大明高僧傳 7.24

7.24

Shi Yunneng was styled Huimu. He was a son of the Lü family of the prefecture. In his youth, he studied Confucianism, deeply investigating the classics and histories. At the age of twenty-two, while collating books in a village, he happened upon a Chan book on a table in a mountain monastery. Reading it, he seemed to have gained something. Thereupon, he tore off his scholar's robes and cap, went to the monks, and received full ordination. With a single bowl he traveled far. He first studied under Chan Master Baosheng Chengfu; in their questioning and exchanges, his inclinations were quite uncommon. He went straight to Jinghu, where he visited various venerable masters such as Anxi of Yong'an, Zhe of Zhenru, and Hui of Deshan; his attainments advanced further. Next, he arrived at Dawei and studied under Chan Master Chun. Chun asked, 'Where is your native place?' He said, 'Xichuan.' Chun said, 'I hear that in Xichuan Samantabhadra Bodhisattva makes an appearance; is that so?' He said, 'Today I personally gaze upon his compassionate visage.' Chun said, 'Where is the white elephant?' He said, 'Its claws and teeth are already complete.' Chun said, 'Can you turn yourself around?' Neng picked up his sitting mat and walked a full circle around the meditation platform. Chun said, 'Not it.' Neng hurried out. One day, Chun asked a monk, 'After Huang Chao passed, did anyone retrieve the precious sword?' The monk held up his fist. Chun said, 'A vegetable knife.' The monk said, 'What can you do about its endless utility?' Chun shouted him out. Next, he asked Neng. Neng also raised his fist. Chun said, 'That too is a vegetable knife.' Neng then approached, struck him in the chest, and said, 'If it can kill a person, that suffices!' Chun laughed and said, 'For thirty years I have ridden horses, but today I have been thrown by a donkey!' From this his reputation spread across all quarters. Returning to Shu, he first presided over Baotren, and next resided at Zhongyan. In his chamber, he once asked Felt-Head Chongzhen, 'What was your face before the empty kalpa?' Zhen suddenly grasped it and replied, 'Venerable Sir, lower your voice!' He then presented a verse: 'Inside the ten-thousand-year granary, I was once famished; / Living in the great ocean, I was thoroughly parched. / Back then, searching, I could not find it; / Today, evading it, I cannot avoid it.' Neng confirmed him. Neng was abbot for over thirty years, not allowing people to record his preaching of the Dharma. Approaching his end, he wrote a verse taking leave of the assembly, sat upright, and transformed. At the time of his jhāpita, a violent wind suddenly arose, and wherever the smoke reached, śarīra rained down. Monastics and laymen who dug the earth also found some. His heart and tongue were indestructible, and a stupa was erected for him.