華嚴經傳記 5

English (machine translation) 5

Language: English

5.1

Compiled by the Śramaṇa Monk Fazang of Chongfusi in the Capital (Jingzhao).

5.2

9. Copying the Scripture
10. Miscellaneous Accounts

5.4

Prince Yanming of Anfeng and Prince Xi of Zhongshan of the Wei
Śramaṇa Doyuan
Śramaṇa Facheng
Śramaṇa Xiude
Court Gentleman for Dispersion Sun Simiao of the Tang
Upāsaka Kang Alushan

Prince Yanming of Anfeng and Prince Xi of Zhongshan of the Wei were both members of the imperial clan. Widely versed in antiquity and learned in literature, they both established bodhimaṇḍas, conducting fasts and lectures without interruption. Mixing aromatic juice with ink, they copied one hundred sets of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, and one set of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra in gold characters on fine white silk. All were housed in cabinets of the five fragrances and enclosed in cases of the four precious substances. On quiet nights and auspicious occasions, they maintained pure fasts and circumambulated the path. Divine light in five colours would frequently emanate, illuminating the terraces and buildings. The assembly all beheld it together, and their resolution was doubled.

5.6

Śramaṇa Deyuan: his clan is unknown; he was a native of Tianshui. Having gone forth into homelessness in his youth, he constantly took the Avataṃsaka as his vocation, making reading, recitation, and dhyāna-contemplation his constant standard. He traveled widely among lecturing halls, subtly comprehending the ultimate tenets. Revering this profound scripture, he longed to unfold his sincere devotion. Thereupon he cultivated a pure garden, planting paper-mulberry trees along with aromatic herbs and various flowers. To enter the garden he first washed, and he watered the plants with fragrant water. When the paper-mulberry had grown for three years, their sweet perfume was densely suffused. He constructed a separate pure room, plastering the walls and floor with scented mud, and prepared pure sandalwood, immaculate vessels, bathing gear, and new garments. The craftsmen observed the fast, changing their clothes when entering or leaving, always rinsing their mouths and perfuming themselves with incense. They peeled the paper-mulberry to harvest the bark, steeped it in agarwood water, and guarded the purity while making the paper, completing it only when a full year had passed. He then raised a separate pure terrace and built another new chamber upon it; even the timber, beams, rafters, and tiles were all washed with fragrant decoctions, every matter being severe and clean. In the hall he placed an ivory seat of patterned cypress, arrayed all around with fragrant flowers. Above, he suspended a silken jeweled canopy hanging with bells and pendants, mingled with tassels of white sandalwood and purple agarwood, which served as desks for the scripture and as brush handles. Each day the scribes received the fasting precepts, bathed three times in fragrant decoctions, and wore floral crowns and pure robes, resembling celestials in appearance. Whenever about to enter the scripture chamber, incense was always burned along the flanking path, led in advance by Sanskrit chanting. Deyuan likewise, his person and attire austere and pure, respectfully guided them holding an incense burner, scattering flowers in offering, and only then was the copying begun. Deyuan knelt in contemplative concentration, fixing his gaze and devoting his mind. When only a few lines had been written, every single character gave off bright light, illuminating the entire cloister. The whole assembly saw it together, and there was none who was not moved to tears. Only after a long while did it cease. Furthermore, he moved a divine being brandishing a halberd to manifest in form and stand guard. Deyuan and the scribes saw it together, while other people did not perceive it. There was also a blue-clad youth of pure conduct who arrived out of nowhere, holding celestial flowers in his hands, suddenly offering them in veneration. Such spiritual inspirations, before and after, followed one another in close succession. Only after two years had passed was the copying finally completed. He contained it in a fragrant casket, set it within a jeweled curtain, placed it in that pure hall, and constantly rendered head-bowing veneration. Later, on an occasion when it was chanted, the casket emitted an extraordinary light. As for such cleanliness and veneration, it surpassed past and present; such omens of auspicious response were indeed rarely matched. This scripture was successively transmitted, down to the present day through five masters. When later people entered purity to chant it, there were occasional spiritual responses. It is now kept in the quarters of the monk Xianshou at the Western Dayuansi, where it is guarded and venerated.

5.7

Śramaṇa Facheng: his secular surname was Fen; he was a native of Wannian County in Yongzhou. Having gone forth into homelessness when young, he constantly took reciting the Avataṃsaka as his vocation. Because he met Dhyāna Master Huichao living in seclusion in Blue Valley, he looked up to him as to a lofty mountain, cherishing high aspirations. He then cast aside noisy tumult, laid bare his sincere heart, and requested instruction. Later, on the southern ridge of the monastery, he constructed an Avataṃsaka Hall, thoroughly purifying it inside and out before setting about the copying. The hall's tiles and mortar were both mixed with fragrant water, all stamped and trodden by Facheng himself. When the adornments were complete, he cleanly painted images of the Seven Locations and Eight Assemblies. He also sought out and summoned a man skilled in calligraphy at that time, Zhang Jing, an Erudite of the Hongwenguan; keeping every matter pure, he respectfully copied this scripture. Facheng also personally held an incense burner, single-mindedly offering veneration, even fixing his gaze and pouring out his heart upon every dot and stroke. Moreover, his bestowal of generous compensation was earnest and heavy: for two sheets of paper, he paid five hundred cash. Consequently, he moved an auspicious bird of extraordinary shape and colour to fly into the hall carrying a flower in its beak, hovering and circling around, descending to the scripture desk and rising again to the incense burner. When the scripture was still incomplete and copying was paused, it was resumed later; on the day it was resumed, the bird flew in again. He further crafted a jeweled curtain and a fragrant casket, embellished and completed in full. From then on, those who chanted it with a concentrated mind mostly received touching blessings.

5.8

Dhyāna Master Śramaṇa Xiude of Zhongshan in Dingzhou of the Tang: his clan is unknown. Bitter austerity was his innate nature, and he kept the Way in mountain forests. Relying on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and the Awakening of Faith, he settled his mind and bound his practice, collecting his thoughts to cultivate dhyāna. In the fourth year of Yonghui, presenting his sincerity to the Great Vaipulya scriptures, he aroused the Great Aspiration to copy it with ultimate devotion. Therefore, he set up a separate pure cloister and planted paper-mulberry trees for a full three years, interspersing them with flowering medicinal plants and watering them with fragrant water, cleanly producing paper. He further raised a separate pure platform and built a chamber upon it, summoning a man skilled in calligraphy, Wang Gong of Guizhou. In a separate cloister, Wang fasted, bathed, put on clean garments, burned incense, scattered flowers, hung up banners and canopies, and made prostrations before the scripture and repented before mounting the seat. Lowering his brush, he held fragrance in his mouth; raising his brush, he exhaled scented breath. Every day it was constantly like this, diligent and without slackening. The Dhyāna Master personally entered into purity, focusing his mind and burning incense; while the brush and ink moved, his heart and eyes were wholly concentrated. Having cultivated it like this from beginning to end, for every fascicle copied he offered ten bolts of fine silk; by the time the entire set was finished, he had offered more than six hundred bolts in total. Gong, having aroused the bodhi-mind, refused to accept any of it. Straining his sincerity and exhausting his thoughts, his sinews and physical strength were completely spent. As soon as the copying of the scripture was finished, he suddenly passed away forever. Because the scripture was completed, Xiude hosted a vegetarian feast to celebrate the gathering. The great assembly jointly requested and yearned to pay homage and view it. Before the assembly, the Dhyāna Master burned incense, scattered flowers, and solemnly made grand vows. As soon as he opened the scripture treasury, it emitted a great bright light, spreading for more than seventy li and shining upon the city of Dingzhou. The gentlemen and women in the city all saw it together. When the vegetarian assembly of Zhongshan beheld this rare marvel, gaining what they had never had before, they threw their bodies down rolling on the ground, weeping bitterly and repenting. The Dhyāna Master also had stones carved with one copy each of the Nirvāṇa and Lotus Sūtras. When they were first moved into the niche, both the stone Nirvāṇa and Lotus emitted bright light filling more than ten li, beheld by the entire assembly, moving them to boundless awakening.

5.9

Retired Scholar Sun Simiao was a native of Yong'an in Yongzhou. His spiritual radiance was lofty and far-reaching, and his deportment was stalwart. He stood seven feet tall, with clear, wide-set eyebrows and eyes. His learning encompassed both internal and external treatises, and he was especially adept in medicine. The arts of yin and yang, calculation, astrology, calendar-making, and divination were all thoroughly understood by him. Good at nourishing nature and fond of ingesting alchemical substances, he once took cinnabar pills of flowing pearl and mica powder; his skin remained smooth and lustrous, and his teeth and hair did not deteriorate. Elders handed down the saying that he was over a hundred years old, yet looking at his appearance he seemed only about seventy or eighty. In the first year of Yining, when Gaozu rose in rebellion in Bingzhou, Simiao was within the borders. Gaozu, knowing his far-reaching mastery, treated him with courtesy, appointing him a military commander and conferring upon him a fourth-rank post, which he steadfastly declined and did not accept. Later he wandered through various places, having no permanent dwelling, benefiting beings according to the times and making medical prescriptions his sole affair; whenever anyone came to consult him, there was none he did not heal and rescue. He often exhorted both monastic and lay people to copy more than seven hundred and fifty sets of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. During the Shangyuan and Yifeng eras, he resided in the border area of Wannian and Chang'an counties. He once conversed with people, speaking of figures from the Qi and Wei and the old capital of Luoyang, describing the courtiers in the city and the monastics in the temples as vividly as if he had seen them with his own eyes; yet when they were about to question him further, he would fall silent. He once compiled the wondrous arts of famous physicians ancient and modern into a work entitled Master Sun's Qianjin fang, totaling sixty fascicles, which completely exhausted practical uses of the time, and presented it to the emperor. Gaozu rewarded him with bundles of silk and was about to grant him an honorable official rank, which he bitterly declined and would not accept. He was frequently summoned into the inner palace, staying for months without coming out to await orders in the forbidden quarters, and was treated with extreme favor. The Emperor once casually asked him: 'What merit is the very best to cultivate?' Simiao replied: 'Why does the Heavenly Emperor not read the Avataṃsaka Sūtra?' The Emperor asked why. Simiao said: 'The great personage of a Heavenly Emperor must read a great scripture. It is like a precious vessel and its lid; they ought to match each other.' The Emperor said: 'If we speak of great scriptures, recently the Great Prajñā translated by Dharma Master Xuanzang totals six hundred fascicles. Is that not great?' Simiao said: 'The Prajñā school of emptiness is but a branch that has emerged from within the Avataṃsaka Sūtra.' The Emperor placed deep faith in this. Simiao died before the Yongchun era. Simiao had a son named Xingzhen, also named Yuanyi, who was upright, broad-minded, possessing a strong memory and wide learning. He contemplated the essentials of the Dharma deeply, dedicated his merit toward the One Vehicle, continued in his father's style, and also took the Avataṃsaka as his vocation, becoming famous in his time and truly proving to be a layman of lofty faith.

5.10

Kang Alushan was a man of Wannian County in Yongzhou. On the first day of the fifth month of the second year of Tiaolu, he contracted an illness and subsequently died. On the fifth day, as they were about to conduct his funeral and carried him to the grave site, before he could be lowered from the carriage, a sound was heard from within the coffin. His relatives suspected that he had come back to life, so they pried open the coffin to inspect it; Alushan had indeed revived. He got up and was carried home, where he personally recounted that he had been mistakenly summoned by the underworld. Before King Yama, there were thirty-five people in all, standing together in a single row. Among them were the Xinfeng [Subprefecture] Guoyi officer and Alushan, fifteen men in all, who had previously observed the precepts; together at the King's seat, they presented their petition and were permitted to return. At that time, he had seen Master Rong, a pharmacist from the East Market. Master Rong had fallen ill and died in the first year of Tiaolu; because he had boiled chicken eggs during his life, he was cast into the cauldron of boiling water hell along with seven hundred people. Knowing Alushan from before, he thereupon entrusted him with a message, saying: 'My fourth son, Xingzheng, has some slight benevolence and compassion. Please tell him on my behalf to have one copy of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra copied. Nothing else can match it. If he would have it copied for me, all seven hundred of these people will attain liberation.' Afterward, when [Alu]shan had recovered his health, he went to Xinfeng to search for the Guoyi officer; when they met, their sorrow and joy were just like that of old friends, and as each related the reasons, their stories coincided exactly. He also went to the medicine-seller A's family in the East Market, and fully reported Rong's words to Xingzheng. Xingzheng was deeply moved and saddened; he thereupon requested the Avataṃsaka Sūtra from Master Fazang at the West Dayuansi, and had someone copy it. At first, after Master Rong had died, the family had no dreams of him whatsoever. But on the evening when the sūtra first began to be copied, the entire family shared the same dream, in which his father came, filled with boundless joy. By the eighth month of the first year of Yonglong, the adornment [of the scrolls] was complete, and they invited an eminent monk to celebrate the sūtra and provide offerings. On that day, Alushan was also in the assembly; he then saw Master Rong and the seven hundred ghost followers all coming to the vegetarian feast, revering the Three Jewels, kneeling together before the monks, repenting, and receiving the precepts. When the matter was finished, they departed. Having fully witnessed the underworld tribunal, [Alu]shan came to deeply believe in sinful karma; he thereupon cut off human affairs, permanently abandoned worldly ties, entered Mounts Taibai and Zhongnan, and devoted himself exclusively to seclusion. Afterward, his end was unknown.

5.11

Part Ten: Miscellaneous Writings

5.12

The Names of the Buddhas in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, in two fascicles; The Names of the Bodhisattvas, in one fascicle.

5.13

The above: it is unknown who compiled them. However, that compilation was deficient and abridged, failing to be complete. Now the monk Xianshou has further broadened its scope, making it quite detailed and complete.

5.14

The Ritual of Universal Bowing in Fifteen Prostrations.

5.15

The above was composed by Chan Master Zhiyi of Mount Tiantai. The beginnings of its bows all invoke 'Universal Bowing,' and the ends all invoke 'Locana Buddha.' Within it are fully cited the names of the seven locations and eight assemblies, such as the Bodhimanda of Extinction. It is widely practiced in Jiangbiao at present, so it is not narrated in detail again here. Zhiyi moreover classified the Avataṃsaka as the perfect and sudden teaching (and so forth).

5.16

A Record of the Avataṃsaka Vegetarian Feast, in one fascicle.

5.17

The above was composed by Prince Wenxuan of Jingling. Since the Qi and Liang dynasties, broad and extensive vegetarian assemblies have mostly followed this for their practice. Now Dharma Master Hong of Yizhou also takes the Avataṃsaka as his devotion; he encouraged his gentry and commoners, pure believers and others, some fifty or sixty people, to form a merit association together. Each person recites one fascicle of the Avataṃsaka to match the whole of the sūtra. Every fifteen days, one family hosts a vegetarian feast, adorning the bodhimaṇḍa with a high seat; the host ascends the seat while the rest of the followers take their positions, and each recites his portion of the sūtra to completion before dispersing. This is also of the same sort as the vegetarian assemblies.

5.18

The Ritual Procedure for Offerings in Ten Gates.

5.19

The above was composed by the monk Zhiyan.

5.20

A Record of the Various Spiritual Friends of the Youth Sudhana.

5.21

The above was composed by the monk Yancong.

5.22

The Essential Purport of the Avataṃsaka, in one fascicle with ten gates: First, the locations where the sūtra was preached; second, the times when the sūtra was preached; third, the Buddhas who preached the sūtra; fourth, the audiences for the preaching of the sūtra; fifth, the doctrines preached in the sūtra; sixth, the teachings preached in the sūtra; seventh, revealing the doctrines of the sūtra; eighth, explaining the intentions of the sūtra; ninth, discerning the benefits of the sūtra; tenth, demonstrating the completeness of the sūtra.

5.23

The above: in each of the above ten gates, ten meanings are used for explanation, totaling a hundred gates to reveal the intention of the sūtra. It thereby brings the vast and deep purports clearly before one's eyes, fully as explained therein. Composed by the monk Fazang.

5.24

The Contemplation of the Avataṃsaka Samādhi, in one fascicle with ten gates.

5.25

The above: in each of the above ten gates, ten meanings are also used to discern the essentials, aiming to cultivate and accomplish the vows and practices of Samantabhadra, bind the adamantine seed, and create the cause for bodhi, so that in the future one may participate in the Avataṃsaka ocean assembly. Applied alongside the Tiantai Lotus Samādhi Contemplation, it is ample to serve as a mental mirror for all practitioners. Composed by the monk Fazang.

5.26

The Outline of the Avataṃsaka, in one fascicle; The Chapter on the Profound Meaning of the Avataṃsaka, in one fascicle; A Record of the Division of the Avataṃsaka Teaching, in three fascicles.

5.27

The above: in addition to the major commentaries and subcommentaries, these were spoken according to what people asked and in accordance with the meaning, recorded to form fascicles, all to reveal the intention of this sūtra. Composed by Fazang.

5.28

Avataṃsaka Translations of Sanskrit Words, in one fascicle (old sūtra); Avataṃsaka Sanskrit Words with Pronunciation and Meaning, in one fascicle (new sūtra).

5.29

The above: all the Sanskrit words in the two sūtras, old and new, as well as the difficult characters in the new sūtra, are fully translated, with pronunciation and explanation. For scholars who read the sūtra, they are truly essential.

5.30

Ten Verses of Reverence to the Three Jewels of the Avataṃsaka.

5.31

The above: the first bow says: 'Namo to the First Assembly, beneath the Bodhi tree upon the lion throne: Locana Buddha, extensively reaching throughout the ten directions and universally pervading the dharmadhātu; the ocean of the Dharma of profound fruition virtues preached by all Buddhas; and all the Three Jewels of Bodhisattva Mahāsattvas numerous as dust motes, such as Samantabhadra Bodhisattva.' The subsequent seven assemblies invoke the locations, names of the Dharma, and names of the bodhisattvas; apart from their specific distinctions, all are the same as above. The ninth bows to the Three Jewels in the medium version of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra in 498,800 gāthās. The tenth bows to the Three Jewels in the superior version of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra in gāthās numerous as the dust motes of ten great chiliocosms; both merely invoke the Buddhas, Dharma, Samantabhadra, and others preached in those sūtras, as can be understood.

5.32

Ten Verses in Praise and Reverence to the Avataṃsaka, in ten fascicles.

5.33

The above: the first bow says: / 'With utmost mind I take refuge and bow to the First Assembly of the Avataṃsaka: / The King of Trees mounts the precious throne; / The Lotus Realm expounds the flowery text. / The holy assembly emerges from between his brows; / Divine radiance issues from his face. / Within the seat flows an ocean of wisdom; / From the hair-pores appear clouds of compassion. / A single dust mote contains the dharmadhātu; / The nine times are divided within a single thought. / We vow, together with all sentient beings, / To roam together in the Padmagarbha Realm.' / The praise for the Second Assembly says: / 'In the Dragon Hall, the clouds of faith are vast; / In the ocean seal, the Dharma flow is deep. / Wheel-radiance reaches the limits of space; / Names and truths exhaust the perfect voice. / The initial worthy stage encompasses the six positions; / From the first transmission, he overlooks the ten directions. / Host and companions perpetually reflect their patterns; / The principle of Indra's net is difficult to fathom.' / The third assembly says: / 'Gathering sun shines on the mountain summit; / Clouds gather, filling empty space. / Under the tree of awakening, originally without arising; / In the heavenly hall, the golden form appears.'

5.34

The matter of Di Renwei, Judicial Administrator of Suizhou: In the second year of Tiaolu, Emperor Gaozong was about to conduct the Feng sacrifice on Mount Song, and the prefects and governors of the various prefectures each recommended candidates according to the six categories. The Prefect of Suizhou, the Duke of Linzhen, uprightly recommended and dispatched him. Staying in the Eastern Capital at an inn, he lodged in the room of a medicine-seller. At night he dreamed that someone led him on a tour into a great chamber whose boundaries were unknown. Looking upward, he saw only rippling caissons with drooping lotuses, rounded springs covering an ocean, and golden flowers with square mirrors, wonderfully adorned. On the banners were images of all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. He heard a voice in the void saying: 'This is the Avataṃsaka bodhimaṇḍa.' After waking, his joy was doubled, and he vowed to make a great banner like what he had seen in his dream. Upon returning to Suizhou, he sought out painters to undertake the crafting; at that time, there were two men, Mr. Fan and Scholar Wang of Anzhou, who came together to paint it. In the Buddha hall of Xingyuansi, the fine painting was completed, over a hundred feet in length. The mineral pigments used were all cleansed with fragrant water. Thereupon an auspicious magpie was moved to fly down every day, tamely wandering about the painting site without the slightest fear. After a period of about ten days, it suddenly vanished. Everyone considered this to have been brought about by the purity and utmost sincerity of the painters.

5.35

Records of the Transmission of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Fascicle Five.

5.36

In the middle of the first month of the twelfth year of Bun'ei (wood-boar), after listening to the thirty lectures on the Treatise on the Five Teachings, I briefly passed through Kōzan-ji at Toganoo. From the hands of that temple's resident monk, E'nichibō Benshin, I borrowed the five fascicles of the Transmission of the Avataṃsaka. While reading and marking the text, my heart was etched with delight, and after returning down to the Southern Capital, I engaged skillful calligraphers to copy it. Within this record, for the present fascicle, the recto was commissioned to the monk of this temple, Shimotsuke-kō Tan'e, who was made to copy it. The kana and surnames were assigned to my companion, the companion's companion Kōkeishō, who was made to add them. The verso notes were personally written by my own hand at the New Study Hall of Sonshō-in at Tōdai-ji on the final day of the fourth month of the same year (at the hour of the monkey). Having already reached the age of eighty, though fatigued by the diligence of the 'three remainders,' in order to prepare a remembrance for after this life and encourage late-life study, when future scholars open and view this, may they pity my intention! These kana, surnames, and verso notes are the records of the three locations by the Lay Monk and Major Counselor Tsuchimikado (Lord Akitada). Copying directly from that Zen layman's own handwritten punctuated copy, this can serve as an peerless witness text.

5.37

On the fifth day of the sixth month (at the hour of the horse) in the first year of Kenji (wood-boar), at the New Maitreya Hall of this sub-temple, I finished collating the copies and respectfully reading them. I pray that through the slight merit of reading through these five fascicles, it will surely become an excellent cause for attaining liberation at those Three Assemblies! Former Provisional Junior Prelate Gyōnen. Audience: Ryōgyō, Tokugyō; Master Keijitsu. After the discussion, right at the New Study Hall of this sub-temple, in order to dispel doubts in later days, I have merely recorded in detail the procedure of the occasion. Scribe: The monk Śākya Gyōnen, a late descendant of the Kegon school, seventy-four years of age, sixty-two summer retreats.

5.38

Furthermore, this paper was bestowed by Emperor Go-Saga in the late autumn, the ninth month of the calendar year of Bun'ei 3. Since this unexpected imperial favor brought extraordinary honor to my person, I gradually brought it out to copy such essential texts, so as to aid the future bodhi of the late Retired Emperor and pray for the Dharma Emperor's attainment of liberation. May the unseen host surely bestow their compassion, and may what is prayed for be completely accomplished!

Linked texts (1)

華嚴經傳記 — Classical Chinese