續傳燈錄 2.63

2.63

Venerable Ziyan of South Anyan was born to the Zheng family and was a native of Tong'an in Quanzhou. At the age of eleven, he left home, relying on the monk Qiyuan of the Reclining Buddha Temple in Jianxing as a novice. At seventeen, he received full ordination. Travelling as an itinerant monk, he arrived in Luling to pay respects to the senior elder Chan Master Huo of Xifeng. Huo was an eminent disciple of Chan Master Ming of Qingliang and a spiritual grandson of Yunmen. Emperor Taizong once summoned Huo to the imperial court, housing him in the Northern Imperial Garden lodges to practice meditation; after a long while, Huo begged to return to the mountains. Ziyan relied upon and studied under him for five years, secretly according with the mind-dharma. Taking his leave, he crossed the Huaren River. There was a flood-dragon that constantly harmed travelers; the Master recited a verse to admonish it, and the flood-dragon departed. Passing through Huangyang Gorge, he was thirsty and wished to drink, but happened upon a parched stream; the Master struck it with his staff, and water gushed forth. The village elders gathered to watch and folded their hands, regarding him as a divine being; the Master slipped away. At the South Huangshi Cliff in Wuping, there were many snakes and tigers; the Master stayed there, and the snakes and tigers could be commanded by him. Hearing of this, people far and near were greatly astonished and vied to venerate and serve him. Whenever the common people prayed for rain, sunshine, sons, or daughters, their wishes were fulfilled in accordance with their thoughts. Every household painted his likeness and inevitably offered sacrifices to it before eating or drinking. When a monk of a neighboring temple died, the Master, unaware that the law required reporting it to officials, directly cremated him on his own. Bailiffs pursued and arrested him, setting him in the magistrate's hall to interrogate him about the circumstances. He did not answer, but asked for paper and composed a verse, saying: 'Beyond the clouds, a wild monk dies; / Beyond the clouds, a wild monk is burned. / The two phenomena admit no difference; / The path to bodhi is not far.' The calligraphy was vigorous and steep, like monumental large-seal script. The official was enraged, considering him mad and arrogant, stripped off his saṅghāṭī robe, and exposed him to the scorching sun. After being released, he consequently wrapped his head with a cloth kerchief and wore white garments. The Master regretted that those who listened to his preaching of the Dharma half doubted and half believed; therefore, he did not speak for six years. The Yan Temple was required to pay a tax in cloth, which the common people had paid on its behalf year after year. The Master could not bear this, so he placed a letter inside a bundle of cloth requesting exemption. When the bailiffs found it, they grew even angrier and pursued him with questioning. He again did not reply. Thinking him a sorcerer, they burned his cloth cap; when the fire burned out, the cap was only brighter and fresher. Thereupon he asked for paper and composed a verse, saying: 'All the power of compassion and forbearance / Is born of my own mind. / The king's officials bitterly constrain me; / The Buddha's Dharma does not circulate.' From then on, he began to speak a little. Later, he travelled to Mount Pangu in Nankang. Previously, Venerable Bodhipāli of Western India had initially founded it and prophesied, saying: 'Later, there shall be a white-robed bodhisattva coming to cause this mountain to flourish.' The Master stayed for three years and established a monastery; then he returned to Nan'an. South of the river, a submerged snag obstructed traveling boats. The Master passed by in a boat, stroked it, and said: 'Go away, go away; do not cause harm to people.' In a single night, the snag was swept away and cleared. A monk came from Huizhou and said: 'At Heyuan, a gigantic boat has run aground in the sand; ten thousand oxen pulling it cannot move it. I wish to obtain it to transport bricks to build a stupa in the South Sea as a field of merit for sentient beings.' The Master said: 'This is an object of the netherworld. Nevertheless, I give you a verse to retrieve it.' The verse said: 'The rain falls and the Ba River rises; / The boat-king of the netherworld shifts. / Stand not long in the sand; / Reaping blessings shelters bodhi.' The monk went to the boat and chanted the verse, and the boat began to move; ten thousand people cheered. When it arrived at Wuyang, a great merchant sought to borrow it for transport; the monk permitted it. Just as the hawser was unfastened, a sudden wind arose, and the boat's whereabouts were lost. There was a novice who lacked the capacity for extensive learning, yet served the Master with prudence and reverence. The Master pitied him and composed a verse for him to recite, telling him that in time he would become intelligent. The verse said: 'Great wisdom arises from the mind; / Within the mind, where can it be sought? / Achieving all meanings, / There is neither ancient nor present.' Thereupon, worldly writings and spoken words, once read or recited, were never forgotten by him; verse phrases and literary compositions were completed the moment he took up the brush. When the Master instructed people, he mostly used verses; however, he inscribed four characters, '之 (zhi), 中 (zhong), 以 (yi), 之 (zhi)', at the end of them, and none understood their purport. His miraculous traces were exceedingly prominent; the regional authorities drew up a report to inform the throne, and an imperial decree commended him. From Chief Councilor Wang Qinruo and Vice Grand Councilor Zhao Anren on down, all presented him with poems. The Master never even looked at them, merely placing them atop the dust-ceiling. On the sixth day of the first month in the yimao year of Chunhua, he assembled the congregation and said: 'I was born on this day; now is precisely the time.' He then lay down on his right side and passed away. He was posthumously granted the title Chan Master Dingguang Yuanying.