淨土往生傳 1.21

1.21

釋僧柔。俗姓陶潤之丹陽人。九歲親學。秀發天然。閭里先達。莫不嘉其俊異。後遇弘稱法師。遂投簪焉。稱有大名。一時學者。駢肩依仰。柔侍其側。日承提發。以故所學方等諸經。皆貫精奧。後入剡白山靈鷲寺。寺僧夜夢。人擁鈇鉞隊仗。充塞山阿。僧有問之。人曰柔法師至。吾且迎矣。及旦柔果至焉。寺僧競款其事奇柔。柔曰。吾為鬼物見。尚何奇也。齊太祖及世祖文宣諸帝。咸知其名。前後詔至鄴下。特加睿睠。然柔不親俗不尚名。不以物態盛衰介其意。惟於淨土之業著心焉。每至懸車西次。則斂容端想。歷伸其願。其亡之日。柔見化佛。僅百千數。又聞房室內外異香襲襲。柔曰。異香之來兮襲我衣。聖賢之擁我兮將安歸。乃令鋪席于地。西望虔禮。即時遷神焉。春秋六十四。全身葬於其山之南。沙門僧祐。與柔最善。摭其初終。刻之于石。

Shi Sengrou, whose secular surname was Tao, was a native of Danyang in Runzhou. At the age of nine he engaged in study, his outstanding talent blossoming naturally. None of the elders of his village failed to praise his exceptional brilliance. Later, meeting Dharma Master Hongcheng, he abandoned his hairpins to become a monk. Cheng had great renown; at that time students came shoulder to shoulder to rely on him. Rou attended at his side, daily receiving his guidance and inspiration; therefore, the various vaipulya scriptures he studied were all penetrated to their profound subtleties. Later he entered Lingjiu Monastery on Mount Bai in Shan. A monk of the monastery dreamed at night of people holding axes and battle-axes in a procession filling the mountain slope. A monk questioned them, and a person said, 'Dharma Master Rou is arriving; we are going to welcome him.' When dawn came, Rou indeed arrived. The monastery monks vied to report the matter and marveled at Rou. Rou said, 'That I was seen by spirits—what is so marvelous about that?' Emperors such as Taizu, Shizu, and Wenxuan of the Qi dynasty all knew his name. Time and again they summoned him by imperial decree to Ye, showing him special imperial favor. Yet Rou did not mingle with the secular world nor prize fame, nor did he allow the waxing and waning of worldly conditions to affect his mind. He focused his mind solely on the karma for the Pure Land. Whenever the sun's chariot sank westward, he would compose his countenance, rectify his thoughts, and express his vows one by one. On the day of his death, Rou saw transformation buddhas, numbering nearly hundreds of thousands, and also smelled extraordinary fragrance wafting repeatedly inside and outside his room. Rou said, 'The extraordinary fragrance comes and brushes my robes; the sages and worthies embrace me—where will we return?' He then ordered a mat spread on the ground, faced west and reverently paid homage, immediately translating his spirit. His age was sixty-four. His complete body was buried to the south of that mountain. The śramaṇa Sengyou was closest to Rou; he gathered the details from his beginning to his end and carved them on stone.