釋鑑稽古略續集 2.31

2.31

Chan Master Jiefeng, whose taboo name was Shiyu and sobriquet was Jiefeng, was a native of Xi'an of the Yu clan. His mother, Lady Mao, gave birth to him after dreaming that Guanyin sent a boy dressed in blue garments. From his youth, the master was fond of venerating Buddha stupas. When grown, he took tonsure under Guyue of the Manifest Teaching, and pricked blood to write out the Diamond Sūtra. He visited the venerable Chun of Guya and the venerable Gang of Shimen, learning the essentials of applying effort, sitting erect like a withered stump. He also saw various good spiritual friends such as the venerable Yong of the Cloth Robe, Duanya, and Zhongfeng. He studied under Chan Master Zhiyan Cheng of Mount Daci, who instructed him to examine vigorously, through which he attained great awakening. His verse contained the lines: "In the middle of the night, suddenly forgetting the finger pointing to the moon, / Out from empty space bursts the red orb of the sun." Zhiyan gave him seal of approval. After toiling in service for three years, he revived the ancient Fuhui Monastery in Xi'an. When the Imperial Preceptor heard of this, he bestowed on him the title "Buddha Wisdom and Vast Eloquence." He transferred to become abbot of Xinglong Chan Monastery at Shixi, and those converted to his teaching were exceedingly numerous. In succession he responded to four monasteries—Guwang, Longyan, Baogai, and Purun—serving as the founding abbot for all of them. In the twelfth month, the winter of the third year of Hongwu, he attended the Great Water-and-Land Feast given by Prefect Huang. When the Buddhist rituals concluded, he showed signs of illness, exhorting the assembly to enter the Way with energetic progress. He wrote a verse: "Arising is originally unarisen; / Ceasing is originally unceasing. / Letting go with the hands, I walk right on; / A sky filled with the bright moon." He threw down his brush and transformed. His age was seventy; his monastic seniority was fifty. A pagoda was erected for him at Ciyun Cloister on Mount Wushi. He had the Discourse Records of Two Assemblies and fifteen disciples.