A WOMAN — a Chan nun. From Jingmen, of Guandong ancestry, long resident in the capital. Her father was Zhou Zhixiang, who followed the founding emperor on campaign and distinguished himself repeatedly, declined office, and retired to farming and study; her mother was of the Niu clan. The parents were over fifty and childless, and prayed to the three bodhisattvas for an heir. WHEN SHE CAME OF MARRIAGEABLE AGE HER PARENTS FORCED HER TO MARRY OUT — but she was chaste by nature, coveted neither pleasure nor wealth, vowed a lifelong fast before the embroidered Buddha, and set her will on the white robe; she was tonsured under the Reverend Buren. She then investigated Chan for more than twenty years, visiting teachers who pressed her hard, until the obstruction broke. She received the seal from her master GULÜ [FAN], and came forth as abbess of Yong'an and Hong'en. Her realisation, she said, came at Wutai and in Liaoxi; she met tigers, wolves and bandits without fear, and faced fire, flood, sword and famine as things of no weight. Imperial kinsfolk and officials were moved to build monasteries for her, and she was called 'the Ferry of Compassion'.
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