釋氏稽古略 3.52

3.52

四祖道信大師尊者　姓司馬氏。世居河內。徙居蘄州廣濟縣。今淮西也。生而超異。幼慕空宗諸解脫門。宛如宿習。既嗣祖位。脇不致席僅六十年。唐高祖武德七年住蘄之破頭山。今雙峰山也。貞觀中太宗聞其風三詔。尊者不起。又詔之。帝謂使臣曰。今復不從吾命即取首來。使道上意。師引頸待刃。使者還奏之。帝嘉嘆慰諭甚厚。至是尊者居山已二十載矣。一日往黃梅縣。路逢一小兒。可七歲許。問之曰。汝何姓。兒曰姓即有非常姓。祖曰。是何姓。兒曰是佛性。祖曰。汝無姓耶。兒曰姓空故無。祖默識其法器。令侍者至其母所。乞令出家。母以其宿緣故遂捨之。祖為剃度名弘忍。其後乃命曰。昔如來傳正法眼轉至於我。我今付汝并於衣鉢。聽吾偈。曰。華種有生性。因地花生生大緣與信合。當生生不生。至是永徽二年閏九月四日。誡門人曰。一切諸法悉皆解脫。汝等各各護念流化未來。言訖安坐而逝。壽七十二。塔於本山。明年四月八日塔戶自開。儀相如生。代宗大曆中諡曰大毉禪師。塔曰慈雲（正宗記）。尊者甞至建康牛頭山。攝融禪師列派曰旁出。

The Fourth Patriarch, Venerable Master Daoxin: His surname was Sima. His family had lived in Henei for generations, later moving to Guangji County in Qizhou, which is modern Huaxi. He was extraordinary from birth. In his youth, he admired the Emptiness school and its various gates of liberation, as if by past habit. After succeeding to the patriarchal throne, his ribs did not touch the mat for nearly sixty years. In the seventh year of the Wude era of Tang Gaozu, he resided at Potou Mountain in Qi, which is now Shuangfeng Mountain. During the Zhenguan era, Taizong heard of his fame and summoned him three times, but the Venerable did not rise to go. The Emperor summoned him again, telling his envoy: "If he still does not obey my command, bring me his head." The envoy conveyed the sovereign's intention; the master extended his neck to await the blade. The envoy returned and reported this; the Emperor sighed in admiration and consoled him very generously. By this time, the Venerable had dwelt in the mountain for twenty years. One day, he went to Huangmei County and met a small child on the road, about seven years old. He asked him: "What is your surname (xing)?" The child said: "A nature (xing) I do have, but it is no ordinary surname." The Patriarch said: "What nature is it?" The child said: "It is the Buddha-nature." The Patriarch said: "Do you have no surname?" The child said: "Because nature is empty, therefore I have none." The Patriarch silently recognized him as a Dharma vessel and sent an attendant to his mother's place to beg for him to leave home. Because of past affinity, the mother gave him up. The Patriarch tonsured him, naming him Hongren. Later, he instructed him, saying: "Long ago, the Tathāgata transmitted the correct Dharma eye, which has passed down to me. I now confer it upon you along with the robe and bowl. Listen to my verse." The verse said:
"Flower seeds possess the nature of arising;
Because of the ground, the flowers arise and live.
When great conditions merge with faith,
That which ought to arise lives without arising."
By this time, on the fourth day of the intercalary ninth month in the second year of the Yonghui era, he admonished his disciples, saying: "All phenomena are completely liberated. Each of you must protect and keep them in mind, to flow and transform into the future." Having finished speaking, he sat peacefully and passed away at the age of seventy-two. A stupa was erected on his native mountain. In the fourth month on the eighth day of the following year, the stupa door opened of itself, and his appearance was as if alive. In the Dali era of Emperor Daizong, he was posthumously granted the title Chan Master Dayi, and the stupa was called Ciyun (Zhengzong ji). The Venerable once went to Mount Niutou in Jiankang, where he took in Chan Master Rong, listing his lineage as a collateral branch.