淨土往生傳 2.3

2.3

Shi Huisi had the secular surname Li and was a native of Wujin. In his youth he dreamed of an Indian monk who encouraged him to renounce secular life, and so he shaved his head and took the tonsure. Yet the place where he relied for lodging was far from being an araṇya. Subsequently he was moved by [the appearance of] a divine monk who exhorted him to observe the fasts and precepts. Huisi thereupon exerted his resolve, eating only once a day and completely cutting off social greetings and farewells. He recited more than thirty scriptures, including the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka and the Vimalakīrti. When someone burned down the forest dwelling where he stayed, that person immediately broke out in a virulent disease; coming to Huisi to plead and repent, he was cured at once. On another day he again dreamed of several hundred Indian monks; the senior among them stroked him and said: “The moral precepts you received before were not the superior vinaya; how could they open the correct path for you or aid your pure practice? Having had the good fortune to meet this pure assembly, you should ascend the platform anew.” Because of this night dream, Huisi renewed his refined devotion and repeatedly had spiritual responses. From this he came to see the events of his practice of the Way across three lifetimes. Moreover, he once saw Amitābha in a dream expounding the Dharma to him. He therefore made an image of him to adorn his contemplative visualisations. He also once sat peacefully with focused mindfulness, and saw the signs of his good and bad karma over an entire lifetime appear clearly all at once. Having seen this, his body and mind became valiant and vigorous, and he attained awakening to the purport of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-samādhi and the Great Vehicle vaipulya. Thereupon he expounded and gave analogies for both the Great and Lesser Vehicles, as well as the equal study of concentration and wisdom, using them to guide both himself and others. Over time, the assembly became mixed with both refined and coarse practitioners, and disputes arose profusely. His disciples were troubled by this and reported it fully to Huisi. Huisi said: “Even when the Great Sage was in the world, he could not avoid slanderous rumors; in what I do, how could I escape petty detraction? Moreover, our Buddha-Dharma will perish before long, and I do not know in which direction we may avoid this disaster.” Soon a voice spoke from the air: “If you wish to cultivate concentration, Wudang and Nanyue are the places for it.” During the Wuping era of Northern Qi, he traveled south to Guangzhou. At that time the world was in turmoil and the roads were largely blocked, so he temporarily stayed with his disciples on Mount Dasu. This mountain lay on the border between Chen and Qi, exposed to the clashes of arms; furthermore, the Buddha-Dharma was collapsing like clouds and the five groups of disciples were dispersing. Yet the outstanding figures of the time still admired his virtue, hiding their tracks and reputations to come and consult him on the flavor of the principle. Huisi said: “I am old; I have no ability to inspire you. For now, I will order my student Zhiyi to lecture on the Suvarṇaprabhāsa in my place.” When Zhiyi came to the passage where the single mind is endowed with the ten thousand practices, he had a doubt. Huisi said: “What you just doubted is the sequential intention of the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā; it is not yet the round and sudden purport of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka. In the past, during a summer retreat, I rigorously disciplined myself to ponder this; before long, in a single thought-moment, I suddenly comprehended all phenomena. Since I have had the privilege to realise it directly in person, there is no need for you to harbor doubt.” Zhiyi thereupon received instruction on the twenty-one days' state of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, and then inquired: “The venerable's level of practice should reside in the ten stages.” Huisi said: “No, it is only the iron wheel stage of the ten faiths. When I test it against events in time, you can see it for yourself.” During the Guangda era of Chen, he left Mount Dasu and, together with over forty monks, proceeded directly to Nanyue. When they arrived, he said to the monks: “Within ten years from now, I will surely undertake a distant journey.” The next day he went forward to Hengyang, where he encountered a fine site with precipitous layered peaks and densely towering lush forests. Huisi pointed beneath the lush forest and said: “This is an ancient monastery; long ago I rested here for years.” Excavating the earth according to his words, they indeed unearthed the foundations of halls and temples as well as utensils used by monks. Next, coming beneath a great cliff, he again said: “This was where I sat in meditation long ago. A band of bandits came and severed my head; from the end of that life I have had this present body.” Moving only a few steps, they also found a pile of dried bones and a skull. Huisi held up the skull and made a prayer: “This is the remnant of my body and head; relying on the Buddha's power it may be perfumed and aided. I specially collect it to erect a pagoda for it.” When the Emperor of Chen heard that Huisi repeatedly had extraordinary occurrences, he issued an imperial edict inviting him to stay at Qixuan Monastery. Soon he went to another monastery; encountering rain on the way, his robes and articles did not get wet, and his shoes did not become soaked. Huigao, the Rector of Monks, saw this and sighed in admiration: “This is truly a practitioner who has attained the fruit; we of our sort cannot fathom him.” The Commander-in-Chief Wu Mingche paid him a visit and presented Huisi with a rhinoceros-horn pillow. A separate commander, Xiahou Xiaowei, went to the monastery to pay his respects. On the road he suddenly thought: “The rhinoceros-horn pillow presented by Lord Wu—I would like to know what it looks like.” When he arrived at Huisi's quarters, before he had made his obeisances, Huisi said: “If you wish to see the rhinoceros-horn pillow, you may go and look at it.” Xiahou was greatly astonished and thereby knew that he had the power of knowing others' minds. While Huisi dwelt at Nanyue, the Ruler of Chen sent three messengers a year to comfort and enquire after him, and provisions piled up like mountains. The divine transformations he displayed in transforming people were difficult to fathom: sometimes manifesting a large or small form, sometimes concealing his traces in empty nothingness, or sometimes possessing external objects; auspicious omens were too numerous to cite. Nearing his end, he went to the practice site halfway up the mountain and expounded the Dharma day after day. His warnings were stern and strict, making those who heard them feel a chill in their hearts. Presently he said again: “If there are ten people who can cultivate the pratyutpanna-samādhi, I shall supply whatever they require. If there is no such person, I shall depart!” In the end, no one responded. Huisi then gathered his mindfulness, and in the space of a snap of the fingers he passed away. There was a junior monk, Lingbian, who was beside him at the time, wailing in grief and stamping his feet. Huisi opened his eyes again and rebuked him: “The holy beings have come to welcome me and discuss where I am to receive birth; why do you disrupt this with your grieving wails?” He then expelled Lingbian outside, and passed away as before. Tracing that year, it was the ninth year of the Taijian era of Chen, at the age of sixty-four. At the beginning of Huisi's arrival, he had thought that after ten years he would surely undertake a distant journey; up to this point it was precisely ten years. Commentators consider that since Huisi once received the expounding of the Dharma from Amitābha, subsequently made a sacred image of Amitābha to adorn his contemplative visualisations, and furthermore formed an alliance of pure karma with Dhyāna Master Huiming pledging to meet in Anyang, then when Huisi earlier said that the holy beings had come to welcome him and discuss where he was to receive birth, how could it be anywhere else? In truth, he was born in Anyang.