宋高僧傳 4.43

4.43

釋印宗姓印氏，吳郡人也。母劉氏始娠，隣家咸見一沙門端雅，徐步入印舍，白劉曰：「願為子焉。」母夢同此，再三陳讓，不克。父夢有饋栴檀香木童子跪授付劉。劉頓厭葷羶，俗間食味隔在脣吻之外。及生而長，從師誦通經典，末最精講者《涅槃經》。咸亨元年在京都，盛揚道化。上元中，勅入大愛敬寺居，辭不赴，請於蘄春東山忍大師諮受禪法。復於番禺遇慧能禪師，問答之間，深詣玄理。還鄉地，刺史王胄禮重殊倫，請置戒壇，命宗度人，可數千百。續勅召入內，乃造慈氏大像。所著《心要集》，起梁至唐，天下諸達者語言總錄焉。又奉勅江東諸寺院，天柱、報恩各置戒壇度人。又纂百家諸儒士三教文意表明佛法者，重結集之。手筆逾高，著述流布。至先天二年二月二十一日示終，囑循輪王法葬之，年八十七。會稽王師乾立塔銘焉。

Shi Yinzong was surnamed Yin and was a native of Wujun. When his mother, Lady Liu, first became pregnant, the neighbors all saw an elegant and dignified śramaṇa slowly walking into the Yin residence, who said to Liu, "I wish to become your son." His mother had the very same dream, and though she declined again and again, she could not prevent it. His father dreamt of a boy offering sandalwood incense who knelt and handed it over to Liu. Liu at once developed an aversion to meat and fish, and mundane flavors were barred from passing her lips. When he was born and grew up, he followed masters, recited, and thoroughly mastered the scriptures; later, he was most expert at lecturing on the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra. In the first year of the Xianheng era (670), he was in the capital, widely propagating the teaching of the Way. During the Shangyuan era (674–676), an imperial edict ordered him to enter and reside at Da'aijing Temple, but he declined and did not proceed; instead, he requested to consult and receive the methods of Chan from Great Master [Hong]ren of Mount Dongshan in Qichun. Later, in Panyu, he met Chan Master Huineng, and during their dialogue, he penetrated deeply into the profound principle. When he returned to his home region, the prefect Wang Zhou treated him with extraordinary deference; he requested the establishment of an ordination platform and instructed Yinzong to ordain people, numbering in the hundreds and thousands. Subsequently, an imperial edict summoned him into the palace, whereupon he crafted a great image of Maitreya. He authored the Xinyao ji (Anthology of the Essentials of Mind), which was a comprehensive record of the sayings of all the enlightened masters across the empire from the Liang through the Tang dynasties. Furthermore, by imperial edict, ordination platforms were established at various temples in Jiangdong—such as Tianzhu and Baon’en—to ordain people. He also compiled passages from the writings of the hundred schools and various scholars on the three teachings that clarified the Buddha Dharma, compiling them anew into a collection. His literary caliber was exceedingly high, and his writings were widely circulated. On the twenty-first day of the second month of the second year of the Xiantian era (713), he manifested his decease, leaving instructions to bury him according to the rites for a cakravartin king, at the age of eighty-seven. Wang Shiqian of Kuaiji erected a stupa inscription for him.