景德傳燈錄 14.11

14.11

澧州藥山惟儼禪師。絳州人姓韓氏。年十七依潮陽西山慧照禪師出家。唐大歷八年納戒于衡嶽希操律師。乃曰。大丈夫當離法自淨。豈能屑屑事細行於布巾耶。即謁石頭密領玄旨。一日師坐次。石頭覩之問曰。汝在遮裏作麼。曰一切不為。石頭曰。恁麼即閑坐也。曰若閑坐即為也。石頭曰。汝道不為。且不為箇什麼。曰千聖亦不識。石頭以偈讚曰。

Chan Master Yaoshan Weiyan of Lizhou was a man from Jiangzhou with the surname Han. At the age of seventeen, he left home under Chan Master Huizhao of Xishan in Chaoyang. In the eighth year of the Dali era of the Tang, he received the precepts under Vinaya Master Xicao of Mount Heng. He then said, "A great man should leave phenomena and be self-purified; how could he fussily attend to trivial details of conduct upon a cloth napkin?" He immediately went to call on Shitou and secretly comprehended the profound meaning. One day, while the Master was sitting, Shitou saw him and asked, "What are you doing here?" He said, "I am not doing anything at all." Shitou said, "If so, you are sitting idly." He said, "If I were sitting idly, that would be doing something." Shitou said, "You say you are not doing anything; what is it that you are not doing?" He said, "Even the thousand sages do not know." Shitou praised him with a verse: