萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 4.61

4.61

The Master said: Chan Master Datong of Mount Touzi in Shuzhou first called upon Chan Master Wuxue of Cuiwei. Just then Cuiwei was doing walking meditation in the hall. Datong stepped forward, bowed, and asked: 'How do you, Master, show people the secret intention of the coming from the West?' Cuiwei halted his steps and glanced at him. Touzi said, 'I beg the master's instruction.' Cuiwei said, 'Do you want another ladle of foul water?' Touzi was suddenly awakened and in accord; he bowed in gratitude and withdrew. Cuiwei said, 'Do not fall away from it.' Touzi said, 'When the time comes, the sprouts will grow of themselves.' Another day he happened to ask, 'What is the principle of Buddha?' Cuiwei said, 'Buddha has no principle.' Touzi said, 'Could it fall into emptiness?' Cuiwei said, 'True emptiness is not empty.' He then showed him a verse of prophecy: 'How has the principle of Buddha ever been a principle? / True emptiness is again not empty. / Datong shall abide in the Hermitage of Solitary Abode / And expound my master's lineage.' Touzi returned to Mount Touzi in his native Tongcheng. Zhaozhou first met him in Tongcheng. Zhaozhou said, 'Could you be the Master of Touzi Hermitage?' Touzi said, 'Alms-give me a copper for tea and salt.' Zhaozhou went up the mountain first; Touzi followed later carrying an oil bottle. Zhaozhou said, 'I have long heard of Touzi, but arriving here, I see only an oil-selling old man.' Touzi said, 'You see only an oil-selling old man, yet do not recognize Touzi.' Zhaozhou said, 'What is Touzi?' Touzi raised the oil bottle and said, 'Oil! Oil!' Touzi prepared a tea feast to receive him, and passed a sesame flatbread to Zhaozhou himself. Zhaozhou paid no attention. Touzi ordered an attendant to pass the sesame flatbread; Zhaozhou bowed three times to the attendant. Tell me: what was his intention? Chan Master Zhen of Yongguang in Suzhou ascended the hall and said: 'If the sharp point of your words errs, home and country are ten thousand miles away. You must let go your hands from the hanging cliff and personally take charge; reviving after utter extinction, no one can deceive you.' Zhaozhou asked with this intent. If not for Touzi, it would have been difficult to match him so swiftly. Touzi just said, 'Walking by night is not permitted; one must arrive at dawn.' While these words seem similar to the ordinary 'not stripping the skin, wanting a white willow staff', in terms of principle they precisely correspond to Zhaozhou's opening question. Zhaozhou said, 'I was waiting for white; he was waiting for black.' Because of this, Touzi's reputation for the Way gathered the multitude. A petition was submitted in accord with the prophecy, and the monastery was named Solitary Abode. Baiyun Duan's verse says: 'Dying and coming back to life, his teeth are still exposed; / Having to arrive at dawn, he has already walked ahead. / In the pond of whose villa / Can a pair of mandarin ducks not be painted?' Try to look at Tiantong's single brush of painting. The verse says: