净土宗初祖庐山慧远大师

至善的爱

Master Huiyuan, First Patriarch of Chinese Pure Land Buddhism

远公大师像赞

缅维远公，乘愿再来。创立莲宗，畅佛本怀。 俾诸凡夫，忆念佛名。仗佛慈力，带业往生。 已断惑者，即证无生。证无生者，速圆佛乘。 以果地觉，为因地心。感应道交，利益甚深。 未见涅槃，即宣常住。未见行愿，普导西去。 其所立法，暗与经合。护法菩萨，表自大觉。 罗什举经，深如赞叹。西僧景仰，心香辄献。 千余年来，不闻圆音。幸有遗教，尚可遵循。 伏愿我公，又复示生。普引群伦，同登五清。 印公遗文，模公道貌。庶几来哲，是则是效。

——常惭愧僧释印光和南敬撰

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慧远大师(公元334—416年)，俗姓贾，出生于雁门楼烦(今山西代县)世代书香之家。远公从小资质聪颖，勤思敏学，13岁时便随舅父游学许昌、洛阳等地，精通儒学，旁通老庄。21岁时，偕同母弟慧持前往太行山聆听道安法师讲《般若经》，于是悟彻真谛，感叹地说：“儒道九流学说，皆如糠秕。”于是发心舍俗出家，随从道安法师修行。

远公大师出家后，卓尔不群，发心广大，“常欲总摄纲维，以大法为己任”，精进为道，无时或懈，道念日纯。东晋太元四年（379年），远公率领弟子数十人打算去广东罗浮山，路过浔阳(今江西九江)，见庐山清净，足可以息心敛影办道，于是驻锡庐山的龙泉精舍，发心建造东林寺。

东晋元兴元年（402年）七月，远公大师缔结白莲社，集慧永、慧持、道生、刘遗民、宗炳、雷次宗等123人，于东林寺般若云台无量寿佛像前建斋立誓，精修念佛三昧，大多有定中见佛的体验。史料记载，远公禅定中三次见佛。刘遗民专念禅坐，始涉半年，定中见佛，行足遇像，佛于空现，光照天地，皆作金色。此后，净宗祖师大德多有仰慕效法，结社念佛。庐山东林寺也以净土宗第一祖庭的地位屹立于佛教之林，开山祖师慧远大师被尊为净土宗初祖。

大师以东林为道场，修身弘道，著书立说，劝进护持，不遗余力，三十余载迹不入俗，影不出山。其一生德业隆盛，饮誉遐迩，鸠摩罗什大师赞称为“东方护法菩萨”，受国外僧众所钦敬。东林寺为当时南方佛教中心，与罗什所居止之长安中分天下。

师临终预知时至，将一生三次见佛的事实告知弟子，至期果然安坐而化，上品上生，享寿八十三。

Master Huiyuan (334-416 CE), whose secular surname was Jia, was born in a literary family in Dai County, Shanxi Province. He was a gifted boy and ambitious to learn and think. He was well schooled in Confucianism and Taoism. At the age of 13, he accompanied his uncle to Xuchang and Luoyang in Central China. At the age of 21, he went to Taihang Mountain with his younger brother, Huichi, to attend Master Daoan’s Dharma talks on Mahaprajna-paramita-sutra. Afterwards, he sighed with feeling: “Confucianism, Taoism, and other schools are totally chaff.” He vowed to become a Buddhist monk and to practice with Master Daoan.

As a monk, Master Huiyuan was distinct among others, he was “constantly trying to master the gist of Buddha’s teaching, and felt responsible to spread it.” He practiced very hard on the Path and achieved steadily over time. In the 4th year of Taiyuan (379 CE), Master Huiyuan was traveling with his devotees as they passed by Mount Lu on their way to Luofu Mountain in Guangdong. He found Mount Lu to be very tranquil, and decided it would be the best place for his practice. After this, he stayed in Dragon Spring (Longquan) Temple, and it was here he initiated the building of Donglin Monastery.

In the first year of Yuanxing (402 CE), Master Huiyuan started the White Lotus Society with 123 monks and lay Buddhists, including Huiyong, Huichi, and Daosheng. They took their vows in front of Buddha Amitabha’s Statue and vowed to focus on the Buddha’s Name Chanting Samadhi. Accordingly, Master Huiyuan had seen the Buddha three times in his Samadhi (deep meditation). Lay Buddhist Liu Yimin also saw the Buddha after a half-year’s practice. The Buddha appeared in the sky, the whole universe was lit up by his golden beam. Many masters of the Pure Land School followed his way of practice and formed various societies afterwards. Donglin Monastery became the first ever Pure Land patriarch’s court in Chinese Buddhism. Master Huiyuan was widely recognized as the founding father of the School.

Based in Donglin Monastery, Master Huiyuan practiced, preached, encouraged others, and wrote books for over 30 years. For 30 years, he did not walk out of the monastery. His achievements and his name were well known and praised by Master Kumarajiva, one of the four greatest Buddhist sutra translators as “the Bodhisattva of Dharma protection in the Eastern world.” Thus, Donglin monastery became the center of Buddhist learning in Southern China, in comparison with Chang’an where Master Kumarajiva lived in Northern China.

Master Huiyuan predicted his date of death and told his devotees about his true encounters with Amitabha. When the date came, he passed away in a sitting meditation position. He lived for 83 years.

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