宋高僧傳 11.18

11.18

釋無等姓李氏，今東京尉氏人也。負志卓犖，辭氣貞正。少隨父官于南康，頻遊梵剎，向僧瞻像，往即忘歸。既作沙門，遇道一禪師在龔公山，學侶螘慕。等求法於其間，挺然出類。元和七年遊漢上。後至武昌，覩郡西黃鵠山奇秀，遂結茅分衛。由此巴、蜀、荊、襄尚玄理者，無遠不至矣。大和元載，屬相國牛公僧孺出鎮三江，聞等道香，普熏遐邇，命駕枉問。風虎相須，為法重人。牛公慮其蘭若不隸名籍，特為奏題曰「大寂」也。憧憧往來，堂無虛位。至四年十月示滅，年八十二。弟子誓通奉全身入塔焉。

Śramaṇa Wudeng, surnamed Li, was a native of Weishi in present-day Dongjing. He possessed extraordinary aspiration, and his speech and manner were upright and correct. In his youth he followed his father, who was an official in Nankang, frequently visiting Buddhist temples, gazing at the monks and looking upon the statues, often forgetting to return. After becoming a śramaṇa, he met Chan Master Daoyi at Mount Gonggong, where students swarmed like ants in admiration. Deng sought the Dharma among them, standing out preeminently from the rest. In the seventh year of the Yuanhe era, he traveled along the Han River. Later he arrived in Wuchang, and seeing the marvelous beauty of Mount Huanghu south-west of the prefecture, he built a thatched hut and practiced alms-gathering. Because of this, those from Ba, Shu, Jing, and Xiang who esteemed the profound principle came from far and wide, none failing to arrive. In the first year of the Dahe era, it happened that Chancellor Lord Niu Sengru was assigned to govern the Sanjiang region; hearing the fragrance of Deng's virtue perfuming far and near, he ordered his carriage and paid a personal call. Like the wind and tiger needing one another, he valued the person for the sake of the Dharma. Lord Niu, concerned that his hermitage was not officially registered, specially memorialized the throne to name it "Daji." Visitors bustlingly came and went, leaving no empty seats in the hall. In the tenth month of the fourth year, he manifested extinction at the age of eighty-two. His disciple Shitong placed his intact body into a stupa.