淨土往生傳 3.9

3.9

釋神皓。字常慶。俗姓徐其先北齊人。曾祖事陳。因家于吳。皓器宇軒豁風采朗邁。少事道場懷一師。天寶六年詔下。每郡度僧三人。推其名節。道業出人者薦之。皓於本郡為薦首。尋依會稽曇一師。精窮律部。已而歎曰。律部所防。蓋繩諸己。今之僧徒。捐本逐末。能繩己者。未始有聞。吾誰區區。取譏眾人哉。乃歸包山福願寺。逍遙自得士人。高其志尚樂從之游。以故一時之聲大振。唐乾元元年。詔天下。二十七寺。各奏大德僧七人。長講戒律。皓承詔書。僶俛從命。奉戒弟子。開州刺史陸向給事中嚴涗服道弟子禮部侍郎劉太真大理評事張象廉使李筠。皆欽風德若不迨焉。末年締結西方法社。以發道俗。其間不能遺塵慮。以淨六根者多。引退之時。人以為栴檀林中常材自枯焉。真元六年十月遘疾。十二月五日。囑弟子惟亮曰。吾於今夕亡之必矣。所願生者淨土也。汝宜班列。九品為我前導。其夕淨土兆眹。密現于前。皓乃澡身易衣。以終其報。報盡之三日。所居之室香氣存焉。

Shi Shenhao, courtesy name Changqing, had the secular surname Xu; his ancestors were from the Northern Qi. His great-grandfather served the Chen dynasty, and thus the family settled in Wu. Hao possessed an expansive demeanor and a bright, outstanding air. In his youth, he served Master Huiyi of the practice center. In the sixth year of the Tianbao era, an imperial edict was issued directing that three monks be ordained in each commandery, and that those with superior reputation, moral integrity, and exceptional religious practice be recommended. Hao was the first to be recommended in his home commandery. Soon after, he relied on Master Tanyi of Kuaiji, thoroughly investigating the vinaya texts. Later, he sighed and said: “What the vinaya texts guard against is surely to restrain oneself. Monks of today discard the root to chase the branches; of those who can restrain themselves, I have never heard of any. Why should I make small-minded efforts merely to invite ridicule from the multitude?” Thereupon he returned to Fuyuan Monastery on Mount Bao, carefree and self-content. Literati praised his noble aspirations and gladly sought his company, so for a time his renown spread widely. In the first year of the Qianyuan era of the Tang, an imperial edict ordered that twenty-seven monasteries throughout the realm each recommend seven monks of great virtue to lecture continually on the vinaya precepts. Receiving the imperial decree, Hao reluctantly complied. Among the disciples who received the precepts from him were Lu Xiang, Prefect of Kaizhou, and Yan Sui, Supervising Secretary; among his disciples who embraced the Dao were Liu Taizhen, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Zhang Xiang, Reviewer of the Court of Judicial Review, and Li Jun, Surveillance Commissioner—all of whom admired his refined virtue as if they could never match it. In his later years, he established a Western Pure Land society to inspire clerics and layfolk alike. Among them, many were unable to shed worldly concerns and purify their six sense faculties; when they withdrew, people considered that ordinary timber naturally withers in a sandalwood forest. In the tenth month of the sixth year of the Zhenyuan era, he fell ill. On the fifth day of the twelfth month, he instructed his disciple Weiliang, saying: “Tonight I shall certainly pass away. That which I vow to be born into is the Pure Land. You should arrange the nine grades in rank to serve as my vanguard.” That night, signs of the Pure Land secretly manifested before him. Hao then bathed his body and changed his robes to bring his karmic lifespan to an end. For three days after his life ended, a fragrant aroma lingered in the room where he had resided.