釋氏稽古略 4.213

4.213

Chan Master Donglin of Jiangzhou was named Changzong. He was born into the Shi clan of Youxi in Jianzhou. At age eleven, he renounced household life under Dharma Master Wenzhao of Baoyun Monastery. Eight years later, his hair was shaved, and he went to Vinaya Master Qisi of Dazhong Monastery in Jianzhou to receive full ordination. At first he reached Mount He in Jizhou and, hearing of the Way of Chan Master Nan, went to Guizong to rely on him; spending twenty years there, he completely grasped the profound mysteries. Lord Rong, the Drafter and Governor of Hongzhou, invited him to reside at Letan; some called him Mazu reborn. In the third year of Yuanfeng, an imperial decree reformed the Vinaya residence of Donglin in Jiangzhou into a Chan monastery. Lord Wang Shao, Academician of the Hall of Scholarly Brilliance, went out to govern Nanchang and wished to invite Chan Master Baojue Xin to preside over Donglin. Xin recommended the master to take his place. Hearing of this, the master fled by night more than a thousand li away. Lord Wang sent dispatches to all prefectures ordering that he must be found. He was found in a remote valley of Mount Shu in Xinfu, whereupon he complied with the order. When Academician Su Shi first toured Mount Lu, he formed a deep accord with the master; thus the master's fame reached the capital. The Son of Heaven issued an imperial decree ordering him to reside at Zhihai Chan Cloister of Xiangguo [Monastery]. The prefectures pressed the invitation with the urgency of falling meteors. The master resolutely declined; an imperial decree permitted it, and thereupon bestowed a purple robe and the honorary title Chan Master Guanghui. In the third year of Yuanyou under Zhezong, the Prince of Xu petitioned to grant him the title Chan Master Zhaojue. The patched-robed assembly beneath his seat was constantly full at seven hundred. In the ninth month of the sixth year of Yuanyou, he manifested illness. On the twenty-fifth day, he bathed, sat peacefully, and passed away. On the eighth day of the tenth month, his whole body was buried to the east of Yanmen Stūpa (the burial site of Master [Hui]yuan). His worldly age was sixty-seven, and he had sat forty-nine summer retreats. He was a dharma heir of Chan Master Huanglong Nan (Xudeng lu).