翻譯名義集 1.9

1.9

Great Master Purun was named Fayun, courtesy name Tianrui, and styled himself Wujizi. His family name was Ge, and they lived for generations in Caiyunli of Changzhou. His parents prayed to the Buddha, dreaming of an Indian monk who said: “I wish to lodge my spirit here.” When he was born, his face matched the dream, and his auspicious marks were extraordinary. In infancy, whenever he saw a monk, he would joyfully rush toward him as if obtaining a precious treasure. At five, he took leave of his parents and bowed to the Venerable Cixing Pang as his master. Beginning with domestic instruction, his divine blade emerged from the whetstone. The following year, he recited all seven fascicles of the Lotus Sūtra from memory. At age nine he had his head shaved, and at ten he received full ordination. Based on the Dharma he received, he promptly mounted the locust-wood seat and expounded the precepts to the assembly. In the fourth year of the Shaosheng era, he set out to travel and study. He first visited Dharma Master Tongzhao to study the great teaching of Tiantai. Next, he came to the desk of Dharma Master Min of Tianzhu, faithfully receiving the profound discourse. Finally, pecking from within and without simultaneously, he obtained the Dharma from the Great Dharma Master Qingbian of Nanping; holding the ruyi sceptre on his behalf, he expounded [the Dharma] to the assembly. Soon his virtuous renown swept across the four directions, and his fragrant reputation flew far and wide. In the seventh year of the Zhenghe era, the prefect Ying Andao, Academician of the Huiyou Hall and Grand Master for Thorough Counsel, ceremoniously invited him to serve as abbot of Dajue Jiao Monastery in Songjiang, and recommended the grant of his current title, where scholars converged like rivers flowing east. Over the course of eight years, he lectured continuously on the Lotus, the Suvarṇaprabhāsa, the Nirvāṇa, and the Vimalakīrti, in large and small volumes, continuing by lamp into dawn, his compassionate rain pouring forth abundantly. Subsequently, because his loving mother had grown old and he wished to repay his filial debt to his parent, he declined his duties and returned home, dwelling at his ancestral cemetery, naming it Cangyun (Hidden Cloud). Though his dwelling was humble, those who arrived wearing straw sandals were exceedingly numerous, and those asking for guidance filled the doorway. He also created images of the Three Western Sages to broadly transform people. Later, when his mother suffered a slight illness, the Master went to her bedside at night, lectured on the Heart Sūtra, and recited the name of Amitābha Buddha. The Buddha emitted golden light, which his mother and those on all sides witnessed without exception. With this extraordinary auspicious omen manifested, she passed away peacefully at her end; the śarīra left after cremation were as bright as round pearls. After a few days, two lotus footprints appeared; the place of her rebirth could thus be known. Comparing this with that, his stepping onto the ferry of great righteousness might seem like taking an alternate path to the Dao. Yet when the perfected person accords with principle, where can he go that does not conform? Thus our World-Honoured One ascended to the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven to preach the Dharma to repay his mother's kindness, and the bhikṣu Aṅgulimāla took filial conduct even further. In the jiazi year of the Shaoxing era, the monks of the monastery led the assembly to the Cloud Hermitage to invite the Master back to the monastery to serve as their refuge. After he accepted, the following year he and his disciples escorted the image into the monastery, opened the Huage pavilion to house it, greatly flourished the sublime assemblies of the Lotus Society, and gathered a thousand people to recite the Contemplation Sūtra and recite the name of the Buddha of one's own nature and mind-only. He also established eight-precept retreat assemblies, as well as assemblies for the Suvarṇaprabhāsa, the Lotus, the Great Compassion, the Perfect Enlightenment, and the Diamond Sūtra, all as provisions for the Western Land. Literati, eminent scholars, and faithful members of the fourfold assembly drank in the Master's lofty character, and those who came crowded the roads; those who vied to advance toward him ultimately achieved transcendence. People like the Jinshi Wang Ling of Jinjiang, the Gongyuan Zhang Qi of Wulin, the Guolu Wu Yanying of Sanqu, the Dianshi Jin Tinggui of Jiayao, and Lady Qian of Wuhui, all were reborn in the Pure Land.