景德傳燈錄 17.30

17.30

台州瑞巖師彥禪師閩越人也。姓許氏。自幼披緇秉戒無缺。初禮巖頭致問曰。如何是本常理。巖頭曰。動也。曰動時如何。巖頭曰。不是本常理。師沈思良久。巖頭曰。肯即未脫根塵。不肯即永沈生死。師遂領悟身心皎如。巖頭頻召與語徵醻無忒。師復謁夾山會和尚。會問。什麼處來。曰臥龍來。會曰。來時龍還起未。師乃顧視之。會曰。炙瘡上更著艾燋。曰和尚又苦如此作什麼。會便休。師尋抵丹丘終日如愚。四眾欽慕請住瑞巖。統眾嚴整江表稱之。僧問。頭上寶蓋現足下雲生時如何。師曰。披枷帶鎖漢。曰頭上無寶蓋足下無雲生時如何。師曰。猶有杻在。曰畢竟如何。師曰。齋後困。鏡清問。天不能覆地不能載豈不是。師曰。若是即被覆載。清曰。若不是瑞巖幾遭也。師自稱曰師彥。問如何是佛。師曰。石牛。曰如何是法。師曰。石牛兒。曰恁麼即不同也。師曰。合不得。曰為什麼合不得。師曰。無同可同合什麼。問作麼生商量即得不落階級。師曰排不出。曰為什麼排不出。師曰。他從前無階級。曰未審居何位次。師曰。不坐普光殿。曰還理化也無。師曰。名聞三界重何處不歸朝。一日有村媼來作禮。師曰。汝疾歸去救取數千物命。媼怱忙至舍。乃見兒婦提竹器拾田螺歸。媼接取放諸水濱。師之異迹頗多存諸別錄。

Chan Master Shiyan of Ruiyan in Taizhou was a man of Minyue. His surname was Xu. From his youth he wore monastic robes and observed the precepts without blemish. When he first paid respects to Yantou, he posed a question, saying, "What is the fundamentally constant principle?" Yantou said, "Movement." Shiyan said, "What is it like when moving?" Yantou said, "It is not the fundamentally constant principle." The Master pondered deeply for a long time. Yantou said, "Agreeing, you have not yet escaped sense faculties and sense objects; not agreeing, you sink eternally in birth and death." The Master thereupon attained awakening, his body and mind clear and bright. Yantou frequently summoned him to converse, testing and responding without the slightest discrepancy. The Master again visited Upādhyāya Hui of Jiashan. Hui asked, "Where do you come from?" The Master said, "I come from Wolong." Hui said, "When you came, had the dragon arisen yet?" The Master looked back at him. Hui said, "Adding moxibustion scorch upon a cauterized sore!" The Master said, "Why does the Upādhyāya torment himself so bitterly like this?" Hui then ceased. Soon the Master arrived at Danqiu, behaving all day like a fool. The four assemblies admired him and invited him to dwell at Ruiyan. He governed the assembly strictly, and people in the region south of the Yangtze praised him. A monk asked, "What is it like when a jeweled canopy appears above the head and clouds arise under the feet?" The Master said, "A fellow wearing a cangue and carrying shackles." The monk asked, "What is it like when there is no jeweled canopy above the head and no clouds arise under the feet?" The Master said, "The manacles are still there." The monk asked, "What is it ultimately?" The Master said, "Tired after the noon meal." Jingqing asked, "Heaven cannot cover it, earth cannot support it—is this not it?" The Master said, "If it were it, it would be covered and supported." Qing said, "If it were not it, Ruiyan would have failed several times." The Master called himself by name, saying, "Shiyan." A monk asked, "What is the Buddha?" The Master said, "A stone ox." The monk asked, "What is the Dharma?" The Master said, "A stone calf." The monk said, "If so, then they are not the same." The Master said, "They cannot be joined." The monk asked, "Why can they not be joined?" The Master said, "There is no sameness that can be identical; what is there to join?" A monk asked, "What kind of discussion avoids falling into stages?" The Master said, "It cannot be arranged." The monk asked, "Why can it not be arranged?" The Master said, "From the beginning, it has no stages." The monk asked, "I wonder what position it occupies?" The Master said, "It does not sit in the Hall of Universal Radiance." The monk asked, "Does it still govern and transform?" The Master said, "Its fame weighs heavily upon the three realms; where does not pay homage at court?" One day an old village woman came to pay respects. The Master said, "Go home quickly and save several thousand living beings!" The woman hurried home and saw her daughter-in-law returning with a bamboo basket filled with gathered river snails. The woman took them and released them by the water's edge. The Master's wondrous signs were quite numerous and are preserved in a separate record.