釋氏稽古略 3.52

3.52

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.