佛祖統紀 41.45

41.45

In the ninth year, Chan Master Baizhang Huaihai passed away. The Master obtained the Dharma from Mazu. Since Shaolin, [Chan masters] mostly dwelt in Vinaya monasteries to preach the Dharma; the Master first established Chan dwellings, named them, had the senior monk ascend the hall and take the high seat, and host and guest engaged in questions and answers to stimulate and elucidate the essentials of the school. Students entered the Saṃgha hall according to their ordination seniority; he set up continuous platforms, provided clothes racks for hanging requisites, and established offices for the ten administrative duties to manage community affairs. Later generations followed and expanded them, calling them the Pure Regulations of the Chan Monastery. / Dharma Master Zhibian wrote many works, but his audience was extremely sparse. Consequently, he gave up lecturing and dwelt at Hengyue Temple. One day, a senior elder arrived, examined the Master's writings, and said, "What you have written accords well with the Buddha's intent, but you lack affinities with people. You should prepare food to give to birds and beasts; (the character bian is seen in the Rites of Zhou, ban in popular usage) twenty years from now, an assembly will naturally gather." Zhibian thereupon sold his robes to buy rice, and daily cooked rice and scattered it in the outskirts, drawing flocks of crows to gather. Zhibian prayed over them, saying, "May those who eat my food become my companions in the Dharma!" Twenty years later, he went to Yecheng to give lectures, and the thousand people beneath his seat were all youths.