傳法正宗記 9.73

9.73

Liu Xu, styled Yaoyuan, was a native of Guiyi in Zhuozhou. In the Tianyou era, he first entered service as a Military Administrator. At the beginning of the Kaiyun era, he was appointed Minister of Works (Sikong) and Pingzhangshi, and also supervised the compilation of the National History. Therefore, in composing the biography of Shenxiu in the Tangshu, he wrote: 'Formerly, at the end of the Later Wei, there was a monk named Bodhidharma, originally a prince of a state in Tianzhu. He left the household to protect the state, entered the Southern Sea, and attained the marvelous Dharma of the Chan school. Transmitted from Śākyamuni, there were the robe and bowl as tokens, which were conferred from generation to generation. When he first arrived, he went to Liang to visit Emperor Wu. The Emperor questioned him about conditioned affairs; Bodhidharma was not pleased, and so went to the Wei, retiring to Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song, where he died. In that year, the Wei envoy Song Yun, returning across the Congling Mountains, saw him. His disciples opened his tomb, but found only his robe and shoes. Bodhidharma transmitted it to Huike; Huike transmitted it to Sengcan; Sengcan transmitted it to Daoxin; Daoxin transmitted it to Hongren; Hongren transmitted it to Huineng and Shenxiu.' Xu died with the rank of Grand Protector (Taibao) under the Song.