華嚴經傳記 2.12

2.12

Shi Huizang, whose secular surname was Hao, was a native of Pingji in Zhao State. He left the household at eleven, and before receiving the full precepts, he had already lectured on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. Later, he listened to the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, the Daśabhūmika [Śāstra], the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the Prajñāpāramitā, and other texts; among those of broad learning, few failed to yield to him. When his age exceeded forty, he went into seclusion in the Qianque Mountains, pillowing his head on stones and rinsing his mouth with streams, purifying his mind in the profound mystery. He constantly studied and savored the various scriptures, taking the Avataṃsaka as his foundation. Although he thoroughly penetrated its hidden subtleties, he remained humble and modest; looking up to the sacred assistance, he hoped for a sign indicating whether he was right or wrong. Immediately, a spiritual response descended during the night: a voice in the sky said, "Right! Right!" Having heard this proclamation, he accordingly composed a commentary on the meanings and propagated it in person. Those who came to join his school were all nourished and absorbed by it. Emperor Wucheng of Qi issued a letter inviting him to the Daji Hall to expound this scripture. The Dharma companions gathered like dense clouds, and the gentry all assembled; contemporaries shared in the honour, regarding it as a grand and magnificent sight. From then on, he focused exclusively on propagating this text, and its transmission and practice spread even further. During the Zhou's destruction of the scriptures and the Way, he wiped away his traces from the human realm, resting amid mists and clouds, safeguarding his dark monastic robes. At the beginning of the Sui, when the Dharma was revived, he resumed his monastic status. Emperor Wen had long revered the reputation of his virtue, and dispatched an envoy from afar to summon him. The carriage with rushes wrapped around the wheels having descended, he was granted audience with the Emperor in the Chengming Hall, where he set forth the profound mystery, fully according with the imperial intention; he was thus made one of the Six Great Virtues. An imperial decree bestowed special honors upon him, which continued through the four seasons without interruption for two decades. On the twenty-ninth day of the eleventh month of the first year of Daye, he fell ill and passed away at Kongguansi. He was eighty-four years old. Facing death, he instructed that his corpse be left exposed. His disciples respectfully observed his final instructions, placing his body in the forest at the foot of the mountains; they then interred his bones, constructed a stūpa, and erected it on the peak in front of Zhixiangsi on Mount Zhongnan.