萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 5.25

5.25

The Master said: Chan Master Hongjin, mountain master of Qingxi in Xiangzhou, served as the first seat under Venerable Dizang Chen. At that time, two monks came together to pay homage to Dizang. Dizang said, "Both are mistaken." Both monks were speechless. They went down to ask Mountain Master Xiu for clarification. The Master said, "Dignified and imposing in your own right, yet you pay homage to someone else—how is that not a mistake?" Jin heard this and disagreed, saying, "You are deluded and dark yourself; how can you guide others?" Xiu indignantly went up to the abbot's quarters to ask for instruction. Dizang pointed beneath the corridor and said, "The cook has gone down into the storehouse." Xiu thereupon realized his fault. One day, Jin asked Xiu, "If one clearly knows that arising is the nature of non-arising, why is one retained by arising?" The woman Āndīkā was of brahmin lineage, the daughter of the elder Vāsiṭṭha in the village of Dīrghā, more than twenty li west of the city of Śrāvastī. Because her family held a great gathering, inviting the Buddha and the monastic assembly, Dīkā became famous. The Great Being Mañjuśrī asked, "Are there any who, clearly knowing the characteristic (previously 'nature') of arising to be non-arising, are nonetheless retained by arising?" The woman said, "There are. Although they see clearly for themselves, their strength is not yet sufficient, and those who are retained by arising are such." Mountain Master Xiu replied, "A bamboo shoot ultimately becomes a bamboo; can it be used as bamboo strips right now?" Bamboo strips are strips of bamboo skin used to bind objects, bamboo ropes. A shoot is tender and powerless; mature bamboo has strength. The shoot's strength is not yet sufficient, so it cannot be used as strips. Juefan's Praise of Avalokiteśvara says: "Pitying my mind, clear yet with strength falling short; / from time to time seeds manifest in actual activity. / Like someone who goes mad from wine, / having abstained from drinking, then meeting fine vintage again." This also speaks of one's strength not yet being sufficient. How admirable that the ancients were so thoroughly versed in the doctrinal teachings; their speech and expressions accorded with the sūtras. Mountain Master Jin wanted to turn the words around, so he again refused to accept it, saying, "In the future, you will awaken to this on your own." Xiu said, "My view is only this; what is the Senior Elder's meaning?" Master Xiu had first sat firmly where all four sides were level and all eight directions filled; for Master Jin to dislodge him, there necessarily had to be another living road. Thereupon he pointed and said, "This is the director's room; that is the cook's room." Tell me: did he clarify that arising is the nature of non-arising, or did he fail to clarify that arising is the nature of non-arising? Tell me: was he retained by arising, or was he not retained by arising? Xiu thereupon bowed. He investigated the living phrase, not the dead phrase. This is not a bit different from "The cook has gone down into the storehouse." The various regions all say that beneath Fayan, it is entirely plain and solid, with mystery within the substance. Please look at the previous case. Tiantong saw that this case was extraordinary and out of the ordinary, so he gave full expression to it from the bottom of his heart in verse. The verse says: