廬山記 3.6

3.6

法師諱慧遠。姓賈。雁門樓煩人也。幼為書生。年十三。隨舅令狐氏遊學許洛。尤善莊老。性度弘偉。年二十一。欲渡江東就范宣子共契嘉遁。中原冠亂。南路阻塞。時沙門釋道安。立寺於太行。弘贊佛法。遂往歸之。初聞講般若經。豁然大悟。乃歎曰。儒道九流皆糠粃耳。遂與弟慧持投簪落髮。委命受業。心既入道。常以大法為己任。慧解夙發。神明英越。安常歎曰。使道流東國。其斯遠乎。二十四。便就講說。常有客聞講實相義。疑難往復。彌用疑塞。師為引莊子義為比類。惑者大釋。於是安之門人獨聽不廢俗書。後隨師南遊至襄陽。安為朱序所拘。眾皆罷去。遠乃與弟子數十人適荊州。住上明寺。後欲往羅浮山。太元六年。至尋陽。愛廬阜之間曠。乃立龍泉精舍。久之沙門慧永禪師先居西林。與師有舊。欲邀同止。乃謂刺史桓伊曰。遠公弘道。學者日集。貧道所棲。狹不足處。奈何。時又夢山神請曰。此山足以棲神。一夕忽有雷雨。震擊詰朝。林麓大闢。唯素沙布地。兼有楩柟文梓良材。桓乃即其地更立房殿。名其殿曰神運。以在永師所居之東故。號東林。即太元十一年歲次丙戌寺成。先有阿育王文殊之像。沈於武昌水中。陶侃不能得。至是飄然輕舉迎還神運殿。以修佛事。又因罽賓道人。共作佛影臺。皆有神感。事具高僧傳。於是謹律之侶絕塵之客。四方不期而至。彭城劉遺民。豫章雷次宗。雁門周續之。南陽宗炳張野張詮等。凡百有二十三人。與師同修淨土之社。乃令劉遺民著發願文。殷仲堪之任荊州也。入山展敬。與師松下談易。陳郡謝靈運。負才傲物。少所推重。一見肅然心服。為鑿東西二池種白蓮。求入淨社。師以心雜止之。范寧在豫章。師請入社。范不能從。姚興與法師羅什皆欽風德。遠輸施遺。桓玄震主。不覺致敬。安帝自江陵還都。輔國何無忌勸師候覲。師稱疾不行。帝遣使勞問。凡居山三十年。影迹不至塵俗。每送客以虎溪為界。晉義熙十二年歲次丙辰八月初六日順寂。春秋八十三。初感疾。散動林下。耆德請飲豉酒米汁。皆不許。又請以蜜和水為漿。師命律師一人。披尋律文。可否卷未半而終。遺命露骸林下。既而弟子與尋陽官屬。奉葬於西嶺。謝靈運銘張野序。唐會昌五年乙丑寺廢。大中二年戊辰復。寺之復也。僧正言乞賜旌褒。諡曰辯覺大師。昇元三年。改諡正覺。興國三年。諡圓悟大師。仍名其墳。曰凝寂之塔。有匡山集二十卷。傳于世。

The Dharma master's taboo name was Huiyuan, his family name was Jia, and he was a man of Loufan in Yanmen. In his youth he was a student of the classics. At the age of thirteen, he accompanied his maternal uncle of the Linghu clan to study in Xu and Luo, and was particularly adept in Zhuangzi and Laozi. His natural capacity was grand and great. At twenty-one, wishing to cross the river to the east to join Fan Xuanzi in their shared pact of a good life in recluse, [he found that] the Central Plains were in the midst of turmoil and banditry, and the southern road was blocked. At that time, the śramaṇa Shi Dao'an had established a temple on Mount Taihang to propagate and extol the Buddha's Dharma, whereupon [Huiyuan] went and turned to him. Upon first hearing him lecture on the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, he was suddenly enlightened, and sighed: 'Confucianism, Daoism, and the nine schools are nothing but chaff!' Thereupon, together with his younger brother Huichi, he threw away his hairpin, shaved his hair, entrusted his life, and received his training. Once his mind had entered the Way, he always took the great Dharma as his own task. His insightful understanding arose early, and his spiritual brilliance was preeminent. Dao'an often sighed: 'If the Way is to flow into the Eastern Realm, is it not through this Yuan?' At twenty-four, he began to give lectures. A guest once heard him lecture on the meaning of the true mark (dharmatā) and raised doubts and objections back and forth, becoming ever more blocked in confusion. The master cited the meanings in the Zhuangzi to make analogies, and the doubter's confusion was thoroughly resolved. From then on, Dao'an's disciples were solely permitted not to discard secular texts. Later, following his master south on travels to Xiangyang, Dao'an was detained by Zhu Xu, and the assembly all dispersed. Yuan and several dozen disciples then went to Jingzhou, residing at Shangming Temple. Later wishing to go to Mount Luofu, he reached Xunyang in the sixth year of Taiyuan. Loving the vast quietude of the Lushan range, he established Longquan Hermitage. After a long time, the śramaṇa Chan Master Huiyong was already residing at Xilin; having had an old friendship with the master, he wished to invite him to stay together, and said to the regional inspector Huan Yi: 'Master Yuan propagates the Way, and students gather daily. Where this poor monk perches is cramped and insufficient to dwell in; what can be done?' At that time [Huan Yi] also dreamt that the mountain deity requested: 'This mountain is fit for spiritual habitation.' One evening there was suddenly thunder and rain. At dawn after the striking [storm], the forest at the foot of the mountain was greatly cleared, with only plain white sand spread over the ground, as well as fine timber such as pian, nan, and figured catalpa. Huan then established further quarters and halls on that very ground, naming the hall 'Divine Transport' (Shenyun). Because it was to the east of where Master Yong lived, it was named Donglin. That was in the eleventh year of Taiyuan, the year bingxu, when the temple was completed. Previously, there was a statue of Mañjuśrī of King Aśoka that had sunk in the waters of Wuchang, which Tao Kan was unable to recover; by this time it floated up lightly, and was welcomed back to the Divine Transport Hall to perform Buddhist services. Moreover, with a man of the Way from Jibin (Kashmir), they together fashioned the Terrace of the Buddha's Shadow. All of these met with divine responses, the matters being detailed in the Biographies of Eminent Monks. Thereupon, companions who carefully observed the vinaya and guests who severed worldly ties arrived unbidden from the four directions. Liu Yimin of Pengcheng, Lei Cizong of Yuzhang, Zhou Xuzhi of Yanmen, and Zong Bing, Zhang Ye, Zhang Quan and others of Nanyang—altogether one hundred and twenty-three men—practiced together with the master in the Pure Land Society. He then ordered Liu Yimin to compose the text of vows. When Yin Zhongkan was about to take up his post in Jingzhou, he entered the mountain to pay his respects and discussed the Book of Changes with the master beneath the pines. Xie Lingyun of Chen Commandery, conceited with his own talent and haughty toward things, had little praise for others; upon meeting [Huiyuan] once, he was solemn and completely convinced in his heart. For him he dug the east and west ponds and planted white lotuses, begging to enter the Pure Society; the master stopped him because his mind was mixed. When Fan Ning was in Yuzhang, the master invited him into the society, but Fan could not follow. Yao Xing and Dharma Master Kumārajīva both admired his moral character from afar and sent generous offerings. Huan Xuan, whose might shook the sovereign, unawares bowed in respect. When Emperor An returned to the capital from Jiangling, the Auxiliary of the Realm He Wuji urged the master to greet and attend upon the emperor; the master pleaded illness and did not go, and the emperor sent an envoy to comfort and inquire after him. In all, he dwelt in the mountain for thirty years, and his shadow never touched the dust of the secular world. Whenever he saw guests off, he made Tiger Creek the boundary. On the sixth day of the eighth month in the twelfth year of the Yixi era of the Jin, the year bingchen, he passed away peacefully, having lived eighty-three years. When he first felt ill, he walked beneath the forest; the elder bhadantas requested that he drink fermented soybean wine or rice water, but he did not allow either. They also requested to mix honey with water as a drink; the master ordered a vinaya master to look through the vinaya texts to see whether it was permissible, and before the scroll was half-read, he expired. His posthumous command was to leave his skeleton bare beneath the forest, but soon after, his disciples and the officials of Xunyang reverently buried him on the West Ridge. Xie Lingyun composed the inscription and Zhang Ye wrote the preface. In the fifth year of Huichang of the Tang, the year yichou, the temple was abandoned; in the second year of Dazhong, the year wuchen, it was restored. When the temple was restored, the Controller of the Monks Zhengyan petitioned for a bestowal of honors, and he was posthumously titled Great Master Bianjue (Discriminating Enlightenment). In the third year of Shengyuan, the title was changed to Zhengjue (Right Enlightenment). In the third year of Xingguo, he was posthumously titled Great Master Yuanwu (Perfect Awakening), and his tomb was still named the Stūpa of Congealed Tranquility. There is the Collected Works of Kuangshan in twenty fascicles, transmitted to the world.