鐔津文集 13.7

13.7

禪師疾病。予自杭往問醫藥。嘗顧謂曰。我老且病。是必已矣。死且累子坎而揜之。為我誌其嗣法。遂授其所以然。余還杭未幾。果溘然而化。學者不悉即焚其喪卒不得而塔之。故列其名迹於影堂。命今長老懃師勒石以傳之。禪師諱慶暹。其先建陽人也。姓范氏。范氏世為士族。其父大父皆仕。不復書也。始禪師因父宦生於會稽。及其父官死海鹽縣。即與母治產居秀。至是禪師方五歲。而秀氣靄然。其母異之。命從淨行子昭出家於今資聖精舍。踰十歲落𩬊。納戒於靈光寺。習楞嚴圓覺於講師。居素又十歲。經明明年即廣游方外遍參禪要。又十歲且還。初秀郡未始有禪居。待來者亦有所缺。然禪師既歸。乃一更其院。務與眾處諭其屬。即如十方禪規主之院。稍治遂結廬獨處于園林。篤為杜多之行。不出不寢更十九年。雖惡衣惡食。自視宴如也。居無何。會故雪竇清禪師至其廬曰。善乎仁者乃至是哉。因盡示其所證之法。而清禪師大韙之。卒亦承於清師。至天聖中。郡太守張公幾聖高之。命復方丈使舉行禪者。故事逮故翰林學士葉公道卿以中允領郡。見而益喜。遂尊為長老。命傳其法。垂二十年竟以此物故。嗚呼。其世壽已七十六。而僧臘六十二。禪師治茲院。自壯既耄凡四十六載。於人甚莊處已至約。飲食資用必務素儉。與時俗不合。以故其徒稱難而少親附。唯士大夫重其修潔。不忍以葷酒溷其室。先時吳中僧之坐法失序。輒以勢高下。不復以戒德論。禪師慨然甞數以書求理於官。世人雖皆不顧其說而禪師未始自沮。及葉公道卿轉運吳越。而禪師復致其書。而葉公然之。遂正其事於所部。既而秀眾果推禪師於高座。方再會即謝絕。踵不入俗殆十五年。然亦天性公正切於護法耳。昔嘗與余語曰。吾不能以道大惠於物。德行復不足觀。以愧於先聖人矣。苟忍視其亂法是益愧也。予即應之曰。不必謙也。曹溪宗門天下之道妙也。而學者罕至。十二頭陀出世之至行也。吾徒之所難。能為法而奮不顧身。亦人之難能也。是三者師皆得而行之。又何愧乎。師曰。此吾豈敢也。雖然予庸以是而稱之於吾人。蓋欲其有所勸也。禪師之遷化也。至是皇祐之己亥實五載矣。悲夫。

When the Chan Master was ill, I went from Hangzhou to inquire about his medical care. He looked at me and said: “I am old and sick; this must be the end. In death I shall burden you to dig my pit and bury me, and to record my Dharma transmission.” He then imparted the account thereof. Not long after I returned to Hangzhou, he indeed suddenly passed away. The students, not knowing [the arrangements], cremated his remains, so in the end he could not be interred in a stūpa. Therefore, his names and deeds are displayed in the Portrait Hall, and the present Elder Qin was instructed to carve them on stone to transmit them. The Chan Master’s taboo name was Qingxian. His ancestors were natives of Jianyang, of the Fan clan. The Fan clan had been an official family for generations; both his father and grandfather held office, so there is no need to record them further. Originally, because of his father's official posting, the Chan Master was born in Kuaiji. When his father died in office in Haiyan County, he and his mother managed their property and resided in Xiuzhou. At that time, the Chan Master was just five years old, yet his refined aura was already evident. His mother, marveling at this, instructed him to leave home under the pure practitioner Zizhao at what is now the Zisheng Hermitage. When he was past ten, his head was shaved. He received the full precepts at Lingguang Temple, and studied the Śūraṅgama and Perfect Enlightenment under a lecturing master, residing quietly for another ten years. Once he had mastered the scriptures, the following year he traveled widely beyond the local area, inquiring extensively into the essentials of Chan. After another ten years, he returned. Originally, Xiuzhou had never had a Chan monastery, and provisions for arriving travelers were lacking. But after the Chan Master returned, he completely transformed the cloister, striving to live together with the assembly and instructing his subordinates to govern the cloister according to the Chan regulations of the ten directions. Once it was somewhat regulated, he built a hut to live alone in the grove, strictly practicing the dhūta austerities. He neither stepped outside nor lay down to sleep for nineteen years; though his clothing and food were coarse, he regarded them with ease. Before long, it happened that the late Chan Master Qing of Xuedou came to his hut and said: “How wonderful, benevolent one, that you have reached this stage!” He then fully demonstrated the Dharma he had realized, and Master Qing thoroughly affirmed him, so that in the end he also inherited from Master Qing. During the Tiansheng era, the Prefect of the commandery, Lord Zhang (Jisheng), held him in high esteem and ordered him to restore the abbot's quarters to conduct the traditional affairs of Chan practitioners. Later, when the late Hanlin Academician Lord Ye Daoqing governed the commandery as Palace Vice Director, he was all the more pleased upon meeting him; he revered him as an Elder and ordered him to transmit his Dharma. For nearly twenty years until he finally passed away, he remained in this position. Alas! His worldly age was already seventy-six, and his monastic seniority was sixty-two. The Chan Master had administered this cloister from his prime to old age, forty-six years in all. Toward others he was most dignified, and in personal conduct extremely austere. His food and material provisions were strictly plain and frugal, out of step with worldly customs. For this reason, his followers found him demanding, and few grew close to him; only the scholar-officials valued his cultivation and purity, unwilling to defile his chamber with meat or wine. Formerly, when monks in Wu sat according to monastic precedence, order had been lost, precedence being determined by power rather than precepts and virtue. The Chan Master was deeply pained by this and repeatedly submitted letters to the authorities requesting rectification. Although the worldly ignored his words, the Chan Master was never discouraged. When Lord Ye Daoqing became the Transport Commissioner of Wu and Yue, the Chan Master sent him another letter; Lord Ye agreed with it and corrected the practice throughout his jurisdiction. Soon after, the assembly of Xiuzhou indeed elevated the Chan Master to the high seat. After only two assemblies, he declined completely and did not set foot in the secular world for nearly fifteen years. Yet this was merely his upright nature, deeply committed to protecting the Dharma. Once he said to me: “I am unable to benefit things greatly through the Dao, and my moral conduct is not worth looking at, which shames me before the ancient sages. If I were to watch the Dharma fall into disorder without intervening, my shame would be even greater.” I replied: “There is no need for humility. The lineage of Caoxi is the wondrous Dao of the world, yet few students attain it. The twelve dhūta austerities are the utmost conduct for leaving the world, difficult even for our own kind. To step forward for the Dharma without regard for oneself is also something rarely achieved by others. You have attained and practiced all three of these; of what have you to be ashamed?” The Master said: “How would I dare claim this?” Nonetheless, I use this to praise him among our peers, wishing that they may be encouraged thereby. From the Chan Master’s passing to now, the jihai year of the Huangyou era, it has been five years. How sorrowful!