鐔津文集 1.6

1.6

宋熈寧五年六月初四日。有大沙門明教大師。示化于杭州之靈隱寺。世壽六十有六。僧臘五十有三。是月八日。以其法茶毘。斂其骨得六根之不壞者三。頂骨出舍利。紅白晶潔。狀若大菽者三及常所持木數珠亦不壞。於是邦人僧士。更相傳告。駭歎頂禮。越月四日。合諸不壞者。葬于故居永安院之左。其存也。甞與其交居士陳舜。俞極談死生之際而已。屬其後事。茲用不能無述也。師諱契嵩。字仲靈。自號潛子。藤州鐔津人。姓李。母鍾氏。七歲而出家。十三得度落髮。明年受具戒。十九而遊方。下江湘陟衡廬。首常戴觀音之像。而誦其號日十萬聲。於是世間經書章句不學而能。得法於筠州洞山之聰公。慶曆間入吳中。至錢塘。樂其湖山。始稅駕焉。當是時天下之士學為古文。慕韓退之排佛而尊孔子。東南有章表民。黃聱隅。李泰伯。尤為雄傑。學者宗之。仲靈獨居。作原教孝論十餘篇。明儒釋之道一貫。以抗其說。諸君讀之。既愛其文。又畏其理之勝而莫之能奪也。因與之游。遇士大夫之惡佛者。仲靈無不懇懇為言之。由是排者浸止。而後有好之甚者。仲靈唱之也。所居一室。蕭然無長物。與人清談。靡靡至於終日。客非修潔行誼之士。不可造也。時二卿郎公引年謝歸。最為物外之友。嘗欲同游徑山有行色矣公亦風邑豪預焉。冀其見仲靈而有以尊養之。仲靈知之不肯行。使人謝公曰。從吾所好何必求富而執鞭哉。凡其潔清類如此。皇祐間去居越之南衡山。未幾罷歸。復著禪宗定祖圖傳法正宗記。仲靈之作是書也。慨然憫禪門之陵遲。因大考經典。以佛後摩訶迦葉獨得大法眼藏為初祖。推而下之。至于達磨。為二十八祖。皆密相付囑。不立文字謂之教外別傳者。居無何觀察李公謹得其書。且欽其高名。奏賜紫方袍。仲靈復念。幸生天子大臣護道達法之年。乃抱其書以游京師。府尹龍圖王仲義果。奏上之。仁宗覽之。詔付傳法院編次。以示褒寵。仍賜明教之號。仲靈再表辭。不許。朝中自韓丞相而下。莫不延見而尊重之。留居憫賢寺不受請還東南。已而浮圖之講解者。惡其有別傳之語而恥其所宗不在。所謂二十八人者。乃相與造說以非之。仲靈聞之攘袂切齒。又益著書。博引聖賢經論古人集錄為證幾至數萬言。士有賢而好佛者。往往詣而訴其冤久之。雖平生厚於仲靈者。猶恨其不能與眾人相忘於是非之間。及其亡也。三寸之舌所以論議是是非非者。卒與數物不壞以明之。嗚呼使其與奪之不公辯說之不契乎。道則何以臻此哉。雖然仲靈之所以自得而樂諸己者。蓋不預於此。豈可為淺見寡聞者道耶。仲靈在東南最後密學。蔡君謨之帥杭也。延置佛日山禮甚厚居數年。然言高而行卓。不少假學者。人莫之能從也。有弟子曰慈愈洞清洞光。所著書自定祖圖而下。謂之嘉祐集。又有治平集凡百餘卷。總六十有餘萬言。其甥沙門法燈克奉藏之以信後世云。熈寧八年十二月五日記。

On the fourth day of the sixth month in the fifth year of the Xining era of the Song (1072 CE), there was a great śramaṇa, Master Mingjiao, who manifested passing away at Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. His worldly age was sixty-six; his monastic seniority was fifty-three. On the eighth day of that month, [his body] was cremated (jhāpita) according to the monastic regulations. Gathering his bones, three of the six sense faculties were found uncorrupted. Śarīra emerged from his parietal bone, white and red, crystal-clear and pure, three of them in the shape of large beans, and the wooden rosary he habitually carried was also uncorrupted. Thereupon, the people of the region, monastics, and literati passed the news to one another, marveling in awe and paying homage. On the fourth day of the following month, all the uncorrupted remains were brought together and interred to the left of his former residence, the Yong'an Cloister. When he was alive, he once had a deep conversation with his companion, the lay scholar Chen Shunyu, on the boundary between life and death, and entrusted his posthumous affairs [to him]. For this reason, [I] cannot remain without writing an account. The master's posthumous taboo name was Qisong, his courtesy name was Zhongling, and he styled himself Qianzi. He was a native of Tanjin in Tengzhou. His family name was Li, and his mother was of the Zhong clan. At age seven, he left home; at thirteen, he was tonsured and ordained. The following year, he received the full ordination. At nineteen, he went wandering: traveling south along the Yangtze and Xiang rivers, he climbed Mount Heng and Mount Lu. He constantly wore an image of Avalokiteśvara upon his head and recited her name a hundred thousand times a day. Thereupon, he became versed in the worldly classics, scriptures, chapters, and sentences without having studied them. He received the Dharma from the Venerable Cong of Dongshan in Yunzhou. During the Qingli era, he entered the region of Wu and arrived in Qiantang. Delighting in its lakes and mountains, he first untied his carriage there. At that time, scholars throughout the realm were studying ancient prose, admiring Han Tuizhi's rejection of Buddhism and elevation of Confucius. In the southeast, Zhang Biaomin, Huang Aoyu, and Li Taibo were especially eminent and heroic, and students took them as their guides. Living in solitude, Zhongling wrote more than ten essays, including the *Yuanjiao* and the *Xiaolun*, clarifying that the Ways of Confucianism and Buddhism are unified by a single thread, in order to contest their arguments. When those gentlemen read them, they both loved their literary style and were awed by the superiority of their reasoning, which none could refute. They subsequently associated with him. Whenever he met scholar-officials who hated Buddhism, Zhongling never failed to speak earnestly on its behalf. Because of this, the detractors gradually ceased, and later there were even those who grew extremely fond of it; it was Zhongling who initiated this. He dwelt in a single room, completely unadorned without extraneous belongings. He engaged in pure conversation with visitors, continuously lasting the entire day. Unless a guest was a gentleman of refined purity and righteous conduct, he could not approach him. At that time, Vice Director Lang retired on account of age and returned home; he was his closest friend beyond worldly concerns. Once, he wished to travel together to Mount Jing, and their travel gear was ready; the Vice Director had also dropped a hint to the local gentry to take part, hoping that they would meet Zhongling and thereby honor and support him. Zhongling learned of this and refused to go. He sent someone to decline with thanks, saying, 'If I follow what I love, why must I seek wealth and hold the whip [of a menial]?' All his purity and integrity were of this sort. During the Huangyou era, he went to live at Mount Nanheng in Yue; after a short time, he retired and returned. He again composed the *Chanmen dingzu tu* (Chart Determining the Patriarchs of Chan) and the *Chuanfa zhengzong ji* (Record of the True Lineage of Dharma Transmission). When Zhongling wrote these works, he was deeply moved by sorrow over the decline of the Chan school. Consequently, he conducted a great investigation of the scriptures and treatises: taking Mahākāśyapa alone receiving the treasury of the great Dharma eye after the Buddha as the first patriarch, he traced downwards to Bodhidharma, forming the twenty-eight patriarchs, all of whom were intimately entrusted [with the mind-dharma], not establishing words and letters, which is called the 'special transmission outside the teachings.' Before long, Surveillance Commissioner Lord Li Jin obtained his books and, admiring his high renown, memorialized the throne to grant him the purple square robe. Zhongling reflected again: 'Fortuitously, I was born in an era when the Son of Heaven and his great ministers protect the Way and understand the Dharma.' He then took his books and traveled to the capital. The Prefect and Longtu Academician Wang Zhongyi presented them to the throne. Emperor Renzong examined them and issued an edict committing them to the Institute for the Translation of Sutras for compilation and arrangement, in order to show his praise and favor, and additionally conferred upon him the title 'Master Mingjiao.' Zhongling submitted two memorials declining it, but was not permitted to do so. In the court, from Prime Minister Han on down, none failed to invite him for an audience and hold him in high esteem. He was kept at Minxian Temple, but he refused invitations and returned to the southeast. Soon after, those among the Buddhists who were lecturers on the scriptures disliked his words on the 'special transmission' and were ashamed that the lineages they honored were not among the so-called twenty-eight persons; thus they joined together to fabricate theories to criticize him. Hearing of this, Zhongling rolled up his sleeves and gnashed his teeth, and wrote further books, extensively citing the scriptures and treatises of sages and worthies, and the anthologies and records of the ancients as evidence, reaching nearly several tens of thousands of words. Whenever there were gentlemen who were virtuous and fond of Buddhism, they often went to him to air their grievances. Over time, even those who were close to Zhongling all his life still regretted that he could not forget right and wrong along with the multitude. But when he passed away, his three-inch tongue, which had been used to debate what is right and wrong, ultimately remained uncorrupted along with several items to illuminate it. Alas, if his judgements had been unfair and his disputations had not accorded with the Way, how could this have been achieved? Nonetheless, that in which Zhongling found self-fulfillment and took joy in himself was not involved in this. How could it be spoken of to those of shallow views and meager learning? When Zhongling was in the southeast, finally, the Hanlin Academician Cai Junmo, when governing Hangzhou, invited him to reside at Mount Fori and treated him with great generosity; he lived there for several years. However, his speech was elevated and his conduct lofty; he made no concessions to students, and no one was able to follow him. He had disciples named Ciyu, Dongqing, and Dongguang. His writings from the *Dingzu tu* onward are called the *Jiayou ji*; there is also the *Zhiping ji*, comprising more than one hundred fascicles in total, with more than six hundred thousand words. His nephew, the śramaṇa Fadeng, was able to reverently preserve them to provide proof for future generations. Recorded on the fifth day of the twelfth month in the eighth year of the Xining era (1075 CE).