釋氏稽古略 3.439

3.439

汝州風穴禪師。諱延沼。錢塘餘杭人。姓劉氏幼不茹葷。習儒應進士。一舉不第乃出家。依本州開元寺智恭披剃。受具習天台止觀。年二十五謁鏡清。參南院顒禪師悟旨。依止六年辭去。後唐明宗長興二年至汝水。草屋數椽依山如逃亡家。問之父老。田父曰。古風穴寺世以律居僧物故眾棄去。師曰。我居之可乎。父曰可師乃留止。日乞村落。夜然松脂單丁者七年。至是天福二年州牧李使君聞師之道盡禮致之。上元日開堂說法。稟嗣南院顒。漢隱帝乾祐二年李君移守郢州。師避寇往依之舘於郡齋。汝州有宋太師者施第為寶坊號新寺。延師住持。法席雄冠。周太祖廣順元年。賜其寺額曰廣慧。師住二十二年。當餘百眾。僧問如何是佛。師曰。杖林山下竹筋鞭。宋太祖開寶六年八月旦日。登座說偈曰。道在乘時須濟物。遠方來慕自騰騰。他年有叟情相似。日日香煙夜夜燈。至十四日手書別諸檀越。十五日跏趺而逝。壽七十八。夏五十九。師嗣南院顒。顒嗣興化獎。獎嗣臨濟玄禪師。

Chan Master Fengxue of Ruzhou, taboo name Yanzhao, was a man of Yuhang in Qiantang, surnamed Liu. From his youth he did not eat meat, and he studied Confucianism to sit for the jinshi examination. Having failed on his first attempt, he then left home, taking the tonsure under Zhigong at Kaiyuan Temple in his home prefecture. He received the full precepts and studied Tiantai calming and insight (śamatha-vipaśyanā). At the age of twenty-five he visited Jingqing. Later he studied under Chan Master Nanyuan Yong and awakened to the purport, staying under his guidance for six years before taking his leave. In the second year of Changxing of Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang, he reached the Ru River. There were a few rafters of a thatched hut leaning against the mountain like the home of runaways. He asked the local elders about it, and a farmer said, "This ancient Fengxue Temple was in generations past a Vinaya residence, but the monks died out and the community abandoned it." The master asked, "May I live here?" The farmer said, "You may." The master thereupon remained and stayed there. By day he begged in the villages; by night he lit pine resin, remaining completely solitary for seven years. By this time, the second year of Tianfu, Prefect Commissioner Li heard of the master's Way and invited him with full courtesy. On the Lantern Festival day, he opened the hall to preach the Dharma, being the dharma heir of Nanyuan Yong. In the second year of Qianyou of Emperor Yindi of Later Han, Commissioner Li was transferred to govern Yingzhou. To avoid bandits, the master went to rely on him and lodged in the commandery's residence. There was a Grand Preceptor Song in Ruzhou who donated his mansion to be a jeweled precinct, called the New Temple, and invited the master to take up the abbacy. His Dharma assembly surpassed all others. In the first year of Guangshun of Emperor Taizu of Later Zhou, an imperial plaque was granted for the temple naming it Guanghui. The master resided there for twenty-two years, maintaining a community of over one hundred. A monk asked, "What is the Buddha?" The master said, "A bamboo-jointed whip at the foot of Mount Zhanglin." On the first day of the eighth month in the sixth year of Kaibao of Emperor Taizu of Song, he mounted the seat and spoke a verse, saying: / 'The Way lies in riding the times, where one must benefit beings; / Those from afar who admire and come are naturally filled with zeal. / In other years there will be an old man with similar feelings: / Daily the smoke of incense, nightly the lamp.' / On the fourteenth day, he wrote with his own hand to bid farewell to the various dānapatis. On the fifteenth day, he crossed his legs and passed away. His age was seventy-eight; his monastic age was fifty-nine. The master was the dharma heir of Nanyuan Yong; Yong was the dharma heir of Xinghua Jiang; Jiang was the dharma heir of Chan Master Linji Xuan.