佛祖統紀 15.45

15.45

Chao Shuozhi, styled Yidao, took the self-chosen style Jingyu. His official rank reached Auxiliary Academician. He was the great-great-grandson of Duke Wenyuan, Jiong. While supervising the Mingzhou Shipyard, he frequently went to Nanhu to visit Mingzhi. Hearing the exposition of the contemplation of the three thousand [realms in a single thought-moment], he gladly resolved to learn and master its purport. In his later years, he recited the Lotus Sūtra daily, calling himself 'the Tiantai doctrinal monk,' or 'the Old Lotus of the Wei River.' When Mingzhi passed away, he composed a stele inscription and evaluated him, which was praised at the time as a masterwork (the stele appears in the Mingwen Guangjiao zhi).