四明尊者教行錄 1.7

1.7

四年丙寅　時年七歲。塔銘曰：師年七歲屬母喪，謂劬勞匪易報，且號泣而不絕。由茲厭俗，急於出家。其父異之，遂不奪其志。始投太平興國寺僧（洪選）為弟子。天竺作師《指要鈔．序》云：師在童子受經，便能思義，天機特發，不曰生知之上性者乎。

Fourth year, bingyin. At that time he was seven years old. The stupa inscription says: 'When the Master was seven years old, he suffered the loss of his mother; remarking that parental toil is not easily repaid, he wailed and wept without cease. From this he grew weary of the secular world and was eager to leave home. His father marvelled at this and thus did not thwart his resolve.' He then first placed himself under the monk (Hongxuan) of Taiping Xingguo Monastery as a disciple. In Tianzhu's preface to the Master's Zhiyao chao, it says: 'When the Master was a boy receiving the sūtras, he was already able to ponder their meaning; his natural talent was exceptionally revealed—is he not indeed of the superior nature born with knowledge?'