釋氏稽古略 2.267

2.267

The Third Patriarch, Great Master and Venerable Sengcan: It is not known where he was from. At first, as a layman, he met the Second Patriarch, Venerable Huike, in the Northern Qi. Patriarch Ke recognized his capacity, tonsured him, conferred the full precepts, and transmitted the Dharma to him. In this year, he came from the Northern Qi to Mount Sikong, and then went into seclusion at Mount Wangong in Shuzhou, which is now the so-called Shangu Mountain Monastery. For thirty years, his traces gradually became known, and students came to know to seek his Way. During the Kaihuang era of the Sui, there was a novice named Daoxin who bowed and made obeisance, saying: "I beg the Great Master to reveal to me the Dharma gate of liberation." The Patriarch said: "Who is binding you?" He replied: "No one is binding me." The Patriarch said: "Since no one is binding you, you are liberated right now. Why need you seek liberation further?" Daoxin immediately awakened and wished to become his disciple. After a long time, Xin went to Ji Prefecture in Jiangxi to receive the precepts, and after he returned, the Patriarch said: "Now you are fully ordained, and your Way is complete. I shall now depart. Formerly, the Tathāgata's great treasury of the eye of the correct Dharma is now entrusted to you; take also the robe and bowl. Listen to my gāthā: / Though the flower-seed relies on the ground, / From the ground the seed produces the flower. / If no one casts down the seed, / Flower and ground both produce nothing." He further said: "Transmit it well, and do not let it be broken off. I am going to travel to Luofu, and will return before long." After two more years, he returned to Shangu for over a month. He held a grand assembly with the people of the prefecture, and having preached the Dharma to them, he passed away standing beneath a large tree. This was on the fifteenth day of the tenth month in the second year of Daye of the Sui. At that time, the people were in unrest and had no leisure to build a stupa for him. In the fifth year of Tianbao of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang, Li Chang of Zhao Commandery was transferred to an official post in Shu. He opened the tomb, cremated the body, obtained relics, and erected a stupa at the site of his transformation, reporting it to the court. Xuanzong conferred the posthumous title Chan Master Jianzhi ("Mirror-Wisdom"), and named the stupa Jueji ("Quiescent Awakening"). Later, during the reign of Emperor Daizong, Prime Minister Fang Guan composed a stele preface detailing it very thoroughly (Zhengzong ji). The Patriarch once composed the "Inscription on Faith in Mind" (Xinxin ming), which circulates in the world.