大慧普覺禪師宗門武庫 1.39

1.39

大丞相呂公蒙正，洛陽人，微時生緒牢落，大雪彌月，遍干豪右少有周急者，作詩其略曰：「十謁朱門九不開，滿身風雪又歸來，入門懶覩妻兒面，撥盡寒爐一夜灰。」可想也。途中邂逅一僧，憐其窮窘，延歸寺，給食與衣，遺鏹遣之。纔經月又罄竭，再謁僧，僧曰：「此非久計，可移家屬住院中房廊，食時隨眾給粥飯，庶幾可以長久。」呂如其言，既不為衣食所困，遂銳志讀書，是年應舉獲鄉薦。僧買馬雇僕，備衣裝津遣入都下，省闈中選，殿試唱名為大魁。初任西京通判，與僧相見如平時，十年遂執政，凡遇郊祀，有所俸給並寄閣。　太宗一日問曰：「卿累經郊祀，俸給不請何耶？」對曰：「臣有私恩未報。」上詰之，遂以實對。上嘆曰：「僧中有如此人。」令具名奏聞，賜紫袍加師號，以旌異之。呂計所積俸數萬緡，牒西京令僧請上件錢，修營寺宇并供僧，其寺元是鐵馬營，　太祖　太宗二聖生處，　太祖朝已建寺，忘其名，其僧乃寺主也。

The Grand Chancellor Duke Lü Mengzheng was a man of Luoyang. When he was humble, his livelihood was bleak and forlorn. Heavy snow lasted a whole month, and though he visited the powerful and wealthy everywhere, few relieved his distress. He wrote a poem whose outline ran: "Ten times visiting vermilion gates, nine times unopened; / Covered in wind and snow, I return once again. / Entering the door, I am loath to look upon my wife and children's faces; / Raking through the cold hearth, a night's worth of ashes." One can well imagine it. On the road he chanced to meet a monk who took pity on his destitution, invited him back to the monastery, supplied him with food and clothing, and gave him money to see him off. Barely a month passed before it was again exhausted. He visited the monk again. The monk said, "This is no long-term plan. You may move your family to reside in the galleries and rooms of the monastery; at meal times, follow the community in receiving gruel and rice, and this might last a long time." Lü acted according to his words. No longer constrained by clothing and food, he applied his mind vigorously to study. That year he sat for the examinations and won the regional recommendation. The monk bought a horse and hired servants, prepared traveling clothes, and paid his way to send him into the capital. He passed the ministerial examination and was proclaimed the top graduate in the palace examination. He initially served as the controller-general of the Western Capital, meeting the monk just as in ordinary times. In ten years he assumed the administration of state. Whenever there was a suburban sacrifice, whatever salary he was granted he deposited and shelved. One day Emperor Taizong asked him, "You have gone through many suburban sacrifices; why do you not requisition your salary?" He replied, "Your servant has a private favor that is not yet repaid." The Emperor questioned him, and so he answered with the truth. The Emperor sighed, "Among monks there is such a man!" He ordered his name submitted in a memorial, and bestowed a purple robe and an added master title to honor him. Lü calculated the accumulated salary of several tens of thousands of strings of cash, and sent an official communication to the Western Capital ordering the monk to claim the aforementioned money to repair and manage the monastery buildings and make offerings to the monks. The monastery was originally the Tiemaying, the birthplace of the two sages Taizu and Taizong. In the Taizu reign a monastery had already been built there, but its name is forgotten; that monk was indeed the abbot of that monastery.