釋氏稽古略 4.356

4.356

In the Jin state, in the first month, an imperial order decreed the construction of Qiyin Chan Monastery on Mount Yang in the Western Hills of Yanjing. An imperial order summoned Chan Master Xuanming Yigong as founder, bestowing fields and establishing a grand feast for ten thousand people (Stele Inscription).
In the Song, in autumn, Chan Master Baoyin of Xuedou Monastery in Mingzhou was summoned to an audience in the Xuande Hall. The Emperor said, "The sages of the three teachings were fundamentally unified in this principle." Yin replied, "It is just like empty space: east, west, south, and north are fundamentally not different." The Emperor said, "It is only that the approaches established by the sages differ; Confucius merely set forth his teaching by means of the Doctrine of the Mean." Yin said, "Without the Doctrine of the Mean, how could the mundane world be stably established? Thus the Lotus Sūtra says, 'The words of worldly governance and the livelihoods of producing wealth and the like are all not contrary to the true mark.' The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says, 'Without destroying worldly marks, one accomplishes the supramundane dharmas.'" The Emperor said, "Nowadays, of the literati who study Confucius, many are merely skilled in written words and language, not seeing the Master’s Way and not knowing the Master’s mind. Only the Śākya lineage does not teach people through written words, but directly points to the source of the mind and immediately causes them to awaken and enter, remaining unperturbed at the juncture of birth and death; this is truly superior." Yin said, "It is not only later scholars who do not see the Master's mind. In Confucius's own school, Yanzi was called 'complete in form,' yet exhausting his life's strength he could only say, 'Looking up to it, it is in front; suddenly it is behind; as if something stands lofty and erect.' In the end he could not grasp it. Yet the Sage clearly threw open all eight characters and said to his disciples, 'My friends, do you think I have secrets? I have no secrets from you. There is nothing I do that is not shared with you, my friends—that is Qiu.' Viewed from this, the Sage never concealed anything from his disciples, but the disciples missed it of their own accord. Formerly Zhang Shangying said, 'I studied the Buddha, and only thereafter was I able to understand Confucianism.' These words are truly most fitting." The Emperor said, "Our own intention is also like this." The Emperor further asked, "What sort of men were Zhuangzi and Laozi?" Yin said, "They were merely people of the Small Vehicle, [at the level of] the voice-hearers (śrāvakas) and below within the Buddha-Dharma. For the Small Vehicle detests the body like fetters, casts off wisdom like mixed poisons, and turns into fire to incinerate the body and enter the unconditioned realm. This is just as Zhuangzi said: 'The form can indeed be made like withered wood, and the mind can indeed be made like dead ashes.' But with people of the Great Vehicle, it is not so: only when all sentient beings have been delivered do they realize bodhi. This is just as Yi Yin said: 'Heaven has produced this people, and made those who are first informed to enlighten those who are later informed. I will use this Way to enlighten this people. If there is a single man who does not receive its benefit, it is as if I had pushed him into a ditch.'" The Emperor was greatly pleased, and issued an edict appointing him abbot of Jingshan Xingsheng Wanshou Chan Monastery.
In the tenth year of the Chunxi reign era, in spring, the second month, the Emperor personally annotated a copy of the Great Vaipulya Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment and sent an imperial commissioner to present it as a gift to Baoyin, granting permission to compose a preface and publish it.
In the fifteenth year of the Chunxi reign era, Yin requested retirement, and was granted a retirement hermitage named Biefeng. In the first year of the Shaoxi reign era of Emperor Guangzong, in the eleventh month, he arrived at the monastery. He personally transferred the abbacy to Chan Master Zhice and bade him farewell. Ce asked about the date of his departure. Yin said, "When the water comes, the canal is formed." Returning to Biefeng, he asked for paper and wrote nine characters: "The seventh day of the twelfth month, at cockcrow." He passed away precisely as scheduled. His transformed body was brought back to the Dharma Hall of the monastery and remained there for seven days; his complexion was bright and moist, his hair had grown, and his neck was warm. He was buried on the western knoll of the hermitage. He was posthumously imperial granted the title Chan Master Cibian, and his stūpa was named Zhiguang. He was the Dharma heir of Chan Master Huazang Min. Min was born to the Zhu family of Meizhou and was a Dharma heir of Yuanwu Foguo Qin. Cibian's name was Baoyin; he was born to the Li family of Jiazhou. From his youth he was versed in the Six Classics, but he grew weary of mundane affairs, and so received ordination under Deshan Qingsu. Taking full ordination, he heard lectures on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and the Awakening of Faith; having exhausted their teachings, he abandoned them. It happened that Yuanwu returned to Zhaojue; Yin took refuge with him, entered the master's room following the assembly, and experienced great awakening, becoming his Dharma heir (Wudeng huiyuan).