景德傳燈錄 27.3

27.3

Great Being Shanhui was a native of Yiwu County in Wuzhou. On the eighth day of the fifth month in the dingchou year, the fourth year of the Jianwu era of the Qi dynasty, he descended into the household of Fu Xuanci in Shuanglin Village; his original name was Xi. In the eleventh year of the Tianjian era of the Liang dynasty, at age sixteen, he married a woman of the Liu family named Miaoguang, who bore him two sons, Pujian and Pucheng. At twenty-four, he was fishing at Jiting Shoal with fellow villagers. Having caught fish, he submerged the basket in the water and prayed: "Let those who would go depart, and those who would stay remain." Some thought him foolish. It happened that there was an Indian monk named Bodhidharma (at that time called Ascetic Song) who said: "I made a vow with you in the presence of Vipaśyin Buddha. Now your robe and bowl remain in Tuṣita Palace; on what day will you return?" He then told him to look at his reflection in the water, where the Great Being saw a circular halo and a jeweled canopy. The Great Being smiled and said to him: "In a blacksmith's forge there is much dull iron; at a good physician's gate there are plenty of sick people. Saving sentient beings is urgent; why yearn for the pleasures of that place?" Song pointed to the peak of Mount Song, saying: "This can be your dwelling." The Great Being tilled the land himself and resided there. He then spoke a verse, saying: