佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 2.32

2.32

Xianglin said: 'Sitting long brings fatigue.' Do you understand? If you understand, then atop the hundred grasses, weapons are put to rest. If you do not understand, humbly listen to the ruling. When the ancients went on itinerant pilgrimage, they formed associations and selected friends to serve as fellow companions of the Way, parting the grass to gaze upon the wind. At that time, Yunmen's flourishing teaching was in Guangnan; Xianglin made a special trip out of Shu, being a contemporary of Ehu and Jingqing. He first trained under Baoci in Hunan, and only later arrived in Yunmen's assembly, serving as attendant for eighteen years. At Yunmen's place, he personally received and personally heard it. Although he was late in awakening, he was undoubtedly a vessel of great capacity. Remaining by Yunmen's side for eighteen years, Yunmen would usually just call out, 'Attendant Yuan!' As soon as he answered 'Yes,' Yunmen would say, 'What is it?' Back then, Xianglin also offered words, presented understanding, and toyed with his spirit, but they never tallied. One day he suddenly said, 'I understand.' Yunmen said: 'Why don't you speak of the transcendent?' He stayed for another three years. In Yunmen's room, when he demonstrated great dynamic eloquence, more than half of it was for the sake of Attendant Yuan, who entered into action at every turn. Whenever Yunmen had a word or a phrase, it was all collected in Attendant Yuan's hands. Xianglin later returned to Shu, first residing at Shuijing Palace in Daojiang, and later at Xianglin in Qingcheng. Venerable Zhimon Zuo was originally a man of Zhe; having heard much of Xianglin's preaching of the Way, he came specially into Shu to pay homage and study. Zuo was the teacher of Xuedou. Although Yunmen received countless people, among those practicing the Way in that generation, only Xianglin's branch was the most flourishing. Returning to Chuan, he resided at monasteries for forty years, passing away only at the age of eighty. He once said: 'It took me forty years to form a single piece.' Whenever he addressed the assembly, he said: 'Generally, in itinerant pilgrimage, when calling upon kalyāṇamitras, you must walk with eyes open; you must distinguish black from white and see depth and shallowness before you can get anywhere. First, you must establish your resolve; when old man Śākya was on the causal stage, every word and every thought was the establishing of resolve.' Later, a monk asked: 'What is the single lamp inside the room?' Xianglin said: 'Three people testify that a turtle is a soft-shelled turtle.' He also asked: 'What is the matter under the patch-robe?' Xianglin said: 'In the twelfth month, fire burns the mountain.' From ancient times, answers to the ancestral master's meaning have been very numerous, yet Xianglin's single phrase alone sits upon and cuts off the tongues of all people in the world, leaving you no place to calculate or form doctrines. The monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the ancestral master coming from the West?' Xianglin said, 'Sitting long brings fatigue.' It can be called flavorless words and flavorless phrases; this flavorless talk blocks people's mouths, leaving you no room to breathe out. If you wish to see it, see it immediately; if you do not see it, by no means form an intellectual understanding. Xianglin had encountered an adept, so he possessed Yunmen's methods and the style of the Three Phrases. Many people mistakenly understand it, saying: 'The ancestral master came from the West and spent nine years wall-gazing; is that not sitting long bringing fatigue?' What hold is there in that? Do you not see the place where the ancient attained great freedom? He had his feet on solid ground, without all those Buddhist conceptual views and principles; he applied them dynamically as occasion arose, as it is said: 'Dharma accords with the practice of Dharma; the Dharma banner is erected everywhere.' Blowing on the fire in accordance with the wind, Xuedou points sideways to one or a half: