四明尊者教行錄 1.5

1.5

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.