傳法正宗記 1.16

1.16

The monk Qisong of Teng Prefecture in Guangyou, styled Zhongling, studied Confucian learning in his youth. Traveling through various regions, he entered Wu, and wrote books by the West Lake of Qiantang. During the Jiayou era, taking his completed works—the Chuanfa zhengzong ji, the Dingzu tu, and the Fujiao bian—he went to the imperial court, and presented his writings as introductory gifts to the Prince of Wei Han [Qi], Duke Ouyang Wenzhong [Xiu], and Duke Wang Jiguo. All the eminent dignitaries of that time fully approved of them. He then memorialized and presented them for Emperor Renzong's imperial inspection. Coming upon the phrase "for the sake of the Dao, not for fame; for the sake of the Dharma, not for oneself," the Emperor praised and sighed with admiration, retaining them in the forbidden palace for a long time. An imperial edict was issued declaring that they be included in the Tripiṭaka. During the Jianyan era, they were scattered and lost in the flames of war. In the autumn of the gengchen year of the Shaoxing era, Elder Zhengyan of Taiping Temple in Fuzhou, while wandering by the Longshou Torrent on Mount Dong, obtained the twelve fascicles of the Zhengzong ji, supplemented them with the three volumes of the Fujiao bian, and re-collated them. He said to Chan Master Jiekong Ming of Kaiyuan: "Our Qisong Fujiao practiced meditation and wisdom, wearing only a single patched robe in winter and summer, constantly sitting without lying down, eating only one meal a day, and walking the Dao at night with an image of Guanyin on his head, chanting the Bodhisattva's name a hundred thousand times as a regular practice. Among the eminent monks of the Song, he was the only one south of the Big Dipper! Even if all the bamboo and silk were exhausted, one could not record his Dao and conduct." Thereupon, leading all the Chan monks to unite their efforts, he carved the printing blocks at Kaiyuan Temple in Fuzhou for inclusion in the Tripiṭaka, bringing endless benefits. Colophon by the Dharma-transmitting patriarchal successor Master Fodeng Fashan, abbot of Guangying Chan Temple on Mount Shoushan; collated by the Dharma-transmitting patriarchal successor monk Daoyin, abbot of Chongbao Chan Temple of Jiaozhong.