華嚴經傳記 3.7

3.7

Śramaṇa Daoying, whose secular surname was Chen, was a native of Yishi in Puzhou. When he was eighteen years old, his parents valued him and took a wife for him. For five years they shared the bed, but he vowed never to touch her. Later, he traveled to Bingzhou and studied under Dharma Master Ju, listening to the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and other scriptures. In the tenth year of Kaihuang, he was finally admitted to the monastic robes. He then entered Baiti Temple on Mount Taihang to practice calming and insight (śamatha-vipaśyanā), and suddenly attained great comprehension. Later, he resided at Shengguang Temple in the capital and studied the Mahāyānasaṃgraha under Meditation Master Tanqian, who held him in exceptional esteem. In the leisure hours after hearing lectures, he always tended to monastic chores. By presenting the principle through practical tasks, he disciplined his mind, often saying, "When I sit in meditation with eyes closed, it is as though I have attained something; yet when I open my eyes, I return to mundane consciousness. Therefore, regarding affairs and tasks, by wandering in contemplation and exerting the mind, I cause both emptiness and existence to remain unhindered." When he usually sat in meditation, he opened his eyes only like a thread, remaining unmoved for more than two nights, never once dozing off. Later, when he entered meditative absorption (dhyāna-samādhi), he gradually displayed miraculous signs. Once, when someone disputed over land with him, he suddenly manifested as a stiff corpse: his breath ceased, his complexion changed, and soon his body began to swell. When the other person turned his heart in repentance, [Daoying] spoke and laughed as normal. He also entered a pool for six nights and lay in the snow for three evenings, merely saying that it was as hot as roasting fire or dusty dirt; his [inner state] was truly difficult to fathom. One day, while lecturing on the Awakening of Faith, when he reached the Gate of Suchness, he abruptly fell silent. Wondering at this, people went to see him: his breath was cut off and his body cold. The assembly realized he was in the cessation of conception, so they left him alone. Only after several nights did he arise from samādhi. Once there was a severe drought, so he lectured on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra to pray for sweet rain. Two old men, somewhat different from ordinary people, each with two attending boys, constantly came to listen. Daoying found them unusual. Later, when he inquired into their origin, they answered, "We are sea spirits. Because we love this sūtra, we came to listen." Daoying said, "Since I am now lecturing on the sūtra for the donors, please send down a gentle rain." The spirit instructed the two boys, who then went out through the window. In a moment, rain poured down copiously, and people far and near all depended upon it. The two old men bowed in gratitude and vanished in an instant. When his end drew near, he asked for water, shaved and washed, sat back down, put on his robe, and told his disciples, "Impermanence has arrived. Just do not deceive yourselves." He then ordered them to lecture on the "Verses of Xianshou" from this sūtra. When his final breath was about to fade, he told the attendants to recite the Buddha's name, and he suddenly passed away in spirit. It was the ninth month of the tenth year of Zhenguan; his age was eighty. Just before his passing, tens of thousands of birds were moved to utter mournful cries around his room. Two boys dressed in blue held flowers and entered, and a purple vapor like radiant light emerged from Daoying's body, its flames rising several tens of feet. When morning came, mist gathered for twenty li around, and people and things lost their luster; it ceased only after three days. Companions in practice from the mountains and rivers of Pu and Jin gathered in grief as if they had lost a dear parent. Furthermore, the monastery's ox was moved to bellow and shed tears unceasingly, refusing water and grass for seven days. When they were about to bury him, at the first strike of the hoe, the earth suddenly shook violently for fifteen li around, filling everyone with great awe. There were also two white rainbows reaching from afar to encircle the niche, and two white birds soared and called out, following and escorting [him] to the place of the niche. Carefully considering how Daoying's path opened beings to awakening and his intuitive wisdom penetrated the divine, he obtained auspicious signs in rich abundance, gathering them in life and death alike. To have lived without failing his body or the world—was he truly not such a person?