宋高僧傳 12.8

12.8

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?