袁州仰山慧寂禪師語錄 1.53

1.53

There was an Indian master who arrived through the air. The Master said, "Where did you leave recently?"
He said, "India."
The Master said, "When did you leave there?"
He said, "This morning."
The Master said, "Why so late?"
He said, "Roaming the mountains and enjoying the waters."
The Master said, "Supernormal games are not absent, but as for the Ācārya's Buddhadharma, you must return it to this old monk before you can go on."
He said, "I came specially to the Eastern Land to pay homage to Mañjuśrī, but instead encountered Little Śākya."
He then took out palm leaves with Sanskrit writing, gave them to the Master, made obeisance, and departed through the air. From this, the Master was called 'Little Śākya.' (Donglin Zong said, "In this place discussions are as numerous as hemp seeds and grains of millet, all saying that this blue-eyed barbarian came without a trace and went without a track, truly outshining predecessors and surpassing successors. Were it not for Yangshan, it would have been hard to handle release and capture. Monks of Chan! Little do you know that this blue-eyed barbarian soared through the air coming and soared through the air going, spending his entire life making a living in empty space—what is there of outshining predecessors and surpassing successors? Both greater and lesser Yangshan had two ladles of foul water poured directly over their heads by him! At that time beneath Cloud Gathering Peak there was an authentic command; why was it not put into effect?" The assembly should say: "What is the authentic command? Bah!" Huanglong Xin said, "Both greater and lesser Yangshan were duped by this monk, who also produced Sanskrit palm leaves to smear over them once. Today, if another extraordinary monk arrived flying through the air, he would be called to wash feet under Yunyan's gate." Letan Zhun said, "It is a pity that Yangshan let this fellow off. Had it been Baofeng at that time, he would have seized him at once, and made the karmadāna strike the bell before the monks' hall to gather the assembly, draw up a statement of reprimand, and drive him out. Moreover, the Buddhadharma does not accommodate personal sentiments. Since he was called an arhat whose outflows were exhausted and whose holy life was established, why didn't he sit stably at home instead of constantly roaming mountains and enjoying waters?" Zhaojue Qin said, "Driving away the plowman's ox and snatching the starving man's food are the talons and teeth passed down from above. This arhat was endowed with so many marvelous functions of supernormal powers, yet coming before Yangshan he was left with staring eyes and gaping mouth. Why? 'The crane has nine marshes and finds it hard to spread its wings; the horse without a thousand-li pace vainly chases the wind.' Dawai Tai said, "Assembly! Yangshan only knew to pursue the deer ahead, unaware that his own body had fallen into a net. The venerable one's casual expression had quite the flavor of a patched-robe monk. If anyone can understand this, I permit you to stroke the tiger's whiskers backward.")