釋氏稽古略 4.371

4.371

The Chan Master of the Jingde Lingyin Chan Monastery in Hangzhou was named Chongyue, born into the Wu family of Longquan in Chuzhou. In the second year of the Longxing era of Emperor Xiaozong, he was ordained at the Bailian Hermitage on the West Lake in Hangzhou. He traveled to visit and inquire of masters, finally seeing Chan Master Mi'an Jie at West Mountain in Quzhou. When Mi'an moved to Huazang on Mount Jiang in Jiankang and to Jingshan in Hangzhou, he attended upon him throughout. Mi'an opened his room to question the monks: 'It is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not a thing.' The master, standing by his side, suddenly experienced great enlightenment. When Mi'an transferred to Lingyin, he appointed the master as head monk. Soon afterward, he assumed his first abbacy at Chengzhao in Pingjiang as the dharma heir of Mi'an. He successively moved to Guangxiao in Jiangyin, Zhifu in Wuwei, Jianfu in Raozhou, Xiangshan in Mingzhou, and Huqiu in Pingjiang. In the third year of the Qingyuan era of Emperor Ningzong, he was decreed to reside at Lingyin. In the sixth year of the Qingyuan era, he submitted a memorial requesting retirement; the emperor granted it, and he withdrew to reside at the East Cloister. On the fourth day of the eighth month of the second year of the Jiatai era, he wrote farewell letters to old friends among the officials. He gave these turning words to students: 'Why can a person of strength not lift their foot?' and also: 'Opening one's mouth does not depend on the tongue.' He sent letters to his dharma-heir disciples, Guangmu of Xiangshan and Shan'kai of Yunju, charging them with elucidating the Dharma. He wrote a gāthā: / 'Coming, there is nowhere to come from; / Going, there is nowhere to go. / In an instant turning at the mysterious pivot, / The Buddhas and Patriarchs are at a loss.' / He sat cross-legged and passed into quiescence, at the age of seventy-one, with forty-nine summers of monastic age. His whole body was enshrined in a stūpa on the plateau of North Peak (from the stele inscription of his deeds).