淨土往生傳 2.15

2.15

釋智琰。俗姓朱吳郡人。母張氏。初懷琰夢升通玄寺塔。遠視臨虛坦無懼色。及其載誕。秀形瞻視。八歲事通玄寺璩法師。十二誦法華一部。以繼晨夕積三年。且曰。翼翼京邑四方。是則何必久居坎井。自昧聞見乎。十六北詣持法師。聽成實論。不二年持公受請南邁。琰復東歸。就大莊嚴寺爝法師。重研成實。陳至德三年。京師建仁王齋詔。以三教論議。百口流辯。七夜爭鋒。惟琰所議。為帝稱賞。陳滅隋興。尚書令楚國公楊素左僕射郅國公蘇威。並引重之。大唐統御琰道彌振。至于中年。行法華普賢懺。又誦法華三萬餘部。又於淨土。修三福業及諸觀想。與州內外僧俗五百許人。每月一集。綿歷光陰凡十載。勤勤之志。終乃如初。比夫匡阜之陰共誓同期。無以異也。真觀八年十月得疾。疾中見一梵僧。手執寶缾前謂琰曰。吾無邊光也。却後淨土所稱功德寶王乃我爾。琰得其事謂寺僧曰。無邊光即勢至也。功德寶王實其成佛號。由因言果。勉以諭我。我其西歸也必矣。其日終于武丘之東寺。春秋七十一。州民小大哀誠盡禮。以葬其寺之南嶺。

Shi Zhiyan, whose secular surname was Zhu, was a native of Wujun. His mother, Lady Zhang, when first pregnant with Yan, dreamed that she ascended the pagoda of Tongxuan Monastery, looking out into empty space from afar with calm ease and no sign of fear. When he was born, his appearance and gaze were exceptional. At the age of eight, he served Master Ju of Tongxuan Monastery. At twelve, he recited the complete Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, continuing day and night for three years. He then said, 'The majestic capital is the center of all quarters; why must I dwell long in a shallow well, obscuring my own hearing and seeing?' At sixteen, he traveled north to Master Chi to hear the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra. Within two years, Master Chi accepted an invitation to travel south, so Yan returned east and studied the Tattvasiddhi anew under Master Jue at Dazhuangyan Monastery. In the third year of Zhide of the Chen dynasty, an imperial Renwang vegetarian feast was established in the capital, and an edict decreed that debates be held among the three teachings; a hundred voices engaged in fluent dispute, contending for supremacy over seven nights. Only Yan's arguments were praised by the emperor. When the Chen fell and the Sui arose, Director of the Department of State Affairs Yang Su, Duke of Chu, and Left Vice Director Su Wei, Duke of Zhi, both treated him with great esteem. Under the reign of the Great Tang, Yan's Way flourished even more. In his middle years, he practiced the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka and Samantabhadra repentance, and recited more than thirty thousand copies of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka. Moreover, regarding the Pure Land, he cultivated the threefold blessed karma and various contemplations, gathering once a month with about five hundred monastics and laypeople from within and outside the prefecture. This continued across a span of ten years, his diligent aspiration remaining unchanged to the very end. Compared to those who made vows together at the foot of Mount Kuang, it was no different. In the tenth month of the eighth year of Zhenguan, he fell ill. During his illness, he saw an Indian monk holding a jeweled vase, who came forward and said to Yan, 'I am Boundless Light (Anantaprabhā). Hereafter, the one called Merit Jewel King in the Pure Land is none other than myself.' Yan, understanding the event, told the monastery's monks, 'Boundless Light is Mahāsthāmaprāpta; Merit Jewel King is truly his title upon attaining buddhahood. Speaking from cause to effect, he has encouraged and instructed me; my return to the west is certain!' That day he passed away at the Eastern Monastery of Wuqiu, at the age of seventy-one. The people of the prefecture, young and old, observed full mourning rituals with genuine grief and buried him on the southern ridge of the monastery.