Of the Liu clan of Leting in Luanzhou. He would not touch meat even in the womb, and was born still and grave. His mother died when he was eleven and his father put him under Xiaokong at Hanjiadao to be tonsured. At eighteen he sealed himself in a retreat and, reciting the Lotus, stuck on the line 'the Buddha's son dwelling in this ground is already the Buddha's own enjoyment', and doubt arose. He went to Panshan and put it to Liaozong Chaojian, who simply hit him; the doubt grew fiercer and he held one phrase waking and sleeping. Watching the mid-autumn moon with the assembly, he drew a circle in the air and offered a verse; Liaozong approved it, gave him the source-record, and made him record-keeper for five years. From 1688 he was abbot of Wanshan in Luanzhou, then Shifo at Gaoshan, Huayan at Shengjing, Dizang at Ningyuan, Chaoyang at Qingshan and Shengyan at Leyi — over twenty years' teaching, a rare northern (Zhili/Liaodong) house.
References: DILA Authority A019631
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