釋氏稽古略 3.237

3.237

丹霞　鄧州丹霞天然禪師。六月入寂。壽八十三。勅諡智通禪師。初師本業儒。將應舉長安。偶禪者於旅邸。禪者問曰。仁者何往。曰選官去。禪者曰。選官何如選佛。曰選佛當往何所。禪者曰。今江西馬大師出世。是選佛之場。霞乃直造江西見祖。以手拓幞頭額。馬祖視之曰。南嶽石頭是汝師也。遽抵石頭。以手拓幞頭額石頭曰。著槽廠去。霞禮謝入行者房。隨次執爨役凡三年。忽一日石頭告眾曰。來日剗佛殿前草及期。凡大眾諸童行各備鍬钁剗草。霞獨以盆水洗頭跪石頭前。石頭笑而為之剃落。從而為之說戒。霞遂掩耳而趍去。再謁馬祖入僧堂坐聖僧頸。馬祖曰。我子天然。即拜馬祖謝師賜與法號。因名天然也。今之僧堂曰選佛場本於此也。師嗣石頭（五燈作長慶四年入寂）。

Danxia. Chan Master Tianran of Danxia in Dengzhou entered tranquility in the sixth month at the age of eighty-three. An imperial edict bestowed the posthumous title Chan Master Zhitong. Formerly, the master had pursued Confucian studies. As he was about to sit for the civil examinations in Chang'an, he chanced upon a Chan practitioner at an inn. The practitioner asked, 'Where is the benevolent one going?' He replied, 'I am going to be chosen as an official.' The practitioner said, 'How can being chosen as an official compare to being chosen as a Buddha?' He asked, 'To be chosen as a Buddha, where should I go?' The practitioner said, 'At present, Great Master Ma has assumed abbacy in Jiangxi; that is the arena for choosing Buddhas.' Danxia then went directly to Jiangxi to see the Patriarch. Holding his headcloth at the forehead with his hand, Mazu looked at him and said, 'Shitou of Nanyue is your teacher.' He immediately arrived at Shitou's place and held his headcloth at his forehead. Shitou said, 'Go to the stable.' Danxia bowed in thanks, entered the postulants' quarters, and served as cook according to his turn for three years. One day, Shitou announced to the assembly, 'Tomorrow we shall cut the grass in front of the Buddha Hall.' When the time came, the entire assembly of postulants and novices prepared spades and hoes to cut the grass. Danxia alone took a basin of water, washed his head, and knelt before Shitou. Shitou smiled, shaved his head, and subsequently expounded the precepts for him. Danxia thereupon covered his ears and ran away. He visited Mazu again, entered the monks' hall, and sat on the neck of the Holy Monk statue. Mazu said, 'My child is natural (tianran).' He immediately bowed to Mazu, thanking him for bestowing his dharma name, and thus was named Tianran. The present monks' hall being called the 'arena for choosing Buddhas' originates from this. The master was a dharma heir of Shitou (the Five Lamps records his entering tranquility in the fourth year of Changqing).