神僧傳 6.16

6.16

Hanshanzi (the Master of Cold Mountain) was regarded by the world as a poor wretch and a madman who could not be judged by ordinary standards. He lived in seclusion seventy li west of Shifeng County in Tiantai, at a place called the Two Caves of Cold and Dark. He constantly dwelled in a secluded cave at Cold Rock, making it his fixed abode. He would occasionally come to Guoqing Monastery, where there was Shide. The monastery monks had placed Shide in charge of the dining hall, and he regularly gathered the leftover food and vegetable scraps of the monks, cut large bamboos into tubes, and stored them inside. Whenever Hanshanzi came, he would shoulder them and leave. Sometimes he walked slowly under the veranda, sometimes he shouted and harassed people, or sometimes he gazed into the void and shouted abuse. When the monastery monks could not endure him and drove him away with sticks, he would turn round, clap his hands, laugh heartily, and amble off. Yet his hempen jacket was ragged, his face gaunt and withered; he wore a cap of birch bark and dragged along large wooden clogs. At times, the words he uttered were entirely pertinent, turning back to Buddhist principles. Earlier, when Lüqiu entered the monastery and inquired about Hanshan, the śramaṇa Daoqiao replied: "This man has a madness. He originally lived among the Cold Rocks and is fond of chanting verses and gāthās, but his words are unpredictable—whether good or bad can never be determined. He is friends with the temple laborer Shide, and their conversation when together cannot be fully understood." When the monastery monks saw the prefect bow to them, they said in astonishment: "Why does a high official pay homage to madmen?" Arm in arm, the two laughed arrogantly and left the monastery. Lüqiu went again to Cold Rock to pay his respects and sent garments and medicines. But [Hanshan] shouted aloud, saying: "Thieves, my thieves, retreat!" and shrank back into a fissure in the rock. He said again: "I report to you all: make efforts, each of you!" The fissure in the rock closed up seamlessly, leaving no trace behind. [Lüqiu] then ordered the monk Daoqiao to search for his remaining works. Only in the woods, where poems and eulogies had been written on leaves, and from copies taken down from the walls of houses in village hamlets, did he obtain over two hundred pieces. These were compiled into a collection, which many people chant, including the verse: "What is there in the courtyard? / White clouds embrace the secluded stone."