圓悟佛果禪師語錄 14.49

14.49

When Dajian of Caoxi was of humble status, he was a woodcutter in Xinzhou, undistinguished for several decades without any discovery. One day he heard a guest reciting a sūtra, which stirred his fundamental vow. He then provided for his mother, left his home village, and called upon Daman of Huangmei. As soon as they met, they tallied with each other within a few words. He hid away in the pestle room for eight months. Once he heard Shenxiu's verse, he first revealed his sharp edge, and the Fifth Patriarch lifted up the robe and bowl and transmitted them to him. At that time the multitude vied in pursuit, chasing to snatch them away. Daoming of Mount Meng was the first to reach him at the summit of the Dayu Ridge; knowing he was no match, he only then awakened to the fact that this robe could not be contested by force, bowed his head, and sought the Dharma. Dajian, with 'neither thinking of good nor thinking of evil, what is your original face?', caused his thoughts to gather and know where to return. Because the circumstances of the time were not yet safe, Old Lu again concealed his traces among hunters in Sihui County for a long time. Soon he arrived in Panyu and uttered the words that the wind and banner do not move, but the movement comes from the mind itself. Yinzong offered the etiquette of a disciple, shaved his head, and had him receive full ordination. Thereupon he opened the great Dharma essentials, gathering a assembly of more than two thousand. His renown penetrated to the ninth level of the palace, and the emperor dispatched close courtiers carrying purple-clay imperial decrees to summon him, yet he firmly refused to comply. He ferried across dragon-elephants such as Master Rang, Qingyuan, Yongjia, Nanyang, Heze, and Sikong—several tens of men, all great lineage masters. How grand and righteous this was! Truly, when sages and worthies manifest transformation, their advancing and retreating, abiding and passing away are clearly foreseen in advance. Yet when examining his steps, advancing from obscurity to prominence without severing worldly conditions and displaying wondrous guidelines, throughout a hundred generations there is none to equal him. Down to the present, several centuries later, filling the world across the seas, monasteries face one another in rows, all of them his Dharma grandchildren. Admiring his grand standard, wishing to emulate even a minute tip of it, exhausting sincerity and fully spending strength, in the end one cannot even resemble it. I only hope that later descendants of great strength will strive diligently; I have merely related the general outline.