廬山記 3.20

3.20

大師諱慧永。姓繁。河內人也。年十二。事沙門竺曇現。慧悟宿習內外典籍。無不洞達。於佛事中。習禪為樂。先與遠師同依道安於恒山。亦約結宇羅浮。永師先止尋陽。即晉太元之初也。刺史陶範挹其道風。宛如夙契。於是留憩廬山。捨宅棲止。師貞素自然。清心剋己。言常含笑。語不傷物。又別立一苑室於嶺上。每欲禪思。輒往居焉。所居甞有香馥之氣。因號香谷。屋中甞有一虎。人或畏者驅之上山。人去還復馴伏。後遠師龍泉學徒漸眾。師要同憩香谷。又感神夢之異。桓伊立寺東林。乃號西林焉。鎮國將軍何無忌作鎮尋陽。每至瞻禮盡其誠敬。師專意淨土之行。以晉義熙十年甲寅。遇疾綿篤。一日忽起。斂衣合掌。求屣欲起。如有所見。眾咸驚問答云。佛來。言終而逝。春秋八十三。山中聞其香不絕者七日。奉全身葬於本寺西二百步。南唐元宗重建塔亭。尋降焚黃。追諡覺寂大師實智之塔。

The Grand Master's taboo name was Huiyong. His surname was Fan, and he was a native of Henei. At the age of twelve, he served the śramaṇa Zhu Tanxian. Endowed with innate awakening and past-life habituation, there was not a single inner or outer canonical text that he did not thoroughly penetrate. Among Buddhist practices, he took delight in practicing dhyāna. Earlier, together with Master Yuan, he had relied on Dao'an at Mount Heng, and they also agreed to build a hermitage together on Luofu. Master Yong first stayed in Xunyang, in the early Taiyuan era of the Jin. The regional inspector Tao Fan held his spiritual demeanor in high esteem, as if they had a bond from a past life. Thereupon [Yong] stayed and rested at Lushan, and [Tao Fan] relinquished his residence for him to dwell in. The Master was steadfast and plain by nature, pure of mind and self-restrained; his speech was always smiling, and his words never harmed any creature. Moreover, he separately established a park chamber on the ridge, and whenever he wished to engage in meditative reflection, he would go and dwell there. Where he dwelt, there was often an abundant fragrance, and so it was called the Incense Valley. In his room there was once a tiger; whenever visitors feared it, he would drive it up the mountain, and once the visitors left, it would return and be tame and submissive. Later, as Master Yuan's disciples at Longquan gradually multiplied, the Master invited them to rest together in the Incense Valley; furthermore, moving wonders occurred in spiritual dreams. When Huan Yi founded a temple at Donglin, this was consequently called Xilin. Whenever the General Who Quells the State, He Wuji, garrisoned Xunyang, he would visit to pay homage with the utmost sincerity and respect. The Master devoted his mind to the practice of the Pure Land. In the tenth year of the Yixi era of the Jin, the jiayin year, he fell gravely ill. One day, he suddenly rose, adjusted his robes, joined his palms, and sought his shoes wishing to stand, as if seeing something. The assembly was all startled and asked him, to which he replied, 'The Buddha has come.' As his words ended, he passed away. His age was eighty-three. Throughout the mountain, people smelled an unbroken fragrance for seven days. His entire body was reverently interred two hundred paces west of the temple. In the Southern Tang, Yuanzong rebuilt the stūpa pavilion and soon after sent down the burnt imperial proclamation, posthumously conferring on him the title Grand Master Jueji and naming it the Stūpa of Actual Wisdom.