往生集 2.86

2.86

Zhou Xuzhi of the Song dynasty was a native of Yanmen. At age twelve he mastered the Five Classics and the Five Apocrypha, and was called the "Child of the Ten Classics." Cultivating his aspirations in seclusion, he declined all invitations from ministers and nobles. Serving Dharma Master Yuan of Mount Lu, he joined the Lotus Society. When Emperor Wen ascended the throne, he summoned him for audience and dialectical inquiry, and the Emperor was greatly pleased. Someone asked: "As a retired scholar, is it fitting to set foot in the royal court from time to time?" He replied: "He whose mind gallops toward the palace gates regards the rivers and lakes as shackles; he whose emotional attachments are both gone finds that even marketplaces and courts are just mountain caves." At the time he was called Master Tongyin. Later he lived on Mount Zhong, focusing his mind on buddhamanasikāra, growing firmer as he grew older. One day he addressed the sky, saying, "The Buddha has come to welcome me," pressed his palms together, and passed away.