續傳燈錄 12.63

12.63

成都大智齊璉禪師。潼川中江人。姓牟氏。少有蟬蛻塵濁之志。年十三落髮從護聖受具。踰歲遊成都。依法華百法講席。又通唯識。至此則無漏界不思議善常安樂解脫身大牟尼名法。瞥若有省。其師已不能屈居頃之慨然太息曰。吾棄家為大事。茲紙上語爾。譬如畫日月。豈有光明耶。棄之南遊訪清谿斷臂道者。斷臂深器之。復謁五祖演真如哲百丈肅晦堂心。日夕參扣然未有省發。在晦堂日有自大陽來者。舉芙蓉示眾語。師心悅服遂往從之。初見如舊相識。一日凌晨聞板聲豁然大悟。急以告芙蓉。芙蓉可之。命掌經藏。分座說法囊錐頴脫。叢林歸重名聲籍然。未幾歸省親。聞芙蓉臨淨因。復往依止遂首眾座。下淨因既在輦轂下。而芙蓉以龍象居焉。問法者萬指。而師戶外之屨亦如之。芙蓉每語人曰。璉首坐牛行虎視機鋒橫出。異日弘吾道決矣。時天下大興崇寧寺。精擇傳法者。永興經略使王公序。都轉運使薛公紹彭以師為宜禮致之。師乃諾其請。居五年名聲普聞遠邇傾慕。遷襄陽普寧。政和初西歸故里。築菴妙峯將老焉。既而天彭請蒞能仁。又改大隨。廣漢之無為。成都之超悟。最後居大智。師在大隨日。其徒有妄訴于州者。師怡然就逮有司考竟其事將加捶楚。即時天大晦瞑群烏飛噪集杖端。有自投於地者。州將駭異遂得釋脫焉。超悟在大慈寺之廡。列肆如賈區。常闔戶堅坐。動遵戒律人皆敬之。然道價素重。緇素求識面者項背相望。時臘益高矣。頗厭苦遂棄去。眾力挽之度不可留。則謂大智居西郊。林樾岑蔚可以佚老。乃列言于府。時制置使席公每加賓禮。師欣然聽之。凡歷八載禪侶影從遂成寶社。然自是應接簡矣。俄示疾。有問者輒稱吾無苦。忽語主事僧。為我置一藍輿。吾將有所適。遲明起趺坐。涉筆書偈泊然而寂。時紹興十五年十一月四日甲子也。後六日火浴得舍利百餘粒皆具五色。閱世七十三。坐六十夏。

Chan Master Qilian of Dazhi in Chengdu was a native of Zhongjiang in Tongchuan, surnamed Mou. In his youth, he had the ambition to shed the dust and defilement like a cicada sloughing its shell. At age thirteen, he shaved his head, and received full ordination under Husheng. A year later, he traveled to Chengdu, where he studied at lectures on the Lotus Sūtra and the Hundred Dharmas, and also mastered Yogācāra. Coming to [the passage on] 'the unconditioned realm, the inconceivable, wholesome, constant, tranquil, blissful emancipation-body, named the Dharma of the Great Muni,' he suddenly had an awakening. His teacher could no longer hold him. Shortly after, he sighed deeply and said: 'I left home for the Great Matter; these are merely words on paper! It is like painting the sun and the moon—how could there be any light?' Leaving it behind, he traveled south to visit the arm-severed Wayfarer of Qingxi. The arm-severed [Wayfarer] held him in deep esteem. He also visited Wuzu Yan, Zhenru Zhe, Baizhang Su, and Huitang Xin, inquiring day and night, but had no breakthrough. While with Huitang, a monk came from Dayang and cited Furong's words to the assembly. The Master's mind was joyfully convinced, so he went to follow him. Upon their first meeting, they were like old acquaintances. One day, at dawn, hearing the sound of the wooden clapper, he was completely and greatly awakened. He rushed to tell Furong, and Furong confirmed it. He ordered him to take charge of the scriptural canon and share the seat to preach the Dharma; like an awl in a bag, his talent showed through, and the monastic community held him in high esteem, his renown spreading far and wide. Not long after, he returned home to visit his parents. Hearing that Furong had arrived at Jingyin, he went again to rely on him and became head monk. Jingyin was right beneath the emperor's carriage, and Furong dwelt there as an elephant among men. Those asking about the Dharma numbered in the tens of thousands, and the shoes outside the Master's door were likewise numerous. Furong often said to people: 'Head Monk Lian walks like an ox and gazes like a tiger; his sharp wit bursts forth across the board. In the future, he will surely propagate my Way.' At that time, Chongning temples were being widely established across the realm, and those who transmitted the Dharma were selected with great care. Wang Xu, Military Commissioner of Yongxing, and Xue Shaopeng, Transshipment Commissioner, deemed the Master suitable and invited him with formal courtesy. The Master consented to their request. After residing there for five years, his reputation was heard everywhere, and both near and far looked up to him. He was transferred to Puning in Xiangyang. At the beginning of the Zhenghe era, he returned west to his native place and built a hermitage on Miaofeng, intending to spend his old age there. Soon after, Tianpeng invited him to preside over Nengren, and he was later transferred to Dasui, Wuwei in Guanghan, and Chaowu in Chengdu; finally, he resided at Dazhi. When the Master was at Dasui, one of his disciples falsely brought a lawsuit against him to the prefecture. The Master calmly submitted to arrest. When the officials finished examining the case and were about to apply the rod, the sky suddenly grew completely dark, and a flock of crows flew screeching, gathering at the tip of the rod, some even throwing themselves to the ground. The prefectural commander was astonished and terrified, and thereupon released him. Chaowu was in the gallery of Daci Temple, lined with stalls like a marketplace. The Master always kept his doors closed and sat steadfastly; in every movement he complied with the vinaya rules, and all people revered him. However, his reputation in the Way had long been weighty, and clerics and laypeople seeking to see his face followed one after another in plain view. As his monastic seniority grew higher, he felt weary of this burden and abandoned it. The assembly tried hard to detain him, but seeing he could not be kept, they suggested that Dazhi, situated in the western suburbs with its thick and secluded groves, would be suitable for his retirement. They submitted a petition to the prefecture. At that time, Commissioner Xi treated him with ever-increasing courtesy as an honored guest. The Master gladly consented. Over the course of eight years, Chan companions followed him like shadows, forming a precious community. From then on, however, his reception of visitors was sparse. Presently he showed illness. Whenever anyone asked, he would say, 'I have no suffering.' Suddenly he said to the administrator monk, 'Prepare a bamboo sedan chair for me; I have somewhere to go.' At daybreak he arose, sat in the lotus posture, took up his brush, wrote a verse, and passed away in serene stillness. It was the jiăzi day, the fourth day of the eleventh month in the fifteenth year of Shaoxing. Six days later, he was cremated, yielding more than a hundred relics, all possessing five colors. He had lived seventy-three years and sat for sixty summer retreats.