大明高僧傳 5.8

5.8

釋宗杲。號大慧。因居妙喜庵又稱妙喜。產宣州奚氏。即雲峯悅之後身也。靈根夙具慧性生知。年方十二即投無雲齊公。十七薙染。初遊洞宗之門。洞宗耆宿因師詞鋒之銳乃燃臂香授其心印。師不自肯棄去。依湛堂準。久之不契。湛堂因臥疾俾見圓悟。悟居蜀昭覺。師踟蹰未進。一日聞詔遷悟住汴天寧。喜曰。天賜此老與我也。遂先日至天寧。迎悟且自計曰。當終九夏。若同諸方妄以我為是者。我著無禪論去也。值悟開堂舉。僧問雲門。如何是諸佛出身處。門曰。東山水上行。悟曰。天寧即不然。只向他道。薰風自南來殿閣生微涼。師聞忽前後際斷。悟曰也不易。爾到這田地。但可惜死了不能活。不疑言句是為大病。豈不見道。懸崖撒手。自肯承當。絕後再甦欺君不得。須要信有這些道理。於是令居擇木堂。為不釐務侍者。日同仕夫不時入室。一日悟與客飯次。師不覺舉筯飯皆不入口。悟笑曰。這漢參黃楊木禪到縮了也。師曰。如狗舐熱油鐺。後聞悟室中問僧有句無句如藤倚樹話。師遂問曰。聞和尚當時在五祖。曾問此話不知五祖道甚麼。悟笑而不答。師曰。和尚當時既對眾問。今說何妨。悟不得已曰。我問五祖。有句無句如藤倚樹。意旨如何。祖曰描也。描不成畫也畫不就。又問。樹倒藤枯時如何。祖曰相隨來也。師當下釋然大悟曰。我會也。悟歷舉數段因緣詰之。皆酧對無滯。悟喜謂之曰。始知吾不汝欺也。乃著臨濟正宗記付之俾掌記室。未幾圓悟返蜀。師因韜晦結菴以居。後度夏虎丘。閱華嚴至第七地菩薩得無生法忍處。忽洞明湛堂所示殃崛摩羅持鉢救產婦因緣。宋紹興七年詔住雙徑。一日圓悟訃音至。師自撰文致祭。即晚小參舉。僧問長沙。南泉遷化向甚處去。沙曰。東村作驢西村作馬。僧曰。意旨如何。沙曰。要騎便騎。要下便下。若是徑山即不然。若有僧問圓悟先師遷化向甚處去。向他道墮大阿鼻地獄。意旨如何。曰飢餐洋銅渴飲鐵汁。還有人救得也無。曰無人救得。曰如何救不得。曰是此老尋常茶飯。十一年五月秦檜以師為張九成黨毀其衣牒竄衡州。三十六年十月詔移梅陽。不久復其形服放還。十一月詔住阿育王二十八年。降旨令師再住徑山。大弘圓悟宗旨。辛巳春退居明月堂。一夕眾見一星殞於寺西流光赫然。尋示微疾。八月九日謂眾曰。吾翌日始行。是夕五鼓手書遺表併囑後事。有僧了賢請偈。師乃大書曰。生也秖麼死也秖麼。有偈無偈是甚麼熱。委然而逝。世壽七十有五。坐五十八夏。諡曰普覺。塔名寶光。

Śramaṇa Zonggao was styled Dahui. Because he resided at Miaoxi Hermitage, he was also called Miaoxi. He was born to the Xi family of Xuanzhou, and was the later rebirth of Yunfeng Yue. Inherently endowed with spiritual roots from the past, his wisdom was known from birth. At the age of only twelve, he went to Wuyun Qi. At seventeen, he underwent tonsure and dyeing of robes. Initially, he entered the gate of the Caodong lineage. A senior elder of the Caodong lineage, seeing the sharpness of the master's eloquence, burned arm-incense and bestowed upon him the mind-seal. The master did not approve of it himself and abandoned it to leave. He relied on Zantang Zhun; after a long time, there was still no accord. Because Zantang was confined by illness, he had him go see Yuanwu. Wu resided at Zhaojue in Shu. The master hesitated and did not proceed. One day, hearing that an imperial decree had transferred Wu to reside at Tianning in Bian, he said with delight, 'Heaven has bestowed this old man upon me!' He then arrived at Tianning days beforehand to welcome Wu, thinking to himself, 'I shall spend the full ninety days of the summer retreat. If he, like those in other quarters, falsely approves me as correct, I will write a treatise on non-Chan and leave.' It happened that Wu was opening the hall and brought up: A monk asked Yunmen, 'What is the place from which all Buddhas emerge?' Men said, 'The East Mountain walks on the water.' Wu said, 'Tianning is not so. I would simply say to him: "The fragrant breeze comes from the south, / Bringing a light cool to the palace halls."' Hearing this, the master's boundaries of before and after were suddenly cut off. Wu said, 'It was not easy for you to reach this stage, but what a pity that having died, you cannot come back to life. Not doubting words and phrases is a great sickness. Have you not seen it said: Letting go on a hanging cliff, / One takes responsibility for oneself; / Reviving after being cut off, / No one can deceive you. You must believe that there are such principles!' Thereupon, he ordered him to reside in the Zemu Hall as an attendant without specific administrative duties, allowing him to enter the room at any time together with the scholar-officials. One day, while Wu was eating with guests, the master raised his chopsticks without realising it, and none of the rice entered his mouth. Wu smiled and said, 'This fellow, practicing boxwood Chan, has shrunk!' The master said, 'Like a dog licking a hot oil pan.' Later, hearing that Wu asked a monk in his room the phrase, 'Existing phrases, non-existing phrases—like a vine clinging to a tree,' the master asked, 'I heard that when the Venerable was at Wuzu, you once asked about this phrase; I wonder what Wuzu said?' Wu smiled and did not answer. The master said, 'Since the Venerable asked it in front of the assembly back then, what harm is there in speaking of it now?' Having no choice, Wu said, 'I asked Wuzu: "Existing phrases, non-existing phrases—like a vine clinging to a tree. What is the meaning?" The Ancestor said, "Delineating it, it cannot be delineated; painting it, it cannot be depicted." I also asked, "When the tree falls and the vine withers, how is it?" The Ancestor said, "Following along!"' The master was released on the spot and had a great awakening, saying, 'I understand!' Wu brought up several cases to interrogate him, and he answered all of them without obstruction. Wu was delighted and said to him, 'Now I know that I did not deceive you.' He then composed the Linji Zhengzong Ji (Record of the Correct Lineage of Linji), entrusted it to him, and had him take charge of the correspondence office. Before long, Yuanwu returned to Shu. The master concealed his light, building a hermitage to live in. Later, spending the summer at Huqiu, while reading the Avataṃsaka Sūtra up to the stage where the bodhisattva of the seventh ground attains the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas, he suddenly understood thoroughly the case demonstrated by Zantang of Aṅgulimāla holding his bowl to save the woman in childbirth. In the seventh year of the Shaoxing era of the Song, an imperial decree ordered him to reside at Shuangjing. One day, news of Yuanwu's death arrived. The master personally composed a eulogy to make offerings. That same evening, in an informal gathering, he brought up: A monk asked Changsha, 'Where has Nanquan gone after his transformation?' Sha said, 'In the eastern village he becomes a donkey, in the western village he becomes a horse.' The monk asked, 'What is the meaning?' Sha said, 'If you want to ride, then ride; if you want to dismount, then dismount.' 'If it were Jingshan, it would not be so. If a monk were to ask, "Where has the late master Yuanwu gone after his transformation?" I would say to him: "He fell into the Great Avīci Hell." "What is the meaning?" I would say: "When hungry, he eats molten copper; when thirsty, he drinks liquid iron." "Can anyone still save him?" I would say: "No one can save him." "Why can he not be saved?" I would say: "This is this old man's everyday tea and rice."' In the fifth month of the eleventh year, Qin Hui, considering the master to be a partisan of Zhang Jiucheng, revoked his monastic robes and ordination certificate and banished him to Hengzhou. In the tenth month of the thirty-sixth year, an imperial decree moved him to Meiyang. Soon afterward, his monastic appearance and clothing were restored, and he was released to return. In the eleventh month, an imperial decree ordered him to reside at King Aśoka Monastery. In the twenty-eighth year, an imperial edict commanded the master to reside at Jingshan once again, greatly propagating Yuanwu's ancestral lineage. In the spring of the xinsi year, he retired to Mingyue Hall. One evening, the assembly saw a star fall to the west of the monastery with a brilliant blazing light. Soon after, he manifested a slight illness. On the ninth day of the eighth month, he said to the assembly, 'I shall depart only tomorrow.' That evening, at the fifth watch, he personally wrote his final memorial and made arrangements for subsequent matters. A monk named Liaoxian requested a verse. The master then wrote in large characters: 'Birth is just this, death is just this. / With a verse or without a verse, what is the fuss?' He quietly passed away. His worldly age was seventy-five, and he had sat fifty-eight summer retreats. He was posthumously named Pujue, and his stupa was named Baoguang.