大慧普覺禪師宗門武庫 1.39

1.39

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.