樂邦文類 3.114

3.114

4. Master Xingchang: during the Chunhua era of the Great Song, the Master resided at the South Zhaoqing Cloister in Qiantang, where he devoted himself exclusively to cultivating pure karma and formed the Pure Practice Society. Wang Wenzheng (Dan) was the head of the society; Academician of the Hanlin Academy Song (Bai) composed the stele inscription; Academician of the Hanlin Academy Su (Yijian) composed the preface to the 'Pure Practice Chapter'; and the first-ranked metropolitan graduate Sun (He) inscribed the names of the society's guests on the back of the stele, appending a record as well. The scholar-officials who participated all called themselves disciples of the Pure Practice Society. The society's members included eighty bhikṣus and a grand assembly of one thousand. Master Yuan of Gushan composed the record of the Master's life and practice along with the Lotus Society stele inscription. The record quotes Su's preface: 'Even if I were to spread my hair to receive his feet and carve my flesh to seek his Dharma, I would feel no resentment; how much less should I be begrudging with my clumsy writing and shallow learning?' Song's stele says: 'The Master, admiring Master Yuan's establishing the society at Mount Lu, changed the name from Lotus to Pure Practice. When Master Yuan lived in a declining age, those who joined him were mostly recluses and hermits. The Superior Being lived in an era of peace and prosperity, and those he associated with were largely worthy men holding office. Compared to the past, the famous scholars are more numerous; as for bequeathing abundance, how could his role as a bridge ever end?' Judging from the words of these two gentlemen, the grandeur of that time can easily be imagined.