佛祖統紀 29.22

29.22

Dharma Master Zongmi was of the He clan, a man of Guozhou. He first received the Dharma from Daoyuan, a fifth-generation descendant of Heze, and transmitted the Perfect Enlightenment above the Fu River. Obtaining the phrases and meanings of the Avataṃsaka from an ill monk, he immediately lectured on it for others. Qingliang told him: 'Who else but you could follow me to roam in the floral treasury of Vairocana?' He also once replied in a letter to him, saying: 'What you understand is just like my own mind; you are truly what is called the true son of a wheel-turning king.' (The Master's preface to the Perfect Enlightenment says: 'Although lecturing on it presumes upon extensive study, receiving the Master's robe that is like his own mind was mistakenly to receive the seal of a true son.') He composed commentaries, subcommentaries, and ritual manuals of cultivation and realization totaling over ninety scrolls for the Perfect Enlightenment, Avataṃsaka, Nirvāṇa, Diamond Sūtra, Awakening of Faith, Vijñaptimātratā, Ullambana, Dharmadhātu Contemplation, Bhadracarī-praṇidhāna, and others. In the ninth year of the Taihe era, Emperor Wenzong summoned him to inquire into the general meaning of the Buddhadharma, bestowed upon him the purple square robe, and granted him the title Great Virtue. On the sixth day of the first month of the first year of the Huichang era, he passed away sitting at the Stupa Compound of Xingfu Monastery. He was posthumously named Dinghui, and his stupa was called Qinglian.