景德傳燈錄 27
English (machine translation) 27
- Language
- English
27.1
Those who attained mastery in the Chan gate, who although they did not appear in the world as abbots were famous in their time, ten persons appear in this record:
Chan Master Baozhi of Jinling
Great Being Shanhui of Wuzhou
Chan Master Huisi of Nanyue
Chan Master Zhiyi of Tiantai
Upādhyāya Saṅgha of Sizhou
Venerable Wanhui Fayun
Chan Master Fenggan of Tiantai
Hanshanzi of Tiantai
Shide of Tiantai
Upādhyāya Budai of Mingzhou
Miscellaneous citations, challenges, pickings, replacements, and alternatives from various places
27.2
Chan Master Baozhi was a native of Jincheng. His surname was Zhu. Leaving home young, he stayed at Daolin Temple to practice Chan meditation. At the beginning of the Taishe era of the Song dynasty, his dwelling suddenly became unfixed and his eating had no regular hours. His hair was several inches long, and he walked barefoot carrying a monk's staff. Around his head he wore scissors, a ruler, and a bronze mirror, or hung one or two feet of silk cloth. For days he did not eat, yet showed no signs of hunger. From time to time he would sing verses whose words were like prophetic prognostications. Scholars and commoners alike all served him. In the seventh year of the Yongming era of the Qi dynasty, Emperor Wu deemed that the master was deluding the multitude, had him arrested, and committed him to the prison in Jiankang. At dawn, people saw him entering the marketplace, but when inspecting the prison, he was there as before. The magistrate of Jiankang reported the matter, and the Emperor invited him to the rear hall of the palace. While the master was in Hualin Garden, one day he suddenly wore three cloth caps layered together, none knowing where he obtained them. Soon, King of Yuzhang and Crown Prince Wenhui died one after another; Emperor Wu soon passed away, and the Qi dynasty entered its decline. Because of this, the master was forbidden to come and go. When Emperor Gaozu of the Liang dynasty ascended the throne, he issued an edict saying: "Master Zhi's traces are confined in dust and defilement, yet his spirit roams in the profound and quiescent. Water and fire cannot burn or wet him; snakes and tigers cannot attack or terrify him. Speaking of his Buddhist principle, he is above the Śrāvakas; talking of his reclusion, he is higher than the escaping immortals. How could one use the ordinary sentiment of commoners to futilely restrain him? How did it become as vulgar as this? From now on, let him no longer be restricted." One day the Emperor asked the master: "How should this disciple cure his afflictions and delusions?" The master said: "Twelve." Those who understood took it that the twelve causal conditions are the medicine for curing delusions. He also asked about the purport of twelve. The master said: "The purport lies in the characters of the hours of the water clock." Those who understood took it that it was written in the twelve double-hours. He further asked: "When may this disciple attain a quiet mind to cultivate practice?" The master said: "Peaceful happiness, restraint." Those who understood took it that restraint in cultivation means stopping; only when one reaches peaceful happiness does one stop. He also composed twenty-four verses of "Praise of the Mahāyāna," which circulated widely in the world. (Other words and verses which secretly harmonized with the purport of the Chan school, ten verses and the "Hymns on the Twelve Hours" composed by the master, are briefly recorded and compiled in another fascicle.) In the winter of the thirteenth year of the Tianjian era, on the verge of passing away, he suddenly told the monks to move the temple's Vajra spirit statue outside, and secretly said to someone: "The Bodhisattva is about to depart." Within ten days, he died without illness, his whole body fragrant and soft. Prior to his demise, he lit a candle and gave it to Wu Qing, the Gentleman of the Rear Chamber. Qing reported the matter, and the Emperor sighed, saying: "The Great Master will not stay any longer! Does the candle mean he entrusts the future affairs to me?" Thereupon he buried him with lavish rites on Dulong Mound at Mount Zhong, and also established Kaishan Hermitage. He ordered Lu Chui to compose an epitaph inside the tomb, and Wang Yun to carve a stele at the temple gate. His remaining likeness was transmitted everywhere. When the master first revealed his traces, his age seemed around fifty or sixty, and at his end he was not aged either; no one could fathom his years. There was a certain Xu Jiedao, aged ninety-three, who said he was Zhi's maternal younger cousin, four years younger than Zhi. Calculating thus, when the master died, he was probably ninety-seven. He was imperially bestowed the posthumous title of Great Master Miaojue.
27.3
Great Being Shanhui was a native of Yiwu County in Wuzhou. On the eighth day of the fifth month in the dingchou year, the fourth year of the Jianwu era of the Qi dynasty, he descended into the household of Fu Xuanci in Shuanglin Village; his original name was Xi. In the eleventh year of the Tianjian era of the Liang dynasty, at age sixteen, he married a woman of the Liu family named Miaoguang, who bore him two sons, Pujian and Pucheng. At twenty-four, he was fishing at Jiting Shoal with fellow villagers. Having caught fish, he submerged the basket in the water and prayed: "Let those who would go depart, and those who would stay remain." Some thought him foolish. It happened that there was an Indian monk named Bodhidharma (at that time called Ascetic Song) who said: "I made a vow with you in the presence of Vipaśyin Buddha. Now your robe and bowl remain in Tuṣita Palace; on what day will you return?" He then told him to look at his reflection in the water, where the Great Being saw a circular halo and a jeweled canopy. The Great Being smiled and said to him: "In a blacksmith's forge there is much dull iron; at a good physician's gate there are plenty of sick people. Saving sentient beings is urgent; why yearn for the pleasures of that place?" Song pointed to the peak of Mount Song, saying: "This can be your dwelling." The Great Being tilled the land himself and resided there. He then spoke a verse, saying:
27.4
"Empty-handed, holding a hoe; / Walking on foot, riding a water buffalo. / A person passes over a bridge; / The bridge flows, but the water does not."
27.5
When someone stole his beans, wheat, melons, and fruit, the Mahāsattva gave them baskets to carry the haul away. By day he was hired out for labor, and by night he practiced the Way. He saw the three Tathāgatas—Śākyamuni, Jinsu, and Dīpaṃkara—emit light that enveloped his body. The Mahāsattva then said: "I have attained the Śūraṅgama samādhi. I should renounce my fields and residences to hold a great unrestricted assembly." In the second year of Datong, he put his wife and children up for sale and obtained fifty thousand cash to provide for the Dharma assembly. At that time, Dharma Master Huiji heard the Dharma and attained awakening, saying, "My master is indeed an incarnation of Maitreya." Fearing this would confuse the multitudes, the Mahāsattva scolded him. On the twenty-eighth day of the first month of the sixth year, he sent his disciple Fu Wang to deliver a letter to Emperor Gaozu of Liang. The letter read: "The Mahāsattva Shanhui of future liberation beneath the twin trees respectfully addresses the Lord of the Realm, the Bodhisattva who saves the world. I now wish to set forth the superior, intermediate, and inferior goods, hoping you can accept and uphold them. The superior good has, in brief, an open and receptive mind as its root, non-attachment as its core doctrine, the elimination of marks as its cause, and nirvāṇa as its fruit. The intermediate good has, in brief, the cultivation of the personal self as its root and the ordering of the realm as its core doctrine, resulting in peaceful and joyful karmic rewards among devas and humans. The inferior good has, in brief, the sheltering and nurturing of sentient beings, the conquest of cruelty, the renunciation of killing, and the universal observance of the six purification days by all the common people. Having now heard that the Emperor reveres the Dharma, I desire to express discussions on its meaning, but having not yet fulfilled this heartfelt wish, I send my disciple Fu Wang to inform you." Wang went to Director of the Imperial Music Bureau He Chang. Chang said: "Even National Preceptor Huiyue still presents humble petitions; Fu Xi is merely a common subject of the realm, and neither is he an elder monk. He is utterly lacking in humility—how could I dare present this?" Wang burned his own arm on the imperial highway. Chang then rushed to Tongtai Temple to consult Dharma Master Hao. Hao urged him to present it at once. On the twenty-first day of the second month, the letter was presented. When the Emperor read it, he immediately dispatched an imperial edict to welcome him. After he arrived, the Emperor asked, "Whom have you hitherto served as teacher?" He replied, "Following from nowhere, coming from nowhere; so it is with serving a teacher." Crown Prince Zhaoming asked, "Why does the Mahāsattva not discuss doctrines?" He replied, "What the Bodhisattva speaks is neither long nor short, neither broad nor narrow, neither bounded nor boundless. Concerning the correct principle of suchness, what further words could there be?" The Emperor further asked, "What is the absolute truth?" He said, "Ceasing without being annihilated." The Emperor said, "If it ceases without being annihilated, then this possesses form; having form, it is dull and sluggish. If it is like this, the upāsaka cannot escape the vulgar currents." He said, "When facing wealth, do not seek it illicitly; when facing adversity, do not evade it illicitly." The Emperor said, "The upāsaka understands propriety well." He said, "All dharmas are neither existent nor nonexistent." The Emperor said, "I respectfully accept the upāsaka's incoming instruction." He said, "Among all the forms and appearances in the great chiliocosm, there are none that do not return to emptiness. The confluence of a hundred streams does not exceed the sea; the immeasurable wondrous dharmas do not depart from suchness. For what reason is the Tathāgata alone the most exalted among the three realms and ninety-six paths? He views all sentient beings as his infants, as his own self. Under heaven, without the Way there is no peace, and without principle there is no joy." The Emperor remained silent. The Mahāsattva took his leave. On another day, the Emperor invited the Mahāsattva to the Shouguang Hall to lecture on the Diamond Sūtra. The Mahāsattva ascended the seat, held a clapper, and chanted the sūtra, composing forty-nine verses. In the fifth year of Datong, he petitioned to donate his residence at the foot of Songshan and built a temple on the basis of the twin *chou* trees, naming it Shuanglin. The branches of the trees intertwined, auspicious mist encircled them, and a pair of cranes nested there. In the second year of Taiqing, the Mahāsattva vowed to fast, intending to burn his body as an offering on the Buddha's birthday. When the day came, over sixty monastics and laypeople fasted and burned their bodies in his place, and three hundred people pierced their hearts and sprinkled their blood to blend with incense, entreating the Mahāsattva to remain in the world. The Mahāsattva took pity and consented. In the third year of Chengsheng, he once again gave away his household wealth to make offerings to the Three Jewels on behalf of sentient beings, and spoke a gāthā, saying:
27.6
"Giving up everything entirely for the host of living beings, / I offer it to the God among Gods. / Looking up, I pray that the rain of sweet dew / May pour down everywhere without bound."
27.7
In the second year of the Tianjia era of the Chen dynasty, the Mahāsattva was circumambulating the intertwined trees on the summit of Songshan and practicing the Way. He moved the seven Buddhas to accompany him: Śākyamuni led in front, and Vimalakīrti followed behind. Only the World-Honoured One Śākyamuni repeatedly looked back and spoke with him, as [Fu Xi] was to succeed him as the next Buddha. A yellow cloud suddenly arose on the mountain, swirling like an umbrella canopy; hence it was called Mount Yunhuang. At that time, Dharma Master Huihe died without sickness, and the dhūta Song entered extinction at Lingyan Temple on Mount Ke. The Mahāsattva knew this in advance and said: "Venerable Song awaits me in Tuṣita; I definitely cannot linger for long." At that time, the flowering trees on the four sides, which were just flourishing and bearing fruit, suddenly withered and dried up. On the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month of the first year of the Taijian era, a jichou year, he instructed the assembly, saying: "This body is utterly detestable, a gathering of manifold sufferings. You must be cautious with the three karmas and vigorously practice the six perfections. If you fall into hell, it will be exceedingly difficult to escape; you must constantly repent." He also said: "After I depart, my couch must not be moved. In seven days, the Superior Person Fameng will bring an image and a bell to enshrine here." The disciples asked, "After your extinction, how should your physical body be treated?" He said, "Burn it on the mountaintop." They asked again, "What if that cannot be carried out?" He said, "Be sure not to place it in a coffin. Merely stack bricks to make an altar and move the corpse upon it. Encircle it with screens and cover it with crimson gauze. Erect a stupa above, with an image of Maitreya placed below it." They asked again, "When all Buddhas enter nirvāṇa, they speak of their merits. May we hear the source from which our Master arose?" He said: "I have come from the Fourth Heaven to liberate all of you, as the next in succession to Śākyamuni. Fu Pumin was Mañjuśrī, Huiji was Avalokiteśvara, and He Chang was Ānanda, who have all come together to assist me. Therefore, the Large Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra says: 'There is a bodhisattva who comes from Tuṣita, whose faculties are keen and sharp, and who swiftly accords with prajñā.' That is indeed myself." Having spoken these words, he sat cross-legged and died. His lifespan was seventy-three years. Soon after, Master Meng indeed brought an image of Maitreya woven of silk and a nine-boss bell, leaving them to enshrine the site, and vanished in an instant. More than ten requisites of the Mahāsattva were preserved. On the seventeenth day of the sixth month of the ninth year of the Tianfu era of the Jin dynasty, a jiachen year, King Qian dispatched an envoy to open the stupa, retrieve sixteen pieces of holy relics of purple-golden color and his requisites, and deposit them at Jianhua Temple on Longshan, south of the prefectural seat, and fashioned an image using the holy relics.
27.8
Chan Master Huisi of Mount Heng was a native of Wujin, whose secular surname was Li. He had a fleshly uṣṇīṣa on his crown, walked like an ox, and gazed like an elephant. In his youth, he was known in his village for his kindness and forbearance. Once, he dreamed that an Indian monk urged him to leave secular life; he then bid farewell to his parents and entered the Way. Upon receiving full ordination, he constantly practiced seated meditation, eating only one meal a day. He recited sūtras such as the Lotus Sūtra a full thousand times. Furthermore, reading the Sūtra of the Wondrous and Supreme Samādhi, he praised the virtues of dhyāna, and thereupon resolved to seek out spiritual companions. At that time, Chan Master Huiwen had several hundred disciples. (Master Wen had initially reached behind his back to draw from the canon, obtaining the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, which clarified the Chan principles. This treatise was composed by the fourteenth patriarch of the Western Heavens, the Mahāsattva Nāgārjuna; thus he took Nāgārjuna as his distant master.) [Huisi] then went to receive the Dharma from him, restraining his mind day and night during the summer retreat. After three weeks, he attained the supernormal power of knowing past lives, and doubled his vigor. Soon an obstacle arose: his four limbs became weak and frail, unable to walk. He reflected to himself: "Illness arises from karma, and karma is produced from the mind. When the source of the mind does not arise, what appearance can external objects have? Illness, karma, and the body are all like the shadows of clouds." Having contemplated thus, his deluded thoughts ceased, and he felt as light and at ease as before. When the summer retreat ended, he had still attained nothing. Feeling deep shame, he let his body lean against the wall. Before his back had even reached it, he suddenly attained awakening. The Lotus samādhi, the gate of the supreme vehicle, was clearly understood in a single thought. The longer he tempered and cultivated it, the more his former contemplation increased. His reputation and practice spread far and wide, and students arrived daily. Inspiring them without weariness, his resonant encounters were truly numerous. He then used the Hinayana and Mahayana dharmas of meditation, wisdom, and so forth to offer analogies according to their faculties, causing them to practice compassion and forbearance and to uphold the bodhisattva's three pure precepts. His clothing generally consisted of coarse cloth, supplemented with mugwort against the cold. In the Tianbao era of the Northern Qi, he led his disciples south. Encountering the turmoil of Emperor Xiaoyuan of Liang, he temporarily stayed at Mount Dasu. Those who made light of life and prized the Dharma braved dangers together to arrive, filling the mountain forests. The master instructed the assembly, saying: "The source of the Way is not far; the ocean of nature is not distant. Only seek within yourself; do not look to others. If you search outside, you will not find it; even if you find it, it will not be real." He spoke a gāthā, saying:
27.9
"Sudden awakening to the mind's source opens the treasure store; / Concealed or revealed, spiritual penetration manifests the true mark. / Walking alone and sitting alone, ever towering and majestic; / A hundred billion transformation bodies are beyond count. / Even if gathered together to pack and fill empty space, / When viewed, not even the mark of a fine speck of dust is seen. / How delightful this thing is, beyond comparison! / From the mouth it casts forth a radiant pearl, gleaming with light. / Commonly one hears talk of the inconceivable; / A single word indicates its name, realized right upon speech."
27.10
He also spoke a gāthā, saying:
27.11
"Heaven cannot cover it; earth cannot sustain it; / Neither going nor coming, without obstruction. / Neither long nor short, neither blue nor yellow; / Neither in the middle nor inside or outside. / Transcending the ordinary and surpassing the crowd, it is the profound vastness; / Pointing to things to transmit the mind, people do not understand."
27.12
In other matters, he responded according to whatever inquiries were made. Using donations from monastics and laypeople, he produced gold-lettered copies of the Prajñā and Lotus Sūtras. At that time, the assembly requested the master to lecture on the two sūtras; he gave explanations following the text. He also instructed his disciple Zhiyi to lecture on his behalf. Coming to the phrase 'one mind is endowed with ten thousand practices', Zhiyi had doubts and requested resolution. The master said: "What you doubt is merely the sequential meaning of the Large Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra; it is not yet the round and sudden intent of the Lotus. Formerly, in the midst of summer, all dharmas suddenly arose before me in a single thought. Since I have personally verified it, you need not harbor doubt." Zhiyi then inquired about and received the Lotus practice, and attained awakening after three weeks. (Zhiyi was the founder of the Tiantai school, Great Master Zhizhe, who appears in a subsequent chapter.) On the twenty-third day of the sixth month of the first year of Guangda of the Chen dynasty, leading over forty monks from Mount Dasu, he headed straight for Mount Nanyue, and said: "I lodge on this mountain for a term of only ten years; after that, I must certainly embark on a distant journey. In a previous life, I once trod this place." Patrolling as far as Hengyang, he came across a place with remarkably beautiful woods and springs. The master said, "This is an ancient temple. I once resided here in the past." He had them excavate it, and the foundations were still extant. He also pointed below a cliff and said, "Here, while I was sitting in meditation, bandits cut off my head." Upon searching, a pile of dried bones was indeed found. From then on, his teaching flourished even more. The ruler of Chen repeatedly extended consolations and offerings, designating him as a Great Chan Master. When about to pass away, he said to his disciples: "If there are ten people who do not begrudge their bodies and lives, and constantly practice the Lotus, the Pratyutpanna-buddha-saṃmukhāvasthita-samādhi, and the Vaipulya repentance, striving for direct verification, whatever they need I will supply myself. If there are no such people, I will depart far away." At that time, the assembly considered ascetic practice difficult, and none answered. The master then dismissed the assembly and quietly passed away. His junior disciple Yunbian wailed aloud. The master opened his eyes and said: "You are an evil māra! I was about to depart; why do you disturb and agitate me? Foolish person, get out!" Having spoken, he departed forever. At that time, an extraordinary fragrance filled the room, the crown of his head was warm, his body was supple, and his complexion was as usual. This was the twenty-second day of the sixth month of the ninth year of Taijian. His lifespan was sixty-four years. Whatever he composed was orally dictated without redaction or alteration. He composed two fascicles of the *Gateway to the Forty-Two Syllables*, two fascicles of the *Gateway to Non-Contention Practice*, and one fascicle each for five works including the *Profundity of the Great Commentary*, *Peaceful Practice at One's Own Will*, *Sequential Essentials of Dhyāna*, and *Contemplation Gate of the Threefold Wisdom*, all of which circulated in the world.
27.13
Chan Master Zhizhe, Zhiyi of Xiuchan Monastery on Mount Tiantai, was a native of Huarong in Jingzhou. His secular surname was Chen. His mother was of the Xu clan. When she first became pregnant, she dreamt of fragrant five-colored smoke wafting and coiling around her bosom. On the night of his birth, an auspicious light shone throughout the neighborhood. From childhood he had remarkable features, and his skin seemed never to take on dirt. At the age of seven, he entered Guoyuan Monastery; hearing a monk recite the "Universal Gate" chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, he chanted along with him. Suddenly he spontaneously remembered the text of all seven scrolls as though from past familiarity. At fifteen, he made vows before a Buddha image, resolving to leave home. In a trance-like state, as in a dream, he saw a great mountain bordering the sea, atop whose peak a monk was beckoning with his hand, and then led him into a monastery, saying: "You shall dwell here, and you shall finish your days here." At eighteen, having lost both parents, he went to Guoyuan Monastery and left home under the monk Faxu. At twenty, he took the full precepts. In the first year of Tianjia of the Chen dynasty, he went to Mount Dasu in Guangzhou to visit Chan Master Huisi. As soon as Huisi saw him, he said: "Formerly on Vulture Peak we listened together to the Lotus Sūtra; now you have come again." He then revealed to him the bodhimaṇḍa of Samantabhadra and explained the four comfortable practices. The Master entered contemplation for three weeks; his body and mind were completely opened, and concentration and wisdom blended together. Past supernormal knowledges secretly dawned within him, known clearly to himself alone. When he reported his awakening to Huisi, Huisi said: "Were it not for you, none would have realized it; were it not for me, none would have recognized it. This is the preliminary skillful means of the Lotus Samādhi, the initial revolving dhāraṇī. Even tens of thousands of scholars of written texts could never exhaust your eloquence. You may transmit the lamp; do not become one of the last people who extinguish the seed of Buddhahood." Having received this seal of confirmation, in the first year of Taijian he took his leave with bows and went to stay in Jinling to propagate the teachings. Whenever he preached the Dharma, he did not establish words and letters, and due to his eloquence, he never tired day or night. In the seventh year, the yimao year, he dismissed his disciples and went into seclusion at the Folong Peak of Mount Tiantai. Chan Master Dingguang had already been living on this peak; he said to his disciples: "Before long, a kalyāṇamitra leading disciples will arrive here." Shortly thereafter, the Master arrived. Dingguang said: "Do you still remember that time in the past when I raised my hand to beckon you?" The Master immediately realized the sign given when he had bowed before the image, and was filled with mingled joy and sorrow. They then clasped hands and went together to the hermitage. That night, they heard the sounds of bells and chimes in the empty air. The Master asked: "What auspicious omen is this?" Dingguang said: "This is the sign of the gaṇḍī gathering the monks to take up residence. This place of golden ground, I have already occupied; you should reside on the silver ground of the northern peak and open a mountain monastery." Later, Emperor Xuan built Xiuchan Monastery and allotted the tax revenue of Shifeng county to cover the community's expenses. When Emperor Yang of the Sui invited the Master to confer the Bodhisattva Precepts upon him, the Master gave the Emperor the Dharma name Zongchi ("Dharani"), and the Emperor in turn honored the Master with the title Zhizhe ("Wise One"). The Master often said: "The Lotus Sūtra is the wonderful scripture of the One Vehicle. It sweeps away attachment to the teachings of the phantom city, releases stagnant feelings regarding the straw hut, opens the provisional gate of skillful means, reveals the marvelous principle of reality, integrates the minor practices of diverse good deeds, and returns them to the vast and great One Vehicle." Thereupon he produced the Profound Meaning, setting forth the fivefold mysteries: explaining the title, discerning the essence, clarifying the central theme, discussing the function, and classifying the teachings. In terms of the title, it raises both Dharma and metaphor together: the wonderful Dharma of the One Vehicle is the fundamental nature of sentient beings, which is not defiled even when amidst ignorance and afflictions, just as a lotus flower dwells in muddy mire yet its nature is ever pure; hence it is taken as the title. This sūtra opens the provisional to reveal the real, abolishes the provisional to establish the real, and integrates the provisional to return to the real, just as the flower of the lotus contains, opens, and drops away, while the fruit of the lotus conceals, appears, and is fully formed. It also means manifesting traces from the origin and revealing the origin through the traces. Now, the titles of sūtras do not go beyond Dharma, metaphor, and person; whether single, compound, or complete, there are seven types in all (three single, three compound, and one complete), which subsume all titles. "Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower" is one of the compounds (Dharma and metaphor combined as a compound). The title serves to evoke the essence. The essence is the true aspect of reality, for all characteristics have no substance apart from the true aspect. The central theme is the cause and effect of the One Vehicle, which is worthy of veneration because it opens, reveals, awakens to, and enters into the insight and vision of the Buddhas. The function is its powerful operation, for it possesses the power to open, abolish, and integrate. Then, as for classifying the teachings: the teachings of the Tathāgata throughout his lifetime are comprehensively classified into five periods and eight teachings. The five periods are: first, the period when the Buddha, newly awakened to the Way, taught the Avataṃsaka for bodhisattvas of superior faculties; second, the period of teaching the Āgamas for those of lesser capacity; third, the period of teaching the Vaipulya sūtras to reprimand partiality and suppress the lesser, while praising the great and extolling the complete; fourth, the period of teaching the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras to sweep away characteristics and dispel attachments; fifth, the period of integrating the provisional to return to the real, conferring predictions of Buddhahood upon practitioners of the three vehicles and all sentient beings, by preaching the Lotus Sūtra and the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. The eight teachings comprise the four teachings of ritual method—namely sudden, gradual, secret, and indeterminate—and the four teachings of doctrinal content—namely the Tripiṭaka teaching (the four noble truths of arising and ceasing), the Shared teaching (the non-arising four noble truths), the Distinct teaching (the immeasurable four noble truths), and the Complete teaching (the non-contrived four noble truths; only the complete principle of the Lotus Sūtra, extending even to making a livelihood, business enterprises, a single color or scent—none of which is not the true aspect of reality). These encompass all that the Tathāgatas of the three periods of time have expounded, exhausting their import (the four direct teachings and three connecting teachings are detailed in the original doctrinal works); anything departing from this is the teaching of Māra. The doctrinal principles having been clarified, without contemplative practice there is no way to return to one's nature. Thus, relying on the principle of the three truths in one mind (the true, the conventional, and the middle), he demonstrated the three cessations and three contemplations: in each contemplation of the mind, thought after thought cannot be grasped. Moving first through emptiness, next through conventionality, and later through the middle, leaving behind the two extremes to contemplate the single mind like the moon beyond the clouds—this is the active characteristic of the Distinct teaching. He once said: "For shattering all delusions, nothing surpasses emptiness; for establishing all phenomena, nothing surpasses conventionality; for plumbing all natures to their depths, nothing is greater than the middle." Therefore, when one is the middle, all are the middle; there is no conventionality and no emptiness that is not the middle. Emptiness and conventionality are likewise so: this is the active characteristic of the Complete teaching, like the three eyes of Maheśvara, neither vertical, horizontal, parallel, nor separate. (The verse of the fourteenth patriarch, the Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna, says: "Phenomena arisen through causes and conditions, I declare to be emptiness; they are also called conventional designations; they are also the meaning of the Middle Way." This accords with the three contemplations of śamatha, samāpatti, and dhyāna taught in the Śūraṅgama and Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment; although the names are different, their purport is one. Master Bodhidharma transmitted mind with mind without stagnating in names and numbers, directly serving those of the highest supreme faculties and wisdom so that they might forget the trap and forget the concept; therefore, it is the same as this teaching yet not the same. Chan Master Zhizhe exhaustively investigated principles and fully developed natures, providing a complete gate; therefore, it differs from the Chan school yet is not different.) When the three contemplations are completely accomplished, the Dharma-body is not bare, and one avoids being like the poor son. Fearing that students might still be confused about cultivation and nature or fall into one-sided attachments, he further created the meaning of the "six stages of identity" to cut off this calamity. First is the identity in principle: the sentient beings of the ten Dharma realms, down to the tiniest midges, all share the wondrous nature; from the origin, it is ever-abiding, pure, and complete in its enlightened essence, uniformly equal in a single principle. (Those attached to names and characteristics do not believe that the mind itself is the Buddha; seeing this, they generate faith.) Second is the identity in words and names: although the principle nature is level and equal, those who follow the worldly flow use it daily without knowing it, and must rely on words and verbal teachings for external perfuming to hear the name and generate faith and understanding. (The Awakening of Faith says: "Because there is a deluded mind, one is able to know names and meanings." From this point onward, those of blind realization are excluded.) Third is the identity in contemplative practice: having heard the name and developed understanding, one must rely on the aforementioned three contemplations to return to the source. (This is the stage of external ordinary beings in the Complete teaching. Contemplating the five aggregates comprehensively as an inconceivable realm is the stage of the five grades. The Great Master manifested dwelling in this stage. The ten stages of faith in the Distinct teaching, as well as the Tripiṭaka and Shared teachings, are all called the stage of provisionary equipment.) Fourth is the identity in resemblance: as the merit of contemplative practice deepens, resembling functions are brought forth. (This is the stage of internal ordinary beings. Universally subduing ignorance, one enters the stage of the iron wheel of the ten faiths. Without severing delusions of view and thought, from the seventh faith onward, delusions of view and thought naturally collapse, and one attains purity of the six faculties. As the sūtra says: "The eyes born of father and mother see all three thousand realms," and so forth. Chan Master Huisi manifested dwelling in this stage. In the Distinct teaching, this corresponds to the thirty mental states before the grounds; in the Tripiṭaka and Shared teachings, both are called the stage of intensified effort. In the Śūraṅgama Sūtra and the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi-śāstra, after the thirty minds, four intensified efforts are separately established; although the names and stages are the same, their purports are vastly different. Only those of thorough awakening skillfully synthesize them.) Fifth is the partial identity in reality: as the three minds open and develop, one attains the function of true suchness, and with each stage grows ever more superior. (Awakening the initial abode of the Complete teaching is the stage of the bronze wheel. Like the dragon girl attaining Buddhahood in a single thought and manifesting bodies in a hundred realms, from here onward one advances through to the stage of virtual enlightenment. All forty-one mental states are designated as true causes; though the stages differ, the complete principle is without distinction. In the Distinct teaching, this is called the ten grounds; in the Tripiṭaka and Shared teachings, both are called the stage of seeing the Way.) Sixth is the ultimate identity: ignorance is extinguished forever, the enlightened mind reaches its ultimate perfection, and one realizes that which is beyond realization. (This is wondrous enlightenment. The Awakening of Faith says: "The non-duality of the initial and fundamental enlightenment is called ultimate enlightenment." The Benevolent King Sūtra calls it the supreme forbearance of quiescent extinction. It subsumes the provisional Buddhas of the Distinct teaching, corresponding only to the second stage of the Complete practice. The Buddhas of the Tripiṭaka and Shared teachings may be understood from this.) As the above six stages are all identical with Buddha (neither degrading nor blurring them), they generally possess the three bodies—Dharma, enjoyment, and transformation—as their primary fruit (the three treasures and three virtues correspond and interweave; extending even to ten groups of three dharmas, completely subsumed without remainder. A verse says: "The Way, consciousness, nature, and prajñā; bodhi, the Great Vehicle, and the body; nirvāṇa and the virtues of the three treasures—each and every one consists of three dharmas"), and accordingly dwell in four lands as their dependent fruit. The four lands are: first, the Land of Eternally Quiescent Light (the land of Dharma-nature; the Dharma-body dwells in it, body and land corresponding); second, the Land of Real Reward and Unobstructedness (encompassing both forms of enjoyment: the land of self-enjoyment is dwelt in by the reward Buddha himself, while the land of other-enjoyment is dwelt in by bodhisattvas who have mounted the grounds); third, the Land of Expedient Means with Remainder; fourth, the Land of the Common Abode of the Pure and Defiled (both of these are lands of response and transformation, dwelt in by bodhisattvas prior to the grounds, practitioners of the two vehicles, and ordinary beings). In reality, it is neither body nor land, without superior or inferior; for the sake of responding to capacities, body and land are provisionally spoken of, and superior and inferior are distinguished. The Master attained the mutual interpenetration of body and land and the non-obstruction of the provisional and real; hence for more than thirty years, day and night he expounded them, producing four kinds of benefit and equipping the four siddhāntas. (Siddha means universal, and dāna translates as giving; the Chan Master's Dharma was universally bestowed upon sentient beings, who gained benefit according to their capacities, as it is said: the worldly siddhānta produces the benefit of joy, and so forth.) His disciple Guanding recorded tens of thousands of words daily and compiled them, comprehensively designating them the Tiantai Teaching, and dividing them into various categories (such as the Profound Meaning and Textual Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, Great and Small Calming and Contemplation, treatises on contemplations for the Golden Light, Benevolent King, Vimalakīrti, and Nirvāṇa sūtras, the Sixteen Contemplations Sūtra, etc., and the Four Teachings and Gates of Chan, totaling over a hundred fascicles). The transmission through successive generations flourished in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. On the seventeenth day of the eleventh month in the seventeenth year of Kaihuang of the Sui dynasty, the Emperor sent an envoy to summon the Master. As he was about to set out, he said to his disciples: "I go now and shall not return. You must complete the Southern Monastery on Folong in strict accordance with my plans." An attendant said: "If not by the Master's own power, how could it be accomplished?" The Master said: "It will be accomplished by the royal house; you will see it, but I shall not." (Earlier, when the Master wished to build a monastery at the Stone Bridge, while in meditative quiescence he saw three spirits wearing black caps and crimson robes escorting an old monk, who said to the Master: "If you wish to build a monastery, now is not the time. When the three kingdoms become one, there will surely be a great donor who will build a monastery for you. When the monastery is completed, the realm will become pure; it should be named Guoqing ('Country Purified')." Having spoken, they disappeared. In the eighteenth year of Kaihuang, the Emperor dispatched the Sima Wang Hong to enter the mountain and build the monastery according to the plan, fulfilling the previous prediction.) On the twenty-first day, the Master arrived before the hundred-foot stone statue at Shicheng Monastery east of Shan and advanced no further. On the twenty-fourth day, he looked at his attendant and said: "Avalokiteśvara has come to welcome me; before long I should depart." At that time, his disciple Zhilang inquired: "I do not know what stage you have attained or where you will be born?" The Master said: "Because I did not refrain from leading the assembly, I have only attained the purification of the six faculties by abandoning myself to benefit others, being counted among the five grades." (The disciples of the five grades are at the stage of the preliminary skillful means of the Lotus Samādhi, secretly tallying with what Chan Master Huisi had said in the past.) He asked for a brush and composed a verse on contemplating the mind, and after chanting the essential guidelines of the various Dharma-gates, he sat cross-legged and passed away. He was sixty years old and had spent forty years as a monk. His disciples escorted him back to the Folong Cliff. In the ninth month of the first year of Daye, Emperor Yang was touring Huaihai; he sent an envoy to escort the disciple Zhizao and an inscription for the monastery's plaque into the mountain to attend the memorial feast on the anniversary of the Master's death. On the day they arrived, they gathered the monks and opened the stone chamber, only to see an empty couch. At that time, a thousand monks had gathered, but suddenly there was one extra person; all said that the Master's transformation body had come to receive the state offering. From the time the Master first received Chan teachings until his final passing away, he always wore a single tattered robe, never taking it off in winter or summer. He came and went, living on Mount Tiantai for twenty-two years, and constructed twelve great bodhimaṇḍas, of which Guoqing was the very last, and together with Yuquan Monastery in Jingzhou and others, there were thirty-six in all. He ordained fifteen thousand monks, copied fifteen complete sets of the Buddhist canon, and made eight hundred thousand gold, bronze, sculpted, and painted images. His deeds were extremely extensive, as recorded in his full biography.
27.14
Great Master Sengqie of Sizhou was regarded by contemporaries as a manifestation of the Great Being Avalokiteśvara. Tracing the origin, in the past, an asaṃkhyeya of Gaṅgā-sands of kalpas ago, he encountered the Tathāgata Avalokiteśvara, entered the Way through the three gates of wisdom, and performed the Buddha-work by means of sound. Yet because the sentient beings of this land had conditions with him, he was said to be a great master who had come from the Western countries. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang, he arrived in Chang'an and Luoyang, and carried out conversion throughout the Wu and Chu regions. Holding a willow branch in his hand, he mingled among the monastic community. Someone asked the master, "What is your surname?" He immediately replied, "My surname is He." The person asked again, "What country are you from?" The master said, "A man of the country of He." Soon after, on the Si River, he wished to erect a saṅghārāma and lodged there for a night. A resident of the prefecture named Heba offered his dwelling. The master said, "This was originally a Buddhist sanctuary." He ordered the ground to be excavated, and they indeed unearthed an ancient stele that read 'Xiangji Temple', which had been founded by Li Longjian of the Qi. They also uncovered a golden image, which the crowd identified as the Tathāgata Dīpaṃkara. The master said, "It is the Buddha Puguangwang (Universal Light King)." Accordingly, this was made the temple's nameplate. In the second year of Jinglong, Emperor Zhongzong sent an envoy to welcome the Great Master to the capital, treating him with extraordinary courtesy. He was ordered to reside at the Great Jianfu Temple. The emperor and the hundred officials all proclaimed themselves his disciples. He ordained three men: Huiyan, Huian, and Moucha. The emperor wrote the temple nameplate in his own hand ('Puguangwang Temple'). On the third day of the third month of the third year, the Great Master manifested cessation. An imperial decree ordered that his body be lacquered and a stupa erected at Jianfu Temple. Suddenly, a foul stench filled the city. The emperor prayed to escort the master back to Linhuai; as soon as the words were spoken, an extraordinary fragrance wafted up. The emperor asked Wanhui, "What kind of man was Great Master Sengqie?" He replied, "A transformation body of Avalokiteśvara, nothing more." In the Qianfu era, he was posthumously granted the title 'Great Master Zhengsheng' (Witnessing Sage). During the Taiping Xingguo era of our present dynasty, Emperor Taizong rebuilt the stupa, magnificent and surpassing all others.
27.15
Lord Fayun of Wanhui was a native of Wenxiang in Guo Prefecture. His surname was Zhang. He was born on the fifth day of the fifth month of the sixth year of the Zhenguan era of the Tang. In his youth, he wandered about whistling and chanting like a madman, incomprehensible to his fellow villagers. One day, he instructed his family to sweep and clean, saying, "An eminent guest is arriving." That day, the Tripiṭaka Master Xuanzang returned from the Western countries and came to visit him. When the lord inquired about the customs and scenery of India, it was clearly as though he had seen them. Xuanzang made prostrations, circumambulated him, and praised him as a bodhisattva. He had an elder brother, Wannian, who had long been on military expedition in the Liaodong region; his mother, Madame Cheng, pined for news of him. The lord said, "This is quite easy." Thereupon he bade farewell to his mother and departed, returning by evening. When he delivered the letter, the neighbors were astonished. There was the śramaṇa Daming of Longxing Temple, with whom he had been close since youth. The lord frequently visited Master Ming's room. It happened that the Imperial Diarising Remonstrator Ming Chongyan passed by the temple at night and saw divine soldiers standing guard around the lord; Chongyan was terrified. At dawn, he related this to Master Ming, presented a lavish donation of gold and silk, bowed, and departed. In the fourth year of the Xianheng era, Gaozong summoned him to the inner palace. At that time there was a monk from Fufeng named Menghong, who showed many miraculous signs. He had entered the palace first and used to say, "Wanhui comes, Wanhui comes." When the lord arrived, he also said, "My replacement has arrived; I must go." Within ten days, Menghong passed away. On the eighth day of the twelfth month, the xinhai year, the second year of the Jingyun era, the master died in Liquan Lane in Chang'an, aged eighty. At that time, an extraordinary fragrance permeated the air, and his whole body remained soft. An imperial decree bestowed the posthumous title of Minister of Education and Duke of the State of Guo, with funeral expenses provided by officials. On the fifteenth day of the first month of the third year, he was buried at Xiangji Temple west of the capital.
27.16
Chan Master Fenggan of Tiantai: it is not known what place he was from. He resided at Guoqing Temple on Mount Tiantai. His hair was cut level with his eyebrows, and he wore a cloth robe. If anyone asked him about the Buddhist teachings, he answered only with two words: "As time serves." He would often chant Way-songs while riding a tiger into the pine gate; the assembly of monks was terrified. In the kitchen of that temple were two ascetic laborers named Hanshanzi and Shide. The two of them tended the fires and conversed all day; anyone listening secretly could not comprehend them at all. People at the time called them madmen, yet they were intimate only with the master. One day, Hanshan asked, "When an ancient mirror is not polished, how does it illuminate?" The master said, "An ice vase has no reflected image; monkeys fish for the moon in the water." [Hanshan] said, "This is not illuminating. Please speak further, Master." The master said, "If ten thousand virtues are not brought along, what would you have me say?" Hanshan and Shide both bowed. Soon afterward, the master went alone on pilgrimage to Mount Wutai. He met an old man and asked, "Could it be that you are Mañjuśrī?" [The old man] replied, "How could there be two Mañjuśrīs?" Before the master had risen from his bow, [the old man] suddenly vanished. (A novice under Zhaozhou brought this up to the Master. Zhaozhou spoke in Fenggan's place: "Mañjuśrī, Mañjuśrī!") Later he returned to Mount Tiantai and manifested cessation. Earlier, when Lord Lüqiu Yin was going out to govern Danqiu, just as his carriage was being readied, he suddenly suffered a headache that no physician could cure. The master went to him and said, "This poor monk has come from Tiantai to call upon you, Governor." Lüqiu told him of his ailment. The master then asked for a clean vessel, chanted spells over water, and sprayed it upon him; in a moment, he was cured on the spot. Marvelling at this, Lüqiu begged for a single word to portend the safety or danger of his journey. The master said, "When you arrive at your post, remember to pay homage to Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra." [Lüqiu] asked, "Where are these two bodhisattvas?" The master said, "Hanshan and Shide, who tend the fires and wash the dishes at Guoqing Temple, are they." Lüqiu bowed and took his leave. Upon setting out, he soon reached the mountain temple. He asked, "Does this temple have a Chan Master Fenggan? And who are Hanshan and Shide?" At that time a monk named Daoqiao replied, "Fenggan's former compound is behind the sutra repository; it is now deserted and empty. The two men, Hanshan and Shide, are currently performing labor in the monastic kitchen." Lüqiu entered the master's room and saw only tiger tracks. He asked Daoqiao again, "What was Fenggan's practice while here?" Qiao said, "He engaged only in pounding grain to offer to the monks, and in his leisure chanted poems." Thereupon [Lüqiu] entered the kitchen to seek out Hanshan and Shide, as narrated in the following chapter.
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- 景德傳燈錄 — Classical Chinese