萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 5.91

5.91

The Master said: Great Master Zongyi of Xuansha in Fuzhou had the taboo name Shibei. In straw sandals and cloth robes, he delighted himself with meager food. Xuefeng held his ascetic practices in high regard and always called him Ascetic Bei. It is handed down in the world that "Xuansha did not go beyond the mountain pass, and Baoshou did not cross the river." Because he stumbled and injured his toe, he sighed, saying: "This body is not existent; whence does the pain come? This body is suffering; in the end it is unproduced—give it up, give it up! Bodhidharma did not come to the eastern land, and the Second Patriarch did not go to the western heavens." Thereupon he turned back. Later, due to reading the *Śūraṅgama-sūtra*, he had a breakthrough; hence, responding to the dynamic, he was nimble and in accord with the sūtras. Even when cross-examining Xuefeng, he did not yield what is proper to do. Xuefeng said, "Ascetic Bei is a person who has returned." The Fujian Military Commissioner Wang Shenzhi and Prime Minister Wang Yanbin both treated him with the etiquette of a teacher. His assembly was constantly eight to nine hundred. Xuansha went to Putian County, and a hundred entertainments welcomed him. The next day he asked Elder Xiaotang, "Where did all that clamour of yesterday go?" Xiaotang lifted up a corner of his kāṣāya. This too was suitably sharp and brisk. Above all, you must not fix your eye on clamour and quiet, yesterday and today, thereby missing the one great matter right before you. Xiaotang did not expend mind or strength, lifting the kāṣāya as his hand naturally took it. Xuansha said, "Deeply dangling, no relation!" Where is Xiaotang's lack of relation? Did Xuansha approve or not approve? Dagui Zhe said: "Dagui would not do so. If someone asked, I would just snap my fingers once. If there were a patchrobed monk who came out and said, 'Deeply dangling, no relation,' I would then approve of him. Why? A great fellow stroking a tiger's whiskers is also his fundamental share. And tell me, where does the advantage and disadvantage lie?" He also said, "Xiaotang harboured a supreme jewel; meeting an appraiser, its brilliance increased. Xuansha struck a blow with the fundamental hammer, and its light flows for a thousand ages." Fayan said instead, "How much clamour was there yesterday?" Fadeng said, "Today is even more laughable!" See how these two venerable elders are descendants of the same lineage; having seen through what Xuansha used, all along broadly screening off the outside, they drew close within and shot arrows at each other in secret. Tiantong possesses the eye that penetrates in all directions; seeing the family's strengths and weaknesses, he versifies it completely. The verse says: