出三藏記集 14.16

14.16

曇摩蜜多。齊言法秀。罽賓人也。年六七歲神明澄正。每見法事輒自然欣躍。其親愛而異之。遂令出家。罽賓多出聖達。屢值明師博貫群經。特深禪法。所得之要。極其微奧。為人沈邃有慧解。儀軌詳整生而連眉。故世稱連眉禪師焉。少好遊方誓志宣化。周歷諸國。遂適龜茲。未至一日。王夢神告曰。有大福德人。明當入國。汝應供養。明旦即勅外司。若有異人入境。必馳奏聞。俄而禪師果至。王自出郊迎。延請入宮。遂從稟戒。盡四事之供。禪師安而能遷。不滯利養。居數年。密有去志。神又降夢曰。福德人捨王去矣。王惕然驚覺。既而君臣固留。莫之能止。遂度流沙進到燉煌。於曠野之地建立精舍。植㮈千株。房閣池林。極為嚴淨。頃之復適涼州。仍於公府舊寺更營堂房。學徒濟濟禪業甚盛。常以江左王畿志欲傳法。以宋元嘉元年。展轉至蜀。俄而出峽停止荊州。於長沙寺造立禪舘。居頃之沿流東下。至于京師。即住祇洹寺。其道聲素著。傾都禮訊。自宋文袁皇后及皇子公主。莫不設齋請戒。參候之使旬日相屬。即於祇洹寺譯出諸經禪法要普賢觀虛空藏觀。凡三部經。常以禪道教授。或千里資受。四輩遠近。皆號大禪師焉。會稽太守孟顗。深信真諦。以三寶為己任。素好禪味敬心慇重。及臨浙河請與同遊。乃於鄮縣之山建立塔寺。東境舊俗多趣巫祝。及妙化所移比屋歸正。自西徂東無思不服。後還都憩定林下寺。禪師天性凝靜雅愛山水。以為鍾山鎮岳特美嵩華常歎下寺基構未窮形勝。於是乘高相地揆卜山勢。斬石刊木營建上寺。殿房禪室肅然深遠。實依俙鷲巖髣髴祇樹矣。於是息心之眾。萬里來集。諷誦肅邕望風成化。前師達上。即神足弟子。弘其教軌聲震道俗。故能淨化久而莫渝。勝業崇而弗替。蓋禪師之遺烈也。爰自西域至于南土。凡所遊履靡不興造。檀會梵集僧不絕書。轉法敷教寺無虛月。初禪師之發罽賓也。有迦毘羅神王衛送禪師。遂至龜茲。於中路欲反。乃現形告辭禪師曰。汝神力通變自在遊處。將不相隨共往南方。語畢即收影不見。遂遠從至都。故仍於上寺圖像著壁。迄至于今猶有聲影之驗。潔誠祈福莫不享願。以元嘉十九年七月六日卒于上寺。春秋八十有七。道俗四部行哭相趨。仍葬于鍾山宋熙寺前。

Dharmamitra—in the language of Qi, Faxiu—was a man of Kapiśa. When he was six or seven years old, his mind was clear and upright. Whenever he saw a Buddhist ritual, he would naturally leap with joy. His parents loved him and thought him remarkable, and so allowed him to leave the household. Kapiśa produced many holy and attained persons. He repeatedly met luminous teachers and broadly mastered the scriptures, being especially profound in the methods of dhyāna. The essentials he attained were exceedingly subtle and profound. In character he was deep and reserved, possessing insightful understanding; his deportment was meticulous and orderly. He was born with continuous eyebrows; thus the world called him the 'Continuous-Eyebrow Dhyāna Master.' In his youth he was fond of traveling, having made a vow to propagate and transform [beings]. He traveled through various kingdoms and eventually went to Kucha. One day before his arrival, the king dreamed of a deity who told him: 'A man of great merit will enter the kingdom tomorrow. You ought to make offerings to him.' The next morning the king at once ordered his outer officials that if any extraordinary person entered the realm, they must quickly report it in a memorial. Shortly thereafter, the Dhyāna Master indeed arrived. The king went out to the suburbs in person to welcome him, invited him into the palace, thereupon received the precepts from him, and provided the four requisites of offerings to the utmost. The Dhyāna Master was content yet able to move on, not lingering for gain and offerings. Having stayed for several years, he secretly had the intention to depart. The deity again sent a dream, saying: 'The person of merit is abandoning the king and departing.' The king awoke in alarm. Soon after, the ruler and his ministers firmly urged him to stay, but none could restrain him. He then crossed the flowing sands and proceeded to Dunhuang. In an open wilderness he established a vihāra and planted a thousand Chinese-plum trees; its rooms, pavilions, ponds, and groves were extremely austere and pure. After a short time he again went to Liangzhou, where he further constructed halls and rooms at an old monastery of the regional government. His students were numerous, and the practice of dhyāna flourished greatly. Because he always had the wish to transmit the Dharma to the royal realm east of the river, in the first year of the Yuanjia reign of the Song (424 CE), he traveled stage by stage and reached Shu. Soon he came out through the gorges and stopped at Jingzhou, where he built a dhyāna hall at Changsha Monastery. After staying there for a short time, he went downstream toward the east and arrived at the capital, where he took up residence in Jihuan Monastery. His reputation for the Way had long been illustrious, and the entire capital came to pay respects and inquire after him. From Empress Yuan of Emperor Wen of the Song down to the princes and princesses, none failed to host vegetarian feasts and request the precepts; messengers calling on him followed one after another day after day. Right at Jihuan Monastery he translated several scriptures: the Essentials of the Method of Dhyāna, the Contemplation of Samantabhadra, and the Contemplation of Ākāśagarbha—three scriptures in total. He constantly instructed [disciples] in the way of dhyāna, and some traveled a thousand li to receive instruction from him. The four assemblies, near and far, all called him the Great Dhyāna Master. Meng Yi, the Governor of Kuaiji, had deep faith in the ultimate truth and took the Three Jewels as his own responsibility. He had a longstanding fondness for the flavor of dhyāna and his reverence was earnest and profound. When he took office overlooking the Zhe River, he invited [the Master] to travel with him; thereupon they founded a stūpa and monastery in the mountains of Mao County. The ancient custom of the eastern region mostly inclined toward spirit mediums and shamans; but once they were moved by his wondrous transformation, house after house returned to correctness. From west to east, there were none who did not submit. Later he returned to the capital and rested at the Lower Dinglin Monastery. The Dhyāna Master was by nature calm and quiet and was particularly fond of mountains and rivers. Regarding Mount Zhong as a guardian peak, surpassing even Mount Song and Mount Hua, he often lamented that the foundation and structures of the Lower Monastery had not fully realized the landscape's advantages. Thereupon he mounted the heights to inspect the terrain, divined the mountain's contours, quarried stone, fell timber, and constructed the Upper Monastery. Its halls and dhyāna chambers were solemn, deep, and secluded, truly resembling Vulture Peak and bringing to mind the Jeta Grove. Thereupon those who had quieted their minds gathered from ten thousand li away; chanting reverently and harmoniously, they were transformed merely by beholding his demeanor. Former masters of attained prominence were his foremost disciples; propagating his teachings and regulations, their renown resounded through both religious and lay communities. Thus the pure transformation could endure long without decline, and the superior undertaking was revered and never lapsed—this was indeed the legacy of the Dhyāna Master! From the Western Regions to the southern lands, wherever his feet trod, there was nothing he did not build up. Dāna assemblies and Sanskrit gatherings of monks were recorded without end; turning the Dharma and expounding the teachings, not a month passed empty in the monasteries. When the Dhyāna Master first set out from Kapiśa, the spirit king Kapila had guarded and escorted him, eventually reaching Kucha. In the middle of the way, [the deity] wished to turn back, so he manifested his form to bid farewell to the Dhyāna Master, saying: 'Your spiritual power transforms at will and you wander freely; I shall not accompany you to the south.' When he finished speaking, he withdrew his shadow and was seen no more. [However, the deity] subsequently followed him from afar to the capital. Therefore [the Master] had his image painted on the wall of the Upper Monastery. Even up to the present day, there are still manifestations of his voice and shadow; those of pure sincerity who pray for blessings never fail to have their wishes granted. On the sixth day of the seventh month of the nineteenth year of Yuanjia (442 CE), he died at the Upper Monastery at the age of eighty-seven. The four assemblies of monastics and laypeople wailed as they hastened along the road, and he was buried in front of Songxi Monastery on Mount Zhong.