四明尊者教行錄 1.5

1.5

大宋太祖皇帝初登寶位，改周顯德七年為建隆元年庚申。此年正月，太祖受周恭帝禪。謹按胡昉撰塔銘并門人則全《實錄》，師壽六十九，示滅天聖六年戊辰歲。若準趙清獻公所作《行業記》，則云天聖五年歸寂，誤矣。今逆推甲子，師乃當庚申年降誕，豈非真人應運而賢哲間生乎。師諱（知禮），字約言，真宗特賜法智大師之號，時稱四明尊者。俗姓金，前漢金日磾之遠裔（《西漢書》曰：金日磾，匈奴休屠王之子。夷狄亡國，羈虜漢武，而篤敬忠孝。七世內侍，本以休屠作金人為祭天主故，因賜姓金氏），後代為鄞人也。父諱經，母李氏。初以嗣息未生，誠志祈佛。偶夜夢梵僧遺一子云：是羅睺羅。泊生，因以為名。

Emperor Taizu of the Great Song dynasty first ascended the precious throne, changing the seventh year of the Xiande era of the Zhou dynasty to the first year of Jianlong, the gengshen year. In the first month of this year, Taizu received the abdication of Emperor Gong of Zhou. Examining the stupa inscription composed by Hu Fang and the True Record compiled by the disciple Zequan, the Master lived to sixty-nine and manifested extinction in the wuchen year, the sixth year of the Tiansheng era. If one relies on the Record of Conduct written by Duke Zhao Qingxian, it says that he returned to stillness in the fifth year of Tiansheng, which is mistaken. Now calculating backwards through the sexagenary cycle, the Master was indeed born in the gengshen year; is this not a case of a true person responding to the times and a sage being born at an opportune moment? The Master's taboo name was (Zhili) and his courtesy name was Yueyan; Emperor Zhenzong specially conferred upon him the master's title of Great Master Fazhi, and he was known at the time as the Venerable Siming. His secular surname was Jin, being a distant descendant of Jin Midi of the Former Han (The Hanshu says: 'Jin Midi was a son of King Xiutu of the Xiongnu. When the foreign state was destroyed, he was taken captive by Emperor Wu of Han, yet he was deeply reverent, loyal, and filial. For seven generations his descendants were attendants inside the palace; because King Xiutu made golden statues to sacrifice to Heaven, he was granted the surname Jin'), and his later generations were people of Yin. His father's taboo name was Jing, and his mother was of the Li clan. Initially, having no heir, they prayed sincerely to the Buddha. One night she suddenly dreamed of an Indian monk presenting a child, saying: 'This is Rāhula.' When he was born, he was accordingly named after him.