宋高僧傳 13.17

13.17

釋本寂，姓黃氏，泉州蒲田人也。其邑唐季多衣冠士子僑寓，儒風振起，號小稷下焉。寂少染魯風，率多強學，自爾淳粹獨凝，道性天發。年惟十九，二親始聽出家。入福州靈石山。年二十五，登于戒足，凡諸舉措，若老苾芻。咸通之初，禪宗興盛，風起於大溈也，至如石頭、藥山其名寢頓。會洞山憫物，高其石頭，往來請益，學同洙泗。寂處眾如愚，發言若訥。後被請住臨川曹山，參問之者堂盈室滿。其所詶對，激射匪停，特為毳客標準，故排五位以銓量區域，無不盡其分齊也。復注《對寒山子詩》，流行寓內，蓋以寂素修舉業之優也，文辭遒麗，號富有法才焉。尋示疾，終于山，春秋六十二，僧臘三十七。弟子奉龕窆而樹塔。後南嶽玄泰著塔銘云。

Shi Benji's surname was Huang, and he was a native of Putian in Quanzhou. In that district, during the late Tang, many gentry scholars resided as sojourners, and the Confucian style flourished so vigorously that it was called the "Lesser Jixia." In his youth, Ji was influenced by the culture of Lu and mostly applied himself strenuously to learning; from then on, his purity and essence coalesced uniquely, and his nature of the Way developed naturally. When he was only nineteen, his parents finally permitted him to undergo pravrajyā. He entered Mount Lingshi in Fuzhou. At age twenty-five, he attained the complete precepts, and in all his conduct, he seemed like an aged bhikṣu. At the beginning of the Xiantong reign era, the Chan tradition was flourishing, its wind rising from Dawei; as for Shitou and Yaoshan, their fame had temporarily subsided. It happened that Dongshan took pity on beings and exalted Shitou's lineage; Benji went back and forth to seek instruction, his discipleship resembling that of the Zhu and Si rivers. Among the assembly, Ji appeared foolish and spoke as if haltingly. Later, he was invited to dwell at Mount Cao in Linchuan, where those who came to question him filled the hall and packed the rooms. His responses were uninterruptedly piercing, serving especially as a standard for patched-robe ascetics; he therefore arranged the Five Ranks to assess and evaluate spiritual realms, exhaustively defining their boundaries. Furthermore, he commented on the "Poems in Dialogue with Hanshanzi," which circulated throughout the realm; this was because Ji had long cultivated excellence in civil examination learning, and his writing was vigorous and elegant, so that he was called richly endowed with Dharma talent. Soon after, he manifested illness and died on the mountain at the age of sixty-two, with a saṅgha age of thirty-seven. His disciples placed him in a sarcophagus, interred him, and erected a pagoda. Later, Xuantai of Nanyue composed the pagoda inscription.