續傳燈錄 8.45

8.45

洪州延恩法安禪師姓許氏。臨川人。少事承天沙門慕閑出家。年二十以通經得度。遊方謁雪竇顯禪師。顯歿依天衣懷禪師。眾推其知見又遍歷諸家耆宿。指目為飽參。歸臨川見黃山如意院敗屋破垣無以蔽風雨。師求居之。十年殿閣如化成。乃棄去下江漢航二淛上天台沂淮汶而還。所至接物利生未嘗失言。亦未嘗失人。白首懷道翩然無侶。倚杖於南昌上藍。又住武寧之延恩寺。寺初以父子傳。貧不能守易以為十方。草屋數楹敗床破簀師安樂之。縣令糾豪右謀為一新。師笑曰。檀法本以度人。今非其發心而強之。是名作業。不名佛事也。棲止十年而叢林成。僧至如歸。師與法雲秀為昆弟且相得。秀所居裝嚴妙天下。說法如雲雨。其力量可以為弟兄。接羽翼而天飛也。嘗以書招師。師讀之一笑而已。或問其故。師曰。吾始見秀有英氣。謂可以語道。乃今而後知其癡。癡人正不可與語也。問者曰。何哉。師曰。比丘法當一鉢行四方。秀既不能爾。又於八達衢頭架大屋。從人乞飯以養數百閑漢非癡乎。師每謂人曰。萬事隨緣是安樂法。元豐甲子七月命弟子取方丈文書聚火之。以院事付一僧。八月旦示滅。閱世六十有一。坐四十有一夏。

Chan Master Fa'an of Yan'en in Hongzhou was surnamed Xu, a native of Linchuan. In his youth he served the śramaṇa Muxian of Chengtian and left home. At age twenty he was ordained on account of his mastery of the sutras. Traveling on pilgrimage, he visited Chan Master Xuedou Xian. After Xian died, he relied on Chan Master Tianyi Huai. The assembly praised his insight, and he also traveled widely to visit elder masters of various houses, who pointed to him as one of ripe cultivation. Returning to Linchuan, he saw that the Ruyi Cloister on Mount Huang had dilapidated rooms and broken walls, unable to provide shelter from wind and rain. The Master requested to reside there. In ten years, the halls and pavilions appeared as if magically conjured. Thereupon he abandoned it and went down the Yangzi and Han Rivers, sailed the two Zhe regions, ascended Tiantai, and returned along the Huai and Wen rivers. Wherever he went, in receiving beings and benefiting living beings he never uttered a wrong word, nor did he ever fail a person. In his white-haired years harboring the Way, he was carefree without companions, resting his staff at Shanglan in Nanchang. He also resided at Yan'en Monastery in Wuning. The monastery had originally been transmitted from father to son; in its poverty they could not maintain it and changed it into a public monastery of the ten directions. In a few thatched huts, with broken beds and torn mats, the Master was peaceful and happy. The county magistrate rallied the prominent families and plotted to renovate it completely. The Master smiled and said, 'The Dharma of dāna originally aims to deliver people. Now, if it does not come from their own resolve and they are forced into it, this is called creating karma, not doing Buddha-work.' He dwelled there for ten years, and a flourishing monastery was established; monks arrived as if returning home. The Master was like a brother to Fayun Xiu, and they got along well. Xiu's dwelling was adorned with the finest splendor under heaven, and he preached the Dharma like clouds and rain. Their capacity allowed them to be brothers, joining wings to soar in the sky. Xiu once sent a letter inviting the Master. The Master read it and merely smiled. Someone asked the reason, and the Master said, 'When I first met Xiu, he had a heroic spirit; I thought he could be spoken to about the Way. From now on, however, I know he is foolish. With a fool, one certainly cannot speak.' The questioner said, 'Why is that?' The Master said, 'The rule for a bhikṣu is to travel the four quarters with a single bowl. Since Xiu could not do that, and furthermore built huge buildings at the thoroughfares, begging food from people to support several hundred idle fellows, is that not foolish?' The Master often said to people, 'Accord with conditions in all things is the Dharma of peace and joy.' In the seventh month of the jiazi year of the Yuanfeng reign era, he ordered his disciples to take the documents of the abbot's room, gather them, and burn them, entrusting the monastery's affairs to a monk. On the first day of the eighth month, he manifested nirvana. He had seen sixty-one years in the world and sat through forty-one summer retreats.