釋氏稽古略 4.186

4.186

Chan Master Yunfeng was named Wenyue. He was born to the Xu family of Longxing. At the age of seven, he shaved his head at Longxing Temple. He was refined and handsome, possessing subtle discernment. At the age of nineteen, he visited teachers throughout the Jiang and Huai regions, intending to visit Jinluan in Jingzhou and Dayu in Ruizhou. First arriving at Dayu, he saw Chan Master Zhi. The buildings were dilapidated and monks were few, as desolate as a post-station. Zhi carried his own bamboo hat, walking about the marketplaces by day, and returning at dusk to shut the door and sleep soundly. [Yue] wished to leave. Zhi just happened to ascend the hall and said: 'All of us gather to eat a stalk of pickled vegetable; if you call it a single stalk of pickled vegetable, you will enter hell as swift as an arrow.' Stepping down from the seat, the Master was startled. At night, he went to the abbot's quarters. Zhi said: 'What have you come seeking?' He replied: 'I seek the Buddha-mind Dharma.' Zhi said: 'I have no spare time to endure my own hunger; what spare time do I have to explain the Dharma for you? You may go beg for food on behalf of the assembly.' The Master promptly asked to go. Before long, Zhi moved to Cuiyan in the Western Mountains. The Master followed him to his abbot's quarters. Zhi said: 'Do you want to seek the Buddha-mind Dharma again? Do you not consider that we have just settled here, the walls are sparse and leaky, and it is cold and snowy? I cannot endure the cold; how can I explain the Dharma for you? The Buddha-Dharma will not rot away; you may provide charcoal for the assembly.' The Master complied with the order. When he returned, the position of karmadāna (*weina*) was vacant. The Master visited the abbot's quarters. Zhi said: 'The Buddha-Dharma is not afraid of rotting away. I trouble you now with the office of hall director (*tangsi*).' The Master looked reluctant and wished to abandon it and leave, but reflected to himself: 'I have labored for a long time; how can I stop halfway?' Yet he still harbored resentment toward Zhi. Going to the latrine, a hoop of the bucket on the rack burst and the bucket fell to the ground; he was thereupon greatly awakened, suddenly seeing Zhi's past functioning. Hastily donning his saṅghāṭī, he ran to the sleeping quarters. Zhi welcomed him with a smile and said: 'Karmadāna, I am pleased indeed that the great matter is resolved!' The Master bowed twice, dripping with sweat. He served diligently for eight years until Zhi passed away. The Master traveled east through the Three Wu regions; wherever he went, the monasteries took on a new appearance. Chan Master Xuedou Xian revered and held him in awe in particular. Whenever he gathered the assembly for tea, he would always set up a special couch crosswise to show extraordinary respect for him. Nanchang dispatched an official document requesting him to reside at Cuifeng; later he moved to Yunfeng. Ascending the hall, he said: 'If words do not leave the nest and ditch, how can one emerge from covers and entanglements? A patch of cloud stretches across the valley mouth; how many people have lost the source? Therefore it is said: words without unfolding affairs and phrases not matching the occasion—those who grasp at words are lost, and those who get stuck on phrases are deluded. When all of you arrive here, on what speech do you rely?' After a long pause, he said: 'If you wish not to incur Avīci karma, do not slander the Tathāgata's true wheel of Dharma.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'The foundation of sentient beings relies on the ocean of wisdom as its source; the stream of conscious beings takes the dharmakāya as its substance. It is only because feelings arise that wisdom is obstructed, and perceptions transform that substances differ. When one reaches the origin, feelings are forgotten; know that the mind and substance unite. Do you Chan worthies understand? The ancient Buddha and the bare pillar succeed each other; the Buddha hall and the lantern bump heads. If you do not understand, single and double fold across each other.' On the eighth day of the seventh month of the seventh year of Jiayou, he ascended the seat to take leave of the assembly and spoke a verse: / 'Dwelling in the world for sixty-six years, / A monk for fifty-nine summers. / If followers of Chan ask about the ultimate principle: / The large end of the nostrils points downward.' / Then he passed away placidly. He was cremated, and five-colored relics were stupaed north of Yu Stream. The Master was the dharma heir of Chan Master Dayu Shouzhi. Zhi was the dharma heir of Fenyang Shanzhao; Zhao was the dharma heir of Chan Master Shoushan Nian (*Sengbao zhuan*).