大明高僧傳 8.35

8.35

Śramaṇa Shi Daochong, styled Chijue, was a son of the Xun family of Changjiang in Wuxin. He first studied under the preceptor Caoyuan Sheng of Miaoguo [Temple] in Hangzhou and had a great awakening to the profound purport. He appeared in the world [as abbot] at Tianning in Jiahe, then transferred to Xuefeng on Jiangshan. Before long, he received an imperial decree to reside [as abbot] at Tiantong in Siming for three years, and an edict appointed him to fill the vacancy at Lingyin. At that time, the governor of the capital built Fahua Temple and submitted a special memorial requesting the master to be its founding patriarch of the first generation. He consented, but had not yet departed when Emperor Lizong of the Song issued an imperial decree ordering him to preside over Shuangjing in Hangzhou. The master said to the assembly: "If I do not go to Fahua, that would be untrustworthy; if I disobey the decree for Jingshan, that would be irreverent. Having lost both reverence and trustworthiness, how could I serve as a model for later students?" He then casually went to Fahua, opened the hall, and after a month or so, bearing the imperial decree, ascended Mount Jing. Thereupon the whole assembly harmonized in unison, their shouts of joy like thunder. When he approached entering extinction, he wrote an account with his own hand narrating the circumstances of his obtaining the Dharma. He ascended the hall to preach the Dharma, took leave of the assembly, entered the abbot's quarters, and gave instructions regarding future affairs. At midnight, sitting upright, he discussed the Dao with the assembly; after some time, he sloughed off his mortal frame and passed away. It was the fifteenth day of the third month in the third year of [Baoqing of Emperor] Lizong. His worldly age was eighty-two; his dharma age was sixty-one. After the jhāpita, the śarīra were lustrous and clear. His disciples divided them into stūpas at two locations: one at Yuzhi Hermitage in Changputian on his home mountain, and one at Yushan Hermitage in Jinling.