鐔津文集 1.6

1.6

On the fourth day of the sixth month in the fifth year of the Xining era of the Song (1072 CE), there was a great śramaṇa, Master Mingjiao, who manifested passing away at Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. His worldly age was sixty-six; his monastic seniority was fifty-three. On the eighth day of that month, [his body] was cremated (jhāpita) according to the monastic regulations. Gathering his bones, three of the six sense faculties were found uncorrupted. Śarīra emerged from his parietal bone, white and red, crystal-clear and pure, three of them in the shape of large beans, and the wooden rosary he habitually carried was also uncorrupted. Thereupon, the people of the region, monastics, and literati passed the news to one another, marveling in awe and paying homage. On the fourth day of the following month, all the uncorrupted remains were brought together and interred to the left of his former residence, the Yong'an Cloister. When he was alive, he once had a deep conversation with his companion, the lay scholar Chen Shunyu, on the boundary between life and death, and entrusted his posthumous affairs [to him]. For this reason, [I] cannot remain without writing an account. The master's posthumous taboo name was Qisong, his courtesy name was Zhongling, and he styled himself Qianzi. He was a native of Tanjin in Tengzhou. His family name was Li, and his mother was of the Zhong clan. At age seven, he left home; at thirteen, he was tonsured and ordained. The following year, he received the full ordination. At nineteen, he went wandering: traveling south along the Yangtze and Xiang rivers, he climbed Mount Heng and Mount Lu. He constantly wore an image of Avalokiteśvara upon his head and recited her name a hundred thousand times a day. Thereupon, he became versed in the worldly classics, scriptures, chapters, and sentences without having studied them. He received the Dharma from the Venerable Cong of Dongshan in Yunzhou. During the Qingli era, he entered the region of Wu and arrived in Qiantang. Delighting in its lakes and mountains, he first untied his carriage there. At that time, scholars throughout the realm were studying ancient prose, admiring Han Tuizhi's rejection of Buddhism and elevation of Confucius. In the southeast, Zhang Biaomin, Huang Aoyu, and Li Taibo were especially eminent and heroic, and students took them as their guides. Living in solitude, Zhongling wrote more than ten essays, including the *Yuanjiao* and the *Xiaolun*, clarifying that the Ways of Confucianism and Buddhism are unified by a single thread, in order to contest their arguments. When those gentlemen read them, they both loved their literary style and were awed by the superiority of their reasoning, which none could refute. They subsequently associated with him. Whenever he met scholar-officials who hated Buddhism, Zhongling never failed to speak earnestly on its behalf. Because of this, the detractors gradually ceased, and later there were even those who grew extremely fond of it; it was Zhongling who initiated this. He dwelt in a single room, completely unadorned without extraneous belongings. He engaged in pure conversation with visitors, continuously lasting the entire day. Unless a guest was a gentleman of refined purity and righteous conduct, he could not approach him. At that time, Vice Director Lang retired on account of age and returned home; he was his closest friend beyond worldly concerns. Once, he wished to travel together to Mount Jing, and their travel gear was ready; the Vice Director had also dropped a hint to the local gentry to take part, hoping that they would meet Zhongling and thereby honor and support him. Zhongling learned of this and refused to go. He sent someone to decline with thanks, saying, 'If I follow what I love, why must I seek wealth and hold the whip [of a menial]?' All his purity and integrity were of this sort. During the Huangyou era, he went to live at Mount Nanheng in Yue; after a short time, he retired and returned. He again composed the *Chanmen dingzu tu* (Chart Determining the Patriarchs of Chan) and the *Chuanfa zhengzong ji* (Record of the True Lineage of Dharma Transmission). When Zhongling wrote these works, he was deeply moved by sorrow over the decline of the Chan school. Consequently, he conducted a great investigation of the scriptures and treatises: taking Mahākāśyapa alone receiving the treasury of the great Dharma eye after the Buddha as the first patriarch, he traced downwards to Bodhidharma, forming the twenty-eight patriarchs, all of whom were intimately entrusted [with the mind-dharma], not establishing words and letters, which is called the 'special transmission outside the teachings.' Before long, Surveillance Commissioner Lord Li Jin obtained his books and, admiring his high renown, memorialized the throne to grant him the purple square robe. Zhongling reflected again: 'Fortuitously, I was born in an era when the Son of Heaven and his great ministers protect the Way and understand the Dharma.' He then took his books and traveled to the capital. The Prefect and Longtu Academician Wang Zhongyi presented them to the throne. Emperor Renzong examined them and issued an edict committing them to the Institute for the Translation of Sutras for compilation and arrangement, in order to show his praise and favor, and additionally conferred upon him the title 'Master Mingjiao.' Zhongling submitted two memorials declining it, but was not permitted to do so. In the court, from Prime Minister Han on down, none failed to invite him for an audience and hold him in high esteem. He was kept at Minxian Temple, but he refused invitations and returned to the southeast. Soon after, those among the Buddhists who were lecturers on the scriptures disliked his words on the 'special transmission' and were ashamed that the lineages they honored were not among the so-called twenty-eight persons; thus they joined together to fabricate theories to criticize him. Hearing of this, Zhongling rolled up his sleeves and gnashed his teeth, and wrote further books, extensively citing the scriptures and treatises of sages and worthies, and the anthologies and records of the ancients as evidence, reaching nearly several tens of thousands of words. Whenever there were gentlemen who were virtuous and fond of Buddhism, they often went to him to air their grievances. Over time, even those who were close to Zhongling all his life still regretted that he could not forget right and wrong along with the multitude. But when he passed away, his three-inch tongue, which had been used to debate what is right and wrong, ultimately remained uncorrupted along with several items to illuminate it. Alas, if his judgements had been unfair and his disputations had not accorded with the Way, how could this have been achieved? Nonetheless, that in which Zhongling found self-fulfillment and took joy in himself was not involved in this. How could it be spoken of to those of shallow views and meager learning? When Zhongling was in the southeast, finally, the Hanlin Academician Cai Junmo, when governing Hangzhou, invited him to reside at Mount Fori and treated him with great generosity; he lived there for several years. However, his speech was elevated and his conduct lofty; he made no concessions to students, and no one was able to follow him. He had disciples named Ciyu, Dongqing, and Dongguang. His writings from the *Dingzu tu* onward are called the *Jiayou ji*; there is also the *Zhiping ji*, comprising more than one hundred fascicles in total, with more than six hundred thousand words. His nephew, the śramaṇa Fadeng, was able to reverently preserve them to provide proof for future generations. Recorded on the fifth day of the twelfth month in the eighth year of the Xining era (1075 CE).