釋鑑稽古略續集 2.27

2.27

Dharma Master Guting, whose taboo name was Shanxue and sobriquet was Guting, was of the Ma clan. At the age of seventeen he became a fully ordained monk. He went to the venerable Jian of Baojue to study the core teachings of the Avataṃsaka. The venerable Jian said, "Superior Man Xue may be said to have his name correspond to reality!" His reputation arose swiftly, and he was esteemed by others. The venerable Jiao of Bietuan, the venerable Zi of Guyou, and the venerable Xuan of Wuyan all invited him to the seat of honor. The master returned to Donglin to dwell in seclusion, exclusively cultivating pure karmic practice, undertaking the Avataṃsaka repentance ritual, and cultivating the various texts of the Pure Land fivefold repentance, relying on these to pray for rebirth in the Land of Peaceful Nurturance. The assembly invited him to serve as abbot of Daci on Mount Yang to greatly propagate the teachings of Xianshou so as to continue the Buddha's wisdom-life. In years of drought, whenever he prayed for rain on behalf of the assembly, it immediately responded. On the twentieth day of the fourth month of that year, because an official tax was past due, he was moved to Chiyang and passed away there at the age of sixty-four—his past karma could not be avoided.