人天眼目 1.5

1.5

The Master's taboo name was Yixuan. He was a native of Nanhua in Caozhou, with the secular surname Xing. As a youth he was remarkably gifted, and when grown he was renowned for his filial piety. When he shaved his head and received the full precepts, he resided in lecture halls, meticulously investigating the Vinaya and broadly probing the sūtras and treatises. Presently he sighed, saying: 'These are medicinal formulas for rescuing the world, not the essential tenets of the special transmission outside the teachings.' Thereupon he changed his robes and travelled on pilgrimage. First he visited Huangbo, and next called upon Dayu. His dynamic encounters and sayings are recorded in his biographical record. Having received Huangbo's seal of approval, he soon arrived at the southeastern corner of the city of Zhenzhou in Hebei, by the banks of the Hutuo River, serving as abbot of a small monastery. Linji took its name from this location. On the tenth day of the fourth month in the dinghai year, the eighth year of the Xiantong era of the Tang dynasty [867 CE], having gathered his robes and sat down, upon completing his dialogue with Sansheng, he quietly passed away. His disciples built a stupa for the Master's entire body at the northwestern corner of Daming Prefecture. An imperial decree bestowed the posthumous title 'Dhyāna Master Huizhao', and his stupa was named Chengling.