佛祖歷代通載 17.4

17.4

(2. Renwu) Chan Master Huanzhong of Mount Daci in Hangzhou was a native of Puban, surnamed Lu. His cranial protuberance was rounded and elevated, and his voice sounded like a bell. He took pravrajyā at Tongzi Monastery in Bingzhou and received the mind-seal from Chan Master Baizhang. He built a thatched hut on Mount Nanyue. One day Nanquan arrived and asked, 'Who is the host within the hut?' The master said, 'Heaven above! Heaven above!' Nanquan said, 'Setting heaven above aside for a moment, who is the host within the hut?' The master said, 'If you understand, understand right now! Do not chatter endlessly.' Nanquan flicked his sleeves and left. Zhaozhou asked, 'What does prajñā take as its substance?' The master said, 'What does prajñā take as its substance?' Zhaozhou burst into loud laughter and left. The next day, seeing Zhaozhou sweeping the ground, the master asked, 'What does prajñā take as its substance?' Zhaozhou laid down his broom, clapped his hands, and laughed loudly. The master thereupon returned to the abbot's quarters. Later, the master resided on Mount Daci in Zhejiang. Entering the hall, he instructed the assembly, saying: 'This mountain monk does not know how to answer questions; he only knows how to recognize diseases.' He also said: 'Speaking a rod is not as good as practicing a foot; speaking a foot is not as good as practicing an inch.' Those who inquired about the Way were numerous. The mountain had always lacked water, and the master was planning to fly his staff elsewhere. At night, a spirit visited his dream and told him, 'Do not go elsewhere.' The next morning, he saw two tigers digging the earth with their claws, and a spring naturally gushed forth, sweet as maltose. A monk arrived from Nanyue and said, 'The Tongzi Spring has dried up; it has moved here!' Therefore Dongpo inscribed a poem: / 'Lofty is the stone pagoda upon the eastern ridge; / When this old master first came, a hundred spirits looked up to him. / Tigers moved the spring's eye following along his journey; / Dragons made spray into flowers to offer for clapping hands. / Down to today, when travelers finish washing and bathing, / They lie down to hear the empty steps sounding like ring-pendants. / Thus we know this old master is just like this spring; / Do not harbor thoughts of worldly coming and going.' / On the fifteenth day of the second month of the third year of the Xiantong era, he passed away without illness, at the age of eighty-three, with fifty-four monastic years. Emperor Xizong posthumously bestowed on him the title Great Master Xingkong ('Nature of Emptiness') and named his pagoda Dinghui ('Meditation and Wisdom').