大明高僧傳 2.23

2.23

The monk whose taboo name was Liaoxing and style name was Dalin was a son of the Wu family. He was a descendant of Duke Wu of Song, who had taken his posthumous title as his surname. From his youth he was fond of learning, gifted by heaven with intelligence and discernment. Initially, relying on the preceptor An, he shaved his hair and received the full precepts. He attended various lecture assemblies and thoroughly investigated the Tripiṭaka. Later, he met National Preceptor Zhenjue, who enlightened his mind. Thereafter, he traveled throughout Guanzhong, Shaanxi, the Yellow River, the Luo, Xiang, and Han regions, visiting various senior men of virtue to learn from them. Worthies such as Bailin Tan, Guanfu Huai, and Nanyang Ci were all famed in their day for their scholarship in the Xianshou school. Xing went to all their gates and grasped their profound principles. Upon his return, he again paid homage to Zhenjue in the Longdi region and said: 'The guiding compass of the Buddhadharma is right here!' He then followed Zhenjue to Mount Wutai. Before long, Zhenjue passed away. He then traveled north to the Yan and Ji regions, hiding his traces beneath the imperial palace gates, roaming freely over rivers and seas, as if mutually forgetting the world. Emperor Chengzong summoned him to reside at Wanning Monastery, and his renown shook both the court and the outside world. During the Zhida reign period, the Empress Dowager founded a monastery on Mount Wutai named Puning, and invited him to dwell there as its first-generation abbot. As a person, the master was resolute and had great moral courage; he could not stoop to flatter and please others. Therefore, his footsteps never entered city walls, and he never visited the powerful and noble. Some people harbored jealousy towards him. Hearing of this, Xing once said: 'I was originally a mere bhikṣu, yet I received the Son of Heaven's favor to occupy a great monastery. I strive morning and night to propagate the Dharma without slackening, having no spare time except to repay the state's benevolence. What else could I seek? Though there be slanderous words like those of Zang Cang ruining Mengzi, are they not merely like green flies settling on a thorn hedge? If it is my lot not to meet with favor and for the Way not to be practiced, I will simply pull on my sandals and depart. Where could I not go?' At that time, because the Yuan dynasty honored and favored western monks, their disciples were extremely numerous. When going out and coming in, their mounted retinues rivaled those of princes and dukes. Some wore red wool and tall hats, haughty and arrogant. Among the famous and virtuous masters of the realm, there was none who did not pay them respect, lifting their robes and touching their feet, begging for their hands to touch their foreheads and pat their crowns, calling it 'receptive embrace'. The master merely gave a deep bow with clasped hands. Looking at the assembly, he said: 'Would I dare to be disrespectful to others? But I have heard that a noble person loves others with propriety. How could one compromise one's integrity and court lowliness and disgrace? If one compromises for them, it is either flattery or deceit. I act on behalf of the Way; what would I seek from them?' Those of discernment esteemed his righteous conduct. On the third day of the ninth month in the first year of the Zhizhi reign period, he manifested quiescence. A stupa was erected for him in the ruins of Zhulin. He was posthumously named Hongjiao ('Propagator of the Teachings').