大明高僧傳 6.16

6.16

釋祖覺嘉州楊氏子也。自幼聰慧書史過目成誦。乃著書排斥釋氏。忽惡境現前。大怖悔過。出家依慧日能和尚。未幾疽生膝上。五年醫治莫愈。因書華嚴合論。畢夕遂感異夢。旦即捨杖趨履。仍前一日誦至現相品曰。佛身無有生而能示出生。法性如虛空諸佛於中住。無住亦無去處處皆見佛。遂悟華嚴宗旨。至是始登僧籍。府帥請講於千部堂。而詞辯宏放眾所欽服。適南堂靜禪師過其門謂曰。觀公講說獨步西南。惜未解離文字相耳。儻能問道方外。即今之周金剛也。覺欣然罷講南遊禪社。遂依圓悟於鍾阜。一日入室悟舉。羅山道有言時踞虎頭收虎尾。第一句下明宗旨。無言時覿露機鋒如同電拂。作麼生會。覺罔對。於是夙夜參究忽有所省。作偈呈曰。家住孤峯頂。長年半掩門。自嗟身已老。活計付兒孫。悟未許可。次日入室悟問。昨日公案作麼生。覺擬對。悟喝曰。佛法不是這個道理。覺復留五年愈更迷悶。後於廬山棲賢閱浮山遠削執論云。若道悟有親疎。豈有旃檀林中却生臭草。始豁然大悟。遂作偈寄圓悟曰。出林依舊入蓬蒿。天網恢恢不可迯。誰信業緣無避處。歸來不怕語聲高。悟大喜持示眾曰。覺華嚴徹矣。自是諸方皆稱曰覺華嚴云。上堂僧問。最初威音王末後樓至佛未審。參見甚麼人。覺曰。家住大梁城更問長安路。僧問。如何是一喝如金剛王寶劍。覺曰。血濺梵天。曰如何是一喝如踞地師子。覺曰。驚殺野狐狸。曰如何是一喝如探竿影草。覺曰。驗得儞骨出。曰如何是一喝不作一喝用。覺曰。直須識取把鍼人。莫道鴛鴦好毛羽。

Shi Zujue was a son of the Yang family of Jiazhou. Intelligent from childhood, he could recite books and histories after glancing at them. He then composed a book rejecting the Buddhists. Suddenly an evil state appeared before him; in great terror, he repented his faults, left home, and relied upon Master Huiri Neng. Before long, an ulcer grew on his knee, which remained unhealed despite five years of medical treatment. Because he copied out the *Huayan helun*, at the end of the night he had a remarkable dream. At dawn, he cast away his staff and walked briskly in his shoes. Just like the day before, he recited up to the 'Manifesting Appearances' chapter, which says:
'The Buddha body has no arising, yet is able to manifest arising.
The Dharma nature is like empty space; the Buddhas dwell within it.
Without dwelling and without going, everywhere one sees the Buddha.'
He thereupon awakened to the essential principle of the *Huayan*, and only then was entered into the monastic register. The prefectural commander invited him to lecture at the Hall of a Thousand Sections, and his broad and unconstrained eloquence was revered by the assembly. It happened that Chan Master Nantang Jing passed by his gate and said to him: 'Observing your lecturing, you stand alone in the Southwest. It is only a pity that you have not yet understood how to depart from the characteristics of words. If you could inquire into the Way beyond convention, you would be today's Zhou Diamond.' Jue gladly stopped lecturing and traveled south to Chan assemblies. He then relied upon Yuanwu at Zhongfu. One day, entering the room, Yuanwu cited: 'Luoshan said: When there are words, crouch on the tiger's head and seize the tiger's tail; under the first phrase, clarify the essential principle. When there are no words, confront and expose the dynamic pivot like a flash of lightning. How do you understand this?' Jue had no reply. Thereupon he investigated it day and night, and suddenly had an awakening. He composed a gāthā and presented it, saying:
'My home is atop an isolated peak;
For years the door has been half-closed.
Sighing to myself that my body is already old,
I entrust the livelihood to my children and grandchildren.'
Yuanwu did not approve. The next day, entering the room, Yuanwu asked: 'How about yesterday's gongan?' Jue intended to reply, but Yuanwu shouted and said: 'The Buddhadharma is not this principle!' Jue stayed for another five years, becoming even more bewildered and stifled. Later, at Xixian on Mount Lu, he read Fushan Yuan's *Xiaozhi lun* (Treatise on Peeling Away Attachments), which said: 'If one says that awakening has closeness and distance, how could foul grass grow within a sandalwood grove?' Only then was he thoroughly and greatly awakened. He then composed a gāthā and sent it to Yuanwu, saying:
'Leaving the grove, I still enter tangled weeds;
The net of heaven is vast, impossible to escape.
Who could believe that karmic conditions offer nowhere to hide?
Returning, I am not afraid of raising my voice high.'
Yuanwu was overjoyed, held it up to show the assembly, and said: 'Jue of the *Huayan* has penetrated through!' From then on, all quarters called him Jue of the *Huayan*. Ascending the hall, a monk asked: 'I wonder, whom did the primordial King of Awesome Sound and the final Rucika Buddha study with?' Jue said: 'Living in the city of Daliang, you further ask for the road to Chang'an.' The monk asked: 'What is a shout like the precious sword of the Vajra King?' Jue said: 'Blood spatters the Brahmā Heaven.' [The monk] asked: 'What is a shout like a crouching lion?' Jue said: 'Frightening wild foxes to death.' [The monk] asked: 'What is a shout like a sounding rod and shadow grass?' Jue said: 'Testing you until your bones show.' [The monk] asked: 'What is a shout that is not used as a shout?' Jue said: 'You must simply recognize the person holding the needle; do not speak of the fine plumage of the mandarin ducks.'