佛祖統紀 29.10

29.10

The Fourth Patriarch was Daoxin, of the Sima clan from Qizhou. When he was still a śrāmaṇera, he encountered the Third Patriarch and asked: 'I pray that the upādhyāya will grant me the Dharma gate of liberation.' The Patriarch said: 'Who has bound you?' He replied: 'No one has bound me.' The Patriarch said: 'Why then seek liberation further?' The Master was greatly enlightened at these words. Having fully received the precepts, the Third Patriarch conferred the robe and Dharma upon him. During the Wude era, he lived on Mount Potou. In the Zhenguan era, Emperor Taizong summoned him to the capital three times with imperial edicts, but each time he declined on account of illness. The Emperor ordered his messenger: 'If he indeed does not arise, then take his head.' The messenger proclaimed the decree, and the Master stretched out his neck to receive the blade. The messenger returned and reported this, and the Emperor revered him all the more, sending him precious silks to fulfill his aspiration. The Master, having already transmitted the Dharma to Hongren, sat peacefully and passed away in the ninth month of the second year of the Yonghui era. His pagoda was erected at Huangmei Monastery on the East Mountain. In the reign of Emperor Daizong of the Tang, he was posthumously granted the title Zen Master Dayi.