傳法正宗定祖圖 1.80

1.80

Liu Xu had the courtesy name Yaoyuan, and was a native of Guiyi in Zhuozhou. During the Tianyou era, he first entered official service as an administrative assistant to the military commander. By the beginning of the Kaiyun era, he was appointed Minister of Works and Joint Manager of Affairs with the Secretariat-Chancellery, and also supervised the compilation of the national history. Therefore, in composing the biography of Shenxiu in the Tangshu, he wrote: "Formerly, in the late Later Wei, there was a monk named Bodhidharma, originally a prince of an Indian kingdom, who left household life to protect the realm, entered the Southern Sea, and attained the sublime Dharma of the Chan school. Transmitted from Śākyamuni, there were the robe and bowl as a sign of authenticity, passed down and bestowed generation after generation. When he first arrived, he went to Liang and visited Emperor Wu. The emperor asked him about conditioned deeds, and Bodhidharma was not pleased; he thereupon went to Wei, secluded himself at Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song, and passed away. In that year, the Wei envoy Song Yun met him on his return at the Congling mountains. When his disciples opened his grave, they saw only a robe and a shoe. Bodhidharma transmitted to Huike; Huike transmitted to Sengcan; Sengcan transmitted to Daoxin; Daoxin transmitted to Hongren; Hongren transmitted to Huineng and Shenxiu." Liu Xu died in the office of Grand Protector under the Song.