神僧傳 7.13

7.13

Shi Yuangui, whose secular surname was Li, was a native of Yique. Having awakened under the Chan master of Shaolin Monastery, Datong, to the essentials of the mind, he penetrated deeply into the profound and subtle. He then chose a dwelling at Pangwu in the central peak of Mount Song. He said to his disciple Rensu: 'I first entered by the eastern ridge of the monastery. When I pass away, you must enshrine my remains in a stūpa here.' As Yuangui was peacefully seated in meditation within a rocky recess, someone wearing a high cap and pleated trousers, accompanied by a vast entourage, announced himself to pay respects to the Great Master. Yuangui, observing his majestic appearance and peerless spiritual radiance, said to him: 'Welcome, benevolent one. Why have you come?' He said: 'Does the master not recognise me?' Yuangui said: 'I see the Buddha and sentient beings as equal. I view them with a single regard; how could I make discriminating recognitions?' He replied: 'I am the god of this sacred peak. I have power over the benefit, harm, life, and death of humans. How can the Master view me with a single regard?' Yuangui said: 'You can bring life and death to humans. But I am inherently unborn; how could you cause me to die? I regard the body as equal to empty space, and I regard myself as equal to you. Can you destroy empty space and yourself? If you could destroy empty space and yourself, then I would be neither born nor extinguished. If you cannot even do this, how could you bring life and death to me?' The peak god bowed low and prostrated twice, saying: 'I am wiser and more upright than other gods, yet how could I have known that the Master possessed such vast wisdom and eloquence? I wish to be granted the correct precepts, so that I may be ferried across worldly life and aid in my majesty and merit.' Yuangui said: 'Since you, divine spirit, have begged for the precepts, you are already precepted. Why is this? Beyond the precepts there are no precepts; what precepts are there to receive?' The god said: 'This is the principle, yet what I hear is dim and obscure. I only ask for the Master’s precepts, that my person may become a disciple of your gate.' Yuangui could not decline, so he spread a seat, burned incense, took up the censer, and straightened the desk, saying: 'I confer upon you the five precepts. If you can observe them, face me and say "I can"; if not, say "no".' The god said: 'I wash my ears, listen intently, and empty my mind to accept the teaching.' Yuangui said: 'Can you refrain from sexual misconduct?' The god said: 'I take a wife.' Yuangui said: 'I do not mean this; I mean being free from entangling desires.' The god said: 'I can.' Yuangui said: 'Can you refrain from stealing?' The god said: 'Of what am I in want? How could I steal?' Yuangui said: 'I do not mean this; I mean accepting offerings yet blessing the dissolute, or bringing calamity upon the virtuous because they do not offer.' The god said: 'I can.' Yuangui said: 'Can you refrain from killing?' The god said: 'The handle of governance is in my person; how can it be said that I do not kill?' Yuangui said: 'I do not mean this; I mean indiscriminate, mistaken, muddled, or dubious [killings].' The god said: 'I can.' Yuangui said: 'Can you refrain from false speech?' The god said: 'I am inherently upright; how could I speak falsely?' Yuangui said: 'I do not mean this; I mean when prior and subsequent actions do not accord with Heaven's mind.' The god said: 'I can.' Yuangui said: 'Can you avoid being ruined by alcohol?' The god said: 'I have the strength to do so.' Yuangui said: 'The above are the Buddha’s precepts.' He further said: 'Observe them with intentional mind yet be without mental grasping. Act for the sake of beings with intentional mind yet be without mental thoughts of the self. If you can be like this, then being born before Heaven and Earth is not being pure; dying after Heaven and Earth is not being old. Transforming all day long is not movement; remaining silent and still is not [your true] essence. Awakening to this, though you marry it is not having a wife; though you receive offerings it is not taking; though you hold authority it is not power; though you act it is not deliberate; though you become intoxicated it is not confusion. If you can be without mind toward the ten thousand things, then entangling desires are not sexual misconduct; blessing the dissolute and bringing calamity upon the virtuous are not stealing; indiscriminate, mistaken, muddled, or dubious [actions] are not killing; divergence between prior and subsequent that contravenes Heaven is not false speech; and confused, disordered frenzy is not drunkenness. This is called mindlessness. Where there is no mind, there are no precepts; where there are no precepts, there is no mind. There is neither Buddha nor sentient beings, neither you nor me. Without self and without you, who can take precepts?' The god said: 'My spiritual powers are second only to the Buddha's.' Yuangui said: 'Of ten statements regarding your spiritual powers, there are five things you can do and five you cannot. As for the Buddha, of ten statements there are seven things he can do and three he cannot.' Startled, the god withdrew from his seat, knelt reverently, and said: 'May I hear of them?' Yuangui said: 'Can you overturn the Supreme Thearch, making the heavens travel eastward and the seven luminaries move westward?' He said: 'I cannot.' Yuangui further said: 'Can you strip the earth spirits of power, melt the five sacred peaks, and bind the four seas together?' He said: 'I cannot.' Yuangui said: 'These are among the five things you cannot do.' He further said: 'The Buddha can empty all characteristics and accomplish the wisdom of the ten thousand phenomena, yet he cannot immediately extinguish fixed karma. He can know the natures of all beings and exhaust the events of billions of kalpas, yet he cannot transform and guide those without affinity. The Buddha can liberate immeasurable sentient beings, yet he cannot exhaust the realm of sentient beings. These are the three things he cannot do. Yet fixed karma is also not permanent and lasting, and lack of affinity is also only for a single period. The realm of sentient beings is fundamentally without increase or decrease. Throughout all time, not a single person has ever been master of phenomena, and phenomena are without a master. This is called no-phenomenon. No-phenomenon and no-master is called mindlessness. As I understand the Buddha, he also has no spiritual powers; he is merely able to penetrate all phenomena through mindlessness. Their functioning is mysteriously manifested before sentient beings. If one has mind and intentional action, their functioning will certainly not be universal.' The peak god said: 'I am indeed shallow and ignorant, not having heard the meaning of emptiness. I beseech the Master to confer the precepts upon me; I will uphold them. What karmic cause could ever again bind me to this dust-filled realm? I wish to repay your compassionate virtue.' Yuangui said: 'I observe that the body is nothing, and I view the cave of impermanent phenomena as solitary and inert. What further desire could I have?' The god said: 'The Master must command me to do some worldly deed, to display a little of my spiritual power, so that the five classes of people—those who have already aroused the resolve, those who have newly aroused the resolve, those who have not yet aroused the resolve, those without faith, and those certain of faith—may witness my divine traces and know that there is the Buddha, there are gods, there is ability, there is inability, there is the natural, and there is the non-natural.' Yuangui said: 'Do not do this, do not do this.' The god said: 'The Buddha also commanded the gods to protect the Dharma. Would the Master betray the Buddha? Grant me your instruction as you wish.' Yuangui had no choice but to say: 'The eastern cliff is the screen of the monastery, yet it is bare and devoid of trees. The northern peak has them, but it is behind us and does not serve as a protective screen. Can you move those trees to the eastern ridge?' The god said: 'I have heard your command.' He further said: 'I will certainly shake and move them amid wind and rain in the dark night. I ask that the Master not be alarmed.' He then bowed in reverence and took his leave. Yuangui watched from the gate as he departed, seeing guards and regalia like the entourage of a king. That evening, there was indeed a violent storm, roaring thunder, rushing clouds, and shaking lightning. The lofty ridgepoles and grand halls trembled precariously as if about to collapse. The monks in meditation were terrified, and the roosting birds shrieked frantically. Objects struck against one another, and nothing remained settled. Yuangui said to the assembly of monks: 'Do not fear, do not fear. The god has made a pact with me.' At daybreak, the weather cleared and grew mild; the pines and junipers of the northern cliff had all been moved to the eastern ridge, densely planted in orderly rows. Yuangui said to his disciples: 'After I pass away, do not let outsiders know of this. If it becomes a topic of talk, people will consider me a sorcerer.' He passed away in the fourth year of the Kaiyuan era at the age of seventy-three.