大明高僧傳 8.18

8.18

Śramaṇa Shi Zuxian, styled Po'an, was a son of the Wang family of Guang'an. He went forth from home in his youth and vigorously investigated the patriarchal Way, unable to rest peacefully at night, clad only in a single patched robe. Hearing that Mi'an was greatly promoting the Linji lineage, he packed his baggage and went to call on him. Mi'an recognized him as a vessel of great capacity and pressed him with rigorous drilling. One day, when Mi'an ascended the hall to instruct the assembly, Zuxian suddenly had an awakening. Later, when Mi'an resided at Lingyin, he ordered the Master to share the seat. An itinerant practitioner happened to ask, "What should one do when the monkey cannot be caught?" The Master said, "Why catch it? When the wind blows across water, ripples naturally form." A lecturing master of the Śūraṅgama-sūtra asked for instruction. The Master spoke a gāthā, saying: / "Seeing is still apart from seeing, yet not true seeing; / Though the eight returns are fully returned, there is nothing to return. / Leaves fall into the autumn sky and the mountain's bones are bared; / Who knows whether anyone recognizes old Gautama?" / At that time, Shitian Faxun called upon the Master, who questioned him by raising the case of the Bhagavat holding up a flower and Kāśyapa smiling. Xun replied, "A burnt brick is smashed, cracking the frost right down to the base; / Red eyes collide with the flaming head of firewood." The Master nodded. Later, [Faxun] appeared in the world and became his Dharma heir.