宋高僧傳 8.19

8.19

釋法持，俗姓張氏，潤州江寧人也。儀貌邕肅，膚體至潤，幼而棄俗，長事明師，天機內發，識浪外澄。年十三，聞黃梅忍大師，特往禮謁，蒙示法要，領解幽玄。後歸青山，重事方禪師，更明宗極，命其入室，傳燈繼明，紹迹山門，大宣道化。方既出山，凡是學眾，咸悉從其咨稟心要，聲價騰遠，海內聞知。數年之中，四部依慕。時黃梅謝緣去世，謂弟子玄賾曰：「後傳吾法者可有十人，金陵法持即其一也。」是知兩處禪宗重代相襲。後以法眼付門人智威。長安二年九月五日，終于延祚寺。遺囑令露骸松下，飼諸禽獸，令得飲食血肉者發菩提心。其日空中有神旛數首從西而來，遶山數轉。眾人咸見。先居幽棲故院，竹林變白。報齡六十有八矣。

Shi Fachan's secular surname was Zhang, and he was a native of Jiangning in Runzhou. His appearance was harmonious and solemn, and his skin and body were extremely sleek. In his youth he abandoned the secular life, and when grown he served enlightened teachers. His innate faculty was stirred within, and the waves of consciousness were calmed without. At the age of thirteen, having heard of Great Master Ren of Huangmei, he went specially to pay homage to him; he was granted the demonstration of the Dharma essentials and comprehended their profound mystery. Later he returned to Qingshan and served Chan Master Fang anew, gaining an even clearer understanding of the ultimate principle of the school. [Fang] bade him enter his chamber, transmit the lamp to continue the radiance, succeed to the traces of the mountain monastery, and broadly proclaim the transformation of the Way. After Fang left the mountain, all learners sought his guidance on the essentials of mind; his fame and prestige soared afar, known throughout the realm within the seas. Within a few years, the fourfold assembly relied upon and admired him. When [the master of] Huangmei relinquished conditions and passed away, he said to his disciple Xuanze: 'Among those who will transmit my Dharma in the future, there may be ten men; Fachan of Jinling is one of them.' From this it is known that the Chan lineages of the two places succeeded one another across generations. Later, he entrusted the Dharma-eye to his disciple Zhiwei. On the fifth day of the ninth month in the second year of the Chang'an reign era, he passed away at Yanzuo Temple. His testament instructed that his corpse be exposed beneath the pines to feed the birds and beasts, so that those who ate his flesh and drank his blood might arouse the mind of bodhi. On that day, several divine banners appeared in the sky, coming from the west and encircling the mountain several times. The multitudes all saw this. In his former residence, the Youqi precinct, the bamboo grove turned white. His lifespan was sixty-eight.