景德傳燈錄 17.7

17.7

其僧却問師。如何是枯木裏龍吟。師曰。血脈不斷。曰如何是髑髏裏眼睛。師曰。乾不盡。曰未審還有得聞者無。師曰。盡大地未有一箇不聞。曰未審龍吟是何章句。師曰。也不知是何章句聞者皆喪。師如是啟發上機。曾無軌轍可尋及受洞山五位銓量。特為叢林標準。時洪州鍾氏屢請不起。但寫大梅和尚山居頌一首答之。天復辛酉季夏夜。師問知事僧。今是何日月。對曰。六月十五日。師曰。曹山一生行脚到處。只管九十日為一夏。至明日辰時告寂。壽六十有二。臘三十有七。門人奉真骨樹塔。勅諡元證大師。塔曰福圓。

The monk then asked the Master, "What is a dragon roaring in a withered tree?" The Master said, "The lifeline is unbroken." The monk said, "What is an eyeball in a skull?" The Master said, "Not completely dry." The monk said, "I wonder if there is anyone who hears it?" The Master said, "In the entire great earth, there is not a single person who does not hear it." The monk said, "I wonder what lines and verses the dragon roar is?" The Master said, "I do not know what lines and verses it is either; all who hear it perish." In this way the Master enlightened those of superior capacity, leaving behind no track that could be traced. When he received Dongshan's appraisal of the five ranks, he became an exceptional standard for the monasteries. At that time, the Zhong clan of Hongzhou repeatedly invited him, but he did not rise; he merely copied a mountain-dwelling verse of Upādhyāya Damei in reply. On a midsummer night in the xinyou year of Tianfu, the Master asked the monk in charge of affairs, "What day of what month is today?" He answered, "The fifteenth day of the sixth month." The Master said, "Caoshan has traveled on foot throughout his life, everywhere taking ninety days as one summer." Arriving at the chen hour the next day, he announced his demise. His age was sixty-two; his monastic age was thirty-seven. His disciples enshrined his true relics and erected a stupa. By imperial decree he was posthumously titled Great Master Yuanzheng, and the stupa was called Fuyuan.