廬山記 3.8

3.8

Liu Chengzhi, styled Zhongsi, was a man of Juli in Pengcheng, a descendant of King Yuan of Chu of the Han dynasty. Through successive generations under the Jin, his family held positions up to high ministers and councillors. Chengzhi was orphaned in youth and served his mother; the commanderies and villages praised his filial piety. There were none among the ancient records and the hundred philosophers that he had not examined comprehensively, and he was particularly fond of Buddhist principles. Worthies such as Yin Zhongkan and Huan Xuan of Chen Commandery all revered and looked up to him. He was appointed an aide in the military headquarters. Admiring Master Yuan's fame and virtue and wishing to grow old together in the same society, Chengzhi was registered at Chaisang in Xunyang to provide the resources for entering the mountain; when the year was completed, he cast it aside and left, building a cottage at Xilin and concealing it with brambles and thickets. During the Yixi era, when dukes and marquises repeatedly summoned him, he did not respond to any of them. Later he changed his name to Yimin (Hermit). Master Yuan and the worthies of the society honored him as an esteemed guest. He frequently sent letters to the Guanzhong region, cultivating friendly relations with the two Dharma masters Kumārajīva and Sengzhao, debating the sūtras and treatises, and composing 'Poems on the Samādhi of Mindfulness of the Buddha'. His writings on morality, fame, and reality were florid in literary grace and meaning, admired by his contemporaries. In all, he lived in the mountain for twelve years. From the first month he fell ill, and thereupon, relying upon the samādhi of mindfulness of the Buddha, he recited 'Amitābha Buddha'. By the beginning of the sixth month, he indeed saw the sign of the white curl of hair between the brows (ūrṇā-lakṣaṇa); next he saw the true shadow of the Buddha, who patted his crown. He further performed fasts and meritorious deeds, wishing to exhaust his life quickly. He also invited monks to read the Sūtra of Immeasurable Life and the Lotus Sūtra until the twenty-seventh day. When the assembly of monks gathered, Yimin said: 'Now I am departing. When my breath ceases, do not weep and disturb me.' He also circulated incense, invited the multitude of monks, and made offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha in gratitude for letting him know that there is Amitābha Buddha, [praying]: 'May he surely welcome me today!' Shortly after, he joined his palms, faced west, and passed away. He commanded his son Yong to pile earth to make a grave and not use inner or outer coffins. At that time, no one did not revere him. He died in the sixth year of Yixi, the year gengxu, at the age of fifty-seven.