Of the Shi clan of Fuling in eastern Shu. Tonsured as a boy by the elder Jichu, he studied the Mahayana sutras and treatises under the dharma-master Boshui. Having met Xiangya and learned that there was such a thing as this matter, he saw that the words of the teachings were not the last word, and went up to Dongshan at Sinan in Qianzhong to Yingxiu Wu, to knock directly at the Linji doctrine. He vowed not to sleep; sitting in the still of the night, it was as if someone clapped a hand, and the sweat ran off him. Later he challenged the master in the hall — 'Above, no buddhahood to attain; below, no beings to save: whose realm is that? Say it plainly.' Yingxiu: 'Seen from high, not enough; levelled from low, more than enough.' 'A thousand differences,' said Xingjiong, 'and not one outside this.' 'Do not misidentify it.' He shouted. 'And where does THAT shout land?' 'It stands right here in the open.' 'So it is YOU,' said Yingxiu, 'who has said it plainly.' He served as rector under Yingxiu at Longshan in Chenzhou, and Yingxiu handed him the true line of Caoxi. He held Puti at Lizhou, Taihe at Yuanzhou, and finally rebuilt Pufeng in Chenzhou — founded in the Song and ruined by war — bringing it back in under three years. He died in 1668 and was interred to the left of Pufeng.
References: DILA Authority A019550 | DILA Authority A026271 (his teacher 真悟)
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