佛祖統紀 15.60

15.60

Dharma Master Youpeng was a native of Jinhua. He gave himself the style Mu'an. He could recite nearly half of our school's canonical writings from memory. He first studied under Yuanjue [Fazhi] of Ciyun, and then went to call upon Chexi [Baoxiang], inquiring day and night until he mastered his teachings completely. When he presided over Xiantan and lectured on the *Great Calming and Contemplation*, Master Chi of Tianyi came to the boundary for almsgathering (the Sanskrit *piṇḍapāta* means here 'begging for food'). Entering the monastery, he took a seat and listened. When the lecture reached the comprehensive refutation of phenomena—where the nine types of *dhyāna* are refuted across the board, none serving as the gate into the Path for practitioners of the Perfect and Sudden [vehicle]—Chi was stunned and said: 'This is an exposition I have never heard before!' He made bows and departed. A daughter-in-law of the Xue family in the lake region died young and was unable to gain liberation. Her household fed a thousand monks and recited the *Vajracchedikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra*, inviting the Master to expound the scripture's essentials. The deceased woman possessed someone and said: 'I thank my father- and mother-in-law for the single scroll of scripture, through which I have now attained liberation.' The father-in-law asked: 'A thousand monks recited it together; why do you speak of a single scroll?' She replied: 'It was the one recited by Dharma Master Peng. When the Master recited it, he was not interrupted by worldly talk, and moreover his understanding of the meaning made it superior.' He moved to Nengren, and his lectures on the Path flourished daily. In his later years, he presided over Yanqing. When he first ascended the hall-seat, he expressed his thanks, saying: '“Is it not a delight to have friends coming from distant quarters?”' None who heard this failed to rejoice in their hearts. In the abbot's quarters, he hung a plaque over a room inscribed 'Six Classics Hall'. A single table was set inside, but there were no texts on it whatsoever. Scholars and officials found his claim absurd; a crowd of them came to the monastery intending to refute him. The Master had an attendant tell them beforehand: 'In what manner do you gentlemen wish to meet? If as guest and host, we shall sit facing each other to discuss and deliberate. If to request instruction, you shall stand in attendance and pose questions. If to raise objections, you must allow me to put three questions first.' All said: 'We beg to follow the etiquette of guest and host.' Once engaged in dialogue, he cited quotations without end, whereupon they realized that the Six Classics were indeed stored in his breast. Whenever he lectured, he did not look at the texts beforehand. He once said: 'I have lectured seven times on the *Great Calming and Contemplation*, yet during the section on actual practice I never uttered a single word [from the notes].' He also said: 'If one wished to pose an objection the size of a scrap of paper against the Great Treatises, it could not be done. This is what is meant by the nature of words being detached, all being liberation.' Therefore, in the garden of teachings today, there are practically no lists of doctrinal tenets; only the oral explanations of the *Ten Non-dual Gates* reveal a small fraction of them. Someone asked: 'Only with the ten objects and the ten vehicles is the method of contemplation complete; why then did Jingxi say that it is called cultivating contemplation without waiting to contemplate the objects?' The Master said: 'Tell him: phenomena are completely subsumed into principle!' Another asked: 'In the Perfect and Sudden Teaching, are the aggregates posited or not?' The Master shouted aloud: 'The heavy burden of the aggregates and sense-bases is always right before you; why still ask whether they are posited or not?' One day, while lecturing on the epithet 'Tamer of Men' (śāstā devamanuṣyāṇām), several literati arrived. The Master said: 'If we discuss what makes a hero in Confucianism: a loyal minister serving his lord regardless of his own life; a valiant soldier rushing into danger without fearing death; establishing great affairs in the world and achieving illustrious fame for a hundred generations, without being seduced and drowned by sights, sounds, fame, or profit—all these are called heroes. If in our teaching: the three contemplations in one mind serve as the boat, and the five repentances at the six periods of the day serve as the oars and sculls; conquering all Māras, overcoming non-Buddhists, and not being entrapped by the birth and death of mortal existence and changeful transformation—only this is called a hero.' The literati were awed and submitted to him. The Master governed the community with sternness and simplicity. When his attendants occasionally wished him to address the hall and discipline the assembly, the Master said: 'There is a reason why I do not repeatedly lecture the assembly. Have you not heard the saying: “Frequent thunder loses its dread”?' On the third day of the twelfth month of the fourth year of the Qiandao reign era, seated in the Qingyu Pavilion, he requested practitioners to recite the *Amitāyurdhyāna-sūtra*. When they reached the contemplation of the true Dharma-body, he assembled the great multitude to recite the Buddha's name. Leaving behind a verse, he passed away seated. He was buried in the ancestral stupa of Chongfa. Those who received his Dharma were very numerous, including Xian'an Fachang, Yuexi Fahui, and others. The Master relied on his formidable memory and kept no outlines or notes. He once said to his fellow student Zhu'an: 'Under heaven there is only one and a half lecturers. You, my elder brother, are just the half.' When asked why only half, the Master said: 'You should not have had those few extra slips of paper!' While at Xiantan, Zhu'an came to visit. When taking the seat to lecture, the Master finished reading the major outline, immediately rolled up the portfolio, and said: 'With the ancestral master in the assembly, I dare not quibble over words.' Such was his deference in observing proper respect toward venerable elders.