Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Twenty-Six

禪門達者雖不出世有名於時者一十人見錄

Ten Chan adepts who, though they did not emerge into the world, were renowned in their time, as recorded

金陵寶誌禪師

Chan Master Baozhi of Jinling

婺州善慧大士

Great Scholar Shanhui of Wuzhou

南獄慧思禪師

Chan Master Huisi of Nanyue

天台智顗禪師

Chan Master Zhiyi of Tiantai

泗州僧伽和尚

Monk Sangha of Sizhou

萬迴法雲公

Lord Fayun of Wanhui

天台豐幹禪師

Chan Master Fenggan of Tiantai

天台寒山子

Hanshanzi of Tiantai

天台拾得

Shide of Tiantai

明州布袋和尚

Cloth-Bag Monk of Mingzhou

諸方雜舉徵拈代別語

Miscellaneous citations from various quarters, with alternate sayings and substitutions

寶誌禪師金城人也。姓朱氏。少出家止道林寺修習禪定。宋泰始初忽居止無定飲食無時。髮長數寸徒跣執錫杖。頭擐剪刀尺銅鑑。或掛一兩尺帛。數日不食無飢容。時或歌吟詞如讖記。士庶皆共事之。齊永明七年。武帝謂師惑眾收付建康獄。既旦人見其入市。及檢獄如故。建康令以事聞。帝延於宮中之後堂。師在華林園忽一日重著三布帽。亦不知於何所得之。俄豫章王文惠太子相繼薨。武帝尋厭世齊亦以於季矣。由是禁師出入。梁高祖即位下詔曰。誌公跡拘塵垢神遊冥寂。水火不能焦濡。蛇虎不能侵懼。語其佛理則聲聞以上。譚其隱淪則遯仙高者。豈以俗士常情空相拘制。何其鄙陋一至於此。自今勿得復禁。帝一日問師曰。弟子煩惑何以治之。師曰。十二。識者以為十二因緣治惑藥也。又問十二之旨。師曰。旨在書字時節刻漏中。識者以為書之在十二時中。又問。弟子何時得靜心修習。師曰。安樂禁。識者以為修習禁者止也。至安樂時乃止耳。又製大乘贊二十四首盛行於世(餘諸辭句與夫禪宗旨趣冥會。略錄十首及師製十二時頌編於別卷)天監十三年冬將卒。忽告眾僧令移寺金剛神像出置於外。乃密謂人曰。菩薩將去。未及旬日無疾而終。舉體香軟。臨亡然一燭以付後閤舍人吳慶。慶以事聞。帝歎曰。大師不復留矣。燭者將以後事囑我乎。因厚禮葬於鍾山獨龍阜。仍立開善精舍。勅陸倕製銘於冢內。王筠勒碑於寺門。處處傳其遺像焉。初師顯跡之始年可五六十許。及終亦不老。人莫測其年。有徐捷道者。年九十三。自言是誌外舅弟小誌四年。計師亡時蓋年九十七矣。勅諡妙覺大師。

Chan Master Baozhi was a man of Jincheng. His surname was Zhu. When young he left home, staying at Daolin Temple to cultivate meditative concentration. At the beginning of the Taishi era of the Song, he suddenly took up dwelling without fixed abode and ate without set times. His hair grew several inches long; barefoot, he held a tin staff, and on his head he wore scissors, a ruler, and a bronze mirror, or hung a piece of cloth one or two chi long. For several days he would not eat, yet showed no look of hunger. At times he sang and chanted, his words like prophetic records. Gentlemen and commoners alike all served him. In the seventh year of the Yongming era of the Qi, Emperor Wu considered the Master to be deluding the masses and had him arrested and delivered to the Jiankang prison. By morning, people saw him entering the market, but when they checked the prison he was still there. The Jiankang magistrate reported the matter upward. The emperor invited him to the rear hall within the palace. The Master was in Hualin Garden when suddenly one day he wore three cloth caps stacked one upon another, and no one knew from where they had come. Before long, the Prince of Yuzhang and Crown Prince Wenhui passed away one after another. Soon afterward Emperor Wu grew weary of the world, and the Qi dynasty also reached its final age. Because of this, the Master was forbidden to come and go. When Emperor Gaozu of Liang ascended the throne, he issued an edict saying: "Zhigong's outward traces are bound by dust and defilement, yet his spirit roams in the dark and silent. Water and fire cannot scorch or soak him; snakes and tigers cannot invade or frighten him. To speak of him in terms of Buddhist principle, he is above the shravakas; to discuss his hidden reclusion, he surpasses the fleeing immortals. How can one with the ordinary sentiments of a worldly man vainly restrain him? How petty and shallow has it come to this! From now on he must not again be forbidden." One day the emperor asked the Master, "This disciple is troubled by delusion—how should it be cured?" The Master said, "Twelve." Those who understood took the twelve links of conditioned causation to be the medicine that cures delusion. He also asked about the meaning of the twelve. The Master said, "The meaning lies in the writing of characters, in the seasons and the water-clock." Those who understood took it to mean writing within the twelve double-hours. He also asked, "When will this disciple attain a calm mind for cultivation?" The Master said, "'Anle jin.'" Those who understood took the 'jin' in cultivation to mean stopping, and that only when one reaches anle does one stop. He also composed twenty-four Great Vehicle Praises, which circulated widely in the world (the remaining lines secretly accord with the essential purport of Chan; ten were briefly recorded, together with the Master's Twelve Double-Hour Praises, and compiled in a separate volume). In the winter of the thirteenth year of Tianjian, when he was about to die, he suddenly told the assembled monks to move the temple's Vajra deity image out and place it outside, and secretly said to someone, "The Bodhisattva is about to depart." Before ten days had passed, he died without illness. His whole body was fragrant and soft. As death approached he lit a candle and handed it to the Rear Pavilion Sheren Wu Qing. Qing reported the matter upward. The emperor sighed and said, "The Great Master will no longer remain. The candle—is it that he entrusts me with his afterlife affairs?" Thereupon he was buried with lavish rites at Dulong Fu on Mount Zhong, and a Kaishan Vihara was established. Lu Chui was ordered to compose an epitaph within the tomb, and Wang Yun had a stele carved at the temple gate. His likeness was transmitted everywhere. At the beginning when the Master first manifested his traces, he appeared about fifty or sixty years old; at the end he was not aged, and no one could fathom his years. There was a certain Xu Jiedao, aged ninety-three, who said of himself that he was the Master's maternal cousin, four years younger than Zhi. Counting to the time of the Master's death, he would have been ninety-seven. By imperial order he was posthumously titled Great Master Miaojue.

善慧大士者。婺州義烏縣人也。齊建武四年丁丑五月八日降於雙林鄉傅宣慈家本名翕。梁天監十一年。年十六納劉氏女名妙光。生普建普成二子。二十四與里人稽亭浦漉魚。獲已沈籠水中祝曰。去者適止者留。人或謂之愚。會有天竺僧達磨(時謂嵩頭陀)曰。我與汝毘婆屍佛所發誓。今兜率宮衣缽見在。何日當還。因命臨水觀其影。見大士圓光寶蓋。大士笑謂之曰。鑪韛之所多鈍鐵。良醫之門足病人。度生為急何思彼樂乎。嵩指松山頂曰。此可棲矣。大士躬耕而居之。乃說一偈曰。

The Great Layman Shanhui was a man of Yiwu County in Wuzhou. On the eighth day of the fifth month in the dingchou year, the fourth year of the Jianwu era of the Qi, he was born into the household of Fu Xuanci in Shuanglin Township; his original name was Xi. In the eleventh year of Tianjian of the Liang, at the age of sixteen, he married a daughter of the Liu family named Miaoguang. She bore two sons, Pujian and Pucheng. At the age of twenty-four, he and a fellow villager were filtering fish at Jiting Pu; when he had caught them he sank the basket into the water and made this vow: "Let those who go, go; let those who stay, stay." Some people called him foolish. It happened that a Indian monk Bodhidharma (called at the time Song Toutuo) said, "You and I made a vow in the presence of the Buddha Vipashyin. Now the robe and bowl in the Tushita Palace are still there—on what day will you return?" Then he had him look at his reflection in the water, and he saw the Great Layman's circular halo and jeweled canopy. The Great Layman laughed and said to him, "The forge has much blunt iron; the gate of the good physician has plenty of sick people. Saving living beings is the urgent task—why think of that bliss?" Song pointed to the summit of Mount Song and said, "This is a place where you may dwell." The Great Layman plowed the land himself and lived there, and then spoke a verse saying:

空手把鋤頭步行騎水牛

Empty-handed, I hold a hoe; walking on foot, I ride a water buffalo.

人從橋上過橋流水不流

A man crosses over a bridge; the bridge flows, the water does not flow.

有人盜菽麥瓜果。大士即與籃籠盛去。日常傭作夜則行道。見釋迦金粟定光三如來放光襲其體。大士乃曰。我得首楞嚴定。當捨田宅設無遮大會。大通二年唱賣妻子獲錢五萬以營法會。時有慧集法師聞法悟解。言我師彌勒應身耳。大士恐惑眾遂呵之。六年正月二十八日遣弟子傅暀致書於梁高祖。書曰。雙林樹下當來解脫善慧大士。白國主救世菩薩。今欲條上中下善。希能受持。其上善略以虛懷為本。不著為宗。亡相為因。涅槃為果。其中善略以治身為本。治國為宗。天上人間果報安樂。其下善略以護養眾生勝殘去殺。普令百姓俱稟六齋。今聞皇帝崇法欲伸論義。未遂襟懷故。遣弟子傅暀告曰。暀投太樂令何昌。昌曰。慧約國師猶復置啟。翕是國民又非長老。殊不謙卑豈敢呈達。暀燒手御路。昌乃馳往同泰寺詢皓法師。皓勸速呈。二月二十一日進書。帝覽之遽遣詔迎。既至帝問。從來師事誰耶。曰從無所從來無所來師事亦爾。昭明問。大士何不論義。曰菩薩所說非長非短非廣非狹非有邊非無邊如如正理復有何言。帝又問。何為真諦。曰息而不滅。帝曰。若息而不滅此則有色。有色故鈍。若如是者居士不免流俗。曰臨財無苟得臨難無苟免。帝曰。居士大識禮。曰一切諸法不有不無。帝曰。謹受居士來旨曰大千世界所有色象莫不歸空。百川叢注不過於海。無量妙法不出真如。如來何故於三界九十六道中獨超其最。視一切眾生有若赤子有若自身。天下非道不安非理不樂。帝默然。大士辭退。異日帝於壽光殿請大士講金剛經。大士登座執拍板唱經成四十九頌。大同五年奏捨宅於松山下因雙檮樹而創寺。名曰雙林。其樹連理祥煙周繞。有雙鶴棲止。太清二年大士誓不食。取佛生日焚身供養。至日白黑六十餘人代不食燒身。三百人刺心瀝血和香。請大士住世。大士愍而從之。承聖三年復捨家資為眾生供養三寶。而說偈曰。

Someone stole his beans, wheat, melons, and fruit; the Great Adept promptly took a basket and cage and carried them off. By day he hired himself out as a laborer; by night he practiced the Way. He saw the three Tathagatas Shakyamuni, Jinsu, and Dingguang emit light that suffused his body. The Great Adept then said: "I have attained the Shurangama samadhi. I should renounce my fields and dwelling and establish an assembly without discrimination." In the second year of Datong, he announced the sale of his wife and children and obtained fifty thousand cash to fund a Dharma assembly. At that time, Dharma Master Huiji, hearing the Dharma, awakened and understood, and said that my teacher was an emanation of Maitreya and had finished. The Great Adept, fearing he would confuse the multitude, rebuked him. On the twenty-eighth day of the first month in the sixth year, he sent his disciple Fu Wang to deliver a letter to Emperor Gaozu of Liang. The letter said: "The future liberator Shanhui the Great Adept beneath the twin trees bows to the lord of the realm, the bodhisattva who saves the world. Now I wish to set forth upper, middle, and lower goodness, hoping they can be accepted and upheld. The upper goodness briefly takes an empty heart as its root, non-attachment as its principle, absence of marks as its cause, and nirvana as its fruit. The middle goodness briefly takes governing the body as its root, governing the state as its principle, and the fruit of peace and happiness among gods and humans. The lower goodness briefly takes protecting and nurturing living beings, overcoming cruelty and removing killing, and causing all common people to observe the six fasting days. Now I hear the emperor reveres the Dharma and wish to expound and discuss its meaning, but my feelings have not yet found fulfillment, so I send my disciple Fu Wang to inform you." Fu Wang went to the Director of the Great Music, He Chang. Chang said: "Even National Teacher Huiyue still sets forth a petition. You are a subject of the realm and not an elder; you are hardly humble, so how dare you present this?" Fu Wang burned his hand on the imperial road. Chang then galloped to Tongtai Temple to consult Dharma Master Hao. Hao urged him to present it quickly. On the twenty-first day of the second month, the letter was submitted. The emperor read it and immediately sent an edict to welcome him. When he arrived, the emperor asked: "Whom have you hitherto served as your teacher?" He said: "What has never been followed does not come from anywhere; serving a teacher is also thus." Zhaoming asked: "Great Adept, why do you not discuss the meaning?" He said: "What the bodhisattva speaks is neither long nor short, neither broad nor narrow, neither with boundary nor without boundary. In suchness and right principle, what further words are there?" The emperor again asked: "What is ultimate truth?" He said: "Cessation yet not extinction." The emperor said: "If it is cessation yet not extinction, then this has form. Because it has form, it is dull. If it is like this, the layman cannot avoid vulgarity." He said: "Facing wealth, do not gain improperly; facing danger, do not evade improperly." The emperor said: "The layman greatly understands propriety." He said: "All dharmas are neither existent nor nonexistent." The emperor said: "I respectfully receive the layman's purport." He said: "All forms in the great thousand-world system without exception return to emptiness. The hundred rivers pour together but do not exceed the sea. Immeasurable wondrous dharmas do not go beyond true suchness. Why is the Tathagata alone the most surpassing among the ninety-six paths of the three realms? He regards all living beings as his own children, as himself. The world is not at peace without the Way, not happy without principle." The emperor was silent. The Great Adept took his leave and withdrew. Another day, the emperor invited the Great Adept to the Shouguang Hall to lecture on the Diamond Sutra. The Great Adept ascended the seat, took up the clappers, and sang the sutra, producing forty-nine verses. In the fifth year of Datong, he memorialized to donate his dwelling at the foot of Song Mountain, and because of twin toon trees he founded a temple named Shuanglin. The trees were joined in their branches, auspicious smoke swirled around them, and a pair of cranes perched there. In the second year of Taiqing, the Great Adept vowed not to eat, and on the Buddha's birthday he would burn his body as an offering. On that day, more than sixty lay and monastic followers fasted and burned their bodies in his place, and three hundred people pierced their hearts and shed blood to blend with incense, beseeching the Great Adept to remain in the world. The Great Adept, moved by compassion, followed their request. In the third year of Chengsheng, he again gave away his family property to make offerings for living beings to the Three Jewels, and spoke a verse saying:

傾捨為群品奉供天中天

"Pouring out and renouncing for the sake of the myriad beings, I present offerings to the Heaven of Heavens."

仰祈甘露雨流澍普無邊

"Looking up, I pray for the rain of sweet dew, to pour down everywhere without bound."

陳天嘉二年大士於松山頂遶連理樹行道。感七佛相隨。釋迦引前維摩接後。唯釋尊數顧共語。為我補處也。其山忽起黃雲盤旋若蓋。因號雲黃山。時有慧和法師不疾而終。嵩頭陀於柯山靈巖寺入滅。大士懸知曰。嵩公兜率待我。決不可久留也。時四側華木方當秀實欻然枯悴。太建元年己丑四月二十四日示眾曰。此身甚可厭惡眾苦所集。須慎三業精勤六度。若墜地獄卒難得脫。常須懺悔。又曰。吾去已不得移寢床。七日有法猛上人。持像及鍾來鎮於此。弟子問。滅後形體若為。曰山頂焚之。又問。不遂何如。曰慎勿棺斂。但壘甓作壇移屍於上。屏風周繞絳紗覆之。上建浮圖以彌勒像處其下。又問。諸佛涅槃時皆說功德。師之發跡可得聞乎。曰我從第四天來為度汝等。次補釋迦。及傅普敏文殊。慧集觀音。何昌阿難。同來贊助故。大品經云。有菩薩從兜率來。諸根猛利。疾與般若相應。即吾身是也。言訖趺坐而終。壽七十有三。尋猛師果將到織成彌勒像及九乳鐘留鎮之。須臾不見。大士道具十餘事見在。晉天福九年甲辰六月十七日錢王遣使發塔。取靈骨一十六片紫金色及道具。乃府城南龍山建華寺寘之。仍以靈骨塑其像。

In the second year of Tianjia of the Chen dynasty, the Great Gentleman circumambulated a twinned tree on the summit of Mount Song while practicing the Way. He was moved by the Seven Buddhas following him: Shakyamuni led in front, Vimalakirti followed behind, and only Shakyamuni repeatedly looked back and spoke with him, saying, "You are my successor in the position of Buddhahood." The mountain suddenly raised yellow clouds that coiled around like a canopy, and so it was named Mount Yunhuang (Cloud Yellow). At that time, Dharma Master Huihe passed away without illness, and Song Toutuo entered nirvana at Lingyan Temple on Mount Ke. The Great Gentleman, knowing beforehand, said: "Master Song is waiting for me in the Tushita Heaven; I certainly cannot remain long." At that time, the flowers and trees on all four sides, just when they should have been flourishing and bearing fruit, suddenly withered. On the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month of the first year of Taijian, jichou, he addressed the assembly, saying: "This body is truly loathsome, a gathering place of many sufferings. You must be careful of the three karmas and diligently practice the six perfections. If you fall into hell, it will be difficult to escape. You must always repent." He also said: "After I depart, do not move my resting couch. On the seventh day, the worthy Master Fameng will come with an image and a bell to install here." A disciple asked: "After your extinction, what should be done with your bodily form?" He said: "Burn it on the mountain summit." He also asked: "If that does not go as planned, what then?" He said: "Be careful not to put it in a coffin. Simply pile up bricks to make a platform, move the corpse onto it, surround it with screens, cover it with red gauze, and erect a stupa above, placing a Maitreya image beneath it." He also asked: "When all Buddhas enter nirvana, they all speak of their merits. May we hear of the Master's origins?" He said: "I came from the fourth heaven to save you all. Next I will succeed Shakyamuni. Also Fu Pumin is Manjushri, Huiji is Avalokiteshvara, and He Chang is Ananda; they came together to assist. Therefore the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra says: 'There is a bodhisattva who comes from the Tushita Heaven, whose faculties are sharp, who quickly corresponds with prajna.' That is my body." Having spoken, he sat cross-legged and passed away. He was seventy-three years old. Soon afterward, Master Meng indeed arrived, bringing a woven Maitreya image and a nine-nippled bell to be installed there, and then in an instant disappeared. More than ten items of the Great Gentleman's implements are still extant. On the seventeenth day of the sixth month of the ninth year of Tianfu of the Jin, jiachen, the King of Qian sent envoys to open the stupa and take sixteen pieces of spiritual bone, purple-gold in color, along with the implements. Thereupon they built Huahua Temple at Longshan in the southern part of the prefectural city and installed them there, and also molded his image using the spiritual bone.

衡嶽慧思禪師武津人也。姓李氏。頂有肉髻牛行象視。少以慈恕聞於閭裡。嘗夢梵僧勸出俗。乃辭親入道。及稟具常習坐日唯一食。誦法華等經滿千遍。又閱妙勝定經歎禪那功德。遂發心尋友。時慧聞禪師有徒數百(聞禪師始因背手探藏。得中觀論發明禪理。此論即西天第十四祖龍樹大士所造。遂遙稟龍樹)乃往受法晝夜攝心坐夏。經三七日獲宿智通。倍加勇猛。尋有障起。四支緩弱不能行步。自唸曰。病從業。生業由心起。心源無起外境何狀。病業與身都如雲影。如是觀已顛倒想滅輕安如故。夏滿猶無所得。深懷慚愧放身倚壁。背未至間豁爾開悟。法華三昧最上乘門一念明達研練逾久前觀轉增。名行遠聞學侶日至。激勵無倦機感寔繁。乃以大小乘定慧等法隨根引喻。俾習慈忍行奉菩薩三聚戒。衣服率用布。寒則加之以艾。以北齊天保中領徒南邁。值梁孝元之亂。權止大蘇山。輕生重法者相與冒險而至填聚山林。師示眾曰。道源不遠性海非遙。但向己求莫從他覓。覓即不得得亦不真。偈曰。

Chan Master Huisi of Mount Heng, a native of Wujin. His surname was Li. On the crown of his head was a fleshy topknot; he walked like an ox and looked like an elephant. In youth he was known in his neighborhood for kindness and forbearance. He once dreamed that a brahmin monk urged him to leave household life, so he took leave of his parents and entered the Way. When he received full ordination, he constantly practiced sitting and ate only once a day. He recited the Lotus Sutra and other sutras fully a thousand times. He also read the Sutra of Wonderful Supreme Samadhi and sighed in admiration at the merits of dhyana, and so he resolved to seek a teacher. At that time Chan Master Huiwen had several hundred disciples (Chan Master Wen first, by reaching behind his back to explore the storehouse, obtained the Madhyamaka Shastra and clarified Chan principles. This treatise was composed by the Great Gentleman Nagarjuna, the fourteenth patriarch of the Western Heavens, and so he remotely received transmission from Nagarjuna), so Huisi went to receive the Dharma, concentrating his mind day and night in seated summer retreat. After twenty-one days he obtained the superknowledges of past lives and became twice as courageous and vigorous. Soon a hindrance arose: his four limbs became weak and he could not walk. He thought to himself: "Illness arises from karma, and karma arises from the mind. The source of mind does not arise; what form can external objects have? Illness, karma, and body are all like clouds and shadows." Having contemplated thus, his inverted thoughts ceased, and he became light and at ease as before. When the summer retreat ended he still had gained nothing, and deeply ashamed, he let his body lean against a wall. Before his back touched it, he suddenly became enlightened. The Lotus Samadhi, the supreme vehicle's gate, became clear in a single thought, and as he trained longer, his former contemplation increased ever more. His fame and practice were heard afar, and students came daily. He encouraged them tirelessly, and the responses to his teaching were truly many. He used the methods of concentration and wisdom of both Mahayana and Hinayana, adapting them to capacities with parables, causing them to cultivate kindness and forbearance and to uphold the bodhisattva's threefold pure precepts. His clothing was generally of cloth, and in cold he added mugwort. In the Tianbao era of the Northern Qi, he led disciples southward, and encountering the chaos of Liang Xiaoyuan, he temporarily stopped at Mount Dasu. Those who slighted life and valued the Dharma came together, braving danger, filling the mountain forests. The Master addressed the assembly, saying: "The source of the Way is not far; the sea of nature is not distant. Just seek it in yourself; do not seek it from others. Seeking it, you will not obtain it; obtaining it, it is still not true." The verse says:

頓悟心源開寶藏隱顯靈通現真相

Suddenly awakening to the source of mind opens the treasury of treasures; hidden and manifest, spiritually penetrating, revealing true form.

獨行獨坐常巍巍百億化身無數量

Walking alone, sitting alone, always towering; billions of transformation bodies without number.

縱合偪塞滿虛空看時不見微塵相

Even if it presses and fills the whole void (the base text has “逼塞”), when you look, you do not see even a dust mote's mark.

可笑物兮無比況口吐明珠光晃晃

How laughable is a thing with no comparison; from its mouth it spits out a bright pearl shining brilliantly.

尋常見說不思議一語標名言下當

Ordinarily, when people hear it said that it is inconceivable, a single phrase sets it forth in words and it is immediately so.

又偈曰。

Again, a verse says:

天不能蓋地不載無去無來無障礙

Heaven cannot cover it, earth cannot bear it; without going, without coming, without obstruction.

無長無短無青黃不在中間及內外

Without long, without short, without blue or yellow; it is not in the middle, nor inside or outside.

超群出眾太虛玄指物傳心人不會

Transcending the crowd and standing out from the ordinary, it is more mysterious than the great emptiness; pointing to things and transmitting the mind, people do not understand.

其他隨叩而應。以道俗所施造金字般若法華經。時眾請師講二經。隨文發解。復命門人智顗代講。至一心具萬行有疑請決。師曰。汝所疑乃大品次第意耳。未是法華圓頓旨也。吾昔於夏中一念頓發諸法見前。吾既身證不勞致疑。顗即諮受法華行三七日得悟(顗即天台教主智者大師。如下章出焉)陳光大元年六月二十三日自大蘇山將四十餘僧徑趣南嶽乃曰。吾寄此山止期十載。已後必事遠遊。吾前身曾履此處。巡至衡陽值一處林泉勝異。師曰。此古寺也。吾昔曾居俾掘之基址猶存。又指巖下曰。吾此坐禪賊斬吾首。尋得枯骸一聚。自此化道彌盛。陳主屢致慰勞供養目為大禪師。將欲順世謂門人曰。若有十人不惜身命。常修法華般舟念佛三昧方等懺悔期於見證者。隨有所須吾自供給。如無此人吾即遠去矣。時眾以苦行事難無有答者。師乃屏眾泯然而逝。小師雲辯號叫。師開目曰。汝是惡魔。吾將行矣。何驚動妨亂吾邪。痴人出去。言訖長往。時異香滿室。頂暖身軟顏色如常。即太建九年六月二十二日也。壽六十有四。凡有著述皆口授無所刪改。撰四十二字門兩卷。無諍行門兩卷。釋論玄隨自意安樂行次第禪要三智觀門等五部各一卷。並行於世。

In other matters, he responded according to the question. With what was given by monastics and laypeople, he had the Golden Light Prajnaparamita and Lotus Sutras made. At that time the assembly requested the Master to lecture on these two sutras, and he brought forth explanations according to the text. He again ordered his disciple Zhiyi to lecture in his place. When it came to "one mind possessing all practices," there was doubt and a request for resolution. The Master said: "What you doubt is merely the sequential meaning of the Great Treatise; it is not yet the perfect and sudden purport of the Lotus. Formerly, in the summer retreat, in a single thought I suddenly awakened, and all dharmas appeared before me. Since I have personally realized it, there is no need to harbor doubt." Zhiyi then inquired and received the practice of the Lotus; in twenty-one days he attained awakening (Zhiyi is the Tiantai founder, Great Master Zhizhe, and appears in the chapter below). On the twenty-third day of the sixth month of the first year of Guangda of the Chen dynasty, he led more than forty monks from Mount Dasu straight to Nanyue, and then said: "I lodge on this mountain only for a period of ten years; afterward I must go on a distant journey. In a former life I once trod this place." Wandering to Hengyang, he came upon a place where forest and spring were wonderfully extraordinary. The Master said: "This is an ancient monastery. I formerly dwelled here." He had it excavated, and the foundation base still remained. He also pointed below a cliff and said: "Here I sat in meditation, and bandits cut off my head." Soon a heap of dry bones was found. From this time his transformative teaching flourished all the more. The Chen sovereign repeatedly sent condolences and offerings, regarding him as the Great Chan Master. When he was about to accord with the world, he said to his disciples: "If there are ten people who do not spare body and life, who constantly cultivate the Lotus, the Pratyutpanna Buddha-remembrance samadhi, and Vaipulya repentance, and aspire to witness realization, whatever they need I will supply myself. If there are no such people, I will depart far away." At that time the assembly found ascetic practices difficult, and no one answered. The Master then dismissed the assembly and passed away silently. The junior monk Yunbian wailed loudly. The Master opened his eyes and said: "You are a demon. I am about to depart. Why do you startle and disturb me? Foolish man, get out." When he had spoken, he departed forever. At that time a rare fragrance filled the room, his crown was warm and his body soft, and his complexion was as usual. It was the twenty-second day of the sixth month of the ninth year of Taijian. His age was sixty-four. All his writings were orally dictated, without any deletion or revision. He composed the Two Fascicles on the Forty-two Character Gate, the Two Fascicles on the Gate of Non-contention Practice, and five works of one fascicle each—Exegesis of the Treatise, According with One's Own Intention, The Practice of Peace and Bliss, Essentials of Sequential Dhyana, and Gate of Contemplation of the Three Wisdoms—all of which circulated in the world.

天台山修禪寺智者禪師智顗荊州華容人。姓陳氏。母徐氏。始娠夢香煙五色縈饒於懷。誕生之夕祥光燭於隣裡。幼有奇相膚不受垢。七歲入果願寺。聞僧誦法華經普門品即隨念之。忽自憶記七卷之文宛如宿習。十五禮佛像誓志出家。怳焉如夢見大山臨海際峰頂有僧招手。復接入一伽藍雲。汝當居此。汝當終此。十八喪二親。於果願寺依僧法緒出家。二十進具。陳天嘉元年謁光州大蘇山慧思禪師。思一見乃謂曰。昔靈鷲同聽法華經。今復來矣。即示以普賢道場。說四安樂行。師入觀三七日。身心豁然定慧融會。宿通潛發唯自明瞭。以所悟白思。思曰。非汝弗證非吾莫識。此乃法華三昧前方便初旋陀羅尼也。縱令文字之師千萬不能窮汝之辯。汝可傳燈。莫作最後斷佛種人。師既承印可。太建元年禮辭住金陵闡化。凡說法不立文字。以辯才故晝夜無倦。七年乙未謝遣徒眾隱天台山佛隴峰。有定光禪師先居此峰。謂弟子曰。不久當有善知識領徒至此。俄爾師至。光曰。還憶疇昔舉手招引時否。師即悟禮像之徵悲喜交懷。乃執手共至庵所。其夜聞空中鍾磬之聲。師曰。是何祥也。光曰。此是犍稚集僧得住之相。此處金地吾已居之。北峰銀地汝宜居焉開山。後宣帝建修禪寺。割始豐縣租以充眾費。及隋煬帝請師受菩薩戒。師為帝立法名號總持。帝乃號師為智者。師常謂。法華為一乘妙典。蕩化城之執教。釋草菴之滯情。開方便之權門。示真實之妙理。會眾善之小行。歸廣大之一乘。遂出玄義。曰釋名辨體明宗論用判教相之五重也。名則法喻齊舉。謂一乘妙法即眾生本性。在無明煩惱不為所染。如蓮華處於淤泥而體常淨。故以為名。此經開權顯實廢權立實會權歸實。如蓮之華有含容開落之義。華之蓮有隱現成實之義。亦謂從本垂跡因跡顯本。夫經題不越法喻人。單複具足凡七種(單三複三具足一)攝一切名。

Zhiyi, the Wise Chan Master of Xiu Chan Monastery on Mount Tiantai, was a native of Huarong in Jingzhou. His surname was Chen; his mother was of the Xu clan. When she first conceived, she dreamed that five-colored incense smoke entwined about her bosom. On the night of his birth, auspicious light illuminated the neighborhood. From childhood he had extraordinary marks; his skin would not retain dirt. At age seven he entered Guo Yuan Monastery, and hearing a monk recite the Universal Gateway chapter of the Lotus Sutra, he immediately recited along. Suddenly he remembered on his own the text of all seven fascicles, as if it were a past habit. At fifteen he bowed before a Buddha image and vowed to leave the household. As if in a daze he dreamed of a great mountain at the edge of the sea, on whose summit a monk beckoned to him; then he was led into a monastery, where the monk said: "You should dwell here. You should end here." At eighteen he lost both parents. At Guo Yuan Monastery he left the household under the monk Faxu. At twenty he received full ordination. In the first year of Tianjia of the Chen dynasty, he paid a visit to Chan Master Huisi at Mount Dasu in Guangzhou. As soon as Huisi saw him, he said to him: "Formerly on Vulture Peak we heard the Lotus Sutra together; today you have come again." He then showed him the Way-place of Samantabhadra and expounded the Four Practices of Ease. The Master entered contemplation for twenty-one days, and his body and mind suddenly opened up; concentration and wisdom merged. Latent past penetrations quietly emerged, known only to himself. He reported what he had awakened to Huisi. Huisi said: "Were it not you, none could attest it; were it not I, none could recognize it. This is the preliminary expedient of the Lotus Samadhi and the initial Turning Dharanis. Even if there were thousands and myriads of masters of letters, they could not exhaust your eloquence. You may transmit the lamp. Do not be a person who cuts off the Buddha-seed at the end." Having received this seal of approval, in the first year of Taijian he took his leave with a bow and resided in Jinling, spreading the teaching. Whenever he taught the Dharma he did not rely on written words; by virtue of his eloquence he was tireless day and night. In the seventh year, yimwei, he dismissed his assembly of disciples and withdrew to Folong Peak on Mount Tiantai. Chan Master Dingguang had earlier dwelt on this peak and said to his disciples: "Before long a good friend will come leading disciples here." Shortly afterward the Master arrived. Dingguang said: "Do you still recall the time when I raised my hand and beckoned you?" The Master then awakened to the sign of bowing to the image, and grief and joy filled his breast. So hand in hand they went together to the hermitage. That night they heard the sound of bells and chimes in the air. The Master said: "What auspicious sign is this?" Dingguang said: "This is the mark of the gong that gathers the monks, indicating that you will dwell here. This golden ground I have already occupied. The silver ground of the north peak is where you should dwell and open the mountain." Later Emperor Xuan established Xiu Chan Monastery and allotted the tax revenue of Shifeng County to cover the assembly's expenses. When Emperor Yang of the Sui requested the Master to receive the bodhisattva precepts, the Master established a Dharma name for the emperor, hao Zongchi. The emperor then gave the Master the hao Zhi Zhe, "the Wise." The Master often said: The Lotus Sutra is the wondrous scripture of the One Vehicle; it sweeps away the attachment to the teaching of the conjured city, releases the stagnant feelings of the grass hut, opens the expedient gate of skillful means, and reveals the wondrous principle of the real. It gathers the small practices of all good and returns them to the vast One Vehicle. He then produced the Profound Meaning, expounding the five layers of interpreting the title, discerning the essence, clarifying the doctrine, discussing the function, and judging the phases of the teaching. In the title, Dharma and simile are raised together. It means that the One Vehicle's wondrous Dharma is the original nature of sentient beings; though in ignorance and affliction it is not defiled, like a lotus flower in the mud whose essence remains perpetually pure—hence it is used as the name. This scripture opens the expedient to reveal the real, discards the expedient to establish the real, and merges the expedient into the real. Just as the flower of the lotus has the meaning of containing and opening, blooming and falling, so the lotus of the flower has the meaning of hidden and manifest, accomplishing the real. It is also called "from the root suspending the traces, and by the traces revealing the root." Now the title of a scripture never goes beyond Dharma, simile, and person, in single, compound, and complete forms—seven kinds in all (three single, three compound, and one complete)—and these encompass all names.

妙法蓮華即複之一也(法譬為複)名以召體。體即實相。謂一切相離實相無體故。宗則一乘因果。開示悟入佛之知見可尊尚故。用則力用。以開廢會之義有其力故。然後判教相者。以如來一代之說。總判為五時八教。五時者。一佛初成道為上根菩薩說華嚴時。二為小機說阿含時。三彈偏折小歎大褒圓說方等時。四蕩相遣執說般若時。五會權歸實。授三乘人及一切眾生成佛記。說法華涅槃時。八教者。謂化儀四教即頓漸秘密不定也。化法四教即藏(生滅四諦)通(無生)別(無量)圓也(無作四諦唯法華圓理。乃至治生產業一色一香無非實相)該三世如來所演罄殫其致(四正三接廣如本教)捨此皆魔說故。教理既明。非觀行無以復性。乃依一心三諦之理(真俗中)示三止三觀。一一觀心念念不可得。先空次假後中。離二邊而觀一心如雲外之月者。此乃別教之行相也。嘗雲。破一切惑莫盛乎空。建一切法莫盛乎假。究竟一切性莫大乎中。故一中一切中無假無空而不中。空假亦爾。即圓教之行相。如摩醯首羅天之三目。非縱橫並別故(第十四祖龍樹菩薩偈雲。因緣所生法。我說即是空。亦名為假名。亦名中道義。斯與楞嚴圓覺經說奢摩他三摩缽底禪那三觀。名目雖殊其致一也。達磨大師以心傳心不滯名數。直為上上根智俾忘筌忘意故。與此教同而不同。智者禪師窮理盡性備足之門故。與禪宗異而非異也)三觀圓成法身不素。即免同貧子也。尚盧學者昧於修性或墮偏執故。復創六即之義以絕斯患。一理即佛者。十法界眾生下至蟭螟同稟妙性。從本以來常住清淨覺體圓滿一理齊平故(執名相者不信即心即佛。覩此而生信也)二名字即佛者。雖理性坦平。而隨流者日用不知。必假言教外燻得聞名字。生信發解故(起信論雲。以有忘想心故。能知名義。自此已下簡暗證者)三觀行即佛者。既聞名開解。

The Wonderful Dharma Lotus is precisely the One [Vehicle] again (the dharma-and-parable are the compound). The name is used to summon the essence; the essence is none other than True Mark. It is said that all marks are apart from True Mark and have no essence. As for the tenet, it is the cause and effect of the One Vehicle; opening, showing, awakening, and entering the Buddha's knowledge and vision—this is worthy of reverence. As for the function, it is the power of function. Through the meanings of opening, discarding, and converging, it has its power. Then, as for judging the teaching phases: taking the Tathagata's teachings of one generation, one judges them overall as five periods and eight teachings. The five periods are: 1. The period when the Buddha first accomplished the Way and spoke the Avatamsaka for bodhisattvas of superior faculties; 2. The period when, for those of small capacity, he spoke the Agama; 3. The period of Vaipulya, when he criticized the biased and broke the small, praised the great and lauded the perfect; 4. The period of Prajna, when he swept away marks and dispelled attachment; 5. The period when he converged the provisional into the real, granted to the three vehicles and all sentient beings the prediction of becoming Buddhas, and spoke the Lotus and Nirvana. The eight teachings are: the four teachings of the transforming mode, namely sudden, gradual, secret, and indeterminate; and the four teachings of the transforming dharma, namely Tripitaka (the Four Noble Truths of arising and ceasing), Shared (no arising), Distinct (immeasurable), and Perfect (the Four Noble Truths of no action are solely the perfect principle of the Lotus. Even in governing livelihood and productive activity, every color and every fragrance is none other than True Mark). This encompasses what the Tathagatas of the three times have expounded, exhausting their purport (the four correct and three connecting are extensively as in the original teaching). Apart from this, all is the speech of demons. Once the teaching and principle are clear, without contemplative practice there is no way to restore the nature. Thereupon, relying on the principle of the three truths of one mind (true, conventional, and middle), one reveals the three concentrations and three contemplations. In each contemplation of mind, thought after thought is unattainable. First emptiness, next the provisional, afterward the middle. Detaching from the two extremes while contemplating one mind is like the moon beyond the clouds—this is the characteristic of the practice of the Distinct Teaching. It has been said: nothing surpasses emptiness for breaking all delusions; nothing surpasses the provisional for establishing all dharmas; nothing is greater than the middle for fathoming all natures. Therefore, when one is middle, all is middle; without the provisional and without emptiness, none is not middle. Emptiness and the provisional are likewise. This is the characteristic of the practice of the Perfect Teaching. It is like the three eyes of Maheshvara Deva, which are not vertical, horizontal, concurrent, or separate (the verse of the Fourteenth Patriarch, Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, says: Dharmas produced from causes and conditions, I say are emptiness; they are also called provisional names; they are also called the meaning of the middle way. This and the Surangama and Perfect Enlightenment Sutras' exposition of shamatha, samapatti, and dhyana as the three contemplations—though the names differ, their purport is one. Master Bodhidharma transmitted mind with mind, not lingering over names and numbers; directly for the wisdom of the highest of superior faculties, he caused them to forget the trap and forget the meaning. Therefore, it is the same as this teaching yet not the same. Master Zhiyi exhausted principle and fully realized nature, a gate complete and sufficient; therefore, it differs from the Chan school yet is not different). When the three contemplations are perfectly accomplished, the dharma body is not plain, and one thereby avoids being like the poor son. Still fearing that learners may be ignorant in cultivating the nature or may fall into biased attachment, he further created the meaning of the six identities to cut off this danger. 1. Identity in principle as Buddha: sentient beings of the ten dharma realms, down to the most minute insects, all equally endow the wondrous nature; from the origin they have always been permanently abiding, pure, with the essence of enlightenment perfect and complete, one principle equally level (those attached to names and marks do not believe that this very mind is Buddha; seeing this, they give rise to faith). 2. Identity in name as Buddha: although the principle-nature is level and equal, those who follow the stream do not know it in daily use; they must rely on verbal teachings as external perfuming and hear the name, give rise to faith, and produce understanding (the Awakening of Faith says: because there is a mind of false thinking, one can know names and meanings. From here onward, this distinguishes those who practice dark realization). 3. Identity in contemplation and practice as Buddha: having heard the name and opened understanding,

要假前之三觀而返源故(圓教外凡也。圓觀五陰為不思議境。即五品位。大師示居此位。別教十信及藏通教。皆名資糧位)四相似即佛者。觀行功深發相似用故(內凡也圓伏無明入十信鐵輪位。不斷見思惑。至七信以去見思惑自隕得六根清淨。如經云。父母所生眼悉見三千界云云。思大禪師示居此位。若別教乃地前三十心也。藏通皆名加行位。楞嚴經唯識論三十心後。別立四加行。名位雖同詮旨逈異。惟通悟者善巧融會)五分真即佛者。三心開發得真如用。位位增勝故(發圓初住即銅輪位也。如龍女一念成佛現百界身。從此轉勝至等覺位。凡四十一心盡目真因。分位雖殊圓理無別。若別教即名十地。藏通皆言見道位)六究竟即佛者。無明永盡覺心圓極證無所證故(妙覺也。起信雲。始本不二名究竟覺。仁王名寂滅上忍也。別教權佛攝。對圓行第二位耳。藏通二教佛可知)如上六位既皆即佛(不屈不濫)通具法報化三身為正(三寶三德屬對交絡。乃至十種三法含攝無遺。偈雲。道識性般若。菩提大乘身。涅槃三寶德。一一皆三法)隨居四土為依。四土者。一常寂光(法性土也。法身居之身土相稱)二實報無障礙(攝二受用也。自受用土報佛自居。他受用土登地菩薩所居)三方便有餘。四淨穢同居(並為應化土也。地前菩薩二乘凡夫所居)其實則非身非土無優無劣。為對機故假說身土而分優劣。師得身土互融權實無礙故。三十餘年晝夜宣演。生四種益具四悉檀(悉遍也。檀翻名施。禪師之法遍施有情隨根得益如雲。世界悉檀生歡喜益云云)門人灌頂日記萬言而編結之。總目為天台教。別即分諸部類。(法華玄義文句大小止觀金光明仁王淨名涅槃諸觀章十六觀經等及四教禪門凡百餘軸)歷代付授盛於江浙。隋開皇十七年十一月十七日帝遣使詔師。將行乃告門人曰。吾今往而不返。汝等當成就佛隴南寺一依我圖。

It is necessary to rely on the three contemplations that precede and thereby return to the source. (This is the outer ordinary stage of the Perfect Teaching. The Perfect contemplation takes the five aggregates as the inconceivable object, which is the stage of the five grades of faith. The Great Master showed that he dwelt in this stage. The ten faiths of the Separate Teaching, as well as the Storehouse and Connecting Teachings, are all called the stage of provisions.) Fourth, the Buddha of Similar Identity: because the power of contemplation is profound, one produces similar function. (This is the inner ordinary stage. One perfectly subdues ignorance and enters the iron-wheel stage of the ten faiths. One does not cut off the delusions of views and thought. From the seventh faith onward, the delusions of views and thought fall away of themselves, and one attains purity of the six sense faculties. As the scripture says: "With the eyes born of father and mother, one sees the three thousand worlds," and so on. Chan Master Sida showed that he dwelt in this stage. If one follows the Separate Teaching, this is the thirty minds before the ground. In the Storehouse and Connecting Teachings, both are called the stage of intensified practice. In the Surangama Sutra and the Consciousness-Only Treatise, after the thirty minds, four intensified practices are separately established. Although the names and stages are the same, the meanings interpreted are vastly different. Only one who penetrates and awakens can skillfully harmonize them.) Fifth, the Buddha of Partial Truth: because the three minds are opened and one attains the function of true suchness, stage by stage increasing in excellence. (This begins at the initial abiding of the Perfect Teaching, that is, the copper-wheel stage. For example, the dragon girl became a Buddha in a single thought and manifested bodies throughout a hundred realms. From this, one advances to the stage of equal enlightenment. In all, forty-one minds are all regarded as the true cause. Though the stages are distinct, the perfect principle is without difference. If one follows the Separate Teaching, this is called the ten grounds. In the Storehouse and Connecting Teachings, both speak of the stage of seeing the path.) Sixth, the Buddha of Ultimate Identity: because ignorance is forever exhausted and the awakened mind is perfectly complete, one realizes that there is nothing to realize. (This is wonderful enlightenment. The Awakening of Faith says: "Beginning and root are not two; this is called ultimate enlightenment." The Humane King Sutra calls it the supreme forbearance of quiescent extinction. In the Separate Teaching, it is included among the provisional Buddhas, and is merely the second stage corresponding to the Perfect practice. The Buddhas of the Storehouse and Connecting Teachings can be known likewise.) Since the above six stages are all immediately Buddha (neither bent nor excessive), they universally possess the three bodies—Dharma, Reward, and Transformation—as the proper. (The Three Treasures and the three virtues belong to the mutually interlacing correspondences. Even the ten kinds of three dharmas are wholly included without omission. The verse says: "The nature of the path is prajna. Bodhi is the body of the Great Vehicle. Nirvana is the virtue of the Three Treasures. Each and every one is three dharmas.") They dwell according to the four lands as their support. The four lands are: first, the Land of Eternal Quiescent Light (the land of Dharma-nature; the Dharma-body dwells there, and body and land correspond); second, the Land of Unobstructed Real Reward (this includes the two kinds of enjoyment. The Land of Self-Enjoyment is where the Reward Buddha himself dwells. The Land of Other-Enjoyment is where bodhisattvas who have ascended the grounds dwell); third, the Land of Expedient Means with Remnant; fourth, the Land of Pure and Impure Dwelling Together (these are all lands of response and transformation. They are where bodhisattvas before the grounds, the two vehicles, and ordinary beings dwell). In reality, there is neither body nor land, neither superior nor inferior. Only to accord with capacities are body and land provisionally spoken of and distinctions of superior and inferior made. The Master attained mutual fusion of body and land, and non-obstruction of provisional and real; therefore for more than thirty years he proclaimed and expounded day and night. He produced four kinds of benefit and possessed the four siddhantas. (Xi means "pervasive"; tan is translated as "giving." The Master's dharma was pervasively bestowed upon sentient beings, and each attained benefit according to capacity. As it is said: "The world siddhanta produces the benefit of joy," and so on.) His disciple Guanding recorded ten thousand words daily and compiled them. The general title is the Tiantai Teachings. Separately, they divide into various categories (the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra, the Words and Phrases, the Great and Small Calming and Contemplation, the Golden Light, the Humane King, the Vimalakirti, the Nirvana and other contemplation chapters, the Sutra of the Sixteen Contemplations, and the Four Teachings' Chan Gate, in all more than a hundred fascicles). They were transmitted generation after generation and flourished in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. On the seventeenth day of the eleventh month of the seventeenth year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui dynasty, the emperor sent an envoy with an edict summoning the Master. As he was about to depart, he told his disciples: "I am now going and will not return. You should complete the Southern Monastery at Folong, entirely according to my plan."

侍者曰。若非師力豈能成辦。師曰。乃是王家所辦。汝等見之吾不見也(師初欲建寺於石橋。禪寂見三神人。皂幘絳衣從一老僧。謂師曰。若欲造寺今非其時。三國成一當有大力施主與師造寺。寺成國即清。宜號為國清。言訖不見。開皇十八年帝遣司馬王弘入山依圖造寺。方應前誌)師二十一日到剡東石城寺百尺石像前不進。至二十四日顧侍者曰。觀音來迎不久應去。時門人智朗請曰。不審何位何生。師曰。吾不領眾必淨六根捐己利他獲預五品耳(五品弟子。即法華三昧前方便之位。與思大禪師昔語冥符)命筆作觀心偈。唱諸法門綱要訖。趺坐而逝。壽六十。臘四十。弟子等迎歸佛隴巖。大業元年九月煬帝巡幸準海。遣使送弟子智璪及題寺額入山赴師忌齋。到日集僧開石室唯覩空榻。時會千僧至忽剩一人。鹹謂師化身來受國供。師始受禪教終乎滅度。常披一壞衲冬夏不釋。來往居天台山二十二年。建造大道場一十二所。國清最居其後。及荊州玉泉寺等共三十六所。度僧一萬五千人。寫經一十五藏。造金銅塑畫像八十萬尊。事蹟甚廣如本傳。

The attendant said, "If not for the master's power, how could this have been accomplished?" The master said, "This was done by the royal house. You see it; I do not see it." (The master had first wished to build a temple at Stone Bridge. Chanji saw three spirit-people, in black headwraps and crimson robes, following an old monk. They said to the master, "If you wish to build a temple, now is not the time. When the three kingdoms become one, there will be a great powerful donor who will build a temple for the master. When the temple is completed, the kingdom will be pure. It should be named Guoqing [Kingdom Purity]." Having spoken, they disappeared. In the eighteenth year of Kaihuang, the emperor sent Sima Wang Hong into the mountains to build a temple according to the plan, and only then did it accord with the earlier vow.) On the twenty-first day, the master arrived at the hundred-foot stone image at Shicheng Temple east of Shan and did not proceed. On the twenty-fourth day, he turned to the attendant and said, "Guanyin has come to welcome me; before long I should depart." At that time his disciple Zhilang asked, "We do not know what stage and what rebirth." The master said, "If I did not lead the assembly, I would surely purify the six faculties; having given up my own benefit for others', I have attained the stage of the five ranks and that is all." (The five-rank disciple is the stage of the preliminary expedient of the Lotus Samadhi, secretly matching the former words of Chan Master Si Da.) He commanded a brush and composed the Contemplating the Mind Verse, and after chanting the essentials of all dharma-gates, he sat cross-legged and passed away. He was sixty years old, with forty years of ordination. His disciples and others welcomed him back to the Folong Rock. In the ninth month of the first year of Daye, Emperor Yang toured Huaihai and sent envoys to escort the disciple Zhizao and the plaque for the temple into the mountains for the master's memorial vegetarian feast. On the day of arrival, the monks were assembled, and when the stone chamber was opened, only an empty couch was seen. At that time a thousand monks had arrived, and suddenly one person was left over; all said the master had manifested a transformation body to receive the state offering. From when the master first received the Chan teaching until his entry into extinction, he always wore one worn-out robe, not putting it aside in winter or summer. Coming and going, he dwelled at Tiantai Mountain for twenty-two years. He built twelve great monasteries, with Guoqing the last. Together with Jingzhou Yuquan Temple and others, there were thirty-six in all. He ordained fifteen thousand monks. He copied fifteen sets of scriptures. He made eighty thousand golden, copper, and clay images. His deeds were very extensive, as in his original biography.

泗州僧伽大師者。世謂觀音大士應化也。推本則過去阿僧祇殑伽沙劫值觀世音如來。從三慧門而入道。以音聲為佛事。但以此土有緣之眾乃謂大師自西國來。唐高宗時至長安洛陽。行化歷吳楚間。手執楊枝混於緇流。或問師何姓。即答曰。我姓何。又問師是何國人。師曰。我何國人。尋於泗上欲構伽藍因宿。州民賀跋氏捨所居。師曰。此本為佛宇。令掘地果得古碑。雲香積寺。即齊李龍建所創。又獲金像眾謂然燈如來。師曰。普光王佛也。因以為寺額。景龍二年中宗遣使迎大師至輦轂深加禮異。命住大薦福寺。帝及百官鹹稱弟子。與度慧儼慧岸木叉三人。御書寺額(普光王寺)三年三月三日大師示滅。勅令就薦福寺漆身起塔。忽臭氣滿城。帝祝送師歸臨淮。言訖異香騰馥。帝問萬迴曰。僧伽大師是何人耶。曰觀音化身耳。乾符中諡證聖大師。皇朝太平興國中太宗皇帝重創浮圖壯麗超絕。

The Great Master Sengqie of Sizhou is called by the world the responsive manifestation of the Great Being Guanyin. Tracing his origin, in the past, as many kalpas ago as the sands of the Ganges, he encountered Guanyin Tathagata and entered the path through the three gates of wisdom, taking sound as his Buddha-work. But because of the beings in this land who had karmic connections, people said the great master came from the Western Country. In the time of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, he came to Chang'an and Luoyang, carrying out conversion throughout the regions of Wu and Chu. Holding a willow branch in his hand, he mixed among the black-robed monks. Someone asked the master what his surname was, and he answered, "My surname is He." Again someone asked what country the master was from. The master said, "I am from the country of He." Soon after, at Si Shang he wished to construct a monastery, and accordingly lodged there. The local man He Ba of the prefecture offered his dwelling. The master said, "This was originally a Buddha hall." He had the ground dug, and indeed an ancient stele was found, saying Xiangji Temple, which had been founded by Li Long of the Qi. Again a golden image was obtained, and the crowd said it was Dipankara Tathagata. The master said, "It is the Buddha Puguang Wang [Universal Light King]." Therefore it was made the temple plaque. In the second year of Jinglong, Emperor Zhongzong sent envoys to welcome the great master to the capital, treated him with deep and extraordinary reverence, and ordered him to reside at Da Jianfu Temple. The emperor and the hundred officials all called themselves disciples, and he ordained for them the three men Huiyan, Hui'an, and Mucha. The emperor wrote the temple plaque in his own hand (Puguang Wang Temple). On the third day of the third month of the third year, the great master showed extinction. An imperial order was issued to lacquer his body at Jianfu Temple and erect a stupa. Suddenly a foul odor filled the whole city. The emperor prayed and sent the master back to Linhuai, and when the words were finished, a strange fragrance rose in abundance. The emperor asked Wanhui, "What sort of person is Great Master Sengqie?" He said, "He is only a transformation body of Guanyin." In the Qianfu era he was posthumously titled Great Master Zhengsheng. In the Taiping Xingguo era of the present dynasty, Emperor Taizong rebuilt the pagoda, and its magnificence was unsurpassed.