大明高僧傳 7.31

7.31

釋智策號塗毒。天台陳氏子也。生而聰敏卓邁群兒。不樂世華潛思寥廓。幼依護國楚光落髮。授以僧儀。一鉢蕭然研窮三藏。首造國清寂室光公灑然有省。次往明州謁萬壽大圓禪師。問甚處來。曰天台。圓曰。曾見智者麼。曰即今亦不少圓曰。因甚在汝脚跟下。曰當面蹉過。圓曰。尚人不耘而秀不扶而直也。一日辭圓門送之拊其背曰。寶所在近。此城非實。策敬諾。欲往豫章參典牛遊和尚。道由雲居。風因雪塞路無客進履。越四十二日午聞板聲豁然大悟。及造典牛之門牛獨指策曰。何處見神見鬼來。曰雲居聞板聲來。牛曰。是甚麼。曰打破虛空全無柄靶。牛曰。向上事未在。曰東家暗坐西家斯罵。牛曰。嶄然超出佛祖。他日起家一麟足矣。後奉旨住雙徑。大弘典牛之道。四方學者鱗布蝟集。將示寂時為文以祭。自危坐傾聽至云尚饗為之一笑。後兩日沐浴更衣集眾說偈曰。四大既分飛。煙雲任意歸。秋天霜夜月。萬里轉光輝。泊然而逝。塔全身于寺東岡之麓。

Shi Zhice was styled Tudui. He was a son of the Chen family of Tiantai. Born clever and acute, he towered above the crowd of children. Not delighting in worldly splendors, he harbored thoughts of the vast void. When young, he shaved his hair under Chuguang of Huguo, who conferred on him the monastic decorum. With a single bowl in simple solitude, he thoroughly investigated the Tripiṭaka. He first visited Master Jishi Guang of Guoqing and had a clear awakening. Next, he went to Mingzhou to visit Chan Master Dayuan of Wanshou. [Dayuan] asked, "Where do you come from?" He said, "Tiantai." Yuan said, "Have you seen Zhiyi?" He said, "Right now, there is no lack either." Yuan said, "Why is he under your heels?" He said, "I missed him to his face." Yuan said, "A superior person sprouts without weeding, and stands straight without propping." One day, taking leave of Yuan, [Yuan] walked to the gate to see him off, patted his back, and said, "The place of jewels is near; this city is not real." Ce respectfully assented. Wishing to go to Yuzhang to study under Venerable Dianniu You, his path took him past Yunju. The pass was blocked by snow and no traveler could advance his steps. After forty-two days, at noon, he heard the striking of the clapper board and was thoroughly enlightened. When he reached Dianniu's gate, Niu pointed at Ce alone and said, "Where have you come from, having seen gods and seen ghosts?" He said, "I have come from hearing the clapper board at Yunju." Niu said, "What is it?" He said, "I have smashed empty space, and there is no handle at all." Niu said, "The transcendental matter is not yet here." He said, "Sitting darkly in the eastern house, and cursing loudly in the western house." Niu said, "Loftily transcending buddhas and patriarchs! In the future, a single qilin will be enough to raise our lineage." Later, by imperial decree, he resided at Shuangjing, widely propagating Dianniu's way. Learners from the four directions spread like fish scales and gathered like hedgehog quills. When he was about to manifest quiescence, he composed a funeral text for himself. He sat erect and listened attentively, and when it came to the words "Please partake," he smiled at it. Two days later, he bathed, changed his robes, gathered the assembly, and uttered a verse: / "Now that the four great elements scatter and fly, / Smoke and clouds return at their own will. / In the autumn sky on a frosty night, the moon / Shines its radiance ten thousand miles around." / Placidly, he passed away. His whole body was entombed in a stūpa at the foot of the eastern ridge of the temple.