無門關 1.34

1.34

Whenever Upādhyāya Baizhang held an assembly, there was an old man who would regularly follow the crowd to listen to the Dharma. When the crowd withdrew, the old man also withdrew. Suddenly one day he did not withdraw. The master then asked: "Who is the person standing before me?" The old man said: "Indeed, I am not a human being. In the past, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, I once resided on this mountain. Because a student asked, 'Does even a person of great cultivation fall into cause and effect, or not?', I answered him saying, 'They do not fall into cause and effect.' For five hundred lifetimes, I fell into the body of a wild fox. Now I beg the upādhyāya to give a turning word on my behalf, so that I may be released from the wild fox." He then asked: "Does even a person of great cultivation fall into cause and effect, or not?" The master said: "They are not blind to cause and effect." At these words, the old man experienced great awakening. He made obeisance and said: "I have already been released from the body of a wild fox, and am staying behind the mountain. I make bold to inform the upādhyāya, and beg that I be treated according to the precedent for a deceased monk." The master ordered the karmadāna to strike the gavel and announce to the assembly that after the meal they would send off a deceased monk. The assembly discussed among themselves: "The whole community is well, and in the nirvana hall no one is sick; why is it like this?" After the meal, they only saw the master leading the assembly to the crag behind the mountain, where he poked out a dead wild fox with his staff and then cremated it according to the rites. In the evening, the master went up to the hall and brought up the previous circumstances. Huangbo then asked: "The ancient gave one wrong response with a turning word and fell into a wild fox's body for five hundred lifetimes. If turn after turn he had not been wrong, what would he have become?" The master said: "Come forward, and I will tell you." Huangbo then came forward and gave the master a slap. The master clapped his hands and laughed, saying: "I thought the barbarian had a red beard, but here is a red-bearded barbarian!"