釋氏稽古略 3.275

3.275

Deshan. Chan Master Deshan of Langzhou was named Xuanjian. He was a native of Jianzhou, with the family name of Zhou. In his youth he left home, and in due course received full ordination. He thoroughly investigated the Vinaya Piṭaka at Xingkong Monastery and grasped the purports of the various scriptures. He frequently lectured on the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā, so at that time he was called "Vajra Zhou." Not believing in the Chan path of the Southern School, he said, "A renunciant spends a thousand kalpas studying the Buddha's deportment, and ten thousand kalpas studying the Buddha's minute deeds, yet fails to attain Buddhahood. How dare the devil-sons of the south say: 'Directly pointing to the human mind, seeing one's nature and attaining Buddhahood'? I shall ransack their caves and exterminate their breed, so as to repay the Buddha's kindness." Thereupon, carrying the Qinglong Commentary and Subcommentary on a shoulder pole, he departed Shu and arrived in Liyang. Along the way, he went to buy oil cakes for a snack. An old woman pointed to his carrying pole and said, "What is this?" The master said, "The Qinglong Commentary and Subcommentary." The old woman said, "On what sutra do you lecture?" The master said, "The Diamond Sutra." The old woman said, "I have a question. If you can answer it, I will offer the elder brother oil cakes. If you cannot answer it, I will not give you oil cakes." The old woman then asked, saying, "The sutra says: 'Past mind cannot be grasped, future mind cannot be grasped, and present mind cannot be grasped.' I wonder, which mind does the elder brother wish to dot ('snack on')?" The master had no words, and thus without getting the oil cakes, he departed. He then went to Longtan Monastery in Lizhou. Arriving at the Dharma Hall, he said, "I have long yearned for Dragon Pool (Longtan), but now that I have arrived, the pool is not seen, nor does the dragon appear." Longtan, concealing his presence, said, "You have personally arrived at Dragon Pool." The master had no words and sought lodging there. One evening while standing in attendance, Longtan said, "It is late in the night; why do you not go down?" The master thereupon stepped out, but returned, saying, "It is dark outside." Longtan lit a paper torch and handed it to the master. As the master was about to take it, Longtan blew it out. The master had a great awakening right then and made obeisance. Longtan said, "What have you seen?" The master said, "From this day forward, I will no longer doubt the tongues of the old venerable monks under heaven!" The next day, he took the commentary and subcommentary he had brought and burned them in front of the Dharma Hall. Raising a torch, he said, "Exhausting all profound debates is like casting a single hair into great emptiness; expending the workings of the world is like dropping a single drop into a vast chasm." Taking his leave, he went to Guishan, and later returned to reside in Liyang for thirty years. During the suppression of the teaching under Emperor Wuzong, he hid in a rock chamber on Mount Dufou. At the beginning of Emperor Xuanzong's Dazhong era, Xue Tingwang, the Prefect of Wuling, renovated the Deshan Hermitage, naming it Gude Chan Cloister, and invited the master to assume the abbacy; but the master was unwilling to come down from the mountain. Tingwang devised a clever scheme, falsely accusing the master regarding tea and salt to bring him into the prefecture. With deep respect and earnest invitations, he finally prevailed upon him to reside there and propagate the profound transformation. Arriving at the sixth year of Xiantong, the third day of the twelfth month, he said to the assembly: "Groping at emptiness and chasing after echoes tires your mind and spirit. Awakening from the dream, you realize it was not real; in the end, what matter is there?" Having finished speaking, he sat peacefully and transformed. By imperial edict, he was posthumously titled Chan Master Jianxing ("Seeing Nature"). He was a dharma heir of Chan Master Longtan Chongxin (from the Transmission of the Lamp). Wuling was Langzhou in the Tang, now Changde Circuit, in the territory of Jing.