佛祖統紀 18.43

18.43

Dharma Master Zongxiao, styled Daxian, gave himself the appellation Shizhi. He was a son of the Wang family of Siming. At eighteen, he received full ordination. First, he studied under Master Qiang of Ju'an; subsequently, he visited Master Hong of Yun'an, deeply harmonizing with contemplation of principle, whereupon he was granted half the lecture seat. Soon afterward, he presided over Cuiluo in Changguo, and scholars hastened thither. Two years later, he retired to Xishan to make a daily recitation of the Wonderful Sūtra. It happened that Minister Qi hung a plaque on his dwelling reading 'Tranquil and Quiet', and Vice Grand Councilor Lou of Gongkui praised him in verse. He traveled again to various monasteries in Western Zhejiang, and the Vice Grand Councilor spoke a gāthā to see him off on his journey. After three years, he returned; Lord Wang, the Vice Prefectural Administrator, together with his younger brother, the Examiner, appointed him to preside over Shenxiu. After a long time, he declined and took the post of first seat at Yanqing. In the leisure after lecturing, he compiled the Records of the Manifest Responses of the Lotus Sūtra, Categorized Writings on the Land of Bliss, Records of Teaching and Practice, Eulogies on the Arising of the Three Teachings, Praises of the Patriarchs, Collection for Revitalizing the Patriarchs, Elucidation of the Suvarṇaprabhāsa, and Comprehensive Overview of the Distribution of Food. He also compiled the Records of Filial Piety in Confucianism and Buddhism, Records of Sagacious Ministers Upholding Buddhism, and Compilation for Clarifying the Teaching. He annotated essential doctrines, wrote the Lotus Sūtra in his own blood, and copied the Avataṃsaka, Ratnakūṭa, Prajñāpāramitā, and Nirvāṇa sūtras in ink. He also copied the Sūtra of Forty-two Chapters with the Imperial Commentary of Emperor Zhenzong for Layman Zhang Zongyi of Zhonglin. He dug a charitable well at Lieshe south of the city called the Lotus Spring to provide drink to travelers, built a pavilion above it, and distributed hot water and tea regardless of whether visitors were monastics or laypeople. He built several rooms of cottages, newly founding a guest house, and obtained the old plaque 'Changle' bestowed by Duke Wei Wenjie. Duke Zhang of Zhonglin painted holy images, built a scriptural revolving repository, cast a bell, erected a bell tower, and expanded the land holdings, making it completely renewed and magnificent; he also drafted an oath to admonish all disciples never to forget the intention behind its establishment. He propagated the teachings and contemplation for over forty years, becoming even more reclusive in his later years. On the twentieth day of the eighth month in the jiaxu year of the Jiading era, he showed illness; demanding paper, he wrote a gāthā: 'The pure is originally unmoving; / The six faculties and four great elements fly in tumult. / Sweep away the clouds, mist, fog, and dew: / A single disk of the autumn moon shines bright.' He was cremated to the south of the monastery; his teeth were indestructible and his relics were exceedingly numerous. When Xunqi of the Revenue Bureau saw this, he composed a text in praise. His stūpa was placed at the Six Superlative Grounds of the Upper Monastery. His monastic age was forty-seven, and his worldly age was sixty-four.