兼祧娉二室

道光三十年庚戌公父回泉州。祖母周年老。望见孙媳之心甚切。以公兼祧继叔为定二室。一为田氏。一为谭氏。二室皆湖南湘籍。仕宦于闽。本为世交。复成亲眷。循父母之命。媒妁之言。订婚纳礼矣。　

宣化偈曰：
宜尔室家叙天伦。幽娴贞静女中英。
净业圆修法伴侣。无人无家无色空。

Betrothals to two girls aimed at carrying on the lineages of two families

In the 30th year of the Tao Kuang reign period (1850), when the Master was eleven years old, his father returned to Ch'uan Chou. The aging grandmother of the Chou clan was determined that her grandson would have a wife. In order to continue his uncle's lineage as well, the Master was to become heir to two lineages, and so it was that one woman from the T'ien family and one from the T'an family were promised in marriage. Both families, originally from Hsiang-hsiang County in Hunan Province, were Mandarins residing in Fukien Province and had remained friends for generations. All of the relatives and in-laws approved of the fathers'choices. So following the orders of his parents and the words of the matchmakers, he was betrothed.

The verse says:
It is proper and fitting that families should accord with natural relations.
Quiet and graceful, chaste and tranquil, they were exceptional women.
Pure in action, perfecting cultivation, they were comrades in the Dharma,
Without any selves, without any home. without any form or space.