宋高僧傳 12.8

12.8

釋日照，姓劉氏，岐下人也。家世豪盛，幼承庭訓，博覽經籍，復於《莊》、《老》，而宿慧發揮，思從釋子。即往長安大興善寺曇光法師下，稟學納戒，傳受經法，靡所不精。因遊嵩嶽，問圓通之訣，欣然趨入。後遊南嶽，登昂頭峯，直拔蒼翠，便有終焉之志。庵居二十載，屬會昌武宗毀教，照深入巖窟，飯栗飲流而延喘息。大中宣宗重興佛法，率徒六十許人還就昂頭山舊基，結苫蓋，構舍宇。復居一十五年，學人波委。咸通中示滅，春秋一百八歲。至三年二月三日入塔，立碑存焉。天下謂其禪學為昂頭照是歟。

Śramaṇa Rizhao was surnamed Liu, a native of Qixia. His family was distinguished and prosperous for generations; in his youth he received family training and read the classics and records widely, extending also to the Zhuangzi and Laozi; his innate wisdom unfolded, and he thought to follow the sons of Śākya. He immediately went to Longxing / Daxingshan Temple in Chang'an under Dharma Master Tanguang to receive instruction and accept the precepts, transmitting and receiving scriptures and treatises, mastering all of them. He then traveled to Mount Song, inquiring into the formula of complete penetration, which he joyfully entered. Later he traveled to the Southern Peak and ascended Angtou Peak; its sheer, towering verdure inspired him with the resolve to spend the rest of his life there. He lived in a hermitage for twenty years; when Emperor Wuzong persecuted the teaching during the Huichang era, Zhao went deep into cliff caves, eating chestnuts and drinking from streams to prolong his breaths. When Emperor Xuanzong revived the Buddha-dharma in the Dazhong era, he led some sixty disciples back to the old site on Mount Angtou, weaving thatch roofs and constructing quarters. He resided there for another fifteen years, with students gathering like surging waves. He showed extinction during the Xiantong era, at the age of one hundred and eight. On the third day of the second month of the third year [of that era] he was enshrined in a stupa, and a stele was erected there. The world refers to his Chan teaching as 'Angtou Zhao', does it not?