Of the Lu (魯) family of Yuechi county, Shunqing prefecture, northern Sichuan; his mother was a Zhou. Born on the eighth of the twelfth month of 1633 (癸酉腊八, = January 1634). His father took him at four to read at Yashan monastery in the county, and he wept whenever he heard the monks chanting the Huayan. In 1642 the rebels overran the region; in 1643 both his parents died within days of each other at Hutou monastery; in 1644 he was carried off by the rebels and dragged through seven of their camps. In 1652 he heard that 'the Old Man' — Sanshan Denglai — had settled at Gaoliang in Zhongnan, and was brought to him by the garrison commander of Shibao and the layman Yuan Baoshan. Denglai received him gladly, tonsured him, and set him the huatou 'who is it that recites the Buddha's name?'. He served as attendant, deputy prior and then prior through nine monasteries. In 1663 he went with Denglai to found Gaofeng; when Denglai left for Tanhua, the building of Gaofeng was left in Xingchong's hands, and he finished it in 1666. Denglai named him among the heirs charged to go out and teach. He was abbot of Baoji monastery in Wanxian.
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