法苑珠林 33.77

33.77

唐楊州長樂寺釋住力。姓褚氏。河南陽翟縣人。器宇凝峻虛懷接寤。聲第之高有聞緇俗。於本寺四部王公共造高閣。并二挾樓。妙盡奇工。即年成立。寺眾三百同皆歡喜。至大業十年。自竭身資以栴檀香木摸寫瑞像并二菩薩。不久尋成同安閤內。至十四年隋室喪亂道俗流亡。骸若萎朽。充諸衢市。誓以身命守護殿閣。寺居狐兔顧影為儔。歠菽飲水再離寒暑。雖耆年暮齒而心力逾壯。泥塗圮落周匝火燒。口誦不輟手行治葺。賊徒雪泣見者哀歎。往往革心相佐修補　皇唐受命弘宣大法。舊僧餘眾並造相投。邑屋雖焚此寺猶在。武德六年江表賊帥輔公祐。負阻擅兵潛圖反叛。凡百寺觀撤送江南。力乃致書再請願。在閣前燒身以留寺宇。祐偽號尊稱志在傾殄。雖得其書全不顧遂。力謂弟子曰。吾無量劫來積習貪愛。不能捐捨形命以報法恩。今欲自於佛前取盡。決不忍見像宜齊江。可積乾薪自燒供養。吾滅之後像必南度。衣資什物並入尊像。泣服施靈理宜改革。便以香湯沐浴跏趺。面西引火自燒卒於炭聚。時年八十。即武德六年十月八日也。命終火滅合掌凝然。更足闍維一時都化。初力在佛前焚時有群鵲哀鳴。其聲甚切。右繞七匝。方始飛去。及身歿後像。果南遷。殿閣房廊得免煨燼。法寶僧眾如疇昔焉。門人慧安智賾。師資義重甥舅恩深。為樹高碑于寺之內。東宮庶子虞世南為文。今像還於閣迄今猶在。

Shi Zhili of Changle Temple in Yangzhou during the Tang was surnamed Chu, and was a native of Yangzhai County in Henan. Of serene, lofty capacity and open-minded in welcoming and enlightening others, the renown of his rank was heard among both the ordained and the laity. At his home temple, he joined with Prince Sibu to build a high pavilion together with two flanking side towers; it exhausted the finest marvels of craftsmanship and was completed within the year. The three hundred monks of the temple all rejoiced together. In the tenth year of the Daye reign, he exhausted his own physical assets to replicate an auspicious image together with two bodhisattvas using sandalwood. Soon after, it was completed and installed together in the pavilion. In the fourteenth year, the house of Sui fell into turmoil and ruin; clerics and laypeople wandered into exile. Skeletons, like withered and rotten wood, filled the avenues and marketplaces. He vowed with his body and life to guard the halls and pavilions. Living in the temple with foxes and hares, he took only his own shadow as a companion. Sipping bean soup and drinking water, he endured through two summers and winters. Though advanced in years and teeth, the strength of his mind grew even more vigorous. Where the plaster fell in ruins, surrounded by fires, he chanted without ceasing with his mouth and carried out repairs with his hands. Bandits wept bitter tears and all who saw him sighed with sorrow; time and again they had changes of heart and helped him make repairs. The August Tang received the mandate and broadly proclaimed the Great Dharma; former monks and remaining clerics all assembled to turn to him. Though the town and houses burned, this temple alone remained. In the sixth year of the Wude reign, the rebel general of the Jiangbiao region, Fu Gongyou, relied on the terrain's obstruction, usurped military power, and secretly plotted rebellion. He dismantled all one hundred monasteries and shrines and sent [their materials] south of the Yangtze. Zhili thereupon sent a letter, repeatedly requesting and willing to burn his body before the pavilion in order to preserve the temple structures. Gongyou, possessing an illegitimate title and self-exaltation, was intent on ruin and destruction; though he received the letter, he completely disregarded it. Zhili said to his disciples: 'From measureless kalpas past, I have accumulated the habit of greed and love, and have been unable to renounce my physical body and life to repay the Dharma's kindness. Now I wish to exhaust myself before the Buddha; I can never bear to see the images [drift] level with the Yangtze. You may pile up dry firewood to burn me as an offering. After my demise, the images will surely cross to the south. All robes, assets, and utensils shall go to the venerable images. To shed tears and mourn the spirit should properly be cast away.' He then bathed in scented water and sat cross-legged. Facing west, he drew the fire to burn himself, expiring upon the mound of charcoal. He was eighty years of age at the time; it was the eighth day of the tenth month of the sixth year of the Wude reign. When his life ended and the fire died out, his palms were joined in serene composure. They further added wood to cremate him, and all was consumed in an instant. When Zhili was first burning before the Buddha, a flock of magpies cried in sorrow, their voices most mournful; after circling seven times to the right, only then did they fly away. After his body perished, the images indeed were moved south. The halls, pavilions, chambers, and corridors were spared the ash and cinders. The Dharma treasures and monastic assembly were just as in former times. His disciples Hui'an and Zhize regarded the bond of master and disciple as heavy and the debt of maternal uncle and nephew as deep; they erected a tall stele within the temple. Yu Shinan, Vice Mentor of the Crown Prince, composed the text. At present the images have returned to the pavilion, and remain there to this day.