釋氏稽古略 3.179

3.179

Shitou: In the sixth year of Zhenyuan, a gengwu year, Venerable Shitou of Nanyue entered quiescence. His taboo name was Xiqian, of the Chen clan of Gaoyao in Ruizhou. Resolute and keen in spirit, upon capping he went straight to Caoxi. He attained the Dharma before taking the full precepts. It coincided with the Patriarch's entering parinirvāṇa, so, following the last instructions, he went to visit Chan Master Xingsi of Mount Qingyuan. In the early Tianbao era of Xuanzong, he was recommended to South Monastery on Mount Heng. To the east of the monastery there was a boulder shaped like a terrace; he thereupon built a hermitage upon it, and people at the time called him Venerable Shitou ('Stone'). He composed the Ca'an ge (Song of the Thatched Hut) and the Cantongqi (Harmonious Union of Difference and Sameness), which circulated widely in the world. Reaching this year he entered parinirvāṇa, and was entombed in a stupa on the Eastern Ridge. The emperor posthumously conferred the title Great Master Wuji ('Boundless'), and the stupa was called Jianxiang ('Manifesting Characteristics'). The master was the dharma heir of Qingyuan Xingsi, and Si was the dharma heir of the Sixth Patriarch (Chuandeng lu).