淨土往生傳 2.13

2.13

Shi Guanding, styled Fayun, whose secular surname was Wu, was a native of Yixing in Changzhou. His fifth-generation ancestor had fled to Dong'ou, and thus his family settled in Zhang'an of Linhai. When Guanding was still an infant in arms, whenever his mother pronounced the names of the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, his mouth would inevitably echo them; the words, sounds, and cadence could be heard distinctly. Dharma Master Huizheng of Shejing Monastery heard this and said, 'This is truly a habituated trait from past lives!' At the age of seven, he became Zheng's disciple; receiving daily instructions and exhortations, he quickly made progress. When Zheng passed away from the world, Guanding went to Tiantai to seek the Way, practicing the precepts and samādhi without ever deviating from the proper rules. During the Zhide era of the Chen dynasty, he accompanied the Master of Zhi (Zhiyi) to reside at Guangzhai. When the Chen lost rule and affairs fell under the Sui dynasty, in the eleventh year of Kaihuang, the Prince of Jin was stationed to govern Yangzhou; Guanding followed Zhiyi to stay at Chanzhong Monastery. After three years, when Zhiyi set his chariot to return, Guanding also accompanied him. In the seventeenth year, when Zhiyi was ill, Guanding received his final testament as well as tokens of farewell for the Prince of Jin. The prince had previously requested the precepts from Zhiyi, and when Guanding arrived, the prince gave rise to deep sorrow and mourning, and through virtuous deeds honored him as a spiritual relative. The prince subsequently dispatched Wang Hong, Marshall of the Yangzhou Area Command, to escort Guanding back to the mountain, and founded Guoqing Monastery for Zhiyi. In the first year of Renshou, the Prince of Jin succeeded to the throne, and Guanding received imperial favor that grew ever more flourishing day by day. The halls and pavilions of the monastery were further renovated and completed. Soon he was summoned to the imperial palace to lecture on sūtras such as the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa and Saddharmapuṇḍarīka; during the three summer months he expounded them broadly, and the six imperial palaces looked up to him with reverence. After another two years, Guanding returned to Tiantai. On the seventh day of the eighth month in the sixth year of Tang Zhenguan, he passed away at Guoqing Monastery at the age of seventy-two. At first, when Guanding fell ill, an extraordinary fragrance filled the room. Guanding rejoiced, saying, 'This is the fragrance of the jeweled lotus; I shall ride upon it and depart!' Thereupon, before the image, he recited the name of Amitābha Buddha ten times, and three times the names of the two bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, as well as the various bodhisattvas of the ocean-like assembly of pure beings. Then he took to his mat, folded his hands over his chest, and solemnly passed away as though returning home.