinary fragrance filled his room. Nearing the end, he instructed his disciples: 'The Maitreya Sūtra says that on the day the Buddha enters the city, the fragrant smoke is like clouds. Burn much incense; I am about to depart.' He then delivered his final instructions, the words and principles subtle and apt, while his disciples and the assembly gazed upon him in tears. Suddenly he rose by himself, joined his palms as if in reverence, opened his mouth to invoke the name of Amitābha Buddha three times, lowered his body and lay down, resting his hands across his chest, with a fair and joyous countenance, and quietly passed away. His whole body remained soft and supple, and the crown of his head was warm for days. Previously, his fellow student Zhixi, who had been personally tonsured by the Great Master and was renowned for his pure clarity, had passed away first in the first year of Zhenguan (627 CE). Nearing death, he said: 'I am to be born in Tuṣita. I saw that in the rows of the Great Master Zhizhe's jeweled seats, all were occupied, except one seat left empty, saying: "Six years later, Dharma Master Zhang'an will ascend to this."' His preaching of the Dharma and burning of incense attested to this purport: it was indeed the Compassionate Honored One descending to welcome him. Calculating the years and reckoning the period, Zhixi was clearly not mistaken. On the ninth day of that month, he was interred in the south mountain of the temple; people from far and near wailed and rushed, their clamor shaking the forests and valleys. Earlier, when the master's transforming influence spread among the bustling vulgar world, his spiritual efficacy was vast. A villager named Yu Falong, thirty-odd li from the mountain, contracted an illness and was on the verge of death; multiple treatments brought no recovery. His son ran into the mountain to pray for help. The master chanted the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra for him and burned sandalwood incense; although the sick man was far away, he smelled the sandalwood fragrance enter his nostrils and immediately recovered. Moreover, at a site on the south ridge of Le'an called Anzhou, with emerald trees and clear streams, the water flowed hidden underground, and human paths were impassable. The master lingered there fondly and made a vow, saying: 'If this land becomes level, I shall come here to lecture on the sūtras.' Before even ten days had passed, white sand surged up and became as level as a jade mirror. Regarding this manifestation of responsive resonance, the master did not break his previous vow, and proceeded to lecture on both the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka and Suvarṇaprabhāsa sūtras to repay the spiritual intent. Once, at Shejing Temple in Zhang'an, while he was lecturing on the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, sea pirates came ashore to pillage, and clergy and laity fled in disarray. Just then the master struck the bell and took his seat to lecture, his countenance devoid of fear. The pirate band waved their banners and advanced on the temple, but suddenly saw battle flags gleaming in the sun and men over ten feet tall holding bows and brandishing halberds, ferocious and valiant; seeing them, the crowd was terrified and dispersed at once. Once at Buddha's Ridge, during a leisure hour from lecturing, he led his students in piling stones to make a stupa, which needed two pieces specifically to construct the stupa door. His disciple Guangying had previously transported a stone by cart, but all suspected it was too thick and large, and wished to seek elsewhere, which would again expend strenuous effort. The master raised his staff and lightly struck the stone previously hauled; with a sudden crack, it split into two pieces, equal in thickness, and was fitted into the stupa doorway, fitting exactly as though by prior measure. Such spiritual resonances were exceedingly numerous. From the time the master received his training at Tiantai and also received the Way at Mount Heng, the three generations from Nanyue through Tiantai succeeded one another, their fundamental source being non-dual. In contemplation or lecturing, he constantly relied on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, and also lectured on scriptures such as the Nirvāṇa, Suvarṇaprabhāsa, and Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, and expounded Dharma-doors such as the Perfect and Sudden Calm Abiding and Special Insight and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, exceedingly many times. Furthermore, Zhizhe's eloquence moved like clouds and poured like rain, resembling the heavenly net or comparable to a necklace; the only one capable of grasping it was the master alone. The private records he kept of the Great Master's spoken teachings, his own authored commentaries, and the titles of his miscellaneous writings were all inscribed on the back of his stele. His disciple Guangying, a refined and prominent talent of later generations who was well versed in the doctrinal teachings, together with the community of Guoqing Temple, jointly recorded his conduct and erected this stele at the gate of the temple. Śramaṇa Faxuan of Hongshan Temple in Changzhou composed the text; its prose is exceedingly splendid, found in his separate collection.