釋氏稽古略 3.261

3.261

The Guiyang school. Chan Master Guishan of Tanzhou was named Lingyou. He was a native of Changxi in Fuzhou, with the family name of Zhao. At the age of fifteen, he left home. Relying on the Vinaya Master Fachang of Jianshan Monastery in his native commandery, he had his head shaved, and received full ordination at Longxing Monastery in Hangzhou. He thoroughly investigated the teachings of the Great and Lesser Vehicles. At age twenty-three, he traveled to Jiangxi and visited Chan Master Baizhang Hai, awakening to and clarifying the mind-dharma. There was an ascetic named Sima who came from Hunan and said to Baizhang, "Mount Gui is a dwelling place for a spiritual mentor of one thousand five hundred people." From within Baizhang's assembly, the master answered the call and went there, constructing a Buddhist monastery. When it coincided with Emperor Wuzong destroying the teaching, he wrapped his head and hid among the common people. At the beginning of the Dazhong era, Surveillance Commissioner Pei Xiu invited the master to return to his former dwelling. Regional Governor Li Jingrang memorialized for the monastery plaque, which was named Tongqing Monastery. The Chan assembly flourished exceedingly, and monk-companions gathered like spokes at a hub. The master proclaimed and spread the ancestral teachings for more than forty years altogether. Those who reached its Way were countless. His chamber-entering disciples numbered forty-one. Arriving at the seventh year of Dazhong, the ninth day of the first month, he washed, rinsed, sat cross-legged, and peacefully passed away. His age was eighty-three, with sixty-four monastic years. His stupa was erected on his home mountain. By imperial edict, he was posthumously titled Chan Master Dayuan ("Great Perfection"), and his stupa was called Qingjing ("Pure"). Prime Minister Zheng Yu composed the stele. The master was a dharma heir of Chan Master Baizhang Hai. Hai was a dharma heir of Chan Master Mazu Yi (from the Transmission of the Lamp).