佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 10.33

10.33

"A wooden Buddha does not pass through fire; I constantly think of Pot-Breaker." This line also completes the eulogy. Because "a wooden Buddha does not pass through fire," Xuedou constantly thinks of Pot-Breaker. Master Pot-Breaker of Mount Song did not announce his name and surname; his words and deeds were unfathomable, and he lived in seclusion on Mount Song. One day he led his disciples into a mountain cove, where there was a shrine that was very efficacious. In the hall there was only an earthen cooking pot installed; near and far, sacrificial rites never ceased, and countless living creatures were cooked and killed. The Master entered the shrine, tapped the pot three times with his staff, and said: "Tsk! You were originally formed of bricks and earth: where does your numinous efficacy come from? Whence does your holiness arise, that you cook and kill living creatures like this?" He struck it three more times, and the pot tipped over, broke, and collapsed by itself. In an instant, a person wearing green clothes and a tall hat suddenly stood before the Master, bowed, and said, "I am the god of the pot. For a long time I have endured karmic retribution; today, receiving the Master's exposition of the Dharma of unproducedness, I have been released from this place and born in heaven, so I have come especially to express my thanks." The Master said, "It is your inherent nature, not my forced words." The spirit bowed again and vanished. The attendant said, "We have served and attended you, Master, for a long time, yet we have not received instruction; what direct teaching did the pot god attain, that he was born in heaven?" The Master said, "I only said to him: 'You were originally formed of bricks and earth: where does your numinous efficacy come from? Whence does your holiness arise?'" The attending monks were all speechless. The Master said, "Do you understand?" The monk said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "Make a bow." The monk bowed, and the Master said, "Broken, broken! Fallen, fallen!" The attendant suddenly experienced great awakening. Later, a monk brought this up to National Teacher Anguo. The National Teacher sighed and said, "This fellow thoroughly understands that objects and the self are of one suchness." For the pot god to awaken to this was certainly natural; the monk was formed of the five aggregates, yet he also said, "Broken, fallen!" Both attained awakening. But are the four great elements and five aggregates the same as, or different from, bricks, tiles, and earth? Since it is like this, why did Xuedou say, "When the staff suddenly strikes, only then does one know it lets me down"? Why does it turn out to be a matter of "letting down"? It is only that one has not yet gotten hold of the staff. Tell me: why did Xuedou, in eulogizing "a wooden Buddha does not pass through fire," bring in the gong'an of Pot-Breaker? This old monk will tell you straight out: his intention is simply to cut off feelings of gain and loss, emotional dust, and conceptual thoughts, completely naked and exposed; then naturally you will see his intimate place.