廬山記 3.24

3.24

Huichi was the younger brother of Master Yuan. Serenely detached, he possessed a far-reaching capacity. At the age of fourteen he studied reading, and what he memorized in a single day was regularly a match for ten days of another's study. He was skilled in literature and history, and dexterous in literary composition. At the age of eighteen he went forth from household life, serving Dharma Master Dao'an together with his elder brother. He studied the myriad scriptures extensively and roamed freely through the Tripiṭaka. He stood eight feet tall, with an agile and spirited demeanor; he regularly wore leather shoes and patched robes reaching to mid-calf. Initially he resided together with the Pure Society of Donglin; of the three thousand disciples and followers who came and went at Lushan, Huichi was the foremost. Kumārajīva in Guanzhong admired and respected him from afar. In the third year of the Long'an era, Chi wished to gaze upon Mount Emei and shake his monk's staff amidst the Min peaks; he therefore took leave of Master Yuan and entered Shu. Master Yuan bitterly urged him to stay, but could not dissuade him, and sighed, 'Human life delights in gathering together; why do you alone take joy in departure?' Chi said, 'If one is bound by emotion and delights in gathering, one should not have gone forth from household life in the first place. Now that I have severed love to seek the Way, my ultimate aim lies solely in the Western Direction.' Thereupon they parted with heavy hearts. Passing through Jingzhou, Yin Zhongkan and Huan Xuan both treated him with great courtesy and wished to detain him, but could not. Arriving at Longyuan Temple in Pi County, Chengdu, in Shu, all who mounted Chi's hall were said to have 'scaled the Dragon Gate.' During the rebellion of Qiao Zong, his nephew Daofu was exceedingly ferocious and perverse. When he entered the temple, his men and horses were drenched in blood, and the monks fled in terror. Chi's composure was undisturbed as he washed his hands and face, completely unruffled. Seeing this, Daofu broke into a sweat of shame and remorse, and said to his attendants, 'The great man is truly different from the ordinary crowd.' In the eighth year of the Yixi era, the renzi year, he passed away peacefully. His age was seventy-two.