釋鑑稽古略續集 2.46

2.46

Chan Master Wumeng: his taboo name was Tan'e, his courtesy name was Wumeng, and his sobriquet was You'an. He was a man of Cixi, from the Wang clan; his mother was of the Zhou clan. In his youth he practiced Confucianism, and his refined thoughts welled forth deeply. He paid homage to Master Ziwen Liang of Guangfa Monastery as his teacher, and had his head shaved by Master Xueting Chuan. He received the precepts at Zhaoging [Monastery]. There was nothing of the studies of the nature and characteristics [of phenomena] in which he was not thoroughly proficient. Later he relied upon Master Yuansou Duan, inquiring and becoming brightly enlightened. Early in the Yanyou era [1314–1320], by imperial decree he expounded the Golden Mountain Water and Land Buddhist ritual. During the Zhiyuan era [1335–1340], he came forth into the world at Baoqing in Qingyuan, moved next to Kaishou, and thirdly was transferred to Guoqing. The Imperial Preceptor praised him and bestowed upon him robes and a title. When sea winds blew wildly, overturning houses all around, the Master was able to sit firmly and remain unperturbed. The Master admonished his assembly of disciples, saying, 'In investigating the school of emptiness, one should put aside the physical body and forget sleep and food, so as to extinguish habitual tendencies accumulated over multiple kalpas; only then will the mind-ground be radiant.' In the second year of Hongwu [1369], an edict summoned monks possessing the Way, and the Master was among them. He was lodged at Tianjie Monastery. After his audience, the Emperor, pitying his advanced age, released him to return to the mountain. In the second month of that year, he instructed his disciples, saying, 'The empty flowers of the triple realm are like smoke rolled up by the wind; the illusory shadows of the six dusts are like snow doused in boiling water. From ancient times to the present, only the one nature singularly abides. I am about to enter extinction; listen to my verse.' It said: 'I have a single thing, / Without head and without face. / If you wish to know it clearly, / See it on the night of nirvāṇa.' Having spoken, he closed his eyes and passed away at the age of eighty-nine. His stūpa is at Mount Qingliang of Tiantai.