華嚴經傳記 3.5

3.5

釋法敏。姓孫氏。丹陽人。八歲出家。事英禪師。為弟子入茅山。聽明法師三論。又聽高麗實講大乘經論。躬為南座。結軫三周。貞觀元年。出還丹陽。講華嚴涅槃。二年越州田都督。追還一音寺。相續法輪。于時四方義學沙門八百餘人。當境僧千二百人。尼眾三百。士俗之集。不可復記。時為法慶之嘉會也。至十九年會稽士俗。請住靜林寺。講華嚴經。至六月末正講。有蛇懸半身。在敏頂上長七尺許。作黃金色。吐五色光。終講方隱。至夏訖還一音寺。夜有赤衣二人。禮敏曰。法師講四部大經。功德難量。須往他方教化。故從東方來迎法師。弟子數十人同見。至八月十七日卒。爾前三日三夜。無故闇冥。恰至將逝。忽放大光。夜明如日。異香不滅。莫不怪歎。道俗莊嚴。送於隆安之山焉。造華嚴疏七卷。

Shi Famin, whose secular surname was Sun, was a native of Danyang. At the age of eight he left home and served Chan Master Ying as a disciple. He entered Mount Mao to listen to Dharma Master Ming on the Three Treatises, and also listened to Shi of Goguryeo lecture on Mahāyāna sūtras and treatises. Personally serving as the southern-seat challenger, he carried on debates for three cycles. In the first year of Zhenguan, he returned to Danyang and lectured on the Avataṃsaka and Nirvāṇa. In the second year, Area Commander Tian of Yuezhou summoned him back to Yiyinsi to continue turning the wheel of Dharma. At that time, more than eight hundred śramaṇas studying doctrinal principles from all four directions, twelve hundred local monks, three hundred nuns, and an uncountable number of gentry and laypeople gathered; it was celebrated as a joyful assembly of Dharma rejoicing. In the nineteenth year, the gentry and laypeople of Kuaiji invited him to reside at Jinglinsi to lecture on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. Towards the end of the sixth month, during the lectures, there was a snake with half its body suspended above Famin's crown, about seven feet long, golden in color, emitting five-colored light; only when the lecture ended did it disappear. When the summer retreat concluded, he returned to Yiyinsi. At night, two men in red robes bowed to Famin and said: 'Dharma Master, you lecture on the four great scriptures, and your merit is immeasurable. You must go to other realms to teach and transform; thus we have come from the east to welcome the Dharma Master.' Several tens of disciples saw this together. On the seventeenth day of the eighth month, he passed away. For three days and three nights prior to that, it had become inexplicably pitch dark; just as he was about to pass away, a great light suddenly shone forth, bright as day through the night, and a wondrous fragrance did not fade. None failed to marvel and sigh in admiration. Monastics and laypeople in formal procession escorted him to the mountains of Long'an. He authored a seven-fascicle commentary on the Avataṃsaka.