大明高僧傳 5.34

5.34

Shi Shanwu was styled Gao'an. He was a son of the Li family of Yangzhou. He was ordained at the age of eleven. Born with innate wisdom, his spiritual root developed naturally. Hearing Chan Master Chong cite the case of Emperor Wu of Liang asking Bodhidharma, it was as if he had recovered an old possession, and he abruptly said, "Since I am wide open and empty, what holiness could there be?" Chong marvelled at his words and encouraged him to seek instruction in the south. Thereupon he visited Longmen Foyan. One day a monk was bitten by a snake. Foyan asked the assembly, "Since this is Longmen (Dragon Gate), why was he instead bitten by a snake?" Wu immediately responded, "Truly, the mark of a great man has appeared!" Foyan recognized his capacity. Later, when these words were relayed to Foguo, Guo said, "With this monk at Longmen, the Dharma way of Dongshan will not be desolate." When he ascended the hall, [he said]: "When the mind arises, various phenomena arise. The myriad manifold phenomena, in all their profusion, are taken up freely by hand: then use the midday sun at the third watch of the night. When the mind ceases, various phenomena cease. The paths of the four propositions and the hundred negations are cut off: even if Bodhidharma were to appear, he too would be gold dust in the eye. Mind arising and mind ceasing—who is the wooden man? Hand in hand we return together; yet having returned to the native land, one still receives a hammer-blow upon the crown."