佛祖歷代通載 21.47.2

21.47.2

一夜聞空中有聲召師名。 師瞥然有省。 乃遷入三峯道院。 復聞人告曰。 大事將成。 行矣毋滯此。 黎明策杖之燕。 過松鋪值雨。 宿于岩下。 因擊火大悟。 自捫面曰。 今日始知眉橫鼻直。 信道天下老和上不寐語。 明日至景州見本無玄和上。 問從何所來。 師曰。 雲收幽谷。 曰何處去。 師曰。 月照長松。 玄點首曰。 孟八郎。 便恁麼去也。 師諾諾趨出。 過洵州遇宿儒張子真。 問上人何不安住。 師曰。 河裏無魚市上取。 先是中觀臨終時。 師問。 中觀曰。 某甲當依何人了此大事。 觀囑曰。 賀八十去。 師既入燕。 至大慶壽寺。 乃省前讖。 於是徑謁中和老人璋公。 中和先一夕。 夢一異僧策杖徑趨方丈踞師子座。 既明謂知客曰。 今日但有旦過。 當令來見老僧。 及晚師至引見。 中和笑曰。 此衲子乃夜來所夢者。 師便問曰。 某甲不來而來。 作麼生相見。 壽曰。 參須實參。 悟須實悟。 莫打野榸。 師曰。 某甲因擊火迸散。 乃知眉橫鼻直。 壽曰。 吾此處別。 師曰。 如何表信。 壽曰。 牙是一口骨。 耳是兩邊皮。 師曰。 將謂別有。 壽曰。 錯。 師喝曰。 草賊大敗。 壽休去日壽舉臨濟兩堂首座齊下喝。 僧問濟。 還有賓主也無。 濟曰。 賓主歷然汝作麼生會。 師曰。 打破秦時鏡。 磨尖上古錐。 龍飛霄漢外。 何勞更下槌。 壽曰。 汝只得其機不得其用。 師便掀禪床。 壽曰。 路途之樂。 終未到家。 師與一掌曰。 精靈千載野狐魅。 看破如今不直錢。 壽打一拂子曰。 汝只得其用不得其體。 師進前曰。 青山聳寒色。 月照一溪雲。 壽曰。 汝只得其體不得其智。 師曰。 流水自西東。 落花無向背。 壽曰。 汝雖善語言三昧。 要且沒交涉。 師竪起拳復拍一拍。 當時丈室震動。 壽曰。 如是如是。 師拂袖便出。 明日命師掌書記。 自此中和復以向上鉗槌差別關楗種種辯驗。 師以無礙辯才應答皆契。 其悟解精明度越前輩。 壽一日謂師曰。 汝今已到大安樂之地。 宜善護持。 吾有如來正法眼藏祖師涅槃妙心。 密付於汝。 母令湮沒。 師掩耳而出。 即以衣頌授師。 頌曰。 天地同根無異殊。 家山何處不逢渠。 吾今付與空王印。 萬法光輝總一如。 出世住興州仁智。 歷遷洡陽之興國興安永慶以至大慶壽寺。 皆太師國王及諸重臣之命。 師於室中以四無依語勘學者。 語具本傳。 辛卯十一月受合罕皇帝宣賜。 師稱心自在行。 一日於廊下逢數僧。 師問第一僧曰。 那裏去。 僧云。 賞花去。 師便打。 問第二僧。 那裏去。 云禮佛去。 師亦打。 問第三僧。 那裏去。 云那裏去。 師亦打。 問第四僧。 那裏去。 僧無語。 師亦打。 問第五僧。 那裏去。 僧云。 覓和上去。 師云。 覓他作麼。 僧云。 待打與一頓。 師云。 將什麼來打。 僧云。 不將棒來打。 師連打四下云。 這掠虛漢。 眾皆走。 師召云。 諸上座。 眾回首。 師云。 是什麼。 乙未朝廷差札忽篤侍讀。 選試經僧道。 萬松長老嘆曰。 自國朝革命之來。 沙門久廢講席。 看讀殊少。 乃同禪教諸老宿請師董其事。 師從容對曰。 諸師當以斯激厲眾僧習應試經典。 主上必有深意。 我觀今日沙門。 少護戒律。 學不盡禮。 身遠於道。 故天龍亡衛而感朝廷勵其考試也。 三寶加被必不辜聖詔。 遂與華使相見之後。 其處置法度悉從師議。 廈里丞相以忽都護大官人言。 問師曰。 今奉聖旨。 差官試經。 識字者可為僧。 不識字者。 悉令歸俗。 師曰。 山僧不曾看經。 一字不識。 丞相曰。 既不識字。 如何做長老。 師曰。 方今大官人還識字也無。 于時外鎮諸侯皆在。 聞師之言皆大驚異。 丞相復曰。

One night he heard a voice calling his name from the sky. The Master had a sudden realization. He then moved to the Sanfeng Daoist Cloister. Again he heard someone tell him, "The great matter is about to be accomplished; depart, do not linger here." At dawn, staff in hand, he went to Yan. Passing through Songpu he encountered rain and lodged beneath a cliff. Striking a fire, he had a great awakening. Touching his own face, he said, "Today for the first time I know that eyebrows are horizontal and the nose is straight. Truly, the old venerable masters under heaven do not talk in their sleep!" The next day he reached Jingzhou and went to see the Venerable Master Benwu Xuan. Xuan asked, "From where have you come?" The Master said, "Clouds gather in the secluded valley." Xuan said, "Where are you going?" The Master said, "The moon shines on the tall pines." Xuan nodded and said, "You eighth young master Meng, going off just like that!" The Master said, "Yes, yes," and hurried out. Passing Xunzhou he met the senior scholar Zhang Zizhen, who asked, "Why does the Venerable One not dwell in peace?" The Master said, "When there are no fish in the river, one gets them at the market." Prior to this, when Zhongguan was on the verge of death, the Master had asked him, "On whom should I rely to settle this great matter?" Zhongguan instructed him, saying, "Go celebrate eighty [at Hebashishi]." Having entered Yan and arrived at Da Qingshousi, the Master realized the earlier prophecy. Thereupon he went straight to pay respects to the elder Zhonghe, the Venerable Zhang. The night before, Zhonghe had dreamed of an extraordinary monk who, leaning on a staff, strode straight into the abbot's quarters and sat upon the lion throne. At dawn he said to the guest prefect, "If any itinerant monk arrives today, have him come see this old monk." When evening came, the Master arrived and was brought in. Zhonghe smiled and said, "This patch-robed monk is the one I dreamed of last night." The Master then asked, "I come without coming; how do we meet?" Qingshou said, "Inquiry requires real inquiry; enlightenment requires real enlightenment. Do not strike empty stumps!" The Master said, "I struck a fire, the sparks scattered, and I then knew that eyebrows are horizontal and the nose is straight." Qingshou said, "Here with me it is different." The Master said, "How is it proven?" Qingshou said, "Teeth are a mouthful of bone; ears are skin on both sides." The Master said, "I thought there was something else." Qingshou said, "Wrong!" The Master shouted and said, "The grass-brigands have suffered a great defeat!" Qingshou let the matter rest. Another day, Qingshou brought up how the head monks of the two halls under Linji shouted simultaneously, and a monk asked Linji, "Is there still guest and host, or not?" Linji said, "Guest and host are distinct; how do you understand it?" The Master said, "Break the mirror of the Qin era; grind sharp the ancient awl. The dragon flies beyond the clouds; what need is there to lower the mallet again?" Qingshou said, "You have only attained its dynamic, not its function." The Master then overturned the meditation bench. Qingshou said, "Joy on the road is still not having reached home." The Master gave him a slap and said, "A thousand-year spirit, a wild fox enchantress—seen through, now it is not worth a penny." Qingshou struck him with a fly-whisk and said, "You have only attained its function, not its essence." The Master stepped forward and said, "Green mountains tower with cold hue; the moon shines on a stream of clouds." Qingshou said, "You have only attained its essence, not its wisdom." The Master said, "Flowing water naturally goes west and east; falling flowers have neither front nor back." Qingshou said, "Although you are adept in the samādhi of words, it fundamentally has no relevance." The Master raised his fist and clapped his hands once; at that moment the abbot's room shook. Qingshou said, "So it is, so it is." The Master flicked his sleeves and went out. The next day, Qingshou appointed the Master to take charge of the secretarial duties. From then on, Zhonghe again tested him in various ways using the higher-level pincers and hammers, the differentiated barriers, and examinations of all kinds. The Master responded with unhindered eloquence, all in accord. His sharp understanding and enlightenment surpassed that of his predecessors. One day Qingshou said to the Master, "You have now reached the place of great peace and bliss; you should protect and maintain it well. I have the Tathāgata's treasury of the eye of the correct Dharma, the patriarchs' wondrous mind of nirvāṇa, which I secretly entrust to you. Do not let it be submerged and lost." The Master covered his ears and walked out. Thereupon [Qingshou] transmitted the robe and a verse to the Master. The verse said: 'Heaven and earth share the same root, without difference; / In the home mountain, where does one not meet him? / I now entrust to you the seal of the King of Emptiness; / The myriad dharmas shine brilliantly, all as one.' Entering the world, he resided at Renzhi in Xingzhou, and successively moved to Xingguo, Xing'an, and Yongqing in Laiyang, up to Da Qingshousi; all were at the command of the Grand Preceptor King and the various chief ministers. In his room, the Master tested students with four non-reliant expressions; the words are detailed in his original biography. In the eleventh month of the xinmao year, he received an imperial proclamation and gift from the Qa'an Emperor. The Master acted at ease according to his heart. One day beneath the gallery he met several monks. The Master asked the first monk, "Where are you going?" The monk said, "Going to admire flowers." The Master immediately struck him. He asked the second monk, "Where are you going?" He said, "Going to pay homage to the Buddha." The Master also struck him. He asked the third monk, "Where are you going?" He said, "Where are you going?" The Master also struck him. He asked the fourth monk, "Where are you going?" The monk had no words. The Master also struck him. He asked the fifth monk, "Where are you going?" The monk said, "Going to find the venerable master." The Master said, "What will you do when you find him?" The monk said, "Wait to give him a beating." The Master said, "What will you bring to strike him with?" The monk said, "I will not bring a staff to strike him." The Master struck him four times in succession, saying, "This impostor!" The assembly all ran off. The Master called out, saying, "Senior seats!" The assembly turned their heads. The Master said, "What is it?" In the yiwei year, the imperial court dispatched Reader-in-waiting Jahudu to select and test monks and Daoists on the scriptures. Elder Wansong sighed and said, "Since our dynasty's revolution, the Śramaṇas have long neglected the lecture seats and read exceptionally little." He then joined with the senior elders of the Chan and Doctrinal traditions to request that the Master oversee the matter. The Master calmly replied, saying, "Venerable masters, you ought to use this to encourage the monks to study the scriptures for the examination. The sovereign must have a deep intention. As I observe today's Śramaṇas, few guard the vinaya rules, their studies fall short of proper propriety, and their persons are far from the Way. Therefore the devas and nāgas have ceased their protection, inducing the court to encourage them through examinations. With the protection of the Three Jewels, we surely will not disappoint the imperial decree." After meeting with the imperial envoy, all arrangements and regulations were followed according to the Master's counsel. Chancellor Xiali, citing the words of the great official Huduhu, asked the Master, "Now receiving the imperial decree, officials have been dispatched to test on the scriptures. Those who are literate may be monks; those who are illiterate shall all be ordered to return to secular life." The Master said, "This mountain monk has never read the scriptures; I do not know a single character." The Chancellor said, "Since you are illiterate, how can you be an elder?" The Master said, "Nowadays, does the great official know characters or not?" At that time, the feudal lords of the outer garrisons were all present; hearing the Master's words, they were all greatly astonished. The Chancellor said again: