釋氏稽古略 3.239

3.239

Nanquan: Chan Master Nanquan of Chizhou was named Puyuan, a son of the Wang family of Xinzheng in Zhengzhou. From his youth he longed for the School of Emptiness. In the second year of Zhide under Suzhen, he was tonsured under Chan Master Dahui of Mount Dakuai. He went to the Central Peak of Song to receive the full precepts. At first he studied the old commentaries of the Xiangbu school and investigated the sections and categories of the vinaya. He traveled to various lecture halls, repeatedly listening to the Laṅkāvatāra and Avataṃsaka, entered the contemplation of the Madhyamaka and Śataka gates, and refined the profound meanings. Later he entered the room of Mazu; he suddenly forgot the fish trap and rabbit snare, attaining clear awakening to the mind-ground. In the eleventh year of Zhenyuan under Dezong, he rested his staff at Chiyang and did not descend from Nanquan for more than thirty years. At the beginning of Taihe, Grand Master Lu Gen, the Surveillance Commissioner of Xuancheng, invited the Master down from the mountain, extending the etiquette of a disciple, and asked him to uphold the profound guidelines to preach the essentials of the Dharma. In the twelfth month of the eighth year of Taihe, he manifested illness and told his disciples, "The starry cataract and the phantom lamp have also lasted long. Do not say that I have coming and going." Having finished speaking, he passed away. The Master was the heir of Mazu (Transmission of the Lamp).