In the past, the King of Wu-Yue requested posthumous titles for the various patriarchs, but the three masters—Nāgārjuna, Master of Beiqi, and Master of Nanyue—were not reached for titles. Now, taking those below Dharma Master Sui who do not have master titles, I extract their actual deeds directly from the texts of the Basic Annals to serve as honourable titles. This indeed embodies the great principle of honouring the patriarchs. If in future days someone is able to examine their virtuous deeds and submit them to the pure court to be granted illustrious posthumous titles, they should fortunately employ these established names, and they will likely not deviate from the reality. If anyone doubts private posthumous conferrals of this sort: in the Han, Zhu Mu's disciples together with Cai Yong conferred the title 'Master Wenzhong'; in the Jin, Tao Qian's disciples conferred the title 'Master Jingjie' (seen in the Book of Han and History of the Song); in the Tang, Xiao Yingshi's disciples conferred the title 'Master Wenyuan' (Zhao Lin's Yinhualu); and Yuan Yanzu was posthumously titled 'Great Master' (he was the father of Yuan Jie). These were all private titles conferred by disciples, without fault.

8.12

For those who transmit the Way of the sages, the essential point lies simply in elucidating doctrine and contemplation. Looking upward to Nāgārjuna and downward to Jingxi, it is fitting that they are revered as patriarchs across nine generations. As for the two masters, Sui and Xiu, they successively lectured and expounded without letting the original enterprise fall to ruin. In the disaster of the Huichang era, the doctrinal scrolls were dispersed and lost; Masters Wai, Xiu, and Song transmitted solely the path of calming and contemplation. In the era of Luoxi, relying on the King of Wu-Yue who sought the lost texts from across the eastern sea, Diguan came from Goryeo bringing the doctrinal scrolls back to us. Thereupon the Way of the patriarchs was greatly revitalized once more, and Siming's revival truly relied on this support. These various masters, whether prominent or obscure, transmitted without inventing, and their being styled 'patriarchs' is because the transmission had continuity and the orthodox lineage had its succession. I have composed this 'Chronicle of the Eight Patriarchs from Xingdao Downward'.

8.13

The Tenth Patriarch, the Venerable Xingdao Daosui, was of unknown origin. During the Dali era of the Tang (under Daizong), he came to rely on Jingxi at Folong. He thoroughly penetrated the obscure and profound without impediment. Jingxi commended him, saying: 'My son, you will indeed be able to continue and revive my Way!' He then bestowed upon him the Supplementary Practices of Calming and Contemplation. The Master expounded it for the assembly, elucidating the profound meaning, and none of the listeners failed to comprehend and awaken. His fellow disciple Yuanhao respected and submitted to the Master immensely upon meeting him. In the twenty-first year of the Zhenyuan era, Saichō of Japan came from afar to seek the Dharma. He listened to the lectures and received instruction day and night without rest, copying the treatises and commentaries of the entire lineage to return home with them. When he was about to depart, he went to the prefectural office and informed the prefect, asking for a statement as evidence. The prefect Lu Chun commended his sincerity and thereupon endorsed it, writing: 'Ācārya Saichō, though from a foreign land, is truly of the same source in nature. With a bright and penetrating disposition, he is revered by both monastics and laity. Having observed the glory of our superior state, he furthermore received the teachings from renowned worthies. Dharma Master Sui unites the myriad dharmas in the one mind and understands diverse paths through the three contemplations; and Saichō personally received the secrets, not stopping at mere traps and snares. Yet fearing that scholars in other lands might not believe and accept his words, how could I not grant the seal of confirmation he requested?' Once Saichō sailed back eastward, he designated a mountain as Tiantai and founded a monastery named Dengyō. The breeze of transformation spread widely, and his students multiplied daily; thus they came to revere Master Sui from afar as their founding patriarch. The transmission of the teachings in Japan truly began with this (Chao Shuozhi, in composing the stele inscription for Mingzhi, wrote: 'Jingxi transmitted to Xingman, and Man transmitted to Guangxiu.' According to the Da Song sengshizhuan, Dharma Master Sui transmitted to Guangxiu, and Xiu transmitted to Wuwai. Now, following the Song biography, taking Master Sui as succeeding Jingxi is correct. Since Chao personally saw Mingzhi, it is unknown how this divergent account arose at that time).

8.14

The commentary states: The *Zhiyao* refutes the deviant meaning recorded by the Japanese [monk] Ganshuku in Master Daosui's *Zhiguan*, which took the three realms as unconditioned and summarized the three truths within them. I secretly consider that Master Daosui received the *Zhiguan* in person from Jīngxī; he would have had no cause arbitrarily to invent this theory. It was merely that Ganshuku and his peers devised this private interpretation and attributed it to Master Daosui so as to circulate it. Thus we know that the Japanese separate edition of the *Ten Non-dual Gates* titled 'By the Upādhyāya of Zhiguan at Guoqing' is likewise an imitation by people of that country. The *Zhiyao* also says: 'Since another person once took the *Zhizhu* with them to that country, they must have collated and copied it based upon it.' From this we further know that the people of that country relied on the text sent by Fengxian, and therefore also falsely attached the name of the Upādhyāya of Zhiguan to circulate their text. Siming's words were merely refuting Ganshuku and Fengxian. People of worldly view do not realize this, and so claim that he was refuting Master Daosui. Please take this argument as the resolution.

8.15

The eleventh patriarch, the Venerable of Utmost Practice, Guangxiu, was surnamed Liu, a native of Xiakun in Dongyang. Early on, he entered Master Daosui's room, intensively investigating the doctrine and contemplation, and turned his mind to utmost practice. Daily he recited the *Lotus Sūtra*, the *Vimalakīrti*, the *Suvarṇaprabhāsa*, the *Brahmajāla*, and the *Four-Part Vinaya* prātimokṣa text as his regular practice. Performing repentance during the six periods of the day, he grew all the more earnest in his later years. Each year he practiced the samādhi of following one's own thought for seven times seven days, never abandoning it on account of worldly affairs. Wei Heng, the governor of Tiantai, who had always revered the doctrinal lineage, invited him into the commandery hall to lecture on the *Zhiguan*. On the spot, Heng had a profound awakening; of those who gathered to listen at that time, none did not rejoice. On the sixteenth day of the second month in the third year of Huichang (under Emperor Wuzong of the Tang), he passed away in the Chan Grove. His entire body was interred at the Bodhimaṇḍa of the Golden Ground. The disciples who entered his gate were very numerous; the foremost was named Wuwai. Twenty-three years later, his disciples Liangxu and Jingwen opened the stūpa and cremated him, obtaining more than a thousand grains of relic, large as beans; they erected a stūpa at the original site to enshrine them.

8.16

The twelfth patriarch, the Venerable of Right Concentration, Wuwai, was surnamed Yang, a native of Houguan in Min. For a long time he followed Master Xiu to transmit the *Zhiguan*, both explaining and practicing it. Toward the end of Dazhong (under Emperor Xuanzong), there was a year of famine; he sat cross-legged in a single room and wondrously entered right concentration, saying to his disciples: 'If you do not die, when the five grains ripen, you may strike the chime stone to lead me out.' After more than a year, the disciples acted as instructed, and he thereupon arose from concentration. On the fifteenth day of the third month in the fifth year of Zhonghe (under Emperor Xizong), he passed away at Guoqing and was buried beside the stūpa courtyard of Great Master Zhiyi. His senior disciples were Yuanxiu, Jingxiu, and Huining, all of whom transmitted the Way in the world to carry on the family lineage.

8.17

The thirteenth patriarch, the Venerable of Wondrous Exposition, Yuanxiu, was a native of Tiantai. He relied on Master Wai of Guoqing to study the *Zhiguan*, fathoming its principles. He was marvelous at lecturing and preaching, never wavering in mind whether the assembly of students was large or small. One day, when he ascended the seat, the assembly happened to be small; ten extraordinary monks entered from outside, their deportment inspiring. Having paid their respects, they sat at the end of the rows; when the lecture dispersed, they again made inquiries and then departed. The Master sent an attendant to invite them back; they all leaped into the air, raised their hands, smiled in thanks, and departed. The Master lived during the reigns of Xizong and Zhaozong, when the realm was in chaos; students of the doctrine suddenly gathered and suddenly scattered, so those who attained the practice of concentration and wisdom were rare. Only Qingsong and Changcao attended him for a long time, penetrating everything without omission. Master Cao transmitted to Yicong, Cong transmitted to Dechou, and Chou transmitted to Huiyun and Xiuya, all of whom had renown through successive generations.

8.18

The fourteenth patriarch, the Venerable of Lofty Discourse, Qingsong, was a native of Tiantai. He relied on Master Xiu to ponder the *Zhiguan* with precision, unremitting day and night. When he succeeded to the abbacy of Guoqing, his exposition and practice were both consummate. At that time the Qian clan founded their kingdom; the single territory of Tiantai in Wuyue was like an inner province. The Master led the assembly to abide peacefully, urging them on with the words: 'Under the external protection of the king and his ministers, we avoid the sorrow of warfare. Dwelling in peace all day long, how could we not advance in the Way to repay the state's benevolence?' Every long day he would mount the seat and engage in lofty discourse without end; no one in the assembly dared display any sign of fatigue. The disciples who inherited his practice were Xiji, Zhiyin, and Juemi.

8.19

The fifteenth patriarch, the Venerable of Pure Light, Xiji, courtesy name Changzhao, was surnamed Hu, from Yongjia. When his mother first conceived, she took no pleasure in pungent roots or meat; when she gave birth, something covered his head like a purple cap (born in the fifth year of Zhenming, a jimao year, under the last emperor of the Later Liang). In his youth he informed his parents of his desire to renounce the world; he then entered the Kaiyuan monastery, relying on a teacher to recite the *Lotus Sūtra*, mastering it within a year. At the age of nineteen (the second year of Tianfu under Emperor Gaozu of the Later Jin), he shaved his head and took full ordination. He went to Huiji to study the Vinaya, deeply fathoming offenses and observances. He then went to Tiantai to study the *Zhiguan* under Master Song; his comprehension was comparable to 'One-sweep-illumination of Henan' (the *Biographies of Monks* says: 'Tai does not listen in Puzhou; Henan has One-sweep-illumination'). Once, when lodging at King Aśoka Monastery in Siming, he dreamed of ascending Mount Guoqing; high above was a jewelled banner throne inscribed 'Mañjuśrī's Terrace'. Barred by railings, he wished to enter but could not. Suddenly he saw Avalokiteśvara emerge from the hall, push aside the chevaux-de-frise with his hand, and bend down to receive him. He suddenly felt his own body merge into one with Avalokiteśvara. From that time forth, his delight in exposition was inexhaustible. Earlier, regarding the doctrinal traces of Tiantai, from afar they suffered the rebellion of An and Shi (at the end of the Tianbao era, An Lushan and Shi Siming rebelled in succession), and near at hand they suffered the incineration of Huichang (in the fifth year of Huichang under Emperor Wuzong, monks and nuns were defrocked and monasteries destroyed); with fragmented texts and broken bamboo slips, transmitters had nothing to rely on. The Master continually lamented this and exerted himself to collect them. First, from an ancient storehouse in Jinhua, he obtained only a single commentary on the *Vimalakīrti*. King Zhongyi of Wuyue, reading the *Yongjia Collection*, came across the passage: 'In sharing the elimination of the four abodes, it is on a par with this; but if subduing fundamental ignorance, the Tripiṭaka [teaching] is inferior.' He questioned National Preceptor Shao about it (the *Transmission of the Lamp* says: 'National Preceptor Deshao of Mount Tiantai was surnamed Chen; he was a Dharma heir of Chan Master Qingliang Yí. Reaching Mount Tiantai, he beheld the remaining traces of Great Master Zhiyi as if they were his former residence; furthermore, having the same surname as Zhiyi, contemporaries suspected he was his later incarnation'). Shao said: 'This is doctrinal meaning; you may ask Master Ji of Tiantai.' The King immediately summoned him; the Master came forth through the golden gate and established lectures to inquire into the previous meaning. The Master said: 'This comes from Great Master Zhiyi's *Miaoxuan*. Since the chaos at the end of the Tang, the doctrinal texts have been scattered and destroyed, which is why these writings mostly survive overseas.' Thereupon the King of Wuyue dispatched ten envoys to Japan to seek out and retrieve the doctrinal scriptures. When they returned, the King built Luoxi Temple for him, hung a plaque reading 'Dinghui', bestowed the title 'Dharma Master of Pure Light', and gave posthumous titles to the Tiantai patriarchs (ending the posthumous titles at the sixteenth patriarch). That the teachings of this one house flourished once again was due to the Master's efforts. (The *Kouyi of the Two Masters* says: 'The King of Wuyue dispatched envoys with fifty kinds of treasures to Goryeo to seek doctrinal texts. That country commanded Jiguan to come and offer the various sections, yet the *Zhilun shu*, *Renwang shu*, *Huayan gumu*, *Wubai men*, and so forth did not return.' Based on this, we know that envoys were dispatched to both overseas countries; yet if we speak of the treasure of the doctrinal texts returning to China, we must take Jiguan of Goryeo coming to offer the scrolls of teachings as correct.) There was Master Ming of Xingjiao, who, just coming of age, listened to sūtras in his assembly and was constantly puzzled, saying: 'The Drinker of Light held the sixteen-foot robe of Śākyamuni and draped it over the hundred-foot body of Maitreya, and it fitted his measure exactly. Did the robe grow longer, or did the body grow shorter?' At that time National Preceptor Shao was residing at Yunju (belonging to Tiantai), gathering an assembly of five hundred; Ming went to ask him. The National Preceptor said: 'Seat master, it is rather you who understand.' Ming departed with an angry face, brushing his sleeves. The National Preceptor said: 'If I were to answer and you were wrong, there would be karmic consequence.' When Ming returned to Luoxi, he spat blood from his mouth. Hearing this in alarm, the Master said: 'This newly ordained one must have offended a bodhisattva!' Ming recounted the earlier words. The Master said: 'You did not understand the National Preceptor's meaning; go quickly and repent.' Ming donned his solemn robes, went before him weeping, prostrated, and confessed his fault. The National Preceptor uttered a verse on the previous topic: 'Buddha and Buddha are equal in the Way, yet seemingly high and low; / Śākyamuni and Maitreya are like a seal stamped into clay.' Ming's illness was cured from that moment; returning to thank the Master, he said: 'Had it not been for the Master's instruction, I would almost have lost this life.' (The *Kouyi of the Two Masters* says: 'Xuanbi, the mountain spirit, said: The National Preceptor was Great Master Zhiyi; the master-builder who erected the Dharma hall at Luoxi was the leader of the animal-release society; and the monks in the hall were the released fish.') In the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo (under Taizong of the present dynasty), coming out from the mountains, he resided in the east pavilion of the monastery at the prefectural seat. He dreamed that the pillar of the stūpa sank into the ground; he immediately moved to dwell on the western side. That night, a sudden spring rain fell; the mountain collapsed and the pavilion fell. Everyone said the Master possessed the divine eye. In the first year of Yongxi, the magistrate of Yong'an invited him to Guangming Temple to confer the precepts on the assembly. Suddenly the great image in the Buddha hall fell and broke, and from its belly came a vow text, which was a donation of precepts in the sixth year of Xiantong of the Tang by the śramaṇa Xijiao for the people of seven townships, urging the making of this image, wishing to shed his karmic recompense and become a male, leave home as a boy, and transmit the Dharma to benefit sentient beings. Those present who witnessed it said this was the Master's previous life. On the fourth day of the eleventh month in the fourth year, he fell ill in bed; he instructed his disciples not to weep or make sacrificial offerings. Having finished speaking, he closed his eyes. His disciples built a small stūpa and interred him in his room. His age was sixty-nine; his monastic years were fifty. The disciples who received his transmission were more than a hundred, including ten foreigners; Yitong was truly the foremost, while Chengyu and Baoxiang were next to him. The officials and commoners of Tiantai who had previously received the precepts gathered to welcome the Master's portrait at Kaiyuan Temple; wearing unbleached white mourning, they offered sacrifices, their mourning moving the whole city, and the sky turned gloomy. Later, when his followers planned to relocate the stūpa, they saw that his countenance was like that of a living person, and his hair had grown more than an inch. Thereupon they relocated his burial to the southeast corner of Guoqing. Chengyu composed an inscription to mark it. The Master lectured on the Three Great Treatises twenty times each, and several times each on the *Vimalakīrti*, the *Suvarṇaprabhāsa*, the *Brahmajāla*, the *Jingangpi*, the *Fajie guan*, and the *Yongjia ji*. He composed outlines and structural notes for the *Yili*, the *Buer men*, and so on in several fascicles (these are seen in various works such as the *Biographies of Eminent Monks*).

8.20

The sixteenth patriarch, the Venerable Baoyun, Yitong, courtesy name Weiyuan, was from the kingdom of Goryeo and belonged to the Yun clan (born in the dinghai year, the second year of the Tiancheng era under Mingzong of the Later Tang). His physical marks were extraordinary: he had a fleshy protuberance on the crown of his head, and his fine white eyebrow-hair curled elegantly, stretching five to six inches in length. In his youth, he took Shizong of Guishan cloister as his master. After receiving the full precepts, he studied the Avataṃsaka and the Awakening of Faith, becoming revered throughout his country. During the Tianfu era of the Jin, he travelled to China (at the end of Tianfu, the Master was only sixteen or seventeen, right at the time of receiving the full precepts and studying the Avataṃsaka; his coming to China must have been after twenty. Reckoned by chronology, it should have been between the Han and Zhou dynasties; the statement here of Tianfu is probably an error). Reaching Yunju on Mount Tiantai (the dwelling of the State Preceptor Shao), he suddenly had an awakening. When he called upon Luoxi and heard the doctrine of the threefold contemplation in a single mind, he sighed, saying: 'The learning of the perfect and sudden ends upon this path!' He thereupon remained to receive instruction. After a long while, the reputation of his full embodiment [of the teachings] spread far and wide. One day he bade farewell to his fellow disciples, saying: 'I wish to guide with this Path those who have not yet heard it, and I must begin from the land of my parents.' He then packed his bags, went down east, and passed through Siming, about to board a sea-vessel. The prefect, Grand Preceptor Qian Weizhi (son of King Zhongyi, Qian Chu), hearing of the Master's arrival, invited him with heightened courtesies to inquire into the essentials of the mind, and further requested him to be his Bodhisattva-precept Master, personally carrying out the ritual of transmission and reception. Monastics and laypeople flocked in reverence, all looking up to him as a model. Master Qian firmly detained him, saying: 'Whether something is checked or set in motion (The Mencius: "A man’s progress is [at times] set in motion; his stop is [at times] checked") is not within the power of a disciple. If it is a matter of benefiting living beings, why must it be Jilin (an alternative name for Goryeo)?' The Master said: 'Since conditions have united with you, my refusal will not turn you away.' Thereupon he stopped his departure. In the first year of Kaibao (under Taizu of the present dynasty), the Transport Commissioner Gu Chenghui, who had repeatedly received the Master’s instructions, first gave up his residence to make the Chuanjiao Cloister, inviting the Master to dwell there. In the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo, Fazhi first began to study under the Master (the Master was fifty-three; Fazhi was twenty). In the twelfth month of the sixth year, his disciple Yande went to the capital to petition for a temple plaque. In the fourth month of the seventh year, the plaque 'Baoyun' was bestowed. In the first year of Yongxi, Ciyun first began to study under the Master (the Master was fifty-eight; Ciyun was twenty-two). The Master expounded the teachings and contemplation for nearly twenty years; those who ascended the hall and received his transmission were beyond counting. He would always address people as 'fellow countrymen.' When someone asked why, he said: 'I take the Pure Land as my native land; all of you are bound to be reborn there, so all of you are people of my native land.' On the twenty-first day of the tenth month in the first year of Duanhong, he passed away lying on his right side. On the day of his cremation (jhāpita), relics (śarīra) filled his bones. His disciples reverently buried him at the northwest corner of the King Aśoka Monastery (before King Aśoka Monastery was turned into a Chan institution, its monks had invited Baoyun and other masters to establish lecture assemblies repeatedly; after Baoyun passed away, his bones were therefore buried in this ground). He lived sixty-two years. In the first year of Zhiping (under Yingzong), his Dharma-grandson Zongzheng, abbot of Nanhu, built a square tomb and stone stūpa, composing a record to commemorate it (seventy-seven years later). In the seventh year of Xuanhe (under Huizong), Changyuetang, abbot of King Aśoka Monastery, finding the ground overgrown and the stūpa dilapidated, moved the bones to Mount Wushi together with Master Wei of Baoyun. The bones were luminous and sparkling, clinking crisply when struck; five-coloured relics multiplied upon the bones, and there were those who obtained handfuls of them. Later, the abbot Zhiqian recarved the stone stūpa inscription at the Wushi Hermitage (see the stone stūpa record in the Zhenzu ji).

8.21

Xiao Shizhi says: 'The stone stūpa record states that the Master’s writings were lost and not transmitted. However, examining the commentaries and records of Siming [Fazhi], [it appears that] he had indeed held the brush to write a commentary and record on the Guan jing (Contemplation Sūtra) and an exposition on the Xuanzan of the Suvarṇaprabhāsa (Golden Light). Siming received and carried on his doctrines and used them in his records and subcommentaries; they were by no means untransmitted. One fascicle of the exposition still survives, though it does not circulate widely.'

8.22

Luoxi gathered up the scriptural texts, so that the pearls that had departed returned; for two cycles of twelve years Baoyun expounded them, so that the heritage of the school was passed on. Yet the world presently honours Fazhi as the restorer, because he had the merit of writing works and establishing teachings, clarifying the patriarchal path, repelling the Shanwai faction, and continuing and glorifying the orthodox lineage of the Way (di has the pronunciation of dichu, 'to clash with'). Therefore Ciyun praised him, saying: / 'Zhāng'ān having passed away, / Jīngxī also gone, / this human master was born, / continuing that brilliant light. / The great teaching of our single house / was concentrated in these three fine men.' / He also composed an encomium for him, saying: 'Among all the scriptures and treatises of our single school, everything that the master of Piling (Jīngxī) did not annotate, he annotated; the four kinds of samādhi that are difficult for people to practice, he fully practiced.' Respectfully unfolding these renowned words, they are truly an authentic record (yi has the pronunciation of yi, 'to unravel silk').

8.23

The Seventeenth Patriarch, the Venerable Fazhi Zhili, styled Yueyan, was from the Jin clan of Siming (popular tradition says he resided in Baita Lane of the prefectural seat). Because his father, Jing, had no heir, he and his wife, of the Li clan, prayed to the Buddha. In a dream, a divine monk brought a boy and presented him, saying: 'This is the Buddha's son, Rāhula.' Thereupon she conceived. When he was born, they named him after this (the year Taizu received the abdication of the Zhou, the first year of Jianlong, gengshen). His spiritual bearing was pure and exceptional, unlike the common throng. At age seven he lost his mother, weeping incessantly. He informed his father of his wish to leave home, and thereupon went to rely on Master Hongxuan of Taiping Xingguo Temple. At fifteen he received the full precepts and dedicated himself to probing the Vinaya section. In the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo (under Taizong), he studied the doctrinal contemplation under Baoyun (then twenty years of age). Just three days in, the head monk said to him: 'You should uphold the Stages of the Dharmadhātu (Fajie cidi).' The Master said: 'What is meant by the dharmadhātu?' The head monk replied: 'It is the dharma-gate of the great universal characteristic, perfectly integrated and unimpeded.' The Master said: 'If it is perfectly integrated and unimpeded, how can there be stages?' The head monk had no reply. After staying one month, he lectured on the Heart Sūtra by himself; the listeners were awed by his swift awakening. In the fifth year, his father dreamed that the Master knelt before Baoyun, and Yun poured water from a vase into his mouth. From then on, whenever he received the purport of the perfect and sudden [teaching], he instantly grasped it. In the sixth year, he regularly lectured on Baoyun's behalf. In the first year of Yongxi, Ciyun came from Tiantai and began to study at Baoyun's gate. The Master treated him as a beneficial friend, with the affection of brothers. In the first year of Duanhong, Baoyun entered quiescence. The Master again dreamed that he strung Baoyun's head, wore it around his left arm, and walked (huan is pronounced huan, meaning to string). He immediately interpreted it himself, saying: 'This signifies that I shall first receive, practice, and circulate it, and next that I shall uphold the head of sarvākārajñatā to practice conversion in the world' (Ciyun's preface to the Zhiyaochao adopts Fazhi's own explanation). In the second year of Chunhua, he first accepted an invitation to preside at Qianfu. Over four years, various disciples followed him. In the first year of Zhidao, because his residence was a small cloister on the western side, and scholars arrived in crowds such that more than ten could not be accommodated, he moved to the Bao'en Cloister in the southeastern corner of the city. In the second year, the director of the cloister, Xiantong, gave it over as a permanent seat for lecturing on Tiantai teachings and as a ten-direction abbacy. In the third year, because the buildings of the cloister were dilapidated, he and his fellow student Yiwen began planning its management. Soon after, Jueyuan of Danqiu arrived to take charge of the labor. In the third year of Xianping (under Zhenzong), there was a great drought in the prefecture. Together with Ciyun, he cultivated the Brightness Repentance to pray for rain, vowing that if there was no response within three days, he would burn an arm as an offering to the Buddha. Before the repentance was concluded, heavy rain had already soaked everywhere (Ciyun's Account of Conduct says: 'He vowed that if it did not rain in three days, he would burn himself. As pledged, a great rain indeed fell. Prefect Su had a stone carved to record the event'). In the sixth year, Japan dispatched Jakushō, who brought twenty-seven items of inquiry from Dharma Master Genshin to request responses and explanations. In the first year of Jingde, he composed the Shibu'ermen zhiyaochao (Notes on the Essentials of the Ten Non-Dual Gates), establishing that the ultimate principle of true suchness according to the separate teaching possesses the meaning of according with conditions. Jici of Yongjia composed the Zhilan (Pointing Out Excesses) to challenge it (he was a disciple of Master Zhao of Fantian), maintaining that unchanging yet according with conditions is the principle of our school's perfect teaching; how could the principle of the separate teaching accord with conditions? The Master then set forth twenty questions to dispel his obfuscation. Yuanying of Tiantai also composed the Zhengjue (Verification and Resolution) on Master Ci's behalf, and Zixuan of Jiahe also composed the Suiyuanpu (Attacking 'According with Conditions') to assist Ci and Ying. At that time, Renyue sat among the assembly and, expounding Fazhi's meaning, established the Ten Gates of Refutation to defeat all three masters comprehensively. People said that Jingjue's merit in repelling the aggression was immense (yu is pronounced yu; wu is the same as wu [insult]; from the Yijing: 'Repelling insult from without'). In the fourth year, he dispatched his disciples Benru and Master Shi of Kuaiji, carrying the Shiyi shu (Book of Ten Meanings) and the Guanxin erbai wen (Two Hundred Questions on Contemplating the Mind), to call at the chamber of Master Zhao of Qiantang. Formerly, the Guangming xuan existed in two versions, the extensive and the abridged, circulating concurrently in the world. Prior to Jingde, Master En of Qiantang had composed the Fahui ji solely to expound the abridged version, asserting that the ten kinds of threefold dharmas purely discuss dharma-nature, so there is no need to establish contemplation of the mind additionally; and that if the extensive version contained it, later people had added it arbitrarily. Ciguang's disciples, Qing of Fengxian and Min of Lingguang, jointly formulated twenty objections to reinforce his meaning. At that time, Shanxin of Baoshan sent a letter to Fazhi asking him to evaluate it (Ciyun had a poem sent to Superior Shanxin of Shibi containing the line 'we once joined the society together'; based on this, we know they were both students of Baoyun). The Master promptly declined, saying: 'Evaluating right and debating wrong borders on contention. Furthermore, the two venerable masters are senior luminaries of our lineage; how could I act rashly?' Xin requested again, saying: 'When the Dharma drums contend in sounding, which comes first and which follows?' Thereupon the Master began composing the Fuzong ji (Record of Supporting the School), clearly demonstrating the extensive version's meaning of contemplating the mind appended to phenomena, stating that Master En's abolition of contemplating the mind constitutes having the teaching without the contemplation. There were Zhao of Fantian and Yuan of Gushan, both students of Fengxian's gate, who composed the Bian'e (Discriminating Errors) to assist the abridged version, asserting that contemplation has phenomena and principle, and since the ten dharmas from beginning to end are all threaded with the one dharma-nature, how could this not purely illuminate the contemplation of principle? The Master formulated inquiries to cross-examine them, saying: 'If you say the ten dharmas are contemplation of principle, then this mysterious text should belong to the higher three samādhis. Since the abridged version lacks the selection of objects and is not a contemplation of principle correlated with practice, we know that Master Zhao in fact ends up having contemplation without teaching.' Master Zhao again composed the Dayishu (Letter Answering Doubts), shifting his ground with composure, taking the mysterious text as directly revealing the mind-nature, identical in meaning to contemplation of principle. The Master again formulated cross-examinations to reprove him, saying: 'The name mind-nature is definitively determined in the Shiqian as residing in the cause. Since you, Venerable Sir, hold that the ten dharmas are realized by one at the fruit stage, then it is completely not a direct revelation of mind-nature. Furthermore, since the ten dharmas make no mention of selecting the skandhas, on what grounds could their meaning be identical to contemplation of principle?' Master Zhao again set forth five meanings, saying: 'The Zhiguan correlates practice with contemplating the mind, thus establishing the skandhas and so forth as objects; appending to the teaching and relying on phenomena never establishes the skandhas.' His intent was to make the contemplation of principle he established an instance of phenomenal dharmas, not requiring the skandhas to be established. Furthermore, after being cross-examined, knowing that mind-nature resides in the cause, he surreptitiously changed his phrasing to 'directly revealing dharma-nature' (what Master Zhao established: if called correlating with practice, it lacks the selection of objects; if called phenomenal resolution, it clings to it as principle; losing on both advances and retreats, with nothing to rely upon, this is having neither contemplation nor teaching). The Master again formulated inquiries to reprove him, saying: 'The cross-examination originally scrutinized directly revealing mind-nature as purely illuminating contemplation of principle. How can you answer it with the contemplation of phenomenal dharmas? Is this not an exhaustion of your meaning and the end of your stratagems?' After this letter was sent, more than a year passed without a reply. The Master again composed a follow-up inquiry to urge him. Master Zhao slowly composed an explanation of the inquiry, taking the wondrous principle of the ten vehicles as the contemplated object. The Master again reproved him, saying: 'Originally, the three obstacles and four māras were established as objects. Now, if you take the wondrous principle of the ten vehicles as the contemplated object, does that mean you take the three obstacles and four māras as the contemplating wisdom?' From the Fahui down to this explanation of the inquiry, there were four shifts in stratagem and five defeats, with five exchanges back and forth over a duration of seven years. Then, summarizing the entire exchange, he composed a work in two fascicles rebuking Master Zhao: first, not understanding the contemplative dharma; second, not recognizing the contemplated object; third, not distinguishing internal and external objects; fourth, not discerning the two productions of phenomena and principle. Comprising ten chapters in all, it was titled Shiyi shu (Book of Ten Meanings). He also set forth two hundred questions to cross-examine him. At that time, Gushan was seated at the head of Master Zhao's assembly. Seeing that Ru and Shi's debate was insurmountable, he hastily reported to the prefect, and because they had arrived without official permits, had them sent back without offering another reply. In the second year of Dazhong Xiangfu, the reconstruction of Bao'en Cloister was completed, ten years in all from the commencement of labor until now. Tongshou Shi Daiwen composed a record of it. In the third year, he petitioned the prefecture to memorialize the court. In the tenth month, it was bestowed the plaque 'Yanqing'. In the fifth year, he and Yiwen composed a pledge of precepts to transmit to his disciple Licheng, which read in brief: 'I originally accepted this residence with the mindset of the ten directions. When it came to rebuilding and erecting the pillars and beams, it was originally to gather students; how would I dare be selfish? Whoever in our lineage possesses the five virtues, without distinction of near or far, I shall transmit it to him to reside here. All future plans should be likewise. The five virtues are: first, long-term study of Tiantai without engaging in concurrent lecturing on other traditions; second, profound refinement and deep contemplation, keeping distant from superficiality and falsehood; third, renown in precept-virtue, rectifying oneself in dealing with others; fourth, capability to keep distant from honor and praise, not bending our Way; fifth, combined excellence in rhetoric and eloquence, agile in guiding others. Why so? Concurrent lecturing breaches my charge; superficiality and falsehood mislead what is transmitted; precept-virtue glorifies the transforming Way; keeping distant from praise consolidates the supreme endeavor; thereafter, eloquence expands the meaning, and guidance wins people over. For these five, it is better to have more; if one falls short, let eloquence be omitted.' On the fifteenth day of the second month of the sixth year, he first established an assembly for reciting the Buddha's name and bestowing precepts, personally writing an exhortation to convey his urging. From this time on, it became an annual practice. In the seventh year, he composed the Rongxin jie (Explanation of Harmonizing the Mind), illuminating the threefold contemplation in a single mind and revealing the purport of the four pure lands. In the first year of Tianxi, he said to his disciples: 'Giving up one's body for half a verse, casting oneself into the fire for a single line—such was the mind of the sages for the sake of the Dharma. I shall sacrifice my body to warn against negligence.' Thereupon, together with Yiwen and ten like-minded companions, they cultivated the Lotus Repentance for a three-year period; when fulfilled, he intended to burn his body as an offering to the Wondrous Sūtra (giving up the body in ascetic practice is difficult for people; that the names of the ten monks are lost is regrettable). Yang Yi, Director of the Palace Library (styled Da'nian, who reached the post of Hanlin Academician and was posthumously titled Duke Wengong), revering his doctrinal manner from afar, informed Grand Councilor Kou Zhun to memorialize the throne to bestow a purple robe, and again presented a letter of congratulation. Upon hearing of the vow to cultivate repentance and abandon his body, he sent a letter entreating him to remain in the world, stating that at the very time of the Tiantai teaching's revival, it truly relied on his holding and transmitting it as an excellent guide for the world. After three or four exchanges, he still held to his former vow. Lord Yang then sent letters to Prefect Li Yigeng and Ciyun of Tianzhu, asking them to join in dissuading him. The Prefect personally led his subordinates to urge him to remain in the world to preach the Dharma and benefit living beings, and secretly instructed neighboring communities to protect him continually. It happened that Ciyun came east and forcefully remonstrated with him, while Imperial Son-in-law Li Zunxu also sent urgent letters repeatedly joining the plea (he had married Princess Weiguo, daughter of Taizong, and was posthumously titled Duke Wenhe). Yielding to the earnest intentions of both public officials and private friends, the Master finally abandoned his former aspiration. He then once again gathered ten monks to cultivate the Great Compassion Repentance ritual for three years to fulfill his original vow. That year, he composed the Xiaofu sanyong zhang (Chapter on the Three Functions of Subduing), refuting Gushan's Chanyi chao (Notes Expounding the Meaning) for not knowing that innate evil is the meaning of principle-poison. A certain Xianrun composed the Qianyi (Doubts on the Notes), taking the three kinds of subduing as all discussed according to the perfect teaching. Jingjue cited the commentary's meaning, traversing the four teachings and ten dharmadhātus to eliminate the three obstacles, composing the Zhiyi (Stopping Doubts) to support the Master's doctrine. In the fourth year, Imperial Son-in-law Li Zunxu memorialized the throne concerning the Master's noble conduct and willingness to sacrifice his body. The Emperor praised him endlessly and specially bestowed the title 'Great Master Fazhi', issuing an imperial edict ordering him to remain in the world and propagate the teaching (Prefect Qian Xibai inscribed on the Stūpa Cloister: 'Academician of the Hanlin Academy Yang Yi, when composing the spirit-way stele of the father of Bureau of Military Affairs Director Ma Zhijie, refused compensation, asking instead that he memorialize the recommendation of a title for the Master of Siming. Zhijie accordingly memorialized it. The Emperor summoned and questioned him, and Yi took the occasion to speak of his abandonment of the body. The Emperor said: "Merely convey my words, asking the Master to remain in the world to transmit the teaching." Thereupon the title Fazhi was bestowed.' According to the stele of conduct, the stūpa inscription, the veritable records, and Fazhi's correspondence, all state that Li Zunxu discussed and recommended the bestowment of the title. Examining Xibai's inscription now, he must have asked the temple monks at the time, whose erroneous words caused this erroneous inscription). That year, twenty-three individuals including Jian, Chang, and Xingzhao, Verifiers of Meaning at the Translation Bureau in the capital, each sent verses praising his virtue and Way (Chao Shuozhi, Attendant in Ordinary, composed a preface, which was carved on stone). In the fifth year, the Emperor, hearing of the Master's diligence on behalf of the Way, dispatched Palace Attendant Yu Yuanqing to the temple, commanding the cultivation of the Lotus Repentance for three days to pray for blessings for the state. Yuanqing wished to know the purport of the repentance ritual, so the Master composed the Xiuqian yaozhi (Essential Purport of Cultivating Repentance) for him. That year, he composed the Guanyin biexing xuanji (Record on the Mystery of the Separate Action of Avalokiteśvara) and the Guan jing shu miaozong chao (Notes on the Wondrous Purport of the Commentary on the Contemplation Sūtra), both completed. At that time, Xianrun, a disciple of Fantian, composed the Zhixia (Pointing Out Flaws) to reject the Miaozong, stubbornly clinging to such doctrines as isolated form not possessing the three thousand, which was an aftershock of Zhao and Yuan. Jingjue composed the Juemo (Removing the Film) for him to reveal the doctrine of the non-duality of form and mind, and critiqued the other masters for being blind to the meaning of the ultimate viper and the six stages of identity. One day, Jingjue and Guangzhi debated contemplating the mind versus contemplating the Buddha and sought resolution from the Master. The Master instructed them with the discourse on contemplating the Buddha with reference to the mind, stating that relying on the mind-nature, one contemplates those environments and persons. Jingjue departed displeased. Soon afterward, completely betraying what he had upheld, he composed the Sanshen shouliang jie (Explanation of the Lifespan of the Three Bodies) and separately formulated objections, requesting that the former notes be privately amended without letting outsiders hear. Fearing that this would become a hazard of heterodox views for later generations, the Master added thirteen categories of analysis to refute him. At that time, Jingjue was at Tianzhu and submitted the Shi jian shu (Ten Admonitions), stating that when a father has a remonstrating son, his person will not fall into unrighteousness. The Master again composed the Jiebang (Resolving Slander), stating that the Ten Admonitions in fact constituted the two slanders of addition and subtraction. Jingjue again composed the Xuebang (Clearing Away Slander), stating that he had mistakenly used the provisional and the real to judge superiority and inferiority. The Master was ill at the time and had a disciple read it to him; he sighed deeply over it, and being near his passing, debated it no further. Later there was Xizui, son of Guangci and grandson of Fazhi, who composed the Pingbang (Appraising Slander) to resolve it. Jingjue was still alive at the time, and seeing it, said: 'Will the doctrines of Siming indeed prevail?' (From 'The Master was ill at the time' downward, this section narrates subsequent events in advance). In the first year of Tiansheng (the beginning of Renzong's reign), his composition of the Guangming xuan xuyi ji (Record Continuing What Was Omitted in the Mystery of the Brightness Sūtra) was completed. He tested students by setting up the Shikaiwei sishi'er zhang (Opening the Curtain in Forty-Two Chapters) to answer the ten questions of Chan Master Tai. At that time, Chan Master Ning of Tiantong sent a letter discussing the Zhiyaochao's selection indicating the depth of attainment of the Way among the three disciples under Bodhidharma, back and forth without end. Prefect Lin asked the Master to harmonize their doctrines; the Master, having no choice, slightly altered a few words (the correspondence is fully contained in the Jiaoxing lu; Dharma Master Zhong wrote an afterword briefly narrating the matter). In the third year—previously, at the beginning of Tianxi, an imperial edict ordered the establishment of release-of-life ponds throughout the empire; wishing to widely propagate the sacred transformation, the Master assembled the multitude on the Buddha's birthday each year to perform rituals and release fish and birds as the work of releasing life—in this year, the prefecture reported the matter to the throne, and an imperial decree ordered Liu Yun of the Bureau of Military Affairs to compose a text to instruct future generations. Prefect Zeng Hui erected a stele at the temple (see the Jiaoxing lu). He once dreamed at night that the saṃghārāma deity said: 'Tomorrow a minister of state will arrive.' Soon after, Lord Zeng led his son Gongliang into the temple. The Master informed them of the dream; the lady mother expressed thanks, saying: 'When he becomes noble in the future, we will not dare forget you' (the latter two lines narrate subsequent events in advance; today the Jiaoxing lu contains the Zeng family's deed donating estate fields). When Gongliang entered the premiership, he indeed bought fields and expanded buildings, ordaining his disciples year after year (when Duke Zeng Lugong was born, his father dreamed an old monk parted the curtain and entered to offer congratulations. After eight years, holding the post of Drafter, he returned home in mourning. The monk Yuanda took a boat to Qiantang; hearing of the scenic excellence of Tianzhu, he made a special trip to pay homage. When he first arrived, he saw a woman in plain clothes emerge from the temple gate, who said to Da: 'Drafter Zeng will enter the Secretariat at fifty-seven; the Venerable Elder will also receive a master's title in that year.' Then she disappeared. In that year, he was indeed appointed Grand Councilor. Serving three reigns, he was posthumously granted the titles Grand Preceptor and Director of the Secretariat, with the posthumous name Xuanjing, sharing sacrifices in the imperial ancestral temple of Yingzong. Cai Xiang governed Qiantang, and because of the Mahāsattva's spiritual miracles, reported it to court, whereupon the name Linggan was bestowed). In the fifth year, he composed the Guangming wenju ji (Record on the Sentences of the Brightness Sūtra), but approaching his passing, he could not finish the fascicle. Later, his disciple Guangzhi continued it with the chapter 'Praising the Buddha' to complete it. On New Year's Day in the sixth year, he established a seven-day Brightness Repentance as the appointed time for his peaceful passing. On the fifth day, he sat cross-legged, summoned the assembly, and preached the Dharma; when finished, he abruptly recited the name of Amitābha Buddha several hundred times, and peacefully passed away. His age was sixty-nine; his monastic seniority was fifty-four. His shrine was left open for two weeks; his facial appearance remained as if alive, his nails and hair both grew, and his tongue root did not decay, resembling a lotus flower. In the seventh month of the second year of Mingdao, his sacred relics were enshrined in a stūpa erected to the left of Chongfa Cloister in the southern city. Those who received his Dharma and led disciples numbered thirty: Shangxian, Benru, Fanzhen, Zequan, Huicai, Chongju, Juecong, and others. Four hundred and eighty entered his room, one thousand ascended the hall, and seventy were personally ordained by his hand, such as Licheng. From the second year of Xianping onward, the Master dedicated himself exclusively to lecturing and repentance. He always sat and never lay down, never set foot outside, and turned away all visits and calls. He lectured on the Fahua xuanyi seven times, the Wenju eight times, the Zhiguan eight times, the Niepan shu once, the Jingming shu twice, the Guangming xuanyi ten times, the Biexing xuan seven times, the Guan jing shu seven times; and works such as Jingangpi, Zhiguan yili, Dayi, Shibu'ermen, and Shizhong xinyao were too numerous to count. He cultivated the Lotus Repentance for three-week periods five times, the Brightness Repentance for seven-day periods twenty times, the Amitābha Repentance for seven-day periods fifty times, the Invocation of Avalokiteśvara Repentance for seven-week periods eight times, the Great Compassion Repentance for three-week periods ten times, assembled ten monks to cultivate the Lotus Repentance long-term for three years, and ten monks to cultivate the Great Compassion Repentance for three years. He burned three fingers as an offering to the Buddha, fashioned twenty images of Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, Samantabhadra, Great Compassion, and Tiantai Patriarchs, and printed and copied doctrinal vehicles to the total of ten thousand fascicles. His writings included: Xuyi ji, three fascicles; Guangming wenju ji, six fascicles; Miaozong chao, three fascicles; Biexing xuanji, four fascicles; Zhiyaochao, two fascicles; Fuzong ji, two fascicles; Shiyi shu, three fascicles; Guanxin erbai wen, one fascicle; Jiebang shu, three fascicles; and Jinguanming sanmei yi, Dabeiqian yi, and Xiuqian yaozhi, one fascicle each. Others included Rongxin jie, Yili jingguan, Qixin ronghui zhang, Bieli suiyuan ershi wen, Xiaofu sanyong zhang, Guangming xuan dangti zhang wen, replies and explanations to the inquiries of Genshin of Japan, explanations of the three questions of Lord Yang Wengong, and the Jiangwei wenda (all recorded in the Jiaoxing lu). The Master had a great awakening into the Awakening of Faith (Qixin lun); thus his writings at normal times frequently cited it. Later generations hung a plaque on his hall reading 'Qixin', showing that it was not forgotten. When he first received the imperial robe, Shenzhao sent a letter congratulating him. The Master replied: 'Having cultivated the three methods little, my name reached the courtiers (in the section on Patient Endurance in the Zhiguan, it says: "Do not accept or attach to fame, gain, or followers. If pushing them away fails, shrink your virtue and reveal your flaws; if retreating fails, take flight across ten thousand leagues. If fame, gain, and followers come to break you from the outside, remember these three methods, grit your teeth and endure, solid and unyielding. If afflictions, karma, fixed views, arrogance, and so forth come to break you from the inside, also remember the three methods: namely empty, namely provisional, namely middle. Even if your flesh is butchered and torn apart, your mind does not stir or scatter; to accomplish the great matter, you must be all the more patient and enduring." The Fuxing says: "External obstacles are soft thieves, meaning fame and the like; internal obstacles are strong thieves, meaning afflictions and the like. The internal and external use different methods"). Soon I received imperial favor ordering me to wear the purple robe; it is a shame, not an honor, so why bother congratulating?' When the Zhiyao was first completed, Chan Master Xuedou Xian came down from the mountain to visit. Viewing his work, he praised it with great reverence, immediately hosted a vegetarian feast to offer congratulations, and personally hung the tea placard, praising the matter in full.

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佛祖統紀 — 志磐, Classical Chinese